Timed to coincide with the Chicago Jazz Festival, two generations of Chicago-born composers share an evening honoring the history and future of musical experimentation and the profound influence that Chicago’s musical legacy played in shaping the minds and lives of the members of the AACM and beyond.

Ben LaMar Gay, a next-generation member of the AACM, offers a new dance and video collaboration Hecky Naw! Angles! This performance is the latest work in his series The Manipulations of Lines and Bref, that explores the term “Americana” and examines the social construction of history. Gay, a cornetist and composer, draws on a variety of styles in order to present a narrative through his work. Exploring the shapes and sounds of black social dances in Chicago, such as stepping and line dancing, the performance incorporates video projections by Kim Alpert with experimental choreography created and performed by Raquel Monroe. Thurman Barker and Ben LaMar Gay: South Side Suite and Hecky Naw! Angles! is presented as part of the MCA’s New Works Initiative.