Burnt Sugar The Arkestra Chamber: The Woodstock Edition

Burnt Sugar the Arkestra Chamber is a sprawling band of musicians whose prodigious personnel allows them to freely juggle a wide swath of the experimental soul-jazz-hip hop spectrum. Founded by Village Voice icon Greg Tate and co-led with Dayton Ohio monster bassist Jared Michael Nickerson since 1999. In 2025, Burnt Sugar The Arkestra Chamber celebrates twenty-six years of ‘never playing anything the same way once. This will mark their Woodstock area debut!

“Burnt Sugar got the nerve to claim Sly Stone, Morton Feldman, Billie Holiday, Jimi Hendrix and Jean Luc Ponty as progenitors. Our player-ranks include 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.” – Greg Tate

Burnt Sugar was originally conceived as a forum for the New York area improvisational musician to compose, record and perform material which reflects the breadth and depth of American diasparan music in the 21st century. The intent of the Arkestra Chamber, through the deployment of Butch Morris’s conduction system, is to make every performance a fresh interpretation of its constituent parts.

Rather than limit themselves to the straight jackets that the commercial recording industry uses to market contemporary Black Music, Burnt Sugar freely moves amongst many styles, eras and genres to devise its own exciting hybrids. These hybrids are based on a solid foundation of various musical traditions and the use of cutting-edge music technology. In this sense the group mission honors its deepest inspirations, the first post-modernists of American music – Duke Ellington, Sun Ra, Parliament Funkadelic and The Art Ensemble of Chicago.

This very accomplished crew has playing credits that range from Cecil Taylor, Charlie Musselwhite, Melvin Van Peebles, Lady Keir, Toshi Reagon, Vernon Reid, Arto Lindsey, DJ Logic, John Paul Bourelly, Gary Lucas, TV On The Radio, Tamar Kali, Mark Ribot, Phish, William Parker, Lizz Wright, The Holmes Brothers, Wadada Leo Smith, The The, David Murray, Thurston Moore, and Joseph Bowie to let you know.

**B.A. Miale will be on live visuals!**

Check out this video: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=VD-5sVTAHn8#bottom-sheet

BSAC’s Woodstock Edition line-up is:

Shelley Nicole – Vocals/Conduction
Bruce Mack – Vocals/Conduction
Abby Dobson – Vocals
Miss Olithea – Vocals/Electronics
V. Jeffrey Smith – Tenor & Soprano Saxes
Leon Gruenbaum – Keyboards & Samchillian
Ben Tyree – Electric Guitar
LaFrae Sci – Trap Drums & Electronics
Shawn Banks – Congas & Percussion
Jared Michael Nickerson – Electric Bubble Bass
LaRonda Davis – BSAC Road Manager/Merchandise Sales Folk