‘Sites & Sounds From Big Ears’ Expands Streaming Program

‘Sites & Sounds from Big Ears’, the pandemic-response streaming initiative launched by the Big Ears Festival, will continue with a new slate of post-election programming that includes a 5-week, 15-show Norwegian Digital Jazz Festival; an incantatory performance by the legendary artist and two-time Big Ears alumni Lonnie Holley; and an assembly of guitarists — featuring Marisa Anderson, William Tyler, and Yasmin Williams — that delves deep into rich American traditions while advancing a contemporary vision for the instrument.

Big Ears is the exclusive North American presenter of the Norwegian Digital Jazz Festival, a 15-program series launching on Friday, November 6. Norway has been home to a rich and fertile jazz scene for decades which has been documented extensively by ECM Records. The streaming festival offers a multi-faceted portrait of the country’s unique scene, over seven double-bill concerts, featuring artists including pianist Bugge Wesseltoft, saxophonist Tryvge Seim, guitarist Eiven Aarset, and trumpeters Mathias Eick and Nils Petter Molvær, plus an evening with pianist Tord Gustavsen. The entire festival was elegantly filmed at the Sentralen performing arts center in Oslo, Norway.

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Acclaimed visual and performing artist Lonnie Holley will be joined by a remarkable ensemble featuring cellists Ben Sollee and Dave Eggar, guitarists Christopher Paul Stelling and Phil Faconti, fiddler Evie Andrus, and drummer Jordan Ellis. The band — assembled from musicians across the region — made this special recording set-up in the round at Knoxville’s The Mill & Mine, one of the cornerstone Big Ears venues.

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Marisa Anderson, William Tyler, and Yasmin Williams — three of today’s most creative guitarists — gather for filming at the Loghaven Artist Residency. Performing solo, duo and trio at this bucolic South Knoxville site, the musicians each showcase their unique musical vision on the instrument and then come together in collaboration.