Burnt Sugar The Arkestra Chamber

“A multiracial jam army that freestyles with cool telekinesis between the lustrous menace of Miles Davis’ On The Corner, the slash-and-om of 1970s King Crimson, and Jimi Hendrix’ moonwalk across side three of Electric Ladyland” (Rolling Stone). The freewheeling New York 9-piece juggernaut Burnt Sugar touches down for three nights, bringing their barely containable mix of euphoric funk, space jazz, power-packed rock, sweet soul and avant-garde experimentation to a program that “caramelizes” the psychedelic music of the 1960s.  

Formed in 1999 by the late musician and iconic Village Voice writer Greg Tate and co-led with bassist Jared Michael Nickerson, Burnt Sugar built its identity through raucous live performances that honor the spirit of the post-modern masters of American music, from Duke Ellington to Sun Ra, Miles Davis, Parliament/Funkadelic, and the Art Ensemble of Chicago. The band has set itself apart through extensive use of the directed improvisational concept of “conduction” pioneered by the late cornetist and composer Butch Morris, resulting in stop-on-a-dime cohesion that allows the band to perform like a single, multi-phonic organism. Made up of a revolving list of superlative singers and instrumentalists, the band has counted pianist Vijay Iyer, guitarist Vernon Reid, and Captain Kirk Douglass from The Roots among its members, and released 22 full-length recordings and EPs, mostly on their own AVANT GROIDD Musica label.