WaterWorks Established Artist Commission: Ambrose Akinmusire — banyan seed

CREATE FEARLESSLY

ABDULLAH IBRAHIM · ADAM W. SADBERRY

ALEXANDER DAVIS · AMBROSE AKINMUSIRE

BERTHA HOPE · BILL T. JONES/ARNIE ZANE COMPANY

BOBBY MORGAN · BORA YOON · CAMILLE A. BROWN

CARL HANCOCK RUX · CHLOE DAVIS · CRAIG HARRIS

DAFNIS PRIETO · DANIEL FETECUA · DAVID VALBUENA

DJ SABINE BLAIZIN (OYASOUND) · FEI-FEI

FLOR DE TOLOACHE · GEORGE EMILIO SANCHEZ

HANNAH LEMMONS AKA LEMMONS · IAN ISIAH

JAMES BLASZKO · JASON MORAN · JOANNE BRACKEEN

JOSÉ JAMES · JOYA POWELL · JUEL D. LANE

KALÍ RODRÍGUEZ-PEÑA · KIMBERLY NICHOLE

LUCIANA SOUZA · MALEEK WASHINGTON

MARY PRESCOTT · MATTHEW WHITAKER

MAYTE NATALIO · MICAH THOMAS · NORA CHIPAUMIRE

PABLO MAYOR’S FOLKLORE URBANO ORCHESTRA

PATTY ORTIZ · RICKEY TRIPP

RONALD K. BROWN/EVIDENCE

SHANTELLE COURVOISIER JACKSON · STEW

SUN HAN GUILD · TAMAR-KALI · URBAN BUSH WOMEN

VIJAY IYER · YASSER TEJEDA · YUNIYA EDI KWON

ABOUT THE EVENT

Described by NPR Music as “a trumpeter of deep expressive resources and a composer of kaleidoscopic vision,” composer, trumpeter, and bandleader Ambrose Akinmusire has made a home at the crossroads of different musical forms and languages, from post-bop and avant-garde jazz to contemporary chamber music and hip-hop to singer-songwriter aesthetics. Akinmusire returns to Harlem Stage during its 40th Anniversary Season to present banyan seed. He builds on his interest in the intersection of the griot, mentor, and oral historian in social history to develop a multi-part suite. Like the banyan tree, which starts as a plant growing on another plant to become a tree of far-flung roots and interwoven vines, the project incorporates interviews with jazz elders to share ideas, knowledge, history, and community with younger musicians, and to connect audiences to the living stories of jazz — its social innovation and endless creativity.

Joining Akinmusire on stage is Cosmo Lieberman (alto saxophone), Emmanuel Michael (guitar), Esteban Castro (piano), Jeremiah Edwards (bass), and Timothy Angulo (drums).

ARTISTS

Ambrose Akinmusire Trumpet, Composer, Bandleader

Timothy Angulo Drums

Esteban Castro Piano

Jeremiah Edwards Bass

Cosmo Lieberman Alto Sax

Emmanuel Michael Guitar

Commissioned by Harlem Stage through its WaterWorks Established Artists Program and supported by the Mellon Foundation, the Ford Foundation, Stavros Niarchos Foundation, Thompson Family Foundation, and the Leonard & Robert Weintraub Family Fund.

This program is also supported, in part, by Bloomberg Philanthropies and the Diana King Memorial Fund presented by the Charles and Lucille King Family Foundation.

BIOGRAPHIES

AMBROSE AKINMUSIRE TRUMPET, COMPOSER, BANDLEADER

Described by NPR Music as “one of the most acclaimed jazz artists of his generation, a trumpeter of deep expressive resources and a composer of kaleidoscopic vision,” Ambrose Akinmusire has made a home at the crossroads of different musical forms and languages, from post-bop and avant-garde jazz to contemporary chamber music and hip-hop to singersongwriter aesthetics. His 2018 release Origami Harvest features rapper Kool A.D. with the Mivos String Quartet and was named a top album of the year by The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Los Angeles Times, and more.

