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My sister and I made the scenic journey through the picturesque farmlands of central Pennsylvania, through the bucolic splendor of Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley, on a nine-hour road trip to Knoxville, TN, for the annual Big Ears Festival. The fest has become America’s – and perhaps the world’s – most diverse, eclectic, and exploratory festival comprising music, poetry, literature, film, and visual art. Big Ears is an overwhelming sensory and wildly exploratory experience over four days, held between March 27-30, 2025, in the city’s vibrant downtown. Consider nearly two hundred concerts, with many artists playing multiple times, not to mention the poetry, literature, panels, films, and interviews scattered throughout mornings and afternoons in over twenty venues, all due to the comprehensive work of founder Ashley Capps, his staff, and hundreds of volunteers.

Attendees are highly knowledgeable, ardent music fans who consistently warmly respond to the artists. One could choose depth – staying for entire sets, or breadth – combining entire sets and snippets. We did the latter, with days beginning at ten AM for talks/interviews and extending to midnight or later for music. Hardly any artist plays in only one performance, one band, or one configuration. The emphasis is clearly on boundary-pushing artists, mostly in jazz, but one can hear any genre at this festival, from classical to folk, bluegrass, rock, blues, electronica, and the undefinable.

Should be NEA Jazz Master Wadada Leo Smith, the great trumpeter and composer, was associated with four publicized musical performances yet ended up playing in at least seven, including a couple as a sideman, most of which we attended. He seemed ubiquitous and exuded remarkable energy, especially given that he is an octogenarian. Collaboration is clearly a major theme, with multiple one-off performances not seen elsewhere. Heck, so many luminaries are in town! Here are the standout performances that we saw each day (while at the same time yearning for the ones we missed). 

Thursday

-We were fortunate to get into the very small back room at Boyd’s Jig and Reel (a space with a capacity for only a hundred ) for the Alternative Guitar Summit. Hosted by guitarist Joel Harrison, the performance found a medium-sized ensemble, including guitarists Brandon Seabrook and Nate Mercereau, keyboardist Micah Thomas, and drummer Chad Taylor among four others performing Miles Davis’s “In a Silent Way.” The interplay and improvisations were exemplary, and for a piece that is at times languorous, the energy from this group was most vibrant.

-At the Tennessee Theater was scheduled a performance of Charles Lloyd’s Sangam with the late Zakir Hussain and Eric Harland. Due to Hussain’s passing, the show instead became a spiritual celebration of the tablaist’s life with Lloyd and Harland, joined by Bill Frisell, Ganayva (who sang Hussain’s pieces), and Harish Raghavan. The eighty-seven-year-old Lloyd played tenor, flute, tarogato, and piano. The performance was a grand elegy, beautiful but lacking the energy of Lloyd’s usual performances.

-At the Mill and Mine, Tortoise, who hadn’t performed together since 2016, dazzled the audience while switching through multiple instruments. On one song, there were two keyboards. On another, two guitarists. On another, two drummers. And, on another, three vibraphonists, with two members sharing one. Hopefully, that gives you some idea, but their excellent rhythms remained consistent regardless of configuration.

-The new BEATrio of Bela Fleck, Antonio Sanchez, and Edmar Castañeda – banjo, drums, and harp, respectively – elicited one of the warmest, most enthusiastic audience responses I’ve ever heard. Sanchez proved without a doubt that he is one of the best in jazz, and Casteñada somehow played the bass parts with his left hand on the harp while providing the melody with his right, all while totally connected with Fleck, whose playing is always top-tier. Somehow, this unusual configuration works beautifully. Their album is due on May 16.

Friday

-This was the first day of the next three, where we attended morning talks. In this case, Nate Chinen interviewed Ambrose Akinmusire, who offered so much insight into his upbringing, his pressure to perform, and his persistence in mastering his instrument, all spoken so humbly.

-At the Bijou Theater, Immanuel Wilkins performed the music from Blues Blood (Blue Note, 2024), in a performance that included cooking on stage and the elements of the album, such as electronics, and the three vocalists Ganavya, of South Indian descent, Alyssa (AKA June) McDoom, a Black folk artist, and Ghanian vocalist Yaw Agyemen. The core instrumental unit was Wilkins’ quartet featuring pianist Micah Thomas, bassist Rick Rosato, and drummer Kweku Sumbry (also of Ghanaian descent). Like the album, the highly memorable performance married nostalgia with concepts of ancestry, all with a keen awareness of Black struggles and the need for peaceful reflection. Wilkins is a visionary and an incredible soloist. On one of his long solos, he transported me to Coltrane territory with his searching and spiraling statements.

