“Slow Fade to Black” Celebrates Brooklyn Like It’s Never Been Celebrated Before

“Slow Fade to Black” premiers tonight at Celebrate Brooklyn!, and judging from the New York Times article today, the multimedia collaboration isn’t the festival’s standard fare.

Jazz pianist Geri Allen performs in concert halls and clubs. Filmmaker and photographer Carrie Mae Weems works in museums an galleries. But tonight in Prospect Park, they pair join forces with a kind of double-scored performance: Allen’s score is musical. Weems’ is visual.

The resulting piece — which, in addition to Allen’s playing and Weems’ projections, will also feature tap dancer Maurice Chestnut, singers Lizz Wright and Patrice Rushen, and Howard University’s vocal jazz ensemble, Afro Blue — is a semi-improvisational multimedia meditation on what Weems calls “this idea of a woman’s journey, the span of a life.”

“Slow Fade to Black” starts at 8pm tonight (doors open at 7) at the Prospect Park Bandshell. Like most of the festival, it’s free, with a $3 suggested donation.