![Jazz Night Inspired by Surrealism](https://matthewfries.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/1C6C8C65-A98D-4A28-A5D0-92B82DB3D8E5_1_201_a-217x300.jpeg)
I recently did a solo piano performance and discussed connections and similarities between the surrealist art movement and the development of jazz improvisation as part of a wonderful exhibition at the Flint Institute of Arts called Beyond Dreams: Surrealism and Its Manifestations. The exhibition featured well-known artists like Salvador Dalí, Joan Miro, and Leonora Carrington, as well as contemporary artists like Kenny Scharf, Sergei Isupov, and Peter Milton.
I had so much fun taking the audience on a journey focusing on well-known elements of surrealism like chance and surprise. Obviously these are things that already play a huge role in the language of jazz improvisation, but it was fun to really highlight and demonstrate them for a curious audience of people more focused on the visual arts. I may have even won over a few new jazz fans!
![](https://matthewfries.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/D38C3A07-9C0A-4102-85DB-1760B3FA74F6-1024x768.jpeg)