Amina Claudine Myers: A Tribute to Lester Bowie and Fontella Bass at Jbk Theater At Frederick Community College

There is no artist better situated to give this tribute concert than National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master Amina Claudine Myers. Amina moved to Chicago from Arkansas in 1963, where she began singing and playing piano and organ with jazz greats Sonny Stitt and Gene Ammons. She was an early member of the AACM, performing at their second concert. Like many AACM members, Amina moved to New York in the mid-1970s, where she acted and composed music for off-Broadway productions and served as assistant musical director for the Tony-winning "Aint Misbehavin." In 78, she began a lengthy collaboration with Lester, touring and recording in his quintet, his New York Organ Ensemble, and, most importantly, From the Root to the Source with Fontella. ...

read more

There is no artist better situated to give this tribute concert than National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master Amina Claudine Myers. Amina moved to Chicago from Arkansas in 1963, where she began singing and playing piano and organ with jazz greats Sonny Stitt and Gene Ammons. She was an early member of the AACM, performing at their second concert. Like many AACM members, Amina moved to New York in the mid-1970s, where she acted and composed music for off-Broadway productions and served as assistant musical director for the Tony-winning "Aint Misbehavin." In 78, she began a lengthy collaboration with Lester, touring and recording in his quintet, his New York Organ Ensemble, and, most importantly, From the Root to the Source with Fontella.

Since then, Amina has recorded and performed with a cross-section of jazz luminaries, including Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Charlie Hadens Liberation Music Orchestra, and Pulitzer Prize winner Henry Threadgill. She has issued eleven recordings under her name for major labels in the US and Europe. Amina is also a prolific composer, including Interiors for chamber orchestra, "When the Berries Fell" for 16 voices, pipe organ and percussion, and Where I Am Going for orchestra, commissioned in 2010 by The Jazz Institute of Chicago in honor of jazz pioneer Mary Lou Williams centennial. Amina has received many grants and awards, including National Endowment for the Arts, Meet The Composer, and The New York Foundation for the Arts. She was inducted into the Arkansas Black Hall of Fame 2001 and the Arkansas Jazz Hall of Fame 2010. Amina was named a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master in 2024.

show less