2025 Big Ears Festival, March 27-30, 2025

At one point while waiting for a venue to open during the 2025 Big Ears Festival, a man approached the line with a sign indicating that he was selling two tickets for the rock band Heart, who would be playing in Boston next month. Everyone who saw the sign laughed since he was trying to find takers for a concert several hundred miles from our current location in Knoxville, TN, or because thinking about Heart in the context of Big Ears. Nothing at all against Heart — they rock! Heart simply seemed so far away from the exploratory and visionary music presented March 27-30, 2025. To put it another way, if you lived in New York City and, in a year, you only attended half of what you are able to see during the four days of Big Ears, you would say that it was an outstanding year of music.

In addition to the music, there are many joys that are part of the Big Ear experience, including seeing festival performers taking in concerts, serving as a reminder that they too are music lovers and fans. Additionally, the setting is casual enough so that attendees can interact with the artists before and after shows to ask questions and chat about highlights of the festival. And, boy, do Big Ears-goers like to talk about music! Big Ears is a safe space for music heads to use our mutually agreed upon music head language without fear of being mocked by civilians.

Most of all, attendees love/hate to hear from a new friend they just met about what performance they missed because they were at a different show. Trying to make a choice between two competing acts on the schedule is what my friend, Knoxville resident and rampant Big Ears enthusiast, George Middlebrooks calls a Big Ears heartbreak.

But they aren’t true heartbreaks. All of the music at Big Ears is fascinating and singular in its own way. And if something is a little bit of a disappointment, you can always excuse yourself and go find something new. Below is a report on my 2025 Big Ears experience with a catalog of observations, hot takes, and attempts to describe the indescribable.

Thursday, March 27, 2025

Yo La Tengo
Mill & Mine
What’s the perfect way to kick off 2025 Big Ears? How about Yo La Tengo, are in contention for one of — if not the best — American rock and roll bands? In my 2025 Big Ears preview, I noted that Yo La Tengo would serve as one of my tentpole acts, building my festival schedule around their appearances. And it wouldn’t be a Yo La Tengo show, and a Big Ears one at that, without guests. Joining Ira Kaplan, Georgia Hubley, and James McNew onstage were guitar wizard William Tyler and the mighty John McEntire (Tortoise, Sea & Cake, and seemingly countless production/engineering credits). This assembled cast perfectly began the show and my personal Big Ears festival with “Ohm,” a wonderful, one-chord song that in any sane world would have been a hit. The absolutely gorgeous version of “The Ballad of Red Buckets” provided the best moments by Tyler as he played guitar harmonies with Kaplan as well as a few tasteful country licks. McEntire’s presence on the vibraphone was especially pronounced on “Moby Octopad” as he replicated the repeated mysterious swooping sound from the original recording by drawing a bow on the side metal bars as well as enacting a brief vibraphone/piano duel with Kaplan. This night’s rendition of the YLT classic “Autumn Sweater” had a touch of the rare Kevin Shields-remix version thanks to electronica-esque riffing by Tyler. The band closed the show with a colossal performance of “I Heard You Looking.” A few weeks ago, I published a piece on Yo La Tengo’s guitar sculptures and this song was the first example of this area of the band’s work. With the help of Tyler, the band was able to capture the swirling, multiple-guitar approach utilized by the band in the studio, building to a peak of wall-to-wall white noise before gradually downshifting to a near-quiet state, buoyed by Tyler’s Goes West fills. Judging from the smiles that were frequently exchanged between the players, it was a noteworthy show for Yo La Tengo, their guests, and the audience alike.

The Mockingbird by R.B. Morris & William Wright
St. John’s Cathedral
This collaboration between Knoxville poet R.B. Morris and composer William Wright featured Morris reading poems from his book The Mockingbird to the accompaniment of an experimental chamber orchestra, featuring strings, multiple vocalists, a keyboard, and guitar played by the previously-mentioned George Middlebrooks. The pairing of Morris and Wright was inspired as both contributions attracted and repelled each other in compelling ways in the world premiere of this piece. The highlight of the performance was when the music matched the beautiful setting, especially when one of the female singers’ voice soared to the upper heights of the majestic, vaulted ceiling of St. John’s Cathedral. The big sound of the inspirational closing movement brought to mind the music of Explosions in the Sky, who will need to be at their best when closing the festival on Sunday night to match the grandeur of this experience.

