Read Burk's LA Times story here. Note: Since I talked to the principals (over a month ago), a couple of things changed, as I saw when I attended Friday night: The oral history had been omitted, and films by Robert Fenz and Ismail Ali were added to the video projections behind the musicians (images manipulated by not only Jesse Gilbert but Carole Kim).
And let me just add this condensed explanation that Wadada provided for his music; I didn't have room for it:
"My music is non-metrical in configurations and structural designs. Therefore it is proportional in its construction, having a constant ratio to other quantities within the score. The music mobility is realized as a result of its constructed
figures. I compose for all instruments using their original tonality, such as the B-flat, A, F, E-flat instruments, which are not transposed to become a false instrumental tonality in C. I compose in this way to allow each instrument to activate its own sonic spectrum based on the tonality of the instrument as designed."
Classy pic by Carolyn Cole.