Pheeroan AkLaff
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Pheeroan AkLaff
Pheeroan akLaff (born Paul Maddox January 27, 1955) is an American jazz drummer and percussionist. He began playing in his hometown of Detroit, Michigan and Ann Arbor, with R & B keyboardist Travis Biggs, funk keyboardist Nimrod “The Grinder” Lumpkin, The Ebony Set and The Last Days. He moved to New Haven, Connecticut, and formed a group with saxophonist/flautist/percussionist Dwight Andrews. He debuted with saxophonist Bill Barron in 1975, followed by a tenure in Leo Smith's ‘New Dalta Ahkri’ (1977-1979). akLaff developed a longstanding association with saxophonist and poet Oliver Lake starting in 1975, which included writing for their fusion ensemble, ‘Jump Up’. He recorded with Lake on and off from 1980-1992. His extensive work as a session musician includes collaborations with prominent jazz musicians Geri Allen, Andrew Hill, Cecil Taylor, Anthony Braxton, Don Byron, Julius Hemphill, Henry Threadgill, Mal Waldron, Sonny Sharrock, Anthony Davis and Reggie Workman ...
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Jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major form of musical expression in traditional and popular music. Jazz is characterized by swing and blue notes, complex chords, call and response vocals, polyrhythms and improvisation. Jazz has roots in European harmony and African rhythmic rituals. As jazz spread around the world, it drew on national, regional, and local musical cultures, which gave rise to different styles. New Orleans jazz began in the early 1910s, combining earlier brass band marches, French quadrilles, biguine, ragtime and blues with collective polyphonic improvisation. But jazz did not begin as a single musical tradition in New Orleans or elsewhere. In the 1930s, arranged dance-oriented swing big bands, Kansas City jazz (a hard-swinging, bluesy, improvisationa ...
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Henry Threadgill
Henry Threadgill (born February 15, 1944) is an American composer, saxophonist and flautist. He came to prominence in the 1970s leading ensembles rooted in jazz but with unusual instrumentation and often incorporating other genres of music. He has performed and recorded with several ensembles: Air, Aggregation Orb, Make a Move, the seven-piece Henry Threadgill Sextett, the twenty-piece Society Situation Dance Band, Very Very Circus, X-75, and Zooid. He was awarded the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Music for his album ''In for a Penny, In for a Pound'', which premiered at Roulette Intermedium on December 4, 2014 Career Threadgill performed as a percussionist in his high-school marching band before taking up baritone saxophone, alto saxophone, and flute. He studied at the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago, majoring in piano, flute, and composition. He studied piano with Gail Quillman and composition with Stella Roberts. He was an original member of the Experimental Band,a precu ...
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Seven Standards 1995
''Seven Standards 1995'' is an album by pianist/improviser Anthony Braxton and bassist Mario Pavone's Quintet recorded in 1995 and released on the Knitting Factory Works label.Anthony Braxton discography
accessed June 13, 2017
Enciclopedia del Jazz: Anthony Braxton
accessed June 13, 2017


Reception

The review by Brian Olewnick stated "The pieces, as well as Braxton's approach to the piano, tend to ramble albeit with much affection shown toward the material. He sounds a bit lik ...
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Knitting Factory (Piano/Quartet) 1994, Vol
The Knitting Factory is a nightclub in New York City that features eclectic music and entertainment. After opening in 1987, various other locations were opened in the United States. The Knitting Factory gave its audience poetry readings, performance art, standup comedy, and musicians who transcended the usual boundaries of rock and jazz, often experimental music. The Knitting Factory owners distributed some performances to radio stations, and around 1990 starting a radio show and the record label Knitting Factory Works. Later the founders started Knitting Factory Records in 1998. History Founding in New York (1987) It was founded by Michael Dorf and Louis Spitzer in 1987. The Knitting Factory was named by Dorf's and Spitzer's childhood friend Bob Appel and songwriter Jonathan Zarov, who derived the name through joking about Appel's experience working in an actual knitting factory. Appel, a lifelong musician, joined as a co-owner and co-manager soon after its founding. John Zorn ...
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Anthony Braxton's Charlie Parker Project 1993
''Anthony Braxton's Charlie Parker Project 1993'' is an album featuring live and studio performances of compositions associated with Charlie Parker arranged and performed by saxophonist Anthony Braxton which was recorded in Switzerland and Germany in 1993 and released on the HatART label as a double CD in 1995.Anthony Braxton discography
accessed June 6, 2017
Enciclopedia del Jazz: Anthony Braxton
accessed June 6, 2017


