In July 1970 La Fondation Maeght in the South of France hosted a series of concerts, curated by Daniel Caux, a French musicologist, essayist, journalist, music critic, and radio producer. These extraordinary events showcased both electronic / minimalist music and avante garde free jazz alongside with the bold visual and conceptual art of the time. Fifty five years on – almost to the day – La Fondation Maeght , along with DJ/broadcaster/producer Gilles Peterson, has just hosted ‘Impressions’, their second 2 day event at the gallery, and it was a blast. It revived the groundbreaking musical spirit of the now legendary 1970 concerts – Sun Ra, Albert Ayler, Terry Riley, Cecil Taylor, Milford Graves, LaMonte Young, Terry Riley, Pierre Boulez, John Cage and Marian Zazeela – and introduced a new generation of listeners and art lovers to the works of Celine Dessberg, Joweee Omicil and Idris Ackamoor and The Pyramids.

As we ascend the hill that takes us to La Fondation Maeght, the commune of St Paul-De-Vence comes into view. One the oldest medieval towns on the French Riviera it had long held a serious rep as a centre for contemporary art. It has been home to both Henri Matisse and James Baldwin. Of all the galleries in St Paul-De-Vence it’s La Fondation Maeght that carries the swing. Upon arriving in the gardens surrounding the modernist buildings which host their impressive collection of artworks, you are hit by a mind blowing array of sculpture that shares the space with the towering pines. A carpet of sound is laid down by an army of crickets.

It’s Friday evening and the people have yet to arrive. We pass through the gallery entrance and exit onto the courtyard which is home to Giacometti’s The Walking Man sculptures. Everywhere is a gentle sound track of running water and it’s immediately obvious that three of the biggest sculptors of the 20th century – Georges Braque, Joan Miró and Alberto Giacometti – had a significant free hand in helping to create La Fondation Maeght.

Memories of the previous year’s event flooded back. Together with his good friend, the late Emmanuel Delavenne of Hotel Amour in Nice, Gilles Peterson had convinced La Fondation’s executive director, Nicolas Gitton, and the Maeght family that an event celebrating 1970’s Nuits De La Fondation Maeght could be of significant value both culturally and musically. If the event was deemed successful, an annual happening might have the potential to introduce La Fondation Maeght and its work to a new generation of art and music lovers both at home and globally.

The very first incarnation of what has become ‘Impressions’ arrived in August 2024 and showcased an eclectic, outernational line up that embraced AACM / Chicago based Kahil El Zabar’s Ethnic Heritage Ensemble; Mongolian jazz singer / songwriter Erkhembayar Enkhjargal aka Enji; Austrian alto, soprano, tenor saxophonist and composer Muriel Grossmann and finally, award winning Paris born / Syrian flautist/vocalist/composer, Naïssam Jalal Naïssam and her Rhythms of Resistance.

As I was there to select the music between sets I can testify as to the power of the music that was delivered over two spectacular nights. The line up for 2025 looked equally promising.

Paris based Céline Dessberg proved an intriguing presence. A singer songwriter whose music echoes her roots on the steppes of Mongolia took the stage with acoustic guitar and the somewhat dramatic yatga  – a large, traditional Mongolian zither-harp hybrid. As the rays of the setting sun slid through the trees she plied her audience with short evocative songs, sung in French. Though the lyrics were over this listener’s head, a good french speaking friend was smitten with her words. She was on the edge of tears. There’s a profound poetic nostalgia at work Céline’s songs that you can explore further on the EP – ‘Hödöö’- and the single ‘Selenge’ b/w ‘Chintamani’.

Jowee Omicil is a Haitian-Canadian jazz musician and his set was destined to take us into another dimension. The posters for ‘Impressions’ session promised a Freedom Suite based on a pivotal moment in Haitian history – the Bwa Kayiman / Bois Caïman – a secret gathering of slaves born in Saint-Domingue or Africa which took place in 1791. It was led by the legendary Vodou priest Boukman and the ceremony sparked the slave revolts which led to freedom and independence from France in 1804 . Across centuries, the Bwa Kayiman has remained a controversial symbol of Haitian resistance and unity. Based on his current album – Spiritual Healing: Bwa Kayiman Freedom Suite – the ensemble filed onstage with Jowee blowing frantically into a long horn, a vaksin, that holds a central place in Haiti’s RaRa ensembles.

