Peter Kowald Memorial Set For Oct. 1

By I Oct. 1, 2002

On Sept. 21, bassist Peter Kowald died of a heart attack at the age of 58 years in the New York home of his friends Patricia Nicholson and William Parker. The community of the improvised downtown music scene is coming together to celebrate Kowald and to share its memories with a tribute today at 8 p.m. at the Center at Old St Patrick Cathedral.

Some fo the artists scheduled to perform at the memorial, which will feature musicians and dancers in various combinations, are: Joe McPhee, William Parker, Joelle Leandre, Reggie Workman, Todd Nicholson, Andrew Cyrille, Rashied Ali, Tatsuya Nakatani, Assif Tsahar, Billy Bang , Ellen Christi, Roy Campbell and Karl Berger.

Kowald helped start the FMP label and festival, which represented the free jazz scene in Germany. In New York in the ’80s he was the chief organizer of the Sound Unity Festivals.