The Oakland, California native and Blue Note recording artist has made consistently adventurous, enduring music with a committed band of dear friends: pianist Sam Harris, bassist Harish Raghavan, and drummer Justin Brown, whose unforgettable chemistry is captured on the 2017 double album A Rift in Decorum: Live at the Village Vanguard (“amazingly effective” – DownBeat). The quartet reaches new heights with their GRAMMY-nominated 2020 release on the tender spot of every calloused moment, featuring liner notes by the great Archie Shepp. On these and other releases, Akinmusire aspires to create richly textured emotional landscapes that tell the stories of the community, record the time and change the standard. While committed to the lineage of black invention and innovation, he is able to honor tradition without being stifled by it.

Akinmusire has received numerous composer commissions: from the Berlin Jazz Festival for Mae Mae, a suite based on Mattie May Thomas’s 1939 field recordings; from the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra Liquid Music Commission (for Origami Harvest); from The Kennedy Center for Untitled, featuring MacArthur Fellow Cécile McLorin Salvant and others; from the Hyde Park Jazz Festival Commission for Banyan, a work for 12-piece ensemble that builds on Ambrose’s interest in the role of the griot and mentor in social and jazz history; and the Monterey Jazz Festival Commission for The Forgotten Places, featuring Salvant, Theo Bleckmann, and quartet plus clarinet, cello, harp and guitar. More recently, Akinmusire has branched out as a composer and has begun creating music for film and television projects including, most notably, the new Daveed Diggs and Rafael Casal series, Blindspotting.

Following his evocative 2007 debut Prelude... To Cora on the Fresh Sound label, Akinmusire joined Blue Note in 2011 with when the heart emerges glistening, produced by Jason Moran and featuring Raghavan and Brown with Gerald Clayton on piano and Walter Smith III on tenor sax. Akinmusire’s lyricism, distinctive harmonic language, and rich sense of dynamic and timbral contrast set him apart. Highly virtuosic in execution, the music had a pointed social dimension as well: “My Name Is Oscar” initiated what became a theme linking all of Akinmusire’s studio albums, in which the names of murdered African Americans are recited and remembered with dignity. On the imagined savior is far easier to paint (2014), hailed as “a gorgeous, moving album” in JazzTimes, “Roll Call for Those Absent” took up the matter of injustice once again, as did “Free, White and 21” on Origami Harvest and the stark solo Fender Rhodes finale “Hooded Procession (read the names outloud)” on calloused moment.

BIOGRAPHIES

imagined savior found Akinmusire broadening his sonic and stylistic reach as well by incorporating guitarist Charles Altura, the Osso String Quartet, and singers/cowriters Becca Stevens, Theo Bleckmann and Cold Specks, each with their own widely diverging vocal sound. (Akinmusire reciprocated, playing on Cold Specks’ 2014 release Neuroplasticity.) On calloused moment, vocalist Genevieve Artadi of Knower sings original lyrics on Akinmusire’s “Cynical sideliners,” in an affecting duet with the leader on Rhodes. Percussionist/vocalist Jesus Diaz also contributes Yoruba vocals on the opening “Tide of Hyacinth.”

Akinmusire has performed as a featured soloist with Archie Shepp’s Attica Blues Big Band as well as AACM multireeds innovator Roscoe Mitchell in an intimate quartet setting at San Francisco’s The Lab (a two-night event documented on the live album Come and See What There Is to See). “Mr. Roscoe (consider the simultaneous),” from Famoudou Don Moye and Amina Claudine Myers, as well as calloused moment, finds Akinmusire honoring Mitchell and grappling on his own terms with lessons learned under Mitchell’s wing.

