Austin Jazz Hero
Austin prides itself on its progressive and offbeat mindset. It is also the capital of a state with a rich history of avant-garde luminaries, from Ornette Coleman to Julius Hemphill. One would expect to find a culture in Austin that supports creative music. But by the 1990s the city’s music scene, as far as exploration was concerned, had become increasingly limited (although the Creative Opportunity Orchestra founded by Tina Marsh was holding forth). In 1998, Pedro “P.G.” Moreno, then a student at the University of Texas, initiated a sea change when he founded the presenting organization Epistrophy Arts.
Epistrophy Arts began as a fluke. Moreno had learned that a friend planned to bring high energy, open format multi-instrumentalists Joe McPhee and Arthur Doyle to Houston and offered them a bonus gig in Austin (160 miles away). This first booking proved successful, leading to countless more concerts over the ensuing 25 years and turning Epistrophy Arts into the primary contractor bringing world-class improvisers to a city where they would otherwise seldom find welcome.
Furthermore, Epistrophy Arts has been in the forefront of a local artistic culture that has only continued to flourish. Organizations including the Sonic Transmissions Festival, the Church of the Friendly Ghost and the No Idea Festival have followed Moreno’s lead, as has the record label Astral Spirits.
Moreno also regularly brings visiting musicians to perform at local elementary schools. These opportunities expose children – future artists, perhaps – to beautiful, individualistic art before society forces its hegemonic homogeneity on them. Though P.G. Moreno is far from the first to support the Austin creative music scene, its currently unimaginable without him.
By Rob Shepherd, Photo by Ivan Moreno