Tortoise
Mill & Mine
The day before Big Ears started, festival attendees received an email with an exclusive preview of studio recording courtesy of Tortoise, who haven’t released an album of new music since 2016. The email also promised debut performances from Tortoise’s forthcoming record. Sure enough, midway through the set, the band kicked into their new song “Oganesson,” a scorching noir groove that seamlessly fit alongside the rest of the sexy rhythms, containing hints of Latin jazz, yacht rock, exotica, and prog. Highlights included the always welcome “TNT” and the wide open desert sounds of “I Set My Face to the Hillside” that sounds like a soundtrack to a movie in which a character mutters, “We only have one chance at this.” The last song prompted my friend Cassie, who didn’t know Tortoise before this to share what she was hearing: Santana, Angelo Badalamenti, and “China Girl.” Accurate comps! The performance peaked with “Seneca” with the monstrous Crazy Horse wave of noise introduction that eventually morphed into another big fat groove that by all rights should have lasted 45 more minutes.

William Tyler 
The Point 
After playing that set with Yo La Tengo earlier in the night down the street at Mill & Mine, William Tyler shifted to the role of band leader, presenting songs from his soon to be released album Time Indefinite. The sound was pastoral, even when Tyler swapped out his acoustic guitar for an electric. Accompanying Tyler was an electronics and keyboard tactician and a cellist, who both helped in the creation of what by all rights should be the best film soundtrack of 2025. The best parts of the performance were when Tyler added layer upon layer of guitar loops, alternating between acoustic and electric into what felt like 345 individual parts. The audience delighted in being able to witness the building of a William Tyler superstructure live and in real time.

Friday, March 28, 2025

Philip Glass Ensemble: Music in Twelve Parts (Parts 1-6)
Tennessee Theatre
This was the first performance I attended on Friday, and I knew that this was going to be a short stay. Cards on the table: though I love the music of Philip Glass, my will and stamina isn’t good enough to listen to two straight hours of Philip Glass music. This particular Glass piece was written 1971-1975 and its length represented a maximalist statement for the minimalist composer. In person, the music was mesmerizing, floating over and around the crowd seated at the beautiful Tennessee Theatre. However, one transition between parts happened so abruptly, it jarred me and more than a few other audience members out of their reverie. As always, it was fascinating to watch the non-verbal cues between the band members. Furthermore, watching them live demonstrated the stamina required to perform this music at an expert level. It is so physically demanding it gave me carpal tunnel just imagining this undertaking.

Jeff Parker ETA IVtet
Bijou Theatre
The Jeff Parker ETA IVtet was one of my tentpole acts going into Big Ears, especially since I interviewed Parker about the IVtet and the closing of the venue that originally brought them together. Because of their busy schedules, Big Ears was one of the few times they have been able to play together in 2025. Catching the IVtet at this moment in time was a rare occurrence and they did not disappoint! The first piece was quiet and began with Parker generating waves of drones, which allowed each member of the IVtet to enter independently and musically introduce themselves. The stately tone of the opener palate cleanser was quickly dismissed as the next song contained the fattest of grooves, which by all right should be utilized in a spy thriller soundtrack. Throughout the rest of the set, the IVtet alternated between soloing and duetting with each other. Though Parker is the leader of the ensemble, it was obvious that bassist Anna Butterss serves as the glue, ensuring that every IVtet song contains a welcoming and gratifying swing. Butterss is a magnetic presence onstage as my eyes and ears never strayed too far from them. This seemed to be true of the other members of the IVtet as well. Between their work with the IVtet and another act who played later at Big Ears, I have now signed on as season ticket holder of Anna Butterss, obtaining all of their future recordings and seeing them live whenever possible. When Butterss began the instantly recognizable thumping bass part for their now signature opening tune “Freakdelic,” there were whoops from the audience and subsequent smiles of acknowledgement from the IVtet. This was followed by a rendition of “3 for L,” which featured a lengthy Parker solo made up of a cavalcade of riffs, each of which sound like the elemental skeleton of future Tortoise songs. The best moments of the set were when the IVtet locked in together with the interlocking lines of saxophonist Josh Johnson and Parker soared over the foundation set by Butterss and drummer Jay Bellerose. For the final song, the IVtet played “This Guy’s in Love with You” by Bacharach/David (thanks for tip, felasmoothie on Reddit!) with an easy going, R&B feel. It sounded as if the song and the IVtet didn’t have a care in the world, a sound and an approach that was sorely needed by me in this time of uncertainty and chaos outside of Big Ears.

