Taking place annually on 30 April, the International Jazz Day Global Allstar Concert brings together some of the biggest names from the jazz world. For 20205, the event, which usually takes place in a theatre, moved to an area setting for the first time ever, taking place at Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Arena, led by Herbie Hancock and hosted by Jeremy Irons.
Lighting and Production Designer, Tyler Littman, who has worked with the IJD production since 2014, was directed by the producers to ‘go big’ with his design, which he did by leaning into Abu Dhabi’s forward-looking, futuristic culture. “We also wanted to maintain a feeling of intimacy while making the show fill the enormous space,” Littleman stated.
To achieve this, the LD put together a rig that was “nearly all Ayrton”, supplied by PRG’s hub in Dubai. There were 170 Ayrton fixtures including Argo 6 Wash FX, Cobra, Domino Profile (both regular and PRG GroundControl versions in standard and LT models), Domino Wash S, and Eurus Profile. “PRG has been my production partner for IJD for nearly 10 years, as their global reach helps me to maintain a certain level of quality,” he revealed. “I have always been a fan of Ayrton and the optics and feature set of their fixtures continues to impress me.”
The concept statement behind the arena design was that of a huge digital tree springing up out of the desert, with the trunk and branches made of truss that fanned out overhead, and the lights becoming the leaves. Fixtures were placed linearly down each truss in a repeating profile, beam and wash light configuration.
Littman selected 40 Ayrton Domino Profiles, which he used as the primary spot/profile fixtures to create texture and dimension. “Jazz requires a much softer touch than rock ’n’ roll, but this means we must be able to paint big, beautiful scenes that can hold the audience’s attention with limited dynamics,” explained Littman. “To achieve this, we needed spot/profile fixtures with a large variable zoom ratio, even field, high CRI, and stackable effects. The Domino Profile ticked all those boxes and more. Being able to combine mixed colour with gobos and prisms meant we were able to create a large variety of looks without feeling repetitive.”
A total of 36 Argo 6 Wash FX fixtures served as the primary back/overhead wash light, while 52 Cobras were used throughout the rig for their intense beam capabilities. “There’s so much about this instrument that impresses me, and the phosphor laser source is nothing short of impressive,” Littman said of the fixture. “Inside the arena there was almost no visible falloff in the beam, meaning we were able to create big beamy graphic looks.”
To ensure each band member was properly lit for TV, Littman chose 17 Eurus Profiles to serve as both key and back light. “Given how high the rig was trimmed, we needed an instrument with strong optics and output, a high CRI, and wide zoom ratio as we rely on zoom rather than dimmer for setting the base intensity level, which ensures there is little to no shift in colour temperature,” he explained.
The follow spot offering came from seven Domino Profiles, modified by PRG for use with its Universal GroundControl follow spot system. Three standard Domino Profiles served as remotely operated rear follow spots, while four Domino Profile LT units functioned as the front follow spots. “Given that we were using Dominos as the primary spot fixture, we wanted to ensure that the beams of the follow spots blended in well with the rest of the rig,” Littman said. “As with the Eurus, the Domino’s fantastic optics meant performers looked picture-perfect all the time.”
For audience wash lights, Littman selected 18 Domino Wash fixtures. “There is nothing new or innovative about the technology – plenty of other manufactures make lights with internal, motorised barndoors, but few, if any, work as well as Domino Wash,” he stated. “This was by far the fastest my team has ever knocked out an audience wash and it was near perfect.”
Photo: Tyler Littman
