Angel Bat Dawid (born 1979) is an American composer, clarinetist, pianist, vocalist, producer, educator & DJ. Her critically-acclaimed album, ''The Oracle'', has been featured in Pitchfork, BBC,

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

, The Washington Post, The New York Times, and The Chicago Sun Times. Angel Bat Dawid

Life and career

Dawid was born in Atlanta, GA on October 17, 1979. Her father attended Morehouse College. After marrying Dawid's mother, the family moved to her father's hometown of Louisville, KY. In 1986, the family moved to Kenya where Dawid's parents were Southern Baptist missionaries. They spent four years living in the city of

Machakos Machakos, also called Masaku is a town in Kenya, southeast of Nairobi. It is the capital of the Machakos County, Kenya. Its population is rapidly growing and was 150,041 as of 2009 and Machakos County had a population of 1,421,932 as of 2019 ...

, Kenya, after which they moved back to Louisville when Dawid was 12. When Dawid was in her teens they relocated to Chicago, IL, as her parents pursued more ministry opportunities. Dawid's parents identify as Black Hebrew Israelites. Dawid studied classical music at Roosevelt University as a clarinet performance major, but after experiencing a medical crisis, took a job in retail to pay medical bills. After a number of years working she cashed out her 401K to pursue music full-time in 2014. Dawid joined a jam session with multi-instrumentalist Chicago composer David Boykin, and met with members of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians. Dawid later co-founded the Chicago-based creative music collective The Participatory Music Coalition. Dawid tours internationally solo and with her septet "Tha Brothahood" releasing their album "LIVE" making NPR’s best of 2020 list. She leads the all-woman ensemble Sistazz of the Nitty Gritty (named by Lonnie Holley). To great acclaim Sistazz of the Nitty Gritty opened for

Sun Ra Arkestra The Sun Ra Arkestra is an American jazz group formed in the mid-1950s and led by keyboardist/composer Sun Ra until his death in 1993. The group is considered a pioneer of afrofuturism. As of 2022, the Arkestra is led by saxophonist Marshall Alle ...

at New York Central Park Summerstage. As half of the duo group DAOUI, Dawid and sound artist Oui Ennui produced, mixed and self-released the album “Message from the DAOUI," which was featured at Tusk Festival 2020. She is a clarinetist in Damon Lock's Black Monument Ensemble as well as DJ. Dawid hosts a monthly music show on

NTS Radio NTS Radio (also known as NTS Live or simply NTS) is an online radio station and media platform started in the Hackney area of London. The station was founded in April 2011 by Femi Adeyemi "for an international community of music lovers". NTS b ...

. Dawid's collaborators include

Marshall Allen Marshall Belford Allen (born May 25, 1924) is an American free jazz and avant-garde jazz alto saxophone player. He also performs on flute, oboe, piccolo, and EWI (an electronic valve instrument made by Steiner, Crumar company). Allen is best ...

of the Sun Ra Arkestra.

Teaching

Dawid is committed to education and plans to open a music school. As an educator Angel has taught her “Great Black Music” course at Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center through Old Town School of Folk in Chicago.

Recognition

Dawid was one of the commissioned composers for the 2019 Hyde Park Jazz Festival where she premiered her original work “Requiem for Jazz." She premiered her work “Peace: A Suite for Skylanding” in 2020, which was commissioned by the

Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago's Grant Park, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the world. Recognized for its curatorial efforts and popularity among visitors, the museum hosts approximately 1.5 mill ...

for

Yoko Ono Yoko Ono ( ; ja, 小野洋子, Ono Yōko, usually spelled in katakana ; born February 18, 1933) is a Japanese multimedia artist, singer, songwriter, and peace activist. Her work also encompasses performance art and filmmaking. Ono grew up i ...

’s outdoor Skylanding Installation. Dawid was recently honored as 2021 "Chicagoan of the Year in Jazz" by the Chicago Tribune. She is on Pitchfork’s Next 25 list of emerging artists to look out for, and was also New York Winter Jazz Festival 2022 Artist in Residence premiering her latest composition "Afro Town Topics: An Afrofuturist Mythological Musical Revue.

Albums

* ''The Oracle'' ( International Anthem, 2019) * Angel Bat Dawid / Tha Brothahood, ''LIVE'' (2020) * Hush Harbor Mixtape No. 1: Doxology (2021) * Requiem for Jazz (2023)

References

{{reflist American jazz clarinetists