Knockdown Center and The Kitchen present Julius Eastman: Crazy Evil Gay, a concert of works composed by Julius Eastman. Eastman perfected his multifarious minimalism in three works of the late 1970s: Crazy Nigger, Evil Nigger, and Gay Guerrilla. Each work is scored for multiple instruments of the same kind. The concert features Evil Nigger and Crazy Nigger performed as a piano quartet by Joseph Kubera, Dynasty Battles, Michelle Cann, Adam Tendler as well as Gay Guerrilla in a version for a large electric guitar ensemble scored by Dustin Hurt.

PROGRAM
Julius Eastman: Evil Nigger (1979)
Adam Tendler, Dynasty Battles, Michelle Cann, and Joseph Kubera, pianos

Julius Eastman: Gay Guerrilla (1979)
Version for electric guitar ensemble scored by Dustin Hurt. Featuring Cristian Amigo, John King, Taylor Levine, Lisa Liu, Ava Mendoza, James Moore, Eleonore Oppenheim, Jade Payne, Brandon Ross, Kenji Shinagawa, and Vorhees (Dana Wachs).

Julius Eastman: Crazy Nigger (1979)
Adam Tendler, Dynasty Battles, Michelle Cann, and Joseph Kubera, pianos

This concert is part of “Julius Eastman: That Which is Fundamental,” a performance series and a two-part exhibition including both archival material and contemporary works curated by Tiona Nekkia McClodden and Dustin Hurt, organized by The Kitchen with the Eastman Estate and Bowerbird

About “Julius Eastman: That Which Is Fundamental”
A large-scale and interdisciplinary project that explores the life, work, and resurgent influence of Julius Eastman, a gay, African-American composer and performer who was active internationally in the 1970s and ‘80s but who died homeless at the age of 49, leaving an incomplete but compelling collection of scores and recordings.

This project brings more than four years of research by curators Tiona Nekkia McClodden and Dustin Hurt to The Kitchen, an early supporter of Eastman’s work, with contributions from Katy Dammers, Tim Griffin, Matthew Lyons, and Christopher McIntyre.

“Julius Eastman: That Which is Fundamental” is made possible with the generous support of Robert D. Bielecki Foundation; endowment support from Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust; annual grants from The Amphion Foundation, Inc., The Aaron Copland Fund for Music, Inc., Howard Gilman Foundation, and The Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation; and in part by public funds from New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. Original support for “That Which is Fundamental” was provided by The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage, Philadelphia.

Pianos for this performance have been generously provided by Yamaha.

Photo: Kevin Noble from Eastman’s performance of Crazy Nigger at The Kitchen, February 8-9, 1980.