Living Colour’s Vernon Reid celebrates 67th birthday with Burnt Sugar Arkestra

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Guitarist, composer, and longtime New Yorker Vernon Reid celebrated his 67th birthday with a series of concerts at experimental venue space the Stone (55 W. 13th Street) on August 6–9. The virtuoso guitarist, well-known as a member of avant-rock group Living Colour, works in a wide span of musical spaces ,from free jazz to punk and funk — in the last three years alone.

New Yorkers have had the opportunity to see Reid on stage with Living Colour, George Clinton & Parliament-Funkadelic, Carlos Santana & Jack DeJohnette, a Bad Brains tribute, and so much more. The eclectic nature of Reid’s body of work was on full display at the Stone as he was joined by improvisational group the Burnt Sugar Arkestra Chamber, for an evening of musical exploration that blurred genre lines and pushed the boundaries of the musicians onstage.

The performance featured multi-instrumentals Laaraji, who Reid described onstage as “a true innovator of ambient music,” and included musicians Shelley Nicole (vocals), Miss Olithea (vocals, electronics), Lewis Flip Barnes (trumpet), V. Jeffery Smith (alto, tenor, baritone saxes), Leon Gruenbaum (keyboards, samchillian, vocoder), Ben Tyree (electric guitar), Chris Eddleton (trap drums, electronics), LaFrae Sci (trap drums, electronics), Shawn Banks (congas, percussion), Jason DiMatteo (acoustic bass), and Jared Michael Nickerson (electric bubble bass), with Reid conducting and playing guitar. “This ensemble is very special,” he said to the sold-out audience. “It was started by Greg Tate.”

Vernon Reid photos

Burnt Sugar was created by Tate, a writer, musician, and Harlem native who had a long-running column in the Village Voice. He died in 2021. The group features a revolving door lineup of some of New York’s most fearless and experimental musicians, fusing elements of jazz, funk, rock, ambient drones, and unusual noises to create a beautiful amalgamation of sonic exploration. Reid praised Tate as “one of the most unique individuals I ever met in my life” before the show’s performance. “His thoughts, his vision — people like that don’t come around often.”

The band performed a short set, less than 60 minutes, but audience members who lined up in the hot, muggy lobby for more than an hour before the show were not disappointed — they grooved to the rhythms and met each song with enthusiastic applause. The giant pole in the middle of the venue that obstructs the view of the musicians for many seated behind it did not stop attendees from taking in the peaks and valleys of sound that emanated from the musicians onstage, who showcased their dynamic range throughout the performance.

Improvisational music sometimes has a reputation of being harsh, noisy, even unstructured, but listening to the group’s shining vocal harmonies and melodic ideas, it was hard to know where the improvisations ended and the compositions began. Layers of sound woven together seamlessly, and simplicity became intricacy as seemingly un-complex parts began to fuse together to create an amorphous sonic landscape. The music, while beautiful, was also at times irreverent, with sounds like players laughing incorporated into the performance.

The Stoneis an experimental venue space started by avant-garde saxophonist John Zorn in 2005 that moved to the Glassbox Theatre at the New School in 2018. “He’s a trip — he’s lovely, he’s very patient,” Reid said to the AmNews in a post-show interview. “He was just wearing me out about when I was going to do my residency, and we got it together!”

Reid has a long history with the Stone and Zorn, curating performances at the venue as early as 2013. “We’re a community — those of us that play the more radical music,” he told the AmNews. “We’re a loose affiliation of weirdos. It’s a beautiful thing.”

As experimental venues grow fewer and farther between, the Stone provides a space for uniquely voiced musicians to showcase their spontaneity onstage. True, unabashed expression is a central tenet of free music, and the environment of the Stone. Improvisation has long been used as an element of music that is socially and politically resistant, by pioneers like Ornette Coleman, Cecil Taylor, and Archie Shepp. “With what’s going on right now, y’all better learn to improvise,” he told the audience near the performance’s end. “Now let’s hit one massive, ignorant chord.” The band blared, with smiles on their faces that mirrored the audiences.

At the end of the night, Reid stressed why experimental music, and the space for it, are integral to the artistic community. “We have to have alternative ways to be — we have to have alternative ways to express ourselves,” Reid told the AmNews. “Whatever you’re into — if you’re into metal, free-form, or classical, it’s super-important to have the freedom to choose how you want to speak.”