Rashid Bakr (born Charles Downs on October 3, 1943 in

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

) is an American

free jazz Free jazz is an experimental approach to jazz improvisation that developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s when musicians attempted to change or break down jazz conventions, such as regular tempos, tones, and chord changes. Musicians duri ...

drummer.

Career

During the 1970s, he was active in the

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

loft jazz Loft jazz (or the loft scene or loft era) was a cultural phenomenon that occurred in New York City during the mid-1970s. Gary Giddins described it as follows: " new coterie of avant-garde musicians took much of the jazz world by surprise... ey inte ...

scene, performing at venues such as

Rashied Ali Rashied Ali, born Robert Patterson (July 1, 1933 – August 12, 2009) was an American free jazz and avant-garde drummer best known for playing with John Coltrane in the last years of Coltrane's life. Biography Early life Patterson was born and ...

's "Ali's Alley" and Sam Rivers' " Studio Rivbea". He was a member of Ensemble Muntu with Jemeel Moondoc, among others. In 1976, Bakr performed in a production of

Adrienne Kennedy Adrienne Kennedy (born September 13, 1931) is an American playwright.Peterson, Jane T., and Suzanne Bennett. "Adrienne Kennedy". ''Women Playwrights of Diversity''. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1997. 201–205. She is best known for '' Funnyhous ...

's '' A Rat's Mass'' directed by Cecil Taylor at La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club in the East Village of Manhattan. Musicians

Jimmy Lyons Jimmy Lyons (December 1, 1931 – May 19, 1986) was an American alto saxophone player. He is best known for his long tenure in the Cecil Taylor Unit. Lyons was the only constant member of the band from the mid-1960s until his death. Taylor never ...

, Andy Bey, Karen Borca,

David S. Ware David Spencer Ware (November 7, 1949 – October 18, 2012) was an American jazz saxophone, saxophonist, composer, and bandleader. Biography Ware was born in Plainfield, New Jersey, and grew up in Scotch Plains, New Jersey. While in high sc ...

, and

Raphe Malik Raphe Malik, born Laurence Mazel (November 1, 1948 in Cambridge, Massachusetts – March 8, 2006 in Guilford, Vermont) was an American jazz trumpeter. Career Malik studied at the University of Massachusetts (1966–70), then moved to Paris, whe ...

also performed in the production. Taylor's production combined the original script with a chorus of orchestrated voices used as instruments. Bakr continued to perform with Taylor into the 1980s, appearing on his albums '' The Eighth'' and '' Winged Serpent (Sliding Quadrants)''. Bakr is a member of Other Dimensions in Music with Roy Campbell, Daniel Carter, and William Parker.

Discography

As leader or co-leader

* ''Seeing New York From the Ear'' (Cadence, 1996) with

Frode Gjerstad Frode Gjerstad (born 24 March 1948) is a Norwegian jazz musician with alto saxophone as principal instrument, but he also plays other saxophones, clarinet, and flute. He has collaborated with Paal Nilssen-Love, Borah Bergman, Peter Brötzmann, ...

and William Parker * ''Cooler Suite'' (GROB, 2003) with Thomas Borgmann,

Peter Brötzmann Peter Brötzmann (born 6 March 1941) is a German saxophonist and clarinetist. Biography Early life Brötzmann was born in Remscheid, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. He studied painting in Wuppertal and was involved with the Fluxus movement ...

, and William Parker With the Flow Trio (Louis Belogenis, Joe Morris, Bakr listed as Charles Downs) * ''Rejuvenation'' (ESP-Disk, 2009) * ''Set Theory: Live At The Stone'' (Ayler Records, 2011) * ''Winter Garden'' (ESP-Disk, 2021) with

Joe McPhee Joe McPhee (born November 3, 1939) is an American jazz multi-instrumentalist born in Miami, Florida, a player of tenor, alto, and soprano saxophone, the trumpet, flugelhorn and valve trombone. McPhee grew up in Poughkeepsie, New York, and is ...

As sideman

With Billy Bang * ''New York Collage'' (Anima, 1978) * ''Black Man's Blues'' (NoBusiness, 2011) With John Bickerton * ''Open Music'' (CIMP, 2000) * ''Shadow Boxes'' (Leo Lab, 2000) With

Arthur Doyle Arthur Doyle (June 26, 1944 – January 25, 2014) was an American jazz saxophonist, bass clarinettist, flutist, and vocalist who was best known for playing what he called "free jazz soul music". Writer Phil Freeman described him as having "one o ...

* ''Live At the Alterknit'' (Qbico, 2008) With

* ''A Sound Sight'' (Ayler, 2007) With

Sabir Mateen Sabir Mateen (born April 16, 1951) is an American musician and composer from Philadelphia. His musical style is primarily avant-garde jazz. He plays tenor and alto saxophone, B♭ and alto clarinet, and flute. As a young man, Mateen was origin ...

* ''The Sabir Mateen Jubilee Ensemble'' (Not Two, 2013) With

* ''Ticonderoga'' (Clean Feed, 2015) With Jemeel Moondoc * '' First Feeding'' (Muntu, 1977) * '' The Evening of the Blue Men'' (Muntu, 1979) * ''New York Live!'' (Cadence Jazz, 1981) * ''The Intrepid Live in Poland'' (Poljazz, 1981) With

Ras Moshe Theodore Burnett III (born March 22, 1968, Brooklyn, New York), who performs under the name Ras Burnett, is a composer, multi-instrumentalist specializing in saxophone and flute, musicologist and educator. Ras comes from a musical family. His pate ...

* ''Transcendence'' (KMB, 2007) With Other Dimensions in Music * '' Other Dimensions In Music'' (Silkheart, 1990) * '' Now!'' (AUM Fidelity, 1998) * '' Time Is of the Essence Is Beyond Time'' (AUM Fidelity, 2000) * '' Kaiso Stories'' (Silkheart, 2011) With William Parker * ''Centering. Unreleased Early Recordings 1976–1987'' (NoBusiness, 2012) With

Jamie Saft Jamie Saft is an American keyboardist and multi-instrumentalist and composer. He was born in New York City, and studied at Tufts University and the New England Conservatory of Music. Saft moved from Brooklyn to the Hudson Valley around 2007, and ...

* ''Atlas'' (Veal, 2020) * ''Mountains'' (Veal, 2020) With

Glenn Spearman Glenn Spearman (February 14, 1947 – October 8, 1998) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. He was associated with free jazz and experimental music. Spearman was active in Oakland, California, in the late 1960s but moved to Paris in 1972 and ...

* '' First and Last'' (Eremite, 1999) With Cecil Taylor * '' The Eighth'' (Hat Hut, 1986) * '' Winged Serpent (Sliding Quadrants)'' (Soul Note, 1985) * '' Always a Pleasure'' (FMP, 1996)

References

External links

*
Bakr's page on La MaMa Archives Digital Collections
Free jazz drummers Living people 1943 births CIMP artists American session musicians American jazz drummers 20th-century American drummers American male drummers 20th-century American male musicians American male jazz musicians 21st-century American drummers Other Dimensions In Music members 21st-century American male musicians {{US-jazz-drummer-stub