Oran Etkin is a

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 ...

and world music musician.

Biography

A native of Israel, after his family moved to Boston he took piano lessons when he was five years old. At fourteen he studied clarinet with

Yusef Lateef Yusef Abdul Lateef (born William Emanuel Huddleston; October 9, 1920 – December 23, 2013) was an American jazz multi-instrumentalist, composer, and prominent figure among the Ahmadiyya Community in America. Although Lateef's main instruments ...

and

George Garzone George Garzone (born September 23, 1950) is a saxophonist and jazz educator from Boston, Massachusetts. Biography Garzone is a member of the Fringe, a jazz trio founded in 1972 that includes bassist John Lockwood and drummer Bob Gullotti. The ...

. He attended Brandeis University and concentrated on economics and classical clarinet. He received a master's degree in jazz from the

Manhattan School of Music The Manhattan School of Music (MSM) is a private music conservatory in New York City. The school offers bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees in the areas of classical and jazz performance and composition, as well as a bachelor's in mu ...

. He plays alto clarinet, bass clarinet, and tenor saxophone. After leaving the Manhattan School of Music, he was hired as a teacher in New York City. Inspired by that experience, Etkin invented a teaching method called Timbalooloo to teach music to children as young as three years old. In 1998, Etkin took an African dance class in Boston that was taught by Joh Camara, a percussionist from Mali. He joined his teacher's band, which included Camara's uncle,

Balla Tounkara Balla Tounkara is a kora player and singer from Mali. He was born in Mali into a family of ''griot''s, who traditionally played music to the kings of the Malian Empire in their royal court. He started to learn the kora as a child. Tounkara has r ...

, a kora player. Visits to Mali increased his interest in the music. His debut album, ''Kelenia'' ( Motema, 2009), combined jazz with the

Malian music The music of Mali is, like that of most African nations, ethnically diverse, but one influence predominates: that of the ancient Mali Empire of the Mandinka people, Mandinka (from c. 1230 to c. 1600). Mandé peoples, Mande people (Bambara, Mandin ...

and was recorded with three musicians from Mali: Abdoulaye Diabaté, Makane Kouyate, and Balla Kouyate (on

balafon The balafon is a gourd-resonated xylophone, a type of struck idiophone. It is closely associated with the neighbouring Mandé, Senoufo and Gur peoples of West Africa, particularly the Guinean branch of the Mandinka ethnic group, but is now f ...

) The album includes an African version of "

It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing) "It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)" is a 1931 composition by Duke Ellington with lyrics by Irving Mills. It is now accepted as a jazz standard, and jazz historian Gunther Schuller characterized it as "now legendary" and "a pro ...

". Other musicians on the album include Camara (on

talking drum The talking drum is an hourglass-shaped drum from West Africa, whose pitch can be regulated to mimic the tone and prosody of human speech. It has two drumheads connected by leather tension cords, which allow the player to change the pitc ...

), violinist

Sara Caswell Sara Caswell is an American violinist who has worked with 9 Horses, Esperanza Spalding, and David Krakauer. Career Born into a musical family in Bloomington, Indiana, Caswell studied classical violin with Josef Gingold, but from an early age ...

, and guitarist

Lionel Loueke Lionel Loueke (born 27 April 1973) is a guitarist and vocalist born in Benin. He moved to Ivory Coast in 1990 to study at the National Institute of Art. Biography Loueke grew up in what he has described as a family of poor intellectuals in the W ...

Awards and honors

Etkin recorded a song for the children's album ''Healthy Food for Thought''. The album received a Grammy Award nomination and a nomination at the Independent Music Awards.

Discography

As leader

* ''Kelenia'' ( Motéma, 2009) * ''Gathering Light'' (Motema, 2014) * ''What's New?'' (Motema, 2015)

As guest

* ''Wake Up Clarinet!'' (Motéma, 2010)

References

External links

Official site

Podcast with Oran Etkin

Review of ''Kelenia''
at

All About Jazz ''All About Jazz'' is a website established by Michael Ricci in 1995. A volunteer staff publishes news, album reviews, articles, videos, and listings of concerts and other events having to do with jazz. Ricci maintains a related site, ''Jazz Near ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Etkin, Oran Living people 1969 births American jazz musicians American jazz educators Motéma Music artists