SPEAKERS

Saxophonist, composer, adjunct staff and researcher at the master course «Music Technology and Contemporary Practices» of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens.

Event Title: 
Dimitri Vassilakis: Jazz improvisation and AI interaction

Abstract: Dimitri Vassilakis presents "Jazz & AI interaction” using DYC12 and Omax system developed at IRCAM. 
The system interacts in real time with human-musicians by reshuffling fragments of music and visual material. The system inputs original music and poetry articulated by the human musicians and its response is triggered by the length, attack, gesture movements and articulation of the saxophone and guitar improvisations. 

Music and poetry concept by Dimitri Vassilakis 
The video art was created by the visual artist Lydia Venieri especially for “Pasiphae’ s Dance”, a composition by Dimitri Vassilakis that was presented during Jazz Democracy Forum at the United Nations.
The performance and the talk will focus on jazz improvisation as storytelling, the connection with language, poetry and prose, as well as its applications to artificial intelligence and natural language processing systems. We also explore the effect of such an AI use on prominent improvisational concepts as the Sonny Rollins’ concept of “thematic development/linearity” and John Coltrane’s “sheets of sound/verticality” (John Coltrane). 
The event will be organized on the third day of the conference, 1 April 2020 

Participants: Dimitri Vassilakis, Tilemachos Mousas, Giorgos Apostolopoulos, Dimitris Smailis, Nestoras Vassilakis