ning vocal powerhouse Jennifer Holliday to be choral director for the theatrical production of Dreamgirls during the National Black Arts Festival in Atlanta. Avery*Sunshine has also had the distinction of performing at the Democratic National Convention in Denver, CO, and four private events during the 2009 Inauguration of President Barack Obama. At home in a variety of musical contexts, she has also sung background for gospel icon Yolanda Adams. The SunRoom is Avery*Sunshine’s 2nd full length. It’s one of those albums that transports you both musically and emotionally. From organic soulful in-thepocket grooves, sublime ballads, and exuberant up-tempo numbers, the vocals shine throughout. The production is tight, and the songwriting is authentic and thought provoking. All of the material on the CD was co-written by Avery*Sunshine and Dana “BigDane” Johnson with the exception of the gospel track “Safe In His Arms.” The musical roots of Avery*Sunshine run deep as their creative core has collectively been inspired by such diverse iconic figures as Nina Simone, Gladys Knight, The Doobie Brothers, Curtis Blow, B.B. King, and John Coltrane to Parliament & Funkadelic, The Clark Sisters, Madonna, Miles Davis, Earth, Wind & Fire, and James Brown. With the release of The SunRoom, it is obvious that Avery*Sunshine and Dana “BigDane” Johnson are no ordinary stars and that their magnetic field of positivity has a gravitational pull that is destined to resonate with the masses. “Our mission is simple: to inspire and encourage people to pursue whatever their life calling is and to operate at the highest level of themselves through that calling - ultimately to #SHINE.”
Vijay Iyer Trio Continued from pg. 19
March 2014 marked the release of Mutations, Iyer’s eighteenth album and his debut for the prestigious ECM label: a recording for piano, string quartet and electronics, the first album to document his works for chamber ensembles. His previous release, Holding It Down: The Veterans’ Dreams Project (2013), is his third 52
Opening Nights Performing Arts
collaboration with poet Mike Ladd, based on the dreams of veterans of color from America’s wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It was hailed as #1 Jazz Album of the Year by the Los Angeles Times and described in JazzTimes as “impassioned, haunting, [and] affecting.” Two tremendously acclaimed and influential albums, Accelerando (2012) and Historicity (2009), both feature the Vijay Iyer Trio (Iyer, piano; Marcus Gilmore, drums; Stephan Crump, bass), recently described by PopMatters as “the best band in jazz.” Accelerando was voted #1 Jazz Album of the Year for 2012 in three separate critics polls surveying hundreds of critics worldwide, hosted by DownBeat, JazzTimes, and Rhapsody, respectively, and also was chosen as jazz album of the year by NPR, the Los Angeles Times, PopMatters. com, and Amazon.com. Historicity was a 2010 Grammy Nominee for Best Instrumental Jazz
The Vijay Iyer Trio has the potential to alter the scope, ambition and language of jazz piano forever. – Jazzwise (UK) Album, and was named #1 Jazz Album of 2009 in The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune, the Detroit Metro Times, National Public Radio, PopMatters. com, the Village Voice Jazz Critics Poll, and the Downbeat International Critics Poll. The trio won the 2010 Echo Award for best international ensemble and the 2012 Downbeat Critics Poll for jazz group of the year. Previously Iyer was voted the 2010 Musician of the Year by the Jazz Journalists Association and named one of 2011’s “50 Most Influential Global Indians” by GQ India. His other honors include the Greenfield Prize, the Alpert Award in the Arts, the New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship, the India Abroad Publisher’s Special Award for Excellence, and numerous composer commissions. Iyer’s many collaborators include
Steve Coleman, Wadada Leo Smith, Roscoe Mitchell, Butch Morris, George Lewis, Amina Claudine Myers, William Parker, Graham Haynes, Rudresh Mahanthappa, Rez Abbasi, Craig Taborn, Ambrose Akinmusire, Liberty Ellman, Steve Lehman, Matana Roberts, Tyshawn Sorey, Miya Masaoka, Pamela Z, John Zorn, Mari Kimura, Dead Prez, DJ Spooky, Himanshu Suri of Das Racist, High Priest of Antipop Consortium, Karsh Kale, Suphala, and Talvin Singh; filmmakers Haile Gerima, Prashant Bhargava, and Bill Morrison; choreographer Karole Armitage; and poets Mike Ladd, Amiri Baraka, Charles Simic, and Robert Pinsky. His compositions have been commissioned and performed by Bang on a Can All-Stars, The Silk Road Ensemble, Ethel, Brentano String Quartet, JACK Quartet, American Composers Orchestra, Hermès Ensemble, International Contemporary Ensemble, and Imani Winds. A polymath whose career has spanned the sciences, the humanities and the arts, Iyer received an interdisciplinary Ph.D. in the cognitive science of music from the University of California, Berkeley. He has published in Journal of Consciousness Studies, Wire, Music Perception, JazzTimes, Journal of the Society for American Music, Critical Studies in Improvisation, in the anthologies Arcana IV, Sound Unbound, Uptown Conversation, The Best Writing on Mathematics: 2010, and in the forthcoming Oxford Handbook of Critical Improvisation Studies. Iyer has taught at Manhattan School of Music, New York University, and the New School, and he is the Director of The Banff Centre’s International Workshop in Jazz and Creative Music, an annual 3-week program in Alberta, Canada founded by Oscar Peterson. Iyer recently finished a multi-year residency with San Francisco Performances, performing and working with schools and community organizations. In 2014 he began a permanent appointment at Harvard University’s Department of Music, as the Franklin D. and Florence Rosenblatt Professor of the Arts. Vijay Iyer is a Steinway Artist. Unlimited Myles, Inc. 6 Imaginary Place Aberdeen, NJ 07747