Resonant Frequencies: To Chicago and Beyond
My residency with the AACM has just concluded, a week spent immersing myself in the Chicago spirit alongside my wife Corina, my daughter Nica, and my mother-in-law, Elvira, who shared in this journey. This visit gifted me my debut performance in this storied city at Elastic Arts, a session curated by Renee Baker to explore the possibilities of their CLEAT system. I dedicated an afternoon to communing with that 16-channel speaker array, testing the resonance of my 8-channel composition AquaSonos | Medawaka (2025). Even utilizing only half the system, the sonic vibration powerfully rattled the chamber, and the invitation to return with a work crafted for all sixteen channels is one I truly look forward to. That evening, I stepped into the room with Ed House and his Sonic Vanguard, a group featuring some of the city's most profound improvisers. Ed has been a pillar of the AACM since the 1980s, and his ensemble—Yosef Israel on bass, Rod Gipson on keys, and Franklin Morrisson on drums, alongside Ed's tenor saxophone—welcomed me into their world. Following a brief sonic meditation to find our shared frequency, the time arrived to unveil my 4D scores to these masters.
The Sonic Vanguard Collaboration
The sonic exploration proved profoundly revelatory; it was evident that the ensemble resonated deeply with both the narrative architecture and the expansive freedom offered by the 4D integration. This collaborative immersion into my 4D scores—AquaSonos | Hydrologic (2026), Angela Davis | Sketch 1, and AquaSonos | As Above So Below (2024)—allowed the Sonic Vanguard to channel their improvisational mastery into a new dimension of performance. Ed House, Yosef Israel, Rod Gipson, and Franklin Morrisson navigated the spatial complexities with an intuitive grace that bridged the gap between my conceptual frameworks and the raw, ancestral energy of the Chicago avant-garde.
Grounding in Bronzeville
The weight of the week culminated on Friday evening at the South Side's First Presbyterian Church, an experience of profound impact. I spent the earlier hours grounding myself in Bronzeville, a neighborhood vibrating with the legacy of Gwendolyn Brooks and the echoes of Chess Records. Walking those streets, I felt the presence of titans like Muddy Waters, Sam Cooke, and Minnie Ripperton, alongside the revolutionary spirit of Ida B. Wells. The ancestral energy of the Great Migration lives there, where King Oliver and Louis Armstrong once established the roots of this movement. I found further nourishment at a local table Dixiepura curated by Chef Chloe Gould; a Bronzeville native and former educator at Dunbar High School, she translates global influences through a Creole lens. Her Chili Shrimp and Creamy Grits are a testament to her vision. I felt a spiritual necessity to immerse myself in that history, seeking a shared frequency with the land before stepping into the chamber with the masters of the avant-garde and Great Black Music.
A Threshold of Belonging
Preparing to unveil this work to an ensemble of such legendary stature, a profound sense of trepidation initially held me. Yet, crossing that threshold, I was met with the warmth of daps and embraces—a reception of truly open arms. This immediate sense of belonging is a rarity for me, a feeling of being fully seen that I haven't experienced in over three decades. While I always strive to commune with others through a lens of humility, the grace of their welcome allowed me to remain grounded yet deeply certain of the frequency I was contributing to the chamber.
Interpreting the Graphic Score
Collaborating with several ensemble members, I established a projection to illuminate the expansive graphic score, sharing the underlying philosophy with these master musicians. They met my words with a resonant understanding as I spoke of submerged toms and the retrieval of Afrofuturistic relics. I explained that while our narratives have been systematically stripped from the archives of history, Qu: upon the discovery of lost artifacts (2026) stands as a defiant reclamation of our heritage and a direct challenge to the narrow lens of Eurocentric world history.
The essence of graphic notation, at least within my practice, lies in the expansive space it offers for interpretation; I craft these scores specifically for voices attuned to the language of improvisation, ensuring the sonic architecture remains fluid and never repeats the same shape twice.
Yet, there remains a specific frequency in my mind, and witnessing three movements of Qu channeled through the AACM’s Great Black Music Ensemble was nothing short of a dream made manifest. The sonic vision I carried was realized with an extraordinary depth. I intend to delve further into the profound sense of belonging I discovered in that chamber, where I felt truly seen by such phenomenal masters of the craft.
Validation and Shared Frequency
It was a moment of deep validation. After decades spent searching for this creative resonance, I found that by releasing the weight of seeking external acceptance—a journey I began a few years ago with the guidance of a remarkable therapist—I finally found the community that naturally embraced my frequency.
Taalib Din Ziyad offered a resonant observation regarding the movements of Qu, emphasizing the spiritual imperative for Black voices to reclaim our narratives—a necessity made even more urgent by the deliberate systematic erasure of our history. The ensemble met my efforts to proclaim and preserve these legacies with a profound appreciation. This shared frequency was further enriched by Coco Elysses; as she integrated the diddly bow into the sonic tapestry, she illuminated the instrument’s lineage, a connection that brought my ancestral reflections in Bronzeville full circle.
I have come to understand that once the weight of ego is released, the pursuit of perfection becomes irrelevant. Prioritizing the purity of the experience over technical flawlessness allows one to move through space with intentionality, revealing the true path. I find myself in a state of metanoia, where the ancestral power vibrates through my journey and provides a spiritual wind for my sails, granting me a peace that has remained elusive for decades.
Gratitude and Future Trajectory
My gratitude is vast. I am deeply thankful to my mentor, Renee Baker, for the invitation to weave myself into the fabric of the AACM—a relationship that has now been extended through the winter of 2027. I carry immense appreciation for the entire AACM community for their support, particularly those master musicians who lent their phenomenal skills to the interpretation of Qu and embraced me as family. Above all, I am thankful for the ancestors’ guiding hands directing my frequency.
With a spirit of profound expectation, I look toward the horizon of this evolving path. This Chicago residency has been more than a professional milestone; it has been a spiritual recalibration that has fundamentally altered my creative trajectory. The expansion of my relationship with the AACM through the winter of 2027 offers a stable canvas upon which I can continue to project these complex, multi-dimensional narratives. As I move forward, I carry the echoes of the First Presbyterian Church and the resonant approval of the masters who walked before me. I am no longer merely searching for a frequency; I am living within it, moving with a newfound intentionality that honors both the ancestral weight of Bronzeville and the Afrofuturistic possibilities of the 4D scores yet to be composed.
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