Composing While Black: International Contemporary Ensemble collaborates with AACM members
$50
- Adegoke Steve Colson, piano
- Iqua Colson, voice
- Reggie Nicholson, percussion
- Thurman Barker, percussion
- Alice Teyssier, flute
- Toyin Spellman-Diaz, oboe
- Alexander Davis, bassoon
- Jonathan Finlayson, trumpet
- Daniel Lippel, electric guitar
- Jacqueline Kerrod, harp
- Josh Modney, violin
- Dara Hankins, cello
Adegoke Steve Colson — Instant Death of the City
Iqua Colson — Days Go By
Iqua Colson — Atrocities
Reggie Nicholson — Variations of a Thought
Thurman Barker — South Side Suite
Thurman Barker — Pandemic Fever
The International Contemporary Ensemble performs work by and with four composer-performers from the renowned experimental music collective, the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM). Composer-performers from both collectives will work together to create exciting, all-new hybrid compositional-improvisative works.
About International Contemporary Ensemble
With a commitment to cultivating a more curious and engaged society through music, the International Contemporary Ensemble – as a commissioner and performer at the highest level – amplifies creators whose work propels and challenges how music is made and experienced.
https://www.iceorg.org/About Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM)
The Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) has, since 1965, exercised an internationally renowned influence on the development of experimental music. With chapters in Chicago and New York, the composite output of AACM members has explored new and influential ideas about timbre, sound, collectivity, extended technique, instrumentation, intermedia, computer music technologies, installations, and kinetic sculptures.
http://www.aacmchicago.org/About Adegoke Steve Colson, piano
Adegoke Steve Colson is a noted pianist, composer, saxophonist, and educator who has performed internationally as a leader of jazz ensembles ranging from trios to orchestras. His work has been recorded on labels that include Columbia/Sony, Evidence, and Black Saint. His Solo Piano recording Tones For, reflecting on the lives and work of Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, and Frederick Douglass, was his most recent release on Silver Sphinx, the label he co-owns with his wife and musical partner, Iqua Colson. The liner notes were written by fellow pianist and MacArthur Fