Roman Norfleet And Be Present Art Group

Description

Roman Norfleet And Be Present Art Group, a collective of liberation through sound, plays deeply felt music, sometimes earthly and sometimes cosmic. A trio (saxophone, drums, and organ) is complemented by additional percussion, soaring vocals, and even the appearance of a young child at the microphone. Over the course of six expansive tracks, Roman Norfleet and Be Present Art Group transition from a fluid ritual to a groovy meditative prayer, then to genuine bursts of improvised music. Raised in the Baptist church and trained in the Hindu/Vedic philosophy of Swamini Turiyasangitanada (Alice Coltrane), Roman Norfleet, a multi-instrumentalist and conductor from Portland, explores a branch of Great Black Music and world spiritualities on his debut album for Mississippi Records. The album was born from gatherings of percussionists in Malcolm X Park in Washington DC – a pocket of freedom built on collective improvisation and shared rhythm. In Portland, Roman Norfleet brought together a collective of artists including Jacque Hammond and members of Brown Calculus to convey the spirit of these sessions to Washington. A pivotal meeting with Pharoah Sanders allowed the young saxophonist to continue his journey into space, through Sun Ra and into the universe of contemporaries like Angel Bat Dawid. The album concludes with the beautiful song "Turiya the Butterfly," performed by two-year-old Turiya Raiah. Daughter of band members Andre and Mia and named after the great Alice Coltrane, Turiya completes both the intergenerational circle and a spiritual classic of the present.