Sun Ra Arkestra & Yo La Tengo
Knoxville Civic Auditorium
Following my rule of never leaving early from a Big Ears performance when the music being played in front of me is excellent, I didn’t leave the Jeff Parker ETA IVtet early, even though I knew that the Sun Ra Arkestra was teaming up a few blocks away with Yo La Tengo. As soon as the IVtet finished up, I hurried down the hill to the Knoxville Civic Auditorium to catch the second half. The music for this union sounded like a big band version of an R&B outfit, mostly producing outrageous and extended New Orleans-style stanky vamps and Ira Kaplan-led, feedback-laden, guitar freakouts. One alternative to these modes was the downshift to the Sun Ra classic “Dreaming,” once covered by Yo La Tengo. Georgia Hubley’s beautiful lead vocal was lovingly echoed throughout by members of the Arkestra, before leading the audience in a snapping accompaniment to this romantic tune. The performance culminated in “Nuclear War,” a call-and-response classic, this time led by James McNew. As the singers repeatedly state, nuclear war is indeed a motherfucker and, at that moment, I wanted them to keep this rendition going for another two hours. After a false ending of sorts, the players quickly reprised “Nuclear War,” but this time in a sexy, slow jam way that was unbelievably hilarious and cool. It was unclear if this reprise was spontaneously conceived and created solely for 2025 Big Ears, or if they play it this way all the time. It was the perfect way to close the set as, while the sexy “Nuclear War” continued, groups of the players left the stage, leaving only Arkestra bass player Tyler Mitchell remaining and concluding the performance with a big smile.

Barry Altschul’s 3 Dom Factor
The Point
Barry Altschul’s 3 Dom Factor was a completely unknown act for me, but I received a tip from a fellow festival goer that Altschul shouldn’t be missed, and this stranger was correct. The jazz trio made up of Barry Altschul (drums), Jon Irabagon (saxophone), and Joe Fonda (bass) moved through a set of free-from, improvisatory jazz, nudging, insisting, and goading each other along the way. Playing at The Point at this particular time of day was the perfect setting for their charged improvisatory jazz because the late afternoon sun streaked through the windows of what was not all that long ago a church, bathing the players and the audience in a yellow/brownish haze. It was hard to know if this influenced the players, but regardless, this was high caliber, avant garde jazz that was seemingly so effortless that it betrayed the technical ability required to pull off an hour’s worth of presentation.

Swamp Dogg
Jackson Terminal
Swamp Dogg, the 82-year old soul/funk/country/R&B elder and master, brought raw and real good times, kicking off Friday night at Big Ears. It was evident that he’s still feisty and naughty in both the music and the between-song banter, dropping swear words and dirty jokes throughout. But the music was gloriously funky, making everyone in the venue bounce, dance, strut, and call out. There were times during the performance when my thoughts strangely turned to Bob Dylan and how he shares some attributes with Swamp Dogg. They are both older, country gentlemen, who wear expensive suits, sport a rotating selection of hats, and enjoy the company of the ladies. I even wondered if this was the type of music and stage routine that Dylan actually wants to adopt — bad, often raunchy jokes and roadhouse music that evokes that late night, juke joint feel. It’s the type of music that afterwards, no one will repeat the jokes or the banter and no one can remember the way to get back home from the club. That’s Swamp Dogg music!