-At the Mill and Mine, we segued from the meditative to the joyful ‘noise’ of the Nels Cline Singers. Keyboardist Brian Marsella was unable to be there as his wife was expecting birth. Nonetheless, we witnessed wild guitar playing of the kind that only Cline can bring, the endless creativity of Cyro Baptista, who used every object in his arsenal, including mouth organs and instruments, the equally wild saxophonist Skerik, the thunder and fury of bassist Trevor Dunn, and drummer Scott Amendola. They did a quieter song in tribute to the late Susan Alcorn, but for the most part, they had the joint rocking. Darn it, though, not enough time to catch the Jeff Parker ETAIVtet. Conflicts like that are the nature of the festival.

-The Tennessee Theater hosted Meshell Ndegeocello, who performed mostly readings from James Baldwin’s novel Another Country (Dial, 1962) rather than her Grammy-winning No More Water: The Gospel of James Baldwin (Blue Note, 2024). The performance was very moving due to her reading of Baldwin and the extraordinary vocals from Justin Hicks and other band members in a relatively stripped-down unit from her usual ensemble. (Josh Johnson was playing with Parker, for example, at the same time.) The funky grooves and neo-soul that we associate with Ndegeocello were ever-present, drawing immense applause.

-Our first of several performances by Wadada Leo Smith took place in the gorgeous, cathedral-like St. John’s, a beautiful room for the resonant, reverberating sound of Smith’s trumpet accompanied by the RedKoral Quartet’s strings. The audience remained utterly quiet and focused on the tension and release, the buoyant crescendos, and the drama of the performance.

– At the Tennessee Theater, Bill Frisell held a ‘family gathering’ which he titled “In My Dreams.” Surrounding him were artists that Bill has played with frequently through the years, a large ensemble producing colorful harmonics and gorgeous textures. They are violinist Jenny Scheinman, violist Eyvind Kang, cellist Hank Roberts, bassist Tony Scherr, drummer Rudy Royston, and saxophonist/clarinetist Greg Tardy. The aptly titled group delivered a sublime, evocative program.

-As strong as each of the prior acts were, the day’s highlight was Ambrose Akinmusire performing the music from honey from a winter stone (Nonesuch, 2025) at The Bijou Theater.  The trumpeter was his highly lyrical and inventive self, deferring often to the incomparable spontaneous rapper/spoken word artist Kokayi and the Mivos String Quartet as well as pianist Sam Harris, Chiquitamagic on synthesizer (with amazing synth-bass tones), and mainstay Justin Brown on drums. Akinmusire’s imagination and vision move beyond boundaries and structures. He seems almost ego-less. Some of his pieces have very little trumpet, almost like the basketball point guard who savors assists more than points. Yet, every facet of searing trumpet playing and compositional craft was in play. Chamber music yields to hip-hop, which surrenders to jazz (Harris is terrific) and back and forth through several sections of tension and release that somehow slithered into the ether, leaving us wanting even more.

Saturday

– We began the day in the Blue Note Lounge as Don Was interviewed Bill Frisell and Nels Cline. Again, the humility from both was striking.

-At Regas Square, the lines for the Kris Davis Trio far exceeded the room’s capacity of two-hundred and fifty by twice that number or more. Eventually, we were able to take in the trio featuring Robert Hurst on bass and Johnathan Blake on drums as they played selections from the excellent Run the Gauntlet (Pyroclastic, 2024).

-At the Bijou Theater, we witnessed a “Wadada doubleheader.” First was his Revolutionary Fire-Love ensemble playing the “Gardens of Peace,  in Five Parts,” a moving new program that was mostly serene and reflective with dramatic dynamics. It was a configuration that featured Andrew Cyrille, Vijay Iyer (who played Rhodes mostly), Cuban altoist Yosvany Terry, pianist Erika Dohi, cellist Ashley Walters, and electronics wizard Seiyoung Jang. The combination of strings, double keyboards, electronics, and Wadada’s stirring trumpet was engaging throughout. Smith and Iyer then delivered a stunning, emotionally resonant performance of their latest recording, Defiant Life (ECM, 2025), a reflective masterpiece.

-At the Civic Auditorium, we caught Joe Lovano’s Paramount Quartet featuring guitarist Julian Lage, bassist Asante Santi Debriano, and drummer Will Calhoun in a spirited, highly rhythmic, and often bluesy performance that contrasted with Lovano’s recent ECM output. Lovano was as spry and energetic as I’ve ever seen him.

-We returned to the Bijou for Sylvie Courvoisier’s Chimaera ensemble featuring Wadada (there he is again), trumpeter Nate Wooley, drummer Kenny Wollesen, bassist Drew Gress and electronics ace Christian Fennesz. Courvoisier often reached into her piano to pluck strings, while Smith and Wooley showed a striking contrast in styles. Wolleson delivered an incredibly potent drum solo, and, overall, it was another study in colorful harmonies and unpredictable dynamic shifts.