In addition to his five Blue Note outings, Akinmusire has made signal contributions to groundbreaking albums across a wide stylistic and genre-defying spectrum, including Mary Halvorson’s Code Girl and Brad Mehldau’s Finding Gabriel. He has collaborated with acclaimed pianist Kris Davis in duo and trio settings at the Vision Festival, the North Sea Jazz Festival and elsewhere. He appears on Kendrick Lamar’s 2015 landmark To Pimp a Butterfly, on the closing track “Mortal Man.” In 2016 he was a featured soloist and composer with the WDR Big Band in Cologne, performing alongside pianist/arranger/conductor Orrin Evans. He played on Joni Mitchell’s 2014 release Love Has Many Faces, and in 2018 accompanied Chaka Khan, James Taylor and other luminaries honoring Mitchell in a gala concert documented on Joni 75: A Birthday Celebration. Other sideman highlights include recordings by Jack DeJohnette, Marcus Miller, Steve Coleman, and Terri Lyne Carrington. Akinmusire received his 2nd GRAMMY nomination —for “Best Improvised Solo”— on Carrington’s 2022 release, New Standards Vol 1.

In addition to winning the prestigious Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition in 2007 and the Carmine Caruso International Jazz Trumpet Solo Competition the same year, Akinmusire has frequently topped the JazzTimes and DownBeat annual critics polls. He has received the Doris Duke Performing Artist Award (2014); Le Grand Prix de l’Académie du Jazz (2014); Germany’s ECHO Jazz Award (Instrumentalist of the Year/Brass);

and The Netherlands’ Paul Acket Award. A sought-after educator as well, Akinmusire has taught at the Dave Brubeck Institute, Stanford Jazz Workshop, Musik-Akademie Basel, Banff Centre, Berklee College of Music (as Artist-in-Residence), Princeton University, McGill University, Indiana University, University of Massachusetts Amherst, University of Southern California, Conservatorium van Amsterdam, New Zealand School of Music, Vriednden Antwerpen. and more.

A graduate of Manhattan School of Music, Akinmusire lived for several years in New York before returning to the West Coast to attend the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz in Los Angeles while also pursuing a master’s degree at USC’s Thornton School of Music. During another five-year stint in New York he performed with the likes of Vijay Iyer, Aaron Parks, and Esperanza Spalding. He then returned to LA and joined the faculty at Thornton for two years before coming full circle: back to Berkeley, where he now resides with his family.

In 2023, Akinmusire released his first recording for Nonesuch, the critically-acclaimed, Owl Song, featuring Bill Frisell (guitar) and Herlin Riley (drums), as well as Beauty is Enough, a solo trumpet record on his own Origami Harvest label. In 2023, Akinmusire was also named the artistic director of the Herbie Hancock Institute.

TIMOTHY ANGULO

DRUMS

Timothy Angulo is a drummer and composer whose music follows the lineage of Black musical innovators. Originally from Berkeley, California, Angulo now calls two coasts home and is currently based in New York City. His teachers include Milford Graves, Michael Carvin, Ndugu Chancler, and Darcy James Argue. Pitchfork has lauded his “deep pocket drums’’ in his collaborative endeavors. By synthesizing sounds from his wideranging experiences, Angulo has opened doors for himself to work with renowned artists such as Ambrose Akinmusire, Reggie Workman, Wallace Roney, Kamasi Washington, Jeff Parker, Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, and Marlena Shaw. He is also a current member of the experimental music group L’Rain.