Squanderers
Regas Square
Squanderers presented a set of acid western soundtrack music that even had Neil Young & Crazy Horse suggestions at times. The soundtrack feel made sense as each of the song titles on Squanderers’ latest album begins with the words “Theme for” as if they had produced the main theme for scores of eight different films. Throughout the performance, David Grubbs and Wendy Eisenberg responded to each other’s guitar parts and riffs while Kramer’s bass served as foundational support. At times, the music dropped in volume to barely audible levels. While the playing was quiet, the intensity never diminished, conveying an unarticulated sense of threat. Grubbs and Eisenberg’s playing was especially captivating, as they cycled through many improvised motifs that other musical acts would have immediately clamped on to and use it as the central theme for an entire four minute song. Every once in a while, they would return to one of the motifs they had introduced, but most were discarded. Ah, the life of an improvisatory band!

101 Audio Odyssey
Mill & Mine
This new, previously unknown supergroup was pulled together by visionary bassist Jamaaladeen Tacuma, who was joined by Braxton Bateman on trumpet and talk box, drummer King Noli, Immanuel Wilkins on sax, and guitar wizard Nels Cline — a murderer’s row! It’s clear that this band is Tacuma’s vision as he them through exercises in funk, free jazz, Morphine-style rock, and hard bop. Wilkins was soulful while Bateman utilized the instrument that Peter Frampton made famous into an exciting tool for jazz and funk. Cline lived up to my previous claim that he is the Eddie Van Halen of experimental music, emitting alien sounds, searing solos, and perfect chicken scratch riffs during the funk moments. And there was plenty of funk. I previously wrote about Butterss being a magnetic presence; I hadn’t witnessed Tacuma onstage yet. He was electrifying onstage with the music flowing through him like a 2020s Charles Mingus. The next day, Tacuma confirmed that the group recorded an album the previous night in Knoxville. It better be out soon because I have now attended the Church of Tacuma and I am the newest disciple.

Saturday, March 29, 2025

Billy Collins & Geoff Dyer
St. John’s Cathedral
The third day of my 2025 Big Ears started off with a focus on the written word with the poet Billy Collins sharing the stage with novelist/creative nonfiction/memoirist Geoff Dyer. Dyer began the program by saying that the first time he saw Collins give a reading, he knew he wanted to share the stage with him. He continued by saying that after attending Big Ears two years ago, he knew he needed to be back at Big Ears, the greatest music festival in the world. He closed the opening by gesturing to Collins and the beautiful ceiling of St. John’s Cathedral and stating, “I don’t know what I’ll do after this.” Because it’s Big Ears, Dyer chose to read selections from his magisterial yet intimate book But Beautiful, which imagines scenes from the lives of jazz musicians. Dyer chose to read the pieces about Lester Young, Ben Webster, and Art Pepper. Meanwhile, Collins recited poems that touched on music in some way. He commented that while he mentions jazz in his work, he doesn’t really like jazz poems because they often try to match the syncopation of jazz and why do that when you could simply listen to jazz instead. He added not liking when jazz poems namedrop only the first name of a musician because it sounds like the poet just had lunch with that person when, in fact, they haven’t. A sampling of the poems read by Collins included: “I Chop Some Parsley While Listening To Art Blakey’s Version Of ‘Three Blind Mice,’” “Tipping Point,” “Questions About Angels,” “Listening to Hank Mobley around 11 O’Clock After a Long Fun Boozy Dinner, the Four of Us, at Captain Pig’s, Our Favorite Restaurant in Town.” Dyer and Collins are both masters of the deadpan one-liner, and so there was much laughter during the reading. An especially funny moment was when Collins noticed that the audience clapped after he finished reading each of his poems. He said, “Geoff should take a pause for applause after each paragraph.” If anyone in the audience entered this performance not knowing the work of either Collins or Dyer, they surely left as a fan of both.