As the sun retreated and night time descended so the music shifted and morphed in intensity. Underpinned by two trap drummers and traditional tanbou drums, Jowee Omicil channeled the spirits. He offered us a dynamic range of sound born of an impressive familiarity with his instruments which included alto and tenor saxes, bass clarinet, flute, pocket trumpet and an electronic device which replicated the sound of the accordion,  evoking the sound of acoustic Haitian twoubadou music. It was down to their impressive pianist, Jonathon Jurion, to take flight from the propulsive rhythms of the drummers and open up space for his impressive solos. As a possessed Jowee stalked along the wall in front of the stage he regaled the audience seeking their vocal participation. Both impressionistic and intense, the shape shifting music of Jowee Omicil won the ensemble a well deserved encore that took them right up to curfew.

Saturday night a La Fondatiom Maeght offered something different. Headlining the night was Idris Ackamoor and the Pyramids who had flown in from the West Coast in the States and their set was to be followed by a “late night” two hour DJ set by Gilles Peterson.

The choice of Idris Ackamoor and the Pyramids was, in part, inspired by their connection to pianist / composer Cecil Taylor who performed at Nuits de la Fondation Maeght  on July 29, 1969. As students at Antioch College, a private liberal arts college in Yellow Springs, Ohio, the founding members of the Pyramids –Idris Ackamoor, Margaux Simmons and Kimanthi Asante – all grew as musicians under the tutelage of the Visiting Professor of Music and Artist In Residence, Cecil Taylor. The pianist had arrived at Antioch in 1971 with a whole entourage that included Jimmy Lyons (alto) , Andrew Cyrille (drums), James Thompson (poet), Sam Rivers / Kalaparusha Maurice McIntyre (tenor) and Clifford Sykes (percussion) and Ken Miller (dancer). For Idris: “working with Cecil was like being on another planet” and for Margaux: “It was all music from there on in.”

According to Idris, there was one class that Cecil taught which was to significantly shape his life along with Margaux and Kimathi’s: “He also taught a class on black music history, the history of black music, which involved not only jazz, American jazz, but it involved history, and a lot of history of Africa, going back a long time ago. He brought in a multitude of historical information that we had not received elsewhere, we learned a lot about ancient traditions.”

Upon finishing the course at Antioch, Idris and Margaux decided to form a band and go to Europe and Africa. Through Antioch International’s ‘Your Own Plans’ project they secured round the world tickets and a $300 monthly stipend. Kimathi came on board and the trio’s first stop was Paris which was overflowing with jazz musicians. After an intensive six week course of learning French at the University of Besanson they decided to name their group the Pyramids. Following an encounter with beat poet Ted Joans in Amsterdam they set off for Africa, first landing in Tangiers. From there they travelled to Dakar and then onto Ghana where they took up a residency. From Accra they ventured north to Bolgatanga and Tamale to explore the traditional music – which they professionally recorded. In Bolgatanga they encountered the animist / juju beliefs of the Fra Fra and In the Islamic kingdom of Dagbom they played with the drummers of the royal court. Their stop off in Uganda was cut short when Idi Amin took over and one soldier declared, “Cut your beard or we will cut your neck!”

During their two month stay in Kenya they travelled from village to village studying the music, singing, dancing and food of the Masai and the Kikuyu. Idris maintains it was a miraculous time and it paved the way for the next journey. While Kamathi headed for Egypt and the pyramids, Idris and Margaux traveled to Ethiopia in search of Lalibela and the rock churches that Cecil Taylor had told them about.

“Lalibela was like, wow. That was the place to be, ” says Idris. We had a guide take us to the rock churches, we must have visited three or four of the churches. But the most unbelievable [part] of all of this is that the priests were making all this amazing music inside the churches, and they allowed me to tape their ceremonies. It was unbelievable.”

From there it was back to the USA. Now working as the Pyramids they recorded three, seminal, self produced albums – ‘Lalibela’, ‘King Of Kings’, ‘Birth /Speed/Merging’ – which were built around the deep experiences of traveling and living across the African continent. Over the decades these LPs ensured the cult status of an ensemble that was sadly short-lived. Basically, the Pyramids were ahead of their time leading each member to go their separate ways. However, in 2010 through Strut records the Pyramids were reborn.

