Burnt Sugar, The Arkestra Chamber

Biography

Burnt Sugar the Arkestra Chamber is an American improvisational ensemble founded in 1999 by Village Voice icon and guitarist Greg Tate, with co-leadership from bassist Jared Michael Nickerson. Originally conceived as a forum for New York area improvisational musicians to compose, record, and perform material reflecting the breadth of American diasporan music in the 21st century, the band emerged from rehearsals that began in late August 1999 and made their debut at CBGB that same year. The ensemble's approach to music-making is fundamentally shaped by Butch Morris's conduction system—a technique using hand gestures, eye contact, and baton signals rather than traditional conducting—which allows each performance to be a fresh interpretation of the band's constituent parts.

Burnt Sugar's musical palette spans experimental soul, jazz, hip-hop, funk, rock, reggae, heavy metal, and 20th-century classical music, drawing inspiration from post-modernist pioneers including Duke Ellington, Sun Ra, Parliament Funkadelic, and The Art Ensemble of Chicago. The band deliberately resists commercial categorization, instead freely moving among styles and eras to create hybrid compositions grounded in various musical traditions and cutting-edge technology. With a rotating roster of accomplished musicians including keyboardists, guitarists, saxophonists, vocalists, and percussionists, Burnt Sugar has recorded extensively since their 1999 debut album Blood On The Leaf, releasing notable works including the three-CD set That Depends On What You Know (2000), Black Sex Yall Liberation And Bloody Random Violets (2004), and Not April In Paris (2005). The ensemble has performed at prestigious venues including Carnegie Hall and international festivals, establishing themselves as a New York music mainstay.

Fun Facts

• Greg Tate named the ensemble to honor two mystical musical generations: Sun Ra's Arkestra and the Wu Tang Clan's 36 Chambers, conflating these two traditions of mystic composers.
• The band's approach uses conduction—a technique derived from physics terminology—where the bandleader 'plays the band' through hand gestures and physical expressions rather than traditional conducting, making every performance a unique interpretation.
• Burnt Sugar's personnel is deliberately diverse and eclectic, including 'known Irish fiddlers, AACM refugees, Afro-punk rejects, unrepentant beboppers, feminist rappers, jitterbugging doowoppers, frankly loud funk-a-teers and rodeo stars of the digital divide,' according to Greg Tate.
• The band often performs with minimal preparation, frequently working with little more than a concept or melody in mind, allowing spontaneous improvisation to drive the musical outcome.

Musical Connections

Mentors/Influences

• Butch Morris - Developer of the conduction system that serves as the foundational directing methodology for Burnt Sugar's improvisational approach (Conduction system for orchestral improvisation) [1999-present]
• Sun Ra - Spiritual and musical inspiration for the Arkestra concept and approach to communal, exploratory music-making (Sun Ra Arkestra model) [Foundational influence]

Key Collaborators

• Vijay Iyer - Founding member on keyboards (Blood On The Leaf (1999), early Burnt Sugar recordings) [1999-2000s]
• Jared Michael Nickerson - Co-leader and bassist, primary collaborator with Greg Tate (All Burnt Sugar recordings and performances) [1999-present]
• Kirk Douglass - Founding guitarist member (Early Burnt Sugar recordings) [1999-2000s]
• Matana Roberts - Alto saxophonist who joined the ensemble (Black Sex Yall Liberation And Bloody Random Violets (2004)) [2004-present]
• Melvin Van Peebles, Toshi Reagon, DJ Logic, Gary Lucas, TV On The Radio, Tamar Kali, Phish, William Parker, Liz Wright, The Holmes Brothers, Wadada Leo Smith, David Murray, Joseph Bowie - Various artists with whom band members have performed and collaborated (Multiple projects and performances) [Various periods]

Artists Influenced

• Contemporary improvisational and experimental music scene - Burnt Sugar's approach to conduction-based improvisation and genre-blending has influenced the New York downtown music scene and experimental ensemble practices (Ongoing influence through performances and recordings) [1999-present]

External Links

• Spotify
• Wikipedia