BIOGRAPHIES

ESTEBAN CASTRO

PIANO

Esteban Castro is a pianist and composer from New York who captivates audiences and critics with performances that are intimate and sophisticated beyond his years. He attends the Juilliard School on a full-tuition Thomas Dubois Hormel Memorial Scholarship, studying with Ted Rosenthal, and he also studies privately with Fred Hersch. Esteban is a Young Steinway Artist. At age thirteen, Esteban was the First Prize Winner in the Montreux Jazz Piano Solo Competition in 2016, making him the youngest ever to receive this prestigious award. At fourteen, he was the youngest First Prize recipient at the 2017 Jacksonville Jazz Piano Competition. With over forty compositions to his name, Esteban has garnered three ASCAP Foundation Young Jazz Composer Awards and has won fifteen Downbeat Student Music Awards. He was selected as a pianist for the Grammy Band in 2017 and 2018, as a 2019 YoungArts Finalist, and as a member of the 2019 Next Generation Jazz Orchestra. He has won a variety of classical piano competitions, including the 2019 MSM Precollege Philharmonic Concerto Competition, playing Prokofiev’s First Piano Concerto. Esteban was commissioned for a big band arrangement by the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra for the Thelonious Monk 100th Birthday Celebration in 2018. Esteban has played to sold-out audiences in venues such as The Blue Note, The Montreux Jazz Club, The New Jersey Performing Arts Center, and Dizzy’s Club. He’s also performed in Switzerland, Italy, France, Peru, Canada, and Puerto Rico. Esteban routinely donates his time and performances to charitable causes such as the Jazz Ambassadors, the American Cancer Society, Haiti Disaster Relief, Aid to Victims of Hurricane Maria, and to provide musical instruments for needs-based students.

JEREMIAH EDWARDS

BASS

Jeremiah Edwards is a 19 year old bassist born in Detroit Michigan, but raised in the DMV area. He has been playing music all his life, starting on African drums as a baby and started playing bass when he was 8 years old. He has shared the stage and been mentored by music legends such as Antoine Roney, Rodney Whitaker, John Clayton, Rufus Reid, Buster Willams, Lenny White, Kenny Garret, Donald Harrison, Gerald Cannon, Cecil Mcbee, Ralphe Armstrong, Billy Drummond and many others. He currently resides in Harlem NYC. On the scene playing and learning from the greats!

COSMO LIEBERMAN

ALTO SAX

At only 17 years old, Cosmo Lieberman has established himself as a rising artist in the improvised music scene. Based in Los Angeles, California, Cosmo attends public high school while also studying music at The Colburn School, where he has been under the guidance of saxophonist/educator Lee Secard for the past 6 years. Cosmo has been heavily influenced by the jazz and improvised music scene in Los Angeles, as well as artists from all different sectors of creative music, such as Henry Threadgill, Bjork, Andrew Hill, Julien Loquet, Anthony Braxton, and more. Having performed with the Next Generation Jazz Orchestra (Monterey Jazz Festival), the National Youth Orchestra Jazz (Carnegie Hall), as well as other student groups, Ambrose Akinmusire’s banyan seed is the first professional project Cosmo has been a part of. As a current senior in high school, Cosmo plans on moving to New York this fall to continue his musical studies and career.

EMMANUEL MICHAEL GUITAR

Born and raised in South Dakota as a first-generation Ugandan and Southern Sudanese, Emmanuel Michael is a New York City based artist who believes that without self-reflection and empathy towards himself and others, the foundation of what makes a truthful artist/human would crumble. Recent artistic endeavors have included leading their own double guitar quartet (The Emmanuel Michael Group) throughout a tour of Switzerland (Musig Im Pflegidach) performing and teaching masterclasses, playing as a member of the Aaron Parks: Archetypes Sextet at The Jazz Gallery, playing as a member of the Ambrose Akinmusire Quintet for the Doris Duke Foundation, and recording two albums as a member of the The Dayna Stephens Now Quartet (2024 Spring release through Cellar Live).

OUR SUPPORTERS

This program is supported, in part, by public funds from The New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in Partnership with the City Council.

Harlem Stage’s Programs are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

This project is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts.

On the occasion of Harlem Stage’s 40th Anniversary milestone season, we are pleased to offer a series of livestream performances this Winter/Spring 2024, available to our donors. As part of our $40 for 40 campaign, your donation of at least $40 to Harlem Stage will give you access to livestream these amazing performances. Learn more at harlemstage.org/40for40

E-Moves

Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company Saturday, April 20 | 7:30PM

WaterWorks Established Artist Commission

Tamar-kali—The Swann Carl Hancock Rux, Libretto Saturday, May 4 | 7:30PM

Friday, May 3 – Saturday, May 4 | 7:30PM

WaterWorks Established Artist Commission

Tamar-kali—The Swann

Carl Hancock Rux, Libretto

Composer, vocalist, and performing and recording artist Tamar-kali presents performance excerpts from The Swann — an opera she is developing about the life and times of William Dorsey Swann, the first known person to identify as a “queen of drag.”