After years in the trenches dealing with activism, theatre and music in the San Francisco area, Idris was ready to deliver a 21st century version of the Pyramids with a vivid, wide screen, musical vision that embraced their own roots from the Cecil Taylor workshops to the drummers of the Dagbom to the funk of Sly Stone and Funkadelic to the militancy of Fela Kuti to the Afrofuturism of Sun Ra. They have cut four albums for Strut – ‘We Are All Africans’, ‘ An Angel Fell’, ‘Shaman’, Afrofuturist Dreams’ – which has put them back on the global stage including the La Fondation Maeght.

Onstage at La Fondation the Pyramids are a joy to behold. The flamboyant Idris is accompanied by Margaux on flutes, the magical Sandy Pointdexter on violin and the long, tall, Bay Area don Bobby Cobb on guitar and they are joined by their excellent Italian rhythm section of Giole Pagliaccia on drums, Lorenzo Gasperoni on percussion and Ricardo Di Vinci on bass. The 700 strong audience are clearly in the presence of  four life loving elders, possessed with both deep musical knowledge and skills born of the African diaspora.

The timeless, call and response, afrobeat driven ‘We are All Africans Now’ launches the set and sets the vibe with its tuff drum ‘n’ conga rhythms, Idris’ raw tenor solo has shades of Pharaoh and offers us a stratospheric violin solo. The follow up ‘Erotictress’ is not a composition we’re familiar with and it segues into ‘Thank You God’ with its uplifting invocation on alto and violin. It’s immediately recognisable, as is the sweet singalong chorus of.. “Jahova, Elegba, Allah, Jah … Oh Thank You Go, Oh Thank You… ” which is delivered by Margaux and Sandy. This is spiritual jazz that goes straight to the dancing feet and offers echoes of Leon Thomas, Trane and Ra. It’s a song for the healing of the planet and ‘Moonlight and Sunshine’, taken from Idris’ recent collaboration with choreographer /activist Rhodessa Jones and actor Danny Glover, continues the theme and elevates the spirit. There’s no mistaking the rootical funky intro of ‘Rhapsody In Berlin’ which grooves hard and has this listener watching guitarist Bobby Cobb closely. There are rippling conga riffs and hard horn solos. ”Now ‘ urges us to “live our lives NOW”… to look into ourselves to stop the hate and stop the wars. It’s a poignant message over a circular violin riff and bass line that heads straight to the heart of a troubled world from Gaza to Ukraine and beyond. ‘Shaman’ is the perfect culmination of a set that had those gathered, on their feet and cutting some steps on the gravel. Building on Margaux’s flute and Idris’ spoken word intro ‘Shaman’ gives an opportunity for all to shine. Solid Afro-Funk drums with crisp rhythm guitar, an ethereal flute, soaring violin, bubbling bass and congas… a sax solo that rises up in the trees and a night sky that is lit by a dramatic half moon.

There’s a sense of euphoria in the air as the musicians leave the stage and Gilles Peterson takes on the challenge of maintaining and building the vibe. The Maeght’s director, Nicolas Gitton, is curious to see how that’s done. He’s not sure if it’s actually  possible. That said, Peterson rapidly lays that question to rest. He gets busy plundering a large bag of vinyl and commences building a typically innovative eclectic set consciously free of a 4-to-floor mindset. There is a genuine sense of improvisation as he shifts rapidly from on tune to next dropping in a range of voice samples including Albert Ayler and Sun Ra. Watching him work a crowd is a joy to behold. I’m sure most of those present have never heard him play before. There’s jazz, funk, Latin, Brazil… I spot my good friend Janine Neye’s bucket hat dipping and bobbing in time to the music. She’s captured a spot to the side of the DJ booth. I’m sure her feet are flying. I also caught sight of the violinist, Sandy Pointdexter, grey dreads tied back, boogieing with a posse of women overlooking the dance space. As the two hour set neared its end it was tremendous to hear Ra’s version of ‘Enlightenment’, recorded at The Maeght five decades earlier, and experience it connecting with today’s dancers. As Gilles said after the session and the space emptied, “That was a moment. It felt like the circle had been completed.”