Big Ears - Day Four

 

And here we go (finally). Pics of the last day of Big Ears 2025, posted after I've already checked out of my hotel, left Knoxville, and drove home.

The day started at The Standard with a high-energy set by the Dan Weiss Even Odds Trio, a bass-less band featuring pianist Matt Mitchell and altoist Miguel Zenon.

I stayed at The Standard for a tribute to the late Susan Alcorn, who had been scheduled to play at this year's festival. Her legacy was honored by (l to r) wordless vocalist Bonnie Lander, the extraordinary guitarist Mary Halvorson, violinist yuniya edi kwon, and bassist Lester St. Louis, who we had seen at Big Ears two years ago playing with the late Jaimie Branch. Not pictured is drummer Ryan Sawyer. 

From The Standard, I headed uptown to The Point, the northernmost venue at the festival for a highly entertaining set by Kahil El’Zabar's Ethnic Heritage Ensemble, including trumpeter Corey Wilkes and saxophonist Alex Harding. 

One of the most anticipated sets of the festival was also at The Point - the debut of Nels Cline's Concentrik Quartet, featuring Ingrid Laubrock, bassist Chris Lightcap, and drummer Tom Rainey (not pictured). 

Finally, the day and the festival ended back at The Standard with a set by the Steve Lehman Trio plus Mark Turner on tenor sax playing the music of Anthony Braxton (plus a few original compositions and a piece by Andrew Hill).

And that was it and like all good things, Big Ears 2025 came to an end. I'll do some unpacking and discussions of the sets at a later date - these posts are mainly mnemonic reminders of what I saw and when. But I will say here that it was all most enjoyable and well worth the effort of taking in all these great sets of music.