Music in the age of terrorism

There used to be a mantra among cultural commentators that the events of 9/11 were not producing much of a reaction in the music world. Obviously, those observers spoke too soon, as artists across the spectrum from Bruce Springsteen to Charles Lloyd to John Adams and others have had their say since. The West Coast premiere of Vijay Iyer and Mike Ladd’s “In What Language?” at REDCAT on Thursday night reached for even wider implications.

For composer-keyboardist Iyer and poet Ladd, the trigger for “In What Language?” was a spring 2001 incident involving Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi, who was detained by the INS at New York’s JFK airport while traveling from Hong Kong and Buenos Aires.

Though the incident occurred before 9/11, it was a prescient sign -- and for Iyer and Ladd, it inspired the creation of a series of monologues ostensibly by other foreign-born global travelers trying to survive in a world economy darkened by terrorism and suspicion. Ladd and three actors express the travelers’ thoughts while solarized videos of airport scenes, CNN’s “The New Iraq” and urban streets flash by on the big REDCAT screen.

If there is a unifying element in this 72-minute collision of poetry, politics, music and video, it is the pulse of jazz, and Iyer generates some freewheeling grooves from his jazz septet, often held together by minimalist material.

Iyer crosses the boundaries of contemporary jazz with ease -- from the introspective harmonies of Bill Evans through stomping funk backbeats, hip-hop rhythms, spacey all-electronic passages and mild excursions into free jazz. It’s a fairly successful attempt to turn jazz into some sort of universal language for one night.

Unveiled in 2003, “In What Language?” exists on an audio recording for the Pi label, yet the piece has evolved somewhat since, with two new sections added and improvisatory elements always contributing new perspectives.

One of the new movements is a slow funk workout called “Smoking Section,” which on Thursday featured some fine free exchanges for electric guitar and trumpet.

If anything, the piece has greater unity now than at the time of the recording, as the ensemble segues without interruption from one section and stylistic gear to another. Still, the full effect comes through only after one reads the libretto (handed out after the performance), for the words are sometimes hard to sort out amid the collages of sight and sound.

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‘In What Language?’

Where: REDCAT, Walt Disney Concert Hall, West 2nd and South Hope streets, L.A.

When: 8:30 tonight

Price: $28

Contact: (213) 237-2800