Photo: Shigeo Anzai

New Music, New York was a nine-day festival that featured 54 composers for a series of performance and discussions around experimental music. Converging different music communities from across the country, New Music, New York provided a comprehensive development of music at that time. This festival coincided with two other events:the Institute of the Music Critics Association at which critics across the country gathered to discuss issues of post-Cageian music and a national conference of the Directors of New Music Centers that focused on future plans relative to contemporary composers and related organizations. Exploring music using microprocessing and video equipment as musical media to new wave rock, New Music, New York also presented a number of emerging African American composers that produced music based on modern jazz traditions, and they included Spencer Barefield, Don Cherry, Jeanne Lee, and George Lewis.