M³ DEEPER DIVES
TOWARD GENDER LIBERATION ON THE BANDSTAND
SUNDAY, JANUARY 16, 2022
2pm ET - 3:30pm ET
Panelists
Samantha Boshnack
Composer/performer/bandleader Samantha Boshnack’s pulsing sonic explorations vitalize her chamber orchestra B’shnorkestra, her band Seismic Belt, her eponymous quintet, composers’ collective Alchemy Sound Project, and the postmodern outfit Reptet. An alumni of the Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music, Boshnack received the Make Jazz Fellowship in 2018.
Miriam Elhajli
Miriam Elhajli is a Venezuelan-Moroccan-American composer and poet whose work is influenced by the folkloric traditions of their heritage as well as improvised and new-music idioms.
Elhajli currently lives between anywhere & brooklyn performing on stages and street corners, making puppets, and working as a researcher at The Association for Cultural Equity founded by Alan Lomax. Elhajli's debut LP "Observations" was released this spring on her independent label Numina Records. Elhajli's sophomore album is set to be released 2/2/22.
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the
Cleo Reed
Cleo Reed is a student of black underground sound named after Cleophus, her great grandmother and a fellow Aquarius. She reaches deeply into her own lineage and uses it as a reference for her work in the production and design of soundscapes, compositional and popular music works, in addition to mixing, mastering, and editing her own music and visuals.
Michele Rosewoman
A fearless bandleader and mentor for four decades, Michele Rosewoman has expanded the horizons of jazz while remaining firmly rooted in tradition. With recordings as leader on Blue Note, Enja, SoulNote, Toshiba-EMI and her own Advance Dance Disques label, her long-standing Quintessence ensemble has consistently brought together cutting-edge voices (Greg Osby, Steve Coleman, Miguel Zenon, Gary Thomas, Terri Lyne Carrington, Tyshawn Sory) while her New Yor-Uba ensemble presents an uncompromised synthesis of contemporary jazz and traditional Cuban folkloric music, uniting master musicians from both worlds, She has performed with many jazz and Latin music greats, including, Jimmy Heath, Billy Harper, Julius Hemphill, Oliver Lake, Rufus Reid, Reggie Workman, Freddie Waits, Gary Bartz, James Spaulding, Billy Hart, Carlos Ward, Billy Bang, Celia Cruz, Paquito D’Rivera, Chocolate, Orlando 'Puntilla' Rios, Román Díaz and Pedrito Martinez. She has presented her various ensembles at festivals, concert halls, clubs and universities throughout the world and is an active and dedicated educator. A 2016 Latin jazz Grammy winner, her own innovative projects have received great critical acclaim and numerous prestigious awards.
Sumi Tonooka
Sumi Tonooka has been called a “fierce, fascinating composer pianist” (Jazz Times), “provocative and compelling” (The New York Times), and “inventive, original, surprising” (Cuadranos de Jazz, Madrid). With twelve recordings and a vast catalogue of compositions in genres symphonic, chamber, dance, and film, Tonooka is a creative force. She is a 2019 winner of Chamber Music America’s New Jazz Works grant, a finalist in the 2020 African American Composer Initiative for the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and composing a new work, In The Green Room with vocalist and composer Jen Shyu, for Asia Society and Doris Duke Charitable Fund.
Malika Zarra
Jazz has been called one of America’s greatest contributions to the world’s culture, but it’s important to remember it’s an art form that has grown from countless cultural exchanges with artists and styles outside the U.S. An inspiring new international voice, who is both influenced by jazz and is bringing her own culture and creativity to the melting pot, is MALIKA ZARRA. Born in Morocco, raised in France, lived ten years in New York City and four years in Morocco this gifted composer, producer and singer has invented a new Moroccan urban-world-jazz by tastefully using traditional North African chaâbi, Berber and Gnawa polyrhythms to underpin her distinctly contemporary urban compositions, all the while maintaining a sophisticated improvisational modern jazz approach.
Moderator
Kyla Marshell
Kyla Marshell is a writer whose poems, essays, interviews, and reviews have appeared in The Guardian, Kinfolk, O Magazine, Ebony, The Ringer, and The Believer, among others. In her work as an arts & culture writer, she has covered a wide range of musical subjects, including the Afropunk festival and Kendrick Lamar's Pulitzer win, and interviewed such artists as Esperanza Spalding, Van Hunt, Gretchen Parlato, Kelis, Keyon Harrold, and Dev Hynes. Originally from Boston, she grew up in Silver Spring, MD, Morehead, KY, and Portland, ME, and now lives in Brooklyn, NY.