Avant Garde celebrates musicians who challenge established conventions, explore unfamiliar musical territories, and create
new possibilities for sound. The work acknowledges innovators such as Tito Puente and Sun Ra, whose approaches to
rhythm, instrumentation, composition, and experimentation expanded musical expression. Skira assembles salvaged and
altered objects into a vertical composition housed within a pointed architectural frame. The arrangement incorporates
representations of a trumpet, xylophone, flute, and tambourine, alongside an afro comb with an eye that introduces vision
and creative possibility. The selection and combination of instruments are intentional. In conventional jazz ensembles, the
combination of a trumpet with instruments such as the xylophone, flute, or tambourine is less typical. By bringing these
instruments together, Skira references musicians who moved beyond established arrangements and introduced new
sounds. Black, gold, and silver unify the composition, while overlapping instruments suggest musical dialogue and
experimentation. Avant Garde also acknowledges that juke joints and other gathering spaces were places of musical
innovation, where musicians exchanged ideas and developed new forms.

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