CALENDAR

SEPTEMBER 14, 2023

ON & ON: JOSÉ JAMES SINGS BADU

SEPTEMBER 22, 2023

UPTOWN NIGHTS

LATIN MUSIC SERIES

PABLO MAYOR’S FOLKLORE URBANO ORCHESTRA

OCTOBER 13 – 14, 2023 E-MOVES

RONALD K. BROWN/ EVIDENCE

OCTOBER 20 – 21, 2023

CRAIG HARRIS

TONGUES OF FIRE (in a harlem state of mind)

OCTOBER 27, 2023

UPTOWN NIGHTS

LATIN MUSIC SERIES

DAFNIS PRIETO

FEATURING LUCIANA SOUZA CANTAR

NOVEMBER 3, 2023

IN THE COURT OF THE CONQUEROR BY GEORGE EMILIO

SANCHEZ IN

COLLABORATION WITH VISUAL ARTIST PATTY ORTIZ

NOVEMBER 10, 2023

UPTOWN NIGHTS

LATIN MUSIC SERIES +

CARNEGIE HALL CITYWIDE FLOR DE TOLOACHE

DECEMBER 1, 2023

UPTOWN NIGHTS

LATIN MUSIC SERIES

YASSER TEJEDA & DJ SABINE BLAIZIN (OYASOUND)

DECEMBER 9, 2023

WATERWORKS EMERGING ARTISTS SHOWCASE

FEATURING SHANTELLE COURVOISIER JACKSON, HANNAH LEMMONS AKA

LEMMONS, BOBBY MORGAN, MARY PRESCOTT & KALÍ RODRÍGUEZ-PEÑA

JANUARY 11–13, 2024

E-MOVES

URBAN BUSH WOMEN’S HAINT BLU

JANUARY 26, 2024

UPTOWN NIGHTS

IAN ISIAH + KIMBERLY NICHOLE

FEBRUARY 16, 2024

UPTOWN NIGHTS: CONVENT TO WYTHE yuniya edi kwon + SUN HAN GUILD

MARCH 1 – 2, 2024

ETERNAL SPIRIT: VIJAY IYER & FRIENDS

CELEBRATE THE MUSIC OF ANDREW HILL

MARCH 8, 2024

UPTOWN NIGHTS AN EVENING OF CHAMBER

MUSIC PRESENTED WITH SUGAR HILL SALON & CONCERT ARTISTS GUILD

MARCH 9, 2024

UPTOWN NIGHTS: CONVENT TO WYTHE

BORA YOON & R. LUKE DUBOIS AT NATIONAL SAWDUST

MARCH 22 – 23, 2024

STEW

HIGH SUBSTITUTE FOR THE DREAD LECTURER: BARAKA JONES IN DUB

MARCH 29 – 30, 2024

WATERWORKS ESTABLISHED ARTIST COMMISSION

AMBROSE AKINMUSIRE banyan seed

APRIL 19 – 20, 2024

E-MOVES

BILL T. JONES/ ARNIE ZANE COMPANY

APRIL 26, 2024

PIANOS FOR DUKE REIMAGINED: FEATURING

JASON MORAN, ABDULLAH IBRAHIM & FRIENDS

APRIL 27, 2024

PIANOS FOR DUKE REIMAGINED: FEATURING

JASON MORAN, ABDULLAH

IBRAHIM & FRIENDS BENEFIT CONCERT

MAY 3 – 4, 2024

WATERWORKS ESTABLISHED ARTIST COMMISSION

TAMAR-KALI THE SWANN

MAY 17 – 18, 2024

E-MOVES

nora chipaumire ShebeenDUB

JUNE 3, 2024

HARLEM STAGE

40TH ANNIVERSARY GALA

JUNE 14 – 15, 2024

E-MOVES

CAMILLE A. BROWN & GUESTS: BLACK JOY

FEATURING WORKS BY CAMILLE A. BROWN, CHLOE DAVIS, JUEL D. LANE, MAYTE NATALIO, RICKEY TRIPP & MALEEK WASHINGTON

Lead support for Harlem Stage’s 40th Anniversary Season is provided by the Mellon Foundation.

