by Luke Stewart

The New Atlantis Collective is a more than just a group of musicians. It is a creative tour-de-force led by D.C. impresario and guitarist Ed Ricart, who does everything from booking local shows for avant-garde legends to spearheading an artistic movement that spans the mid-Atlantic region. Not to mention the New Atlantis Festival this past July, which attracted a good amount of attention.

The Washington City Paper’s Arts Desk blog just reported that the collective is moving forward with plans to establish its own record label; Ricart told Arts Desk that the label plans to release music from European free jazzers Han Bennink and Peter Brotzmann and New Jersey trumpeter Herb Robertson.

At CapitalBop, we thought this would be a perfect occasion for a little state-of-the-collective chat with Ricart. Here’s what the man had to say for himself in our over-the-Internet interview.

CapitalBop: What inspired the name “New Atlantis”?

Ed Ricart: The name was actually suggested by drummer Sam Lohman, as a name for his duo with Aaron Martin. The duo often acted as a trio with the addition of [bassist] Vattel [Cherry], and I would occasionally join them. So as the lineup fluctuated, it made sense to incorporate more improvisers. We had all discussed the idea of a collective in the past, and it made sense to tie my extra-musical organizational efforts to the music.

New Atlantis is a reference to a 17th-century novel by Francis Bacon that deals with a particular image of a utopian society. It’s also a play on the phrase “mid-Atlantic,” which sums up our focus of uniting the region as part of a larger musical community that could include New York City, Baltimore, Richmond, Philadelphia, really heading all the way up to New England.

CB: From the website, it seems that New Atlantis is much more than a record label. What all do you cover?

ER: New Atlantis is essentially a catchall heading for my efforts here in D.C. It encompasses the ongoing series of jazz/experimental music concerts, the record label, the New Atlantis Festival and my regional tour booking efforts. New Atlantis is also a loose collective of musicians from throughout the mid-Atlantic, meant to bring like-minded musicians together.

The concert series has been steadily evolving over the past few years. At its busiest, I was running about five shows a month. Things have definitely slowed down for the last part of the year. I was initially working out of Bossa in Adams Morgan but moved the series over to the Fridge, an outstanding gallery on Capitol Hill. The minds behind the Fridge genuinely dig the music, and they’re great to work with; they’re also enriching the community with free art classes for local youth, juvenile inmates and much more.

I would say that close to 95 percent of the music I promote falls under the “free jazz” or “creative jazz” heading, but the overall vibe of the series is wide open. Some of the artists are playing groove-oriented, adventurous music that is through-composed, like Atomic, a group of superhuman musicians from Norway, or Gerald Cleaver, who recently recorded for ECM with bassist Michael Formanek. Some of it is thoroughly improvised. The music really cannot be pigeonholed, and the caliber of musicianship and creativity that we’re getting for the series is really outrageous. I thoroughly encourage anyone who considers themselves a fan of jazz music, or an appreciator of the traditions of jazz, to check out some of the New Atlantis concerts. 100 percent of the proceeds from ticket sales go directly to the artists.

So far, New Atlantis has presented Peter Brotzmann, Han Bennink, Marshall Allen, Elliott Sharp, Eugene Chadbourne, Steve Swell, Herb Robertson, William Hooker, Jason Ajemian, Michael Formanek, Paal Nilssen-Love, Uri Caine, Hans Koch, Hamid Drake, Jack Wright, Elliott Levin, Josh Berman, Aram Shelton and many more. Transparent Productions have done an outstanding job actively nourishing the jazz community here in D.C., and I think that anyone who has attended one of their gigs over the years would find a common spirit in what we’re doing.

CB: Let me ask about the various aspects of New Atlantis. Firstly, the collective: When did this start, who is involved, what kind of things have been done? Are there any plans to set up a collective around regular performances in a similar fashion as the Tuesday night OOYH (Out Of Your Head) performances at the Wind-up Space in Baltimore?

ER: The collective basically started with Aaron, Sam and I. Vattel Cherry was a frequent contributor before he relocated to North Carolina. We recorded a great session as the New Atlantis Octet earlier this summer, featuring musicians from D.C., Baltimore and New York. Roy Campbell, Jr. on trumpet, Steve Swell on trombone, bassists Jason Ajemian and Vattel Cherry and drummer Andrew Barker, plus the core group of Aaron, Sam and I. ESP-DISK hosted a festival celebrating the spirit of Albert Ayler, so ended up headlining. Roy and Steve were each traveling in Europe, but we brought Marshall Allen of the Sun Ra Arkestra and Elliott Levin, both from Philadelphia. This has all really evolved from right here in D.C., and hopefully the D.C. contingent will continue to grow as more creative, open-minded musicians learn about what we’re doing, step forward and express interest in challenging themselves.

The Out Of Your Head guys in Baltimore have done a great job running their series on a consistent basis, in a supportive venue. They also seem to have a number of musicians all improvising, writing music and developing together. So I think what I am doing is very similar. Earlier this year, I was running a show every Wednesday to showcase mid-Atlantic musicians, and then augmenting those gigs with shows for touring musicians that were interested in playing here.

CB: The festival. What kind of work went into the festival last year? Recap some of the artists who performed. What is in store for next year?

ER: The festival was a blast. I cooked up the idea of presenting a mid-Atlantic festival, and so my friend Bernard Lyons in Baltimore [and I] presented four days of music. We had Sonny Simmons, Steve Swell, Joe Morris, Ras Moshe, Sabir Mateen, Darius Jones, Nate Wooley, Susan Alcorn, Weasel Walter, and many more. It was definitely a labor of love, but once we decided who we wanted to invite, it was simply a matter of deciding when and where to do it. The Fridge was the perfect place for us, too. Day 1 was up in Baltimore. Day 2 was here in D.C.; started around 7 [p.m.] and ended around midnight, mostly featuring well-known musicians. Day 3 started around noon and showcased more local talent and less “jazz” during the early hours of the day.

Promoting the gig, securing accommodations, designing the program, selling advertising space, finding artists and all of this stuff takes time, but it was a blast, and we’ll see what happens next year. The obvious consideration is making sure that we have enough money to really make this an even bigger blowout than last year. I’d like to bring a few familiar faces to play next year, as well as some very established talent that has not been through the area in a number of years. I probably shouldn’t name names just yet.

CB: You cover a lot of ground with this project. Do you have a team of interns helping you out with all this work?

ER: Not yet. Peter Staas was a huge help with the festival last year, and his fiancée Adrienne did a great job designing and printing the program. Alex at the Fridge is a great graphic designer with a wonderful gallery, so tremendous thanks are due to each of them, as well as the musicians, the people who come to the shows and anyone who helps spread the word on what we’re all about.

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