Wadada Leo Smith’s Revolutionary Fire-Love
Bijou Theatre
The legendary trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith and company presented a new work titled Gardens of Peace, in Five Parts. Since there were two keyboardists in the assembled band, Vijay Iyer, the piano maestro himself, was able to alternate between the piano, electric piano, and sort of magic effects box, which transmitted sound that could have been the crackling of fire or the conveyance of good and evil electricity a la Twin Peaks: The Return. The performance was a beautiful, provocative, and intense cycle of work. Each member of the ensemble took turns in the spotlight for a solo, though once, Smith gently reminded everyone who was directing the piece as he stood up from his chair and gestured with his arm for the band to drop out. Smith and the drummer then duetted for a time before the return of the rest of the band. Smith is a fascinating performer, and this new work showcased not only his eye for talent, but also his commitment to quiet revolution through his music.

Vijay Iyer & Wadada Leo Smith
Bijou Theatre
A short reseating of the Bijou commenced after the conclusion of Wadada Leo Smith’s Revolutionary Fire-Love as they cleared the stage and reset it for Smith to pair up with only pianist Vijay Iyer. The two played for an hour, focusing on selections from their recent release Defiant Life. Iyer traded off between his piano and electric piano. The music utilizing the latter was especially gorgeous, transforming the Bijou Theatre into a giant music box. Once again, Smith’s playing was incredible, soaring at one moment and then reserved at other times. The connection between the two was evident as it was fascinating to see the adjustments that they made to their own playing to support or augment what the other was doing. When it was time to say goodbye, Iyer and Smith took turns with the microphone with Iyer urging everyone that it is “time for a defiant life.” Smith added, “The river flows up, and when it reaches its course, it turns around” as a way to emphasize the cyclic nature of society and humans.

ganavya
The Point
The previous day, I only had time to take in about 15 minutes of Immanuel Wilkins’ show and one song stopped midway through to provide a platform for an Indian woman to begin singing. The response from myself and everyone else in the venue was one of exhilaration. “Who was that,” I asked in amazement to the person seated next to me. His response: “ganavya…and she’s playing tomorrow at The Point!” Word had spread because her headlining performance filled up immediately. Even Don Was was there. You know, Don Was: president of Blue Notes Records, producer of a terrific Willie Nelson album, producer of one of the worst Bob Dylan albums, and the genius behind “Walk the Dinosaur.”

ganavya grew up in the harikatha tradition, a Hindu storytelling technique that blends music and poetry. Part of ganavya’s vocal style involves hand gestures that flow along in tandem with her singing, either in the support of the story she is telling and/or helping with vocal projection. Accompanying ganavya for the Big Ears performance included a man playing the perfect level rhythm on a stand-up bass and a harpist, who plucked the strings like a guitar and, as my friend Robin put it, thankfully restrained from playing not even a single glissando. ganavya’s onstage commentary was warm and amusing. At one point, she said that she understood she was playing in a festival and that she wouldn’t be insulted if people needed to get up and move about in the middle of one of her songs. “I’m okay with that,” she said, “I understand. I have 30 cousins.”

ganavya also polled the audience to ask if we wanted to help sing the songs, or if we were more comfortable with her doing all of the singing. The crowd was pro-participation, so for nearly all of the numbers performed, she coached the words and melodies for us to sing. She would then present the overall narrative, weaving her voice in and around our vocal part. Sometimes, her vocals were soaring and triumphant, while other moments were softer and conversational in nature. Her final piece was a song-cycle about releasing the nine jewels from the aether that included a complicated and beautiful vocal line for the audience to sing. At the end, she noted that we collectively had become the tenth jewel. As we sang our part for the final time, ganavya inserted one more vocal improvisation that brought your narrator and nearly everyone else in the venue in tears.