ABOUT HARLEM STAGE

Harlem Stage is the performing arts center that bridges Harlem’s cultural legacy to contemporary artists of color and dares to provide the artistic freedom that gives birth to new ideas.

For 40 years our singular mission has been to perpetuate and celebrate the unique and diverse artistic legacy of Harlem and the indelible impression it has made on American culture. We provide opportunity, commissioning, and support for artists of color, make performances easily accessible to all audiences, and introduce children to the rich diversity, excitement, and inspiration of the performing arts.

We fulfill our mission through commissioning, incubating, and presenting innovative and vital work that responds to the historical and contemporary conditions that shape our lives and the communities we serve.

Board of Directors

Courtney F. Lee-Mitchell, President

Jamie Cannon, Vice President

Michael Young, Secretary

Mark Thomas, Treasurer

Angela Glover Blackwell

Jenna Bond

Jamila Ponton Bragg

JoAnn K. Chase

Staff

Patricia Cruz, Artistic Director & CEO

MANAGEMENT

Eric Oberstein, Managing Director

DEVELOPMENT

Shamar Hill, Director of Development

Shanté Skyers, Associate Director of Development

Julianna Friedman, Development Manager

PROGRAMMING

Carl Hancock Rux, Associate Artistic Director/ Curator-in-Residence

Sarah McCaffery, Programming Manager and Associate Curator

Maurice Ivy, Programming Associate

MARKETING

Deirdre May, Senior Director of Digital Content and Marketing

Andre Padayhag, Marketing Manager and Graphic Designer

Adrienne Gomez, Box Office Manager

EDUCATION

Jordan Carter, Education & Community Engagement Manager

Bethany Cintron, Education & Community Engagement Associate

PRODUCTION

Amanda K. Ringger, Director of Production

Jeff Davolt, Stage Coordinator

Clarence Taylor, Lighting Operator

Julio Collado, Audio Crew

David Barrett, Deck Crew

LaChanze

Patricia Cruz

Hugh Dancy and Claire Danes

Jenette Kahn

Channing Martin

Rebecca Robertson

Tamara Tunie

Blair Washington

OPERATIONS

Rodney Bissessar, Director of Operations

Lamont Askins, Operations Associate

Acey Anderson Sr., Maintenance

FINANCE & ADMINISTRATION

NCheng LLC, Accountants/Advisors

Jake Lee, Partner

Aaron Lam, Supervising Senior Accountant

CONSULTANTS

Aon/Albert G. Ruben Company (NY)/

Claudia Kaufman, Insurance

Arts Education Consultants:

Sobha Kavanakudiyil, Sierra Ray & Wendy Rojas

Blake Zidell & Associates, Public Relations

Briguel, Digital Video Services

DAS, IT Consultant

Derrick Saint Pierre/Snugg Studios, Digital Video Services

Intrepid Digital, SEO Services

JCA, Inc.: Database Consulting

Jess Medenbach, Digital Video Services

LCM/247, Digital Video Services

Lutz & Carr/Chris Bellando, Accountants

Madison Consulting Group, Matthew Laurence

Manchester Benefits, Greg Martin

Marc Millman, Photography

Robyn L. Stein, Rl Stein Group, Development Consultant

Charles Whelan, The Whelan Group Incorporated

USHERS

Toma Carthens, Andy Garcia, Julian Norales, Zarif Shabazz, Nobar De leon, Miriam

Hernandez, Maelon Moncrieffe