-Our next full performance was a clear festival highlight as violinist Jenny Scheinman convened a super reunion of the group that played on All Species Parade (Royal Potato Family, 2024), an album devoted to nature and her native northern California. We were privileged to see guitarists Julian Lage, Bill Frisell, and Nels Cline together on stage alongside pianist Carmen Staff, drummer Kenny Wollesen, and bassist Tony Scherr. The program nicely balanced melodic, lilting strains with energetic solos from Scheinman, Staff, Lage (on acoustic), and the redoubtable Cline on electric. A dancer added to the intrigue. The audience was in awe throughout.

-Saturday was also a snippet day with the likes of the Tyshawn Sorey Trio, SML(which impressed the audience but not this writer, who was in the photo pit and constantly distracted by all the pedal fiddling), Sun Ra Arkestra (complete with Knoel Scott’s cartwheels, potent solos, and an emphasis on the blues), and the ever charismatic Taj Mahal.  Thankfully, we also caught the irresistible Free Form Funky Freqs, with the iconic Vernon Reid, Jamaladeen Tacuma, and drummer Grant Calvin Weston; a blast of firepower funk to end the day.  Our initial plans to see esperanza spalding and Waxahatchee just didn’t materialize.

Sunday

-The day began with two consecutive talks – Nate Chinen hosted a panel with Nels Cline, Chad Taylor, and Melvin Gibbs to discuss the impact of political and social change in 1965 – “Sound, Fire, and Revolutions.” Then Ashley Kahn asked Wadada and Vijay Iyer to delve into the thinking behind Defiant Life. Both were informative and provocative. Don’t miss these kinds of talks if you go next year.

–Drummer Dan Weiss’s Even Odds Trio with monster altoist Miguel Zenon and pianist Matt Mitchell exemplified the art of improvisation at The Standard to kick off the musical day. Having never seen Zenon perform, that was a special treat.

-Also at The Standard, we attended a moving tribute to the late Susan Alcorn, a mix of both the elegiac and the celebratory was delivered impeccably by the ensemble co-led by drummer Ryan Sawyer and guitarist Mary Halvorson. Joining them were vocalist Bonnie Lander, violinist Yuniya Edi Kwon, and cellist Lester St. Louis, with much of the program drawn from the steel guitarist’s recording Pedernal (Relative Pitch, 2020). 

–At the Mill and Mine, we caught most of the performance by Wadada Leo Smith’s Radio Light & Orange Wave Electric, a huge ensemble with three full drum kits on stage. The program began acoustically with Andrew Cyrille and Bob Moses on drums, Min Xiao-Fen on pipa and vocals, and a bass clarinetist. The electric portion featured electronics master Hardedge, drummer Greg Saunier (from Deerhoof), bassist Melvin Gibbs, and guitarists Brandon Ross and Lamar Smith. While the acoustic program married Chinese traditional strains with jazz, the electric ensemble was every bit like Miles Davis’s best electric groups, with Wadada blowing his lines, unadorned in short, crisp phrases that contrasted with his usual elongated, resounding sound heard in most other configurations.

-At The Point – another church – we witnessed yet another performance that straddled the ‘in’ and ‘out’ with Nels Cline’s Consentrik Quartet. Earlier during the fest, Don Was pointed out that their album was #1 on Billboard’s Jazz chart, rather remarkable considering the avant-garde backgrounds of saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock, drummer Tom Rainey, and bassist Chris Lightcap. While the performance was highly vibrant, as Cline always is, there were gorgeous reflective pieces, too, commensurate with the album. The striking aspect was the unison passages between Cline and Laubrock that suddenly diverged into point-counterpoint. The quartet was locked in, to say the least, despite Cline’s modest statement: “We haven’t played in a while, so forgive us as we are thrashing our way through it.”

-Our final full performance took place again at The Standard with the Steve Lehman Trio + Mark Turner saluting Lehman’s former mentor-bandleader Anthony Braxton, again from their recent album The Music of Anthony Braxton (Pi, 2025). Both saxophonists killed it on their solos and impressed even more with their unison sequences of this challenging material. The bass-drum tandem of Matt Brewer and Damion Reid stoked the fire in the engine room.

-Sunday also had some snippets, including a powerful performance from iconoclast Lonnie Holley and uplift from the gospel quartet Dedicated Men of Zion.

As great as this musical experience was, there were at least as many acts missed as those witnessed. We wish we could repeat the four days to craft a completely different schedule, knowing it would be equally fabulous. In fact, this would be true for multiple iterations.

More information about the Big Ears Festival can be found on its website.