SML
The Standard
When Jeff Parker’s ETA IVtet was listed as a headliner of 2025 Big Ears, it was no surprise to see that SML was also included in the lineup since both share two members: Josh Johnson on saxophone and, the subject of my previous rave, the bassist Anna Butterss. While the IVtet takes a conventional jazz approach to performance with each player getting a chance to solo, SML played much more of a collective approach by the entire group at Big Ears. Their layered, complex, groove-based sound brought to mind so many influences: Afropop, Talking Heads, and Eno/Byrne’s My Life in the Bush of Ghosts. To give an indication of SML’s impact at Big Ears, one attendee told me the next day: “SML is my new Tortoise.” My response was equally ecstatic. My notes at the end of this performance were a grab bag of excited proclamations, including: 

• So fucking danceable!
• Effects on Josh Johnson’s trumpet makes it sound like three accordions at once.
• A woozy gauzy sound. A gentler Bitches Brew.  
• Is fourth world, world-building a thing? Because it is after this!
• Ambient music that seeps through your pores. 
• Futuristic grooves, the rightful soundtrack to Blade Runner. The chickens are coming home to roost!
• The room seems to be pulsing and shaking in response to this music. 
• When Butterss starts to smile and nod, you know they have achieved their goal. 

No need to expand on these thoughts further. You just try attending any SML performance and see how your own notes look the next morning. 

Helado Negro
Jackson Terminal
If you were in mood for love on Saturday night of Big Ears, hopefully you attended Helado Negro’s show because he was ready to get everyone started with his sound of floating Latin pop. Negro’s sexy musical rhythms were matched by his vocal delivery and stage presence, adding patter such as, “You freaks go all night.” Sometimes he and his band seemed to be channeling Madonna’s Ray of Light, which only connected the audience to him further. He closed the show with a presentation of his song “Running” which included a vocal part by the audience. It made the sexiness of the performance even more prominent. This was the best baby-making music during all of 2025 Big Ears.

[Ahmed]
Regas Square
On Friday night, because I couldn’t pull away from the majesty of 101 Audio Odyssey (adhering to my commitment to not leave the presence of incredible music), I missed the very beginning of [Ahmed]’s performance. Catching about two-thirds of the single-song, hour-long performance, I knew I needed to see the entire performance on Saturday, especially since all of their performances start with a different classic jazz tune. The music presented by [Ahmed] on Friday night could be described as five alarm fire/jittery trucker speed nervous energy jazz. This characterization may sound negative, but, in fact, the opposite was true. I wanted more of their relentless sound. 

During his reading on Saturday morning, Geoff Dyer enthused about [Ahmed]’s show the previous night, and, sure enough, he was seated in the front row leaning in as close as he could to the band. [Ahmed] chose to begin their set with a Latin jazz-tinged piece called “African Bossa Nova,” originally recorded by Ahmed Abdul-Malik. This selection made Saturday night a little more fun as at times they could have been mistaken for a second line brass band in New Orleans, rather than “music to listen to while being chased by a bear” on Friday. [Ahmed] were like The Necks with a sax, only much more aggressive than at any point in The Necks’ musical output. [Ahmed] played with dynamics in volume as well as a breaking down of the piece and then building it back up while the drummer maintained the relentless rhythm the entire time. At the end, the song even sounded like early ska recording from Jamaica before everyone came to a complete stop in unison. I now have season tickets for [Ahmed] as well.

