Jazz / avant-jazz / Native American music and storytelling in a beautiful new club in Harlem. Here are short biographies of the musicians:
MIXASHAWN (LEE ROZIE) is a musician on the very highest levels of artistry and power, a fiery tenor saxophonist coming out of the jazz tradition and informed by his Native American and African roots, as well as an extensive knowledge of all musics. He also plays other saxophones, flutes, berimbau, percussion, and more, is also a storyteller, and can sometimes be prevailed upon to sing. Mixashawn is a descendant of the Maheekanew people of the Connecticut River Valley and of Joseph A. Emidy, an 18th-century griot from Guinea, West Africa who carved out an astonishing career as a classical musician and composer in England. Mixashawn himself is an internationally acclaimed jazz composer, master canoe designer and builder, and multi-cultural educator. He performs in concert, at powwows, in clubs, on radio and television, has recorded with many in the jazz "avant-garde," including Rashied Ali, Bobby McFerrin, Vernon Reid, and Ronald Shannon Jackson, toured New England with Henry Grimes in 2004, played in the Vision Festival, and has also been heard in New York at the Weeksville Heritage Center and the Stone. Mixashawn frequently offers educational performances and presentations at cultural centers such as the National Museum of the American Indian (NYC), National Museum of Science and Technology (Washington, DC), Walker Art Center (Minneapolis), Museum of Modern Art (Columbus, Ohio), and Mashentucket Pequot and Peabody Museums (Connecticut), and he teaches and plays at schools including the University of Hartford, Hartt School of Music, Trinity College, Wheeler Elementary School, and Guilford Handcraft Center. In 2007 and 2008, Mixashawn played tenor saxophone in the Symphony for Improvisers double quartet playing music of Don Cherry (Dave Douglas and Roy Campbell, Jr., J.D. Allen and Mixashawn, Henry Grimes and Hilliard Greene, Andrew Cyrille and Hamid Drake) in New York City, the Saalfelden Jazz Festival (Austria), and the Sant'Annarresi Jazz Festival (Sardinia). www.mixashawn.com. ...
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Jazz / avant-jazz / Native American music and storytelling in a beautiful new club in Harlem. Here are short biographies of the musicians:
MIXASHAWN (LEE ROZIE) is a musician on the very highest levels of artistry and power, a fiery tenor saxophonist coming out of the jazz tradition and informed by his Native American and African roots, as well as an extensive knowledge of all musics. He also plays other saxophones, flutes, berimbau, percussion, and more, is also a storyteller, and can sometimes be prevailed upon to sing. Mixashawn is a descendant of the Maheekanew people of the Connecticut River Valley and of Joseph A. Emidy, an 18th-century griot from Guinea, West Africa who carved out an astonishing career as a classical musician and composer in England. Mixashawn himself is an internationally acclaimed jazz composer, master canoe designer and builder, and multi-cultural educator. He performs in concert, at powwows, in clubs, on radio and television, has recorded with many in the jazz "avant-garde," including Rashied Ali, Bobby McFerrin, Vernon Reid, and Ronald Shannon Jackson, toured New England with Henry Grimes in 2004, played in the Vision Festival, and has also been heard in New York at the Weeksville Heritage Center and the Stone. Mixashawn frequently offers educational performances and presentations at cultural centers such as the National Museum of the American Indian (NYC), National Museum of Science and Technology (Washington, DC), Walker Art Center (Minneapolis), Museum of Modern Art (Columbus, Ohio), and Mashentucket Pequot and Peabody Museums (Connecticut), and he teaches and plays at schools including the University of Hartford, Hartt School of Music, Trinity College, Wheeler Elementary School, and Guilford Handcraft Center. In 2007 and 2008, Mixashawn played tenor saxophone in the Symphony for Improvisers double quartet playing music of Don Cherry (Dave Douglas and Roy Campbell, Jr., J.D. Allen and Mixashawn, Henry Grimes and Hilliard Greene, Andrew Cyrille and Hamid Drake) in New York City, the Saalfelden Jazz Festival (Austria), and the Sant'Annarresi Jazz Festival (Sardinia). www.mixashawn.com.
