Justin Randolph Thompson in collaboration with
Bradly Dever Treadaway, Jason Thompson and Andre Thomas Halyard

Pay Thunder No Mind is a performance work and conversation that examines the economics of Jazz, its role as social music and the legacy of longtime Brooklyn resident Eubie Blake. The work engages the language of the Rent Party and an experimental film to generate a cross institutional and intergenerational critique of moldy fig sentiments in regards to popular music and economic stability. Ethnomusicologists, DJs, Jazz Legends and Jazz advocates come together around the heart of a displaced 1920’s Pipe Organ from Eubie’s birthplace, Baltimore, to engage in 12 rounds of meditative hip hop break beats with syncopated advocacy and few natural breaths. FiveMyles as a site for social engagement and the legendary photographs of Jamel Shabazz are the catalyst for this performance which is part of a series dedicated to a Jazz grant called Friskin’ the Whiskers for  musicians founded in 2016 as an intergenerational and cross institutional effort to wake the sleeping giants of NYC’s jazz history.