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Courtesy of Jazz Promo Services:
http://www.jazzpromoservices.com/ - jim@jazzpromoservices.com
Peace Thru Jazz!
Celebrating the music of Dr. Makanda Ken McIntyre
Friday, October 21st 8 PM
at the Middle Collegiate Church
Arts & Education Continuum, in conjunction with the Contemporary
African American Music Organization, is proud to present an octet under the direction
of Craig S. Harris and his performing the music of Dr. Makanda KenMcIntyre
at 8:00 pm on Friday, October 21, 2011 at the Middle Collegiate Church, 50 East
7th Street, New York, New York (at Second Avenue). Tickets are $15 in
advance, $20 at the door.
The band will include Craig Harris, trombone and musical director, Richard Fairfax,
James Stewart and Jay Rodriguez on reeds; Eddie Allen on trumpet, Richard Harper
on piano and baritone horn, Calvin Jones on bass, and Tony Lewis on drums, with
guest appearances by Andrew Bemkey on piano, Napoleon Revels-Bey on drums and Warren
Smith on percussion.
Dr. Makanda Ken McIntyre
Makanda Ken McIntyre was a little-known but tireless musical innovator over 50 years.
When he died in 2001, he had 12 albums, more than 500 compositions and 200 arrangements
to his credit.
A virtuoso on all of the woodwind instruments, Makanda was known primarily for leading
his own ensembles -- performing on alto saxophone, flute, bass clarinet, oboe and
bassoon. He was a featured soloist with Charlie Haden's Liberation Music Orchestra
from1984 until his death. He recorded and appeared with a wide range of ground-breaking
artists, including Muhal Richard Abrams, Nat Adderley, Rashied Ali, Jaki Byard,
Ron Carter, Richard Davis, Eric Dolphy, Charlie Haden, Craig Harris, Sam Jones,
David Murray, Ben Riley, Warren Smith, Arthur Taylor and Reggie Workman. In 1998,
he served as jazz ambassador to the Middle East under the auspices of the Kennedy
Center and United States Information Agency.
Makanda founded The Contemporary African American Music Organization (CAAMO) in
1983 to promote free expression and continuing education in music and the performing
arts with African-American origins. CAAMO has produced more than 250 performances
and educational workshops at venuesthroughout the New York City metropolitan area,
including the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Carnegie Hall, Medgar
Evers College and the Museum of Modern Art.
Makanda's highly energetic musical style embodied a celebratory life force. His
compositions represented many genres of music in the African American tradition,
including the blues, swing, Calypso, straight ahead, bebop, and avant garde. His
lyrical, sweet melodies contrasted with complicated rhythms, creating a dynamic
tension rarely heard.
This year we mark several anniversaries – the 80th year since Makanda's
birth, the 10th year since his death, and the 40th year since
he founded the Department of Performing Arts at the State University of New York
College at Old Westbury -- one of the country's first departments dedicated to the
arts in the African American tradition.
Craig S. Harris
Craig Harris is a superb trombonist who has performed with a veritable Who's Who
of progressive jazz' most important figures - including Sun Ra, Sam Rivers, Lester
Bowie, Abdullah Ibrahim, Jaki Byard, Cecil Taylor, Muhal Richard Abrams, and, of
course, Makanda, who was his teacher at Old Westbury, and later his colleague and
close friend. Craig's own projects display both a unique sense of concept and a
total command of the sweeping expanse of African-American musical expression.
The past 15 years have brought Craig far beyond the confines of the jazz world and
into the sphere of multimedia and performance art as composer, performer, conceptualist,
curator and artistic director. He has created projects like Souls Within the Veil,
composed to commemorate the centennial of W. E. B. Du Bois' The Souls of Black Folk;
Brown Butterfly, a multi- media work based on the movement of Muhamed Ali with video,
dance, and music; and most recently, God's Trombones, based on James Weldon Johnson's
classic collection of poems that refigure inspirational sermons by itinerant Negro
preachers.
Under Craig's direction, this performance will highlight Makanda's skills as a composer
and an arranger. For more information, to hear and see clips of Makanda's music
or to purchase tickets online, go to
http://www.mkmjazz.com
Middle Collegiate Church
50 East 7th Street (at Second Avenue)
New York, New York
http://www.middlechurch.org/
For more information, contact
Darrell Bridges at (646) 330-3883 or go to
http://www.mkmjazz.com/
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