Philadelphia native HENRY GRIMES studied music at Juilliard from 1952 to 1954 and played acoustic bass, touring and recording with many master jazz musicians of the '50s and '60s, including Albert Ayler, Don Cherry, Benny Goodman, Coleman Hawkins, Roy Haynes, Steve Lacy, Charles Mingus, Gerry Mulligan, Sonny Rollins, Pharoah Sanders, Archie Shepp, Cecil Taylor, and McCoy Tyner. Sadly, a trip to the West Coast to work with Al Jarreau and Jon Hendricks went awry, leaving Henry in downtown Los Angeles at the end of the '60s with a broken bass he couldn't pay to repair, so he sold it for a small sum and faded away from the music world. He was discovered there by a Georgia social worker and fan in 2002 and was given a bass by William Parker, and after only a few weeks of ferocious woodshedding, Henry emerged from his little room to begin playing concerts around Los Angeles, made a triumphant return to New York City in 2003 to play in the Vision Festival, and he has remained here ever since. Henry has played nearly 500 concerts since then (including many festivals), touring throughout the world, playing and recording with many of this decade's music heroes, such as Rashied Ali, Geri Allen, Marshall Allen, Fred Anderson, Marilyn Crispell, Andrew Cyrille, Bill Dixon, Dave Douglas, Edward "Kidd" Jordan, Roscoe Mitchell, David Murray, William Parker, Marc Ribot, Wadada Leo Smith, and again, Cecil Taylor. Henry made his professional debut on a second instrument (the violin) at the age of 70, has seen the publication of the first volume of his poetry, "Signs Along the Road," and creates illustrations to accompany his new recordings and publications. He has received many honors in recent years, including four Meet the Composer grants. He has also held a number of recent residencies and offered workshops and master classes on major campuses worldwide. Henry can be heard on 85 recordings, including a dozen recent ones, on various labels (Atlantic, Ayler Records, Blue Note, Columbia, ILK Music, Impulse!, JazzNewYork Productions, Pi Recordings, Porter Records, Prestige, Riverside, Verve, etc.). henrygrimes.com.
Tenor saxophonist ZANE MASSEY, son of legendary trumpeter-composer Cal Massey, grew up around music. He was born in Philadelphia and moved with his family to Brooklyn shortly afterwards. As a youngster, Zane played in his father's band and also started his own Latin jazz group. He had plenty of exposure in his formative years to the music of family friends John Coltrane and Lee Morgan. In the 1970s he recorded with Carlos Garnett and in the early '80s became a member of Ronald Shannon Jackson's renowned Decoding Society, exploring and expanding Ornette Coleman's harmolodic theories. Zane Massey also played with Sun Ra and with Jemeel Moondoc. Later, Zane organized Music Under New York, a City-sponsored organization comprising a wide variety of musicians, and bringing Zane to develop a wide, bluff tenor saxophone sound to cut through the hubbub and make himself heard in public spaces. Zane was "discovered" by a promoter in Grand Central Station who happened to be taking a train, and Zane and the band were immediately booked for a tour of Italy, where they recorded a CD for the Bart label. Zane Massey has also recorded two sets as a leader for Delmark (including his debut in 1992) and appeared on a Roy Campbell CD. A forceful tenor saxophonist, Zane Massey keeps his jazz-oriented music open to the influences of hip hop, reggae, and dance music, balancing all these currents, his playing at once malleable and directed. He can play with a deep, powerful tone with burrs and growls that distinguished tenor masters as far back as the 20s, thus simultaneously embracing historic and futuristic sounds in his music. As a sideline, in recent years Zane has served as Musical Director of the Melting Pot Club in Hong Kong, and he has also lived and worked in the Netherlands as well as here at home. music.yahoo.com/zane-massey/biography.
Drummer BILLY ARNOLD, born in Indiana in 1942, began playing drums professionally at age 16, was a member of the U.S. Army Band for two years, and after leaving the service at 22, began playing professionally in Detroit, soon becoming affiliated with Motown Records and playing and recording with Junior Walker and the All Stars. Moving East in 1965, Max Roach was teaching and had many of his friends and colleagues on staff at U. Mass. / Amherst, and Billy Arnold found opportunities to play and study there with Charles Greenlee, Archie Shepp, Billy Taylor, Reggie Workman, and more. Over the years, Billy has also worked with Ray Bryant, Bill Doggett, Herb Ellis, Jimmy McGriff, Wilson Pickett, John Scofield, Zoot Sims, Buddy Tate, Charlie Ventura, and Teddy Wilson, to name a few. Some 25 years ago, Billy's dedication to young people brought him to form the Suez Temple #114 Drum Corps, helping neighborhood kids stay out of trouble by teaching them musical history and the importance of drums and rhythm, instilling discipline in at‐risk youngsters who were in danger of falling through the cracks of society. He saved many children who had no direction in their lives, keeping many of them off the streets and giving them a sense of purpose. The drum corps practiced faithfully every week and were featured regularly in many major parade events up and down the East Coast, and many of these same youngsters are now professional drummers. Billy Arnold is now a valued jazz faculty member at Holyoke Community College, Springfield College, Suffield Academy, and the Community Music School of Springfield. And now Billy Arnold is busier than ever, touring the globe with the Young @ Heart Chorus under the direction of Bob Cilman. In 2007 the group was invited by David Byrne to sing at New York City's Town Hall; the group has also appeared on The Tonight Show and the Ellen Degeneres Show, opened for Quincy Jones and Maya Angelou, and sang the National Anthem at Fenway Park as guests of the Boston Red Sox. notsomoderndrummer.com/david-barsalou/336-billy-arnold-young-at-heart.html.
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What a brilliant night this will be!
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Public transportation: Take the 2 or 3 express subway to 125th St. & Lenox Ave., or A, B, C, or D line to 125th St. and St. Nicholas Ave. (3 blocks away), or #102 or #7 bus to 125th St. and Lenox Ave.
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