Water Damage
The Standard
The chosen few who had the stamina to make it to the closing performance late Saturday night/early Sunday morning bore witness to Water Damage, the loose collective of anyone who happens to be free that night. For Big Ears, the band’s core members were joined by fellow Big Ears performers David Grubbs, Edsel Axle, Wendy Eisenberg, and Bonner Kramer on guitars, bringing the number of performers on The Standard stage at 11 (or possibly 12, as there was another dude with a green guitar that I spotted later that I couldn’t remember if I had originally counted him. It was very late.). The drones started immediately; drones upon drones upon drones upon drones, before eventually the gigantic sound of drums kicked in. Following Water Damage’s ethos, this group stayed on the single chord without breaking, maintaining the slow, thunderous pace for the entire time. Sometimes, a player offered up a slight variation on the chord, but they all returned to the agitated, turbulent, and monstrous sound. There were many histrionics to track throughout the hour-long performance: Eisenberg varied between sticking her tongue out, rock and roll style and seemingly falling apart like Marty McFly trying to find chords while his picture disappears at the end of Back to the Future. Kramer played his acoustic Spanish guitar upside and over his head for large portions of the set. The female drummer started the performance off intently and furiously pounding her drum before giving away to a smile at the end. Without any warning to the audience, the collective came to a complete stop and the audience was left to wonder what was next even though we were well into Sunday morning at that point.

Sunday, March 30, 2025

Guitar Talk and Round Robin Performance
Blue Note Lounge
On Sunday morning, writer and guitar player Joel Harrison led a panel of all-star experimental guitar players, featuring Brandon Ross, Nels Cline, and Mary Halvorson to talk all-things-guitars. While on the topic of the ubiquity of the guitar, Harrison asked the room to raise their hand if they play guitar, and perhaps 90% of the crowd raised their hand (though we were at Big Ears, so that wasn’t exactly a statistically accurate representative sample). Halvorson shared that once when she was carrying her guitar case in an airport, a gentleman came up to her and exclaimed, “I play guitar too!” Her response was, “Well, yeah.” All the panelists agreed that they started playing because of Jimi Hendrix and Halvorson remembered that she had mentioned the same thing to Cline in the past, and he replied, “The difference is that he was playing live when I started and, when you started, it was classic rock.” A few other notable quotes included the following from Ross: “Technique is the result of the music, not the other way around” and guitar playing “can sound like the end of the world or like a rose opening up,” courtesy of Cline. Then, the panelists teamed up with each other and two other players — Gregory Uhlmann and Wendy Eisenberg — for quick improvisations. The Halvorson-Cline pairing included more than a few moments that brought to mind exaggerated Looney Tunes springing sounds, whereas Eisenberg and Ross summoned up sweeping, horizontal vistas with their playing.

Lonnie Holley
Mill & Mine
Talking to Big Ears attendees about their highlights from the festival, many noted the “secret show” by Lonnie Holley put on at the small, 72-person capacity room at Boyd’s Jig and Reel. From their telling, he improvised music for more than two hours with an all-star cast. His performance on Sunday afternoon was at a much larger venue and stayed within the allotted time as Holley delivered his typical incantatory improvised rants and songs of praise. He and his 12-piece band played quiet, thoughtful, reflections, which they sometimes built up to maximum volume. Other times, Holley left his keyboard to strut across stage, encouraging his band to match his swagger and create a driving, blues grind. Perhaps the most memorable thing that Holley said to the audience: “I love you all but I ain’t telling you nothing but the truth.” Thank you, Brother Holley.

Marisa Anderson
The Point
Solo guitarist Marisa Anderson took the stage with her silver-grey electric guitar in the afternoon light of The Point and said, “This is strange because I usually play at night, and I’m not used to being able to see your faces.” Perhaps that wasn’t such a bad thing because I’m sure those faces either held smiles or appreciation throughout Anderson’s hour-long set of striking blues covers such as “Keep Your Lamp Trimmed and Burning” and a selection of her original compositions. One highlight was a piece that she said she wrote at the beginning of the pandemic after researching the fact that we still prepare bodies for burial the same way as they did in 12th century Ireland. Though that intro sounded fit for a death metal attack song, Anderson’s tune was wistful, yet powerful.