Reception

The review by Scott Yanow stated "Braxton uses ...
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Maroons (album)
''Maroons'' is an album by pianist Geri Allen recorded in 1992 and released on the Blue Note label. Reception AllMusic awarded the album 4½ stars, stating, "This excellent recording is easily recommended to her fans and potential new devotees".Nastos, M. G.Allmusic Reviewaccessed July 1, 2014 In an article for Jazz Times, Michael J. West praised "Number Four," writing that Allen "anticipates Belgrave's every melodic and rhythmic move—at times sticking-and-moving, a la Earl Hines with Armstrong. She picks up his pathways on her solo... but turns them in her own direction, as if his improvised figures were the written material on which she was improvising. It's a remarkable achievement, one deserving of close attention within her catalogue." Track listing ''All compositions by Geri Allen except as indicated'' # "Feed the Fire I" - 1:33 # "No More Mr. Nice Guy" - 7:05 # "And They Partied" - 5:29 # "Number Four" (Lawrence Williams) - 4:35 # "A Prayer for Peace" - 5:43 # "Mad ...
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Gramavision
Gramavision Records is an American record label founded in 1979. Since 1994 it has been a subsidiary of Rykodisc. The label's music is largely jazz, blues and folk oriented but has touched on many other styles and genres. In 1979, Jonathan F.P. Rose founded Gramavision in Katonah, New York. The early catalog consisted of free jazz by Ray Anderson, John Carter, Anthony Davis, and Bobby Previte; jazz fusion by John Scofield; funk by Medeski Martin & Wood; reggae by Oliver Lake; and soul by Jamaaladeen Tacuma. After it was bought by Rykodisc, the label's headquarters moved to Salem, Massachusetts. in 1995, Gramavision released albums by Peter Apfelbaum, Bill Frisell, Ron Miles, and the Clusone Trio. Roster * Ray Anderson * Peter Apfelbaum * Arditti Quartet * Gordon Beck * John Blake Jr. * Vinicius Cantuária * John Carter * Philip Catherine * Clusone Trio * Anthony Davis * Electronic Art Ensemble * Pee Wee Ellis * Christian Escoudé * Aydin Esen * Bill Frisell * Paul Halle ...
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Wesleyan University
Wesleyan University ( ) is a Private university, private liberal arts college, liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut. Founded in 1831 as a Men's colleges in the United States, men's college under the auspices of the Methodist Episcopal Church and with the support of prominent residents of Middletown, the college was the first institution of higher education to be named after John Wesley, the founder of Methodism. It is now a secular institution. The college accepted female applicants from 1872 to 1909, but did not become fully co-educational until 1970. Before full co-education, Wesleyan alumni and other supporters of women's education established Connecticut College for women in 1912. Wesleyan, along with Amherst College, Amherst and Williams College, Williams colleges, is part of "The Little Three", also traditionally referred to as the Little Ivies. Its teams compete athletically as a member of the New England Small College Athletic Conference, NESCAC. Wesleyan ...
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Pulitzer Prize For Music
The Pulitzer Prize for Music is one of seven Pulitzer Prizes awarded annually in Letters, Drama, and Music. It was first given in 1943. Joseph Pulitzer arranged for a music scholarship to be awarded each year, and this was eventually converted into a prize: "For a distinguished musical composition of significant dimension by an American that has had its first performance in the United States during the year." Because of the requirement that the composition have its world premiere during the year of its award, the winning work had rarely been recorded and sometimes had received only one performance. In 2004 the terms were modified to read, "For a distinguished musical composition by an American that has had its first performance or recording in the United States during the year." History In his will, dated April 16, 1904, Joseph Pulitzer established annual prizes for a number of creative accomplishments by living Americans, including prizes for journalism, novels, plays, historie ...
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Ten Freedom Summers
''Ten Freedom Summers'' is a four-disc box set by American trumpeter and composer Wadada Leo Smith. It was released on May 5, 2012, by Cuneiform Records. Smith wrote its compositions intermittently over the course of 34 years, beginning in 1977, before performing them live in November 2011 at the Colburn School's Zipper Hall in Los Angeles. He was accompanied by the nine-piece Southwest Chamber Music ensemble and his own jazz quartet, featuring drummers Pheeroan akLaff and Susie Ibarra, pianist Anthony Davis, and bassist John Lindberg. A mostly classical work, ''Ten Freedom Summers'' comprises 19 pieces that are often fully developed as suites. They abandon conventional themes in favor of abstract expressions of the titles, which reflect the Civil Rights Movement and other interrelated topics. Smith cites the segregation of his native Mississippi and playwright August Wilson's ''The Pittsburgh Cycle'' as inspirations behind the work. ''Ten Freedom Summers'' received widespread ...
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Wadada Leo Smith
Ishmael Wadada Leo Smith (born December 18, 1941) is an American trumpeter and composer, working primarily in the fields of avant-garde jazz and free improvisation. He was one of three finalists for the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Music for ''Ten Freedom Summers'', released on May 22, 2012. Biography Smith was born in Leland, Mississippi, United States. He started out playing drums, mellophone, and French horn before he settled on the trumpet. He played in various R&B groups and, by 1967, became a member of the AACM and co-founded the Creative Construction Company, a trio with Leroy Jenkins and Anthony Braxton. In 1971, Smith formed his own label, Kabell. He also formed another band, the New Dalta Ahkri, with members including Henry Threadgill, Anthony Davis and Oliver Lake. In the 1970s, Smith studied ethnomusicology at Wesleyan University. He played again with Anthony Braxton, as well as recording with Derek Bailey's Company. In the mid-1980s, Smith became Rastafarian and began ...
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Reggie Workman
Reginald "Reggie" Workman (born June 26, 1937 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is an American avant-garde jazz and hard bop double bassist, recognized for his work with both John Coltrane and Art Blakey. Career Early in his career, Workman worked in jazz groups led by Gigi Gryce, Donald Byrd, Duke Jordan and Booker Little. In 1961, Workman joined the John Coltrane Quartet, replacing Steve Davis (bassist), Steve Davis. He was present for the saxophonist's ''Live at the Village Vanguard'' sessions, and also recorded with a second bassist (Art Davis) on the 1961 album, ''Olé Coltrane''. Workman left Coltrane's group at the end of the year, following a European tour. In 1962, Workman joined Art Blakey's The Jazz Messengers, Jazz Messengers (replacing long-time Blakey bassist Jymie Merritt), and worked alongside Freddie Hubbard, Wayne Shorter, and Cedar Walton for most of his time in the Jazz Messengers. Workman left Blakey's group in 1964. Workman also played with James Moody (saxo ...
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