Raw Demoon Alchemy (A Lone Operation)

Description:

As a farewell to his stay in Vancouver, the composer and saxophonist Darius Jones staged an impromptu solo performance of his album, Raw Demoon Alchemy (A Lone Operation) (2021). 

For Alchemy, Jones performed new arrangements of musical compositions by artists who he regards as unapologetically Black “world builders”; artists who dare to envision and create an entire universe unto themselves, on their terms. The set included an unrecorded piece gifted to Jones by Georgia Anne Muldrow titled “Figure No. 2,” “Sad,” by Ornette Coleman, “Nonaah,” by Roscoe Mitchell, “Love in Outer Space,” by Sun Ra, and “Ballad for Very Tired and Very Sad Lotus-Eaters,” by Billy Strayhorn. Jones performed these compositions while positioned in front of a video projection that accompanied the album.

By harnessing the gamut of raw, unaltered emotions in his playing, Jones responded to the dissolution of his marriage, the divisiveness of the current political climate, and the emotional realities that re-emerged unencumbered by the distractions of life during the pandemic, to tap into the strength and power of standing alone.

Following the performance, attendees were invited to stay for a barbeque on the back deck.