Tag: The New School

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Greetings to you! It’s been sometime since I’ve connected on the site. It’s been a super intense Fall for all the reasons these times are intense for us all.

Thankfully, we’ve made it past Election Day 2020. WHATS??!! Stress induced days leading up to November 3rd including being part of a great work by musician and composer Darius Jones entitled We Can Save The Country just the day before. I present a small portion of my Mutations of Justice work earlier in October, a work that’s been chronicling the Trump administration since 2017. Look out for a new & dedicated website page devoted to that project coming shortly! Finally, I got to perform an amazing improvised Blues duo with guitarist Marc Ribot the day after Election Day – just the medicine we all needed that day.


Album Cover by Fay Victor/Jochem van Dijk

Personally, THE most important NEWS to share is I have a NEW record out! My latest album with SoundNoiseFUNK is OUT (Esp-Disk) called WE’VE HAD ENOUGH! Released at the end of October 2020, our new record goes into fresh improvisational territory compositionally and emotionally.  Nate Chinen selected one composition entitled “What’s Gon’ Wrong?” for his Election Day Special Playlist that included music by Dave Douglas, Wynton Marsalis & Khalil El’Zabar. Deep gratitude to Sam Newsome, Joe Morris and Reggie Nicholson for their amazing contributions to the music and to the connection we have as a band. Link via BANDCAMP

“Fay Victor is a vocalist and composer with a proud history of social commentary, and a fearless commitment to discovery. In her working ensemble SoundNoiseFUNK, she engages fully with an outright all-star team: soprano saxophonist Sam Newsome, guitarist Joe Morris and drummer Reggie Nicholson. Their second album, just out on ESP-Disk is plainly titled We’ve Had Enough. “What’s Gone Wrong” is an impassioned lament that finds Victor repeating its title phrase, along with a secondary clause (“…with the world?”). There is despair in her rhetorical question, which doesn’t seem to expect an answer — but there’s also clear determination in the way Victor and her improvising partners work through their development. Without putting words in their mouth, I’d suggest that their cohesive oneness is one answer to another open question: what’s going right?”

Sharp Visions of America by Wynton Marsalis, Kahil El’Zabar, Fay Victor and Dave Douglas by Nate Chinen (WBGO Election Day Special Playlist)

https://www.wbgo.org/post/sharp-visions-america-wynton-marsalis-kahil-elzabar-fay-victor-and-dave-douglas#stream/0

Tomorrow (11.14.2020) I’m presenting a video as part of the Jazz Gallery LockDown Sessions along with musicians John Ellis, Kweku Sumbry & Matt Stevens via Live Stream. Learn how to sign on and more on JG website. Thank you Rio for doing what you can to keep artists creative and working during this time. www.jazzgallery.org

NYC is on the uptick with Covid -19 cases, even after the Election, this tension surrounds us as the the death toll mounts. In these last few months since I’ve posted here I’ve been working more than I ever have and I welcome the distraction. Then some days it’s just too much. I try to find the balance, aiming to stay creative and active in ways that are healthy and safe. Trying to listen more deeply to myself and everyone else that I can. Trying to keep going when I can, grateful to have what I need. Please share here how you’ve been coping. I’d love to hear from you and know.The main thing I found is not to be too hard on oneself for not doing or being whatever we thought we should be.

What I want more than anything is to meet and play with friends in person again.  Hug people I haven’t seen in months then throw a big party to celebrate life.  Someday soon. Wishing you much love, health and safety until the next time.

✊?❤️??
Fay

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Hey there from FV’s quarantine central headquarters 🙂

Happy quarantine greetings.

Simply the strangest of times I’ve ever experienced in my life. Home in Brooklyn with my husband and so far – we are healthy, safe and keeping sane. I lost all my booked events but my work as an educator keeps going on and my husband is still employed so far. So we’re home going through this time in surreal motion. Keeping updated on the news, enclosed in a bubble on the hot seat. Venturing outside to shop or just plain take a walk can feel like traversing a minefield. careful of every step, watching your fellow pedestrian like a predator, keen on where they’ll go next.  Unsure of how they’ll interpret safe distancing. Sad to treat people like pariahs. Then there are the numbers. Constantly rising, nameless. Knowing that each is a name that had a family, friends, passions, demons, a job…a life.

Last week was especially hard.  Losing strong musical voices, forces with so much left to say was unbearable. Then a family member contracted the virus and was hospitalized for six days.  Covid-19 hit home and I was more afraid for their life than I dared to admit.  Gratefully, they have recovered now and back home.

We are fortunate.  I have not had to get on a subway for 4 weeks.  We have what we need to survive.  Balancing gratitude and fear.

I share this with you because I feel it’s important to be honest about what this feels real in this time, in acknowledgement that what we’re living through is a unique experience, bearing no precedent in my lifetime.  Or anyone else I know. Still important to share how hard it is, even when there is MUCH to be grateful for. We were not prepared for this moment, we could not know how we’d feel.  Much to sort out, on top of making sure you can survive.

I also want you to know of something fun + awesome coming UP!
On THURS APR 16, 2020, I’ll perform a solo concert online in a double bill with Caroline Davis. How cool is that?
INPUT/OUTPUT Magazine presents: Dinner and A Show!
Hosted by Magdalena Abrego
With guest performances by Caroline Davis and FV
I/O Magazine presents delicious recipes and live music in this new Instagram Live event series.

*PRESENTED LIVE ON INSTAGRAM @INPUTOUTPUTMAG*
KALE ME MAYBE Schedule of events
5:30-6:00 p.m. Cooking Kale Nachos w/ Magdalena Abrego (Recipe TBA)
6:00-6:30 p.m. Caroline Davis performs
6:30-7:00 p.m. Fay Victor performs
* TUNE IN ON INSTAGRAM @INPUTOUTPUTMAG *

*Donations will be collected for the performers via Venmo: @magdalenaaa or PayPal : maa.abrego@gmail.com — 100% of the revenue goes directly to the performers!
INPUT/OUTPUT is a platform dedicated to supporting women and non-binary individuals working in avant-garde, improvised, and experimental music communities in the United States.

ONLINE TEACHING? YES!

Just a quick note that to share that if anyone is interested in online lessons for vocal technique & performance, composition or improvisation – please get in touch! I’ve been teaching online at the New School, developing new skills to teach online more effectively. So get in touch if you’re interested and we’ll take it from there. Looking forward to hearing from you and maybe working together online. Would be so nice.

I’m sending out well wishes to you all – wishing safety and health for your loved ones.  Hang in there and keep in touch! Not sure how long we’ll be in this space, but I will post and reach out regularly to see how everyone is doing. We will move past this, despite the horrific response from the current administration. In the meantime, let’s stay inside so we can all live to meet on the other side of this moment.

Love,
Fay