Original image of Raven Chacon and Paul Rudy by There Stands the Glass.
For the second time in the last 24 days I’ve attended a performance of a work by a recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for Music in the presence of the composer. On Wednesday, October 26, Raven Chacon, the winner of the 2022 Pulitzer, heard what he estimated was the tenth reading of his “American Ledger no. 1” at Agnes Arts.
I was torn between laughing in appreciative wonder and crying with profound grief in response to the unconventional composition addressing the gradual dispossession of the continent from Native Americans. An enormous copy of the graphic sheet music allowed the audience of about 150 to follow along with a ten-piece ensemble conducted by Paul Rudy.
With a couple accomplished locally based jazz musicians in the group conducted by Paul Rudy, the composition occasionally contained elements of swing absence from an excellent rendering of “American Ledger no. 1” in Houston. Here’s my brief but representative video clip from Agnes Arts.
Earlier this month I marveled at sitting near 2011 Pulitzer recipient Zhou Long as his “Spirit of Chimes” was performed at a lightly attended concert in Kansas City. There weren’t many more people at a 2018 performance of Julia Wolfe’s Pulitzer-winning “Anthracite Fields” at the Folly Theater. And yes, Wolfe was in the house.
I’ve attended performances by four additional Pulitzer recipients: Ornette Coleman (2007 award), Kendrick Lamar (2018), Wynton Marsalis (1997) and Caroline Shaw (2013). Designations give the often esoteric winners prestige they might otherwise not receive, but no one needed validation from Pulitzer voters to recognize they were in the presence of greatness at Agnes Arts on Wednesday.