Edsel Axle
Boyd’s Jig and Reel
I was especially excited to experience Edsel Axle (the persona that the singer-songwriter Rosali takes on for her improvised, solo electric guitar performances) live because, when I interviewed her in 2023, she didn’t have plans to perform as Edsel Axle in front of an audience. Now less than two years later, Big Ears was a culmination of a small Edsel Axle tour. Equipped with her Gibson SG and an array of looping gear and effects pedals, Axle began her hour-plus length set by saying, “Let’s have a bit of an adventure.” Each piece was an example in patiently constructed, improvised soundscapes as she would play for a while, identify a motif that needed to be featured, sampled the motif, looped it, and then moved on to the next loop. She then repeated the same process over again until there were five or six loops ringing out all at once over which she played a final solo over all of the parts before bringing the piece to a conclusion. Sometimes, she would sing lovely, yet haunting, wordless vocals into the sampler/loop machine and then layer on additional guitar playing or sometimes even more vocals in which she harmonized with herself. The guitar sounds Axle produced ranged from Ry Cooder-esque fills to woozy chord progressions to weird, theremin-sounding trills. It was an extraordinary experience to witness someone create an entirely new version of the Dead Man soundtrack in front of you at a tiny Knoxville bar on a Sunday afternoon. I look forward to the next Edsel Axle release!

Fieldwork (Vijay Iyer / Steve Lehman / Tyshawn Sorey)
Bijou Theatre
This was my third show at 2025 Big Ears that featured Vijay Iyer, but despite playing in approximately 432 different performances at Big Ears, I had yet to see Tyshawn Sorey play the drums. That changed with this Fieldwork concert that also included Steve Lehman on sax. I was only able to see three pieces by this trio, but the high level of expertise on display was stunning. The first piece had a quiet, unsettling tone that included extended moments of free playing by all three at once before they returned to the original motif. But it was in the other two pieces in which Fieldwork showed they know how to light a fuse and blow the roof off of the place, expertly trading off explosive solos at high speed.

Amaro Freitas
St. John’s Cathedral
The 33-year old jazz pianist Amar Freitas was one of my most anticipated acts on the 2025 Big Ears lineup because his 2018 album Rasif was one of my first discoveries when I first started using Bandcamp. Rasif is a dizzying and dazzling portrayal of Brazilian style jazz. Every song makes you ask in wonder, “Who is this guy?” It was unclear from the program description if Freitas would play with a group, as he does on Rasif, or perform solo. Entering the beautiful St. John’s sanctuary, only a single piano was set up onstage. Freitas commenced playing and as a result of his speed and dexterity, I kept scoffing to myself with the exceptional nature of the music. I had to control myself from making sputtering noises of disbelief out loud, the same I use when watching a replay of Nikola Jokić pass and yelling, “SICK!” During the beginning of the second piece, Freitas reached into the inside of the piano to deaden a few strings, pounding on those keys at a rapid pace to produce a beat that sounded like electronica. He eventually released those strings and resumed his thrilling, high stakes playing. 

After a few numbers, Freitas took to the microphone and first started with praise for the piano at St. Johns, stating, “I would like to marry this piano.” He then talked about his time spent in the rainforest of the Amazon and explained that he was going to insert objects into the strings to create a prepared piano so as to present a piece representing the sounds of the Amazonian rainforest. Using a sampler that must have been inside the piano, he created loops that included percussive sounds and a variety of different wooden whistles replicating bird and animal noises. He then began to play the piano and sing wordless vocals over this layered bed of sounds and rhythms conjuring up my memories of every Amazon rainforest documentary I’ve ever watched. 

Any seasoned music fan can tell you that in addition to being primarily associated with melody, the piano is also a percussive instrument. No other piano player that I’ve seen perform used those piano qualities to such extreme ends at the same time as with the second to last piece by Freitas. He prepared the piano so that a few keys in the middle were deadened, allowing him to take an extended drum solo on the prepared piano. He then proceeded to play both the regular and prepared piano parts at the same time. In this way, he was able to be his own drummer. His last song was a reflective piece with beautiful, tender melodies while demonstrating his ability to perform in a quiet mode as well. In summary, it was a spectacular and remarkable showing by Freitas. It was somehow fitting that the Freitas concert was my last at 2025 Big Ears, since it represented the promising future we have in the world of jazz and experimental music.

Photo courtesy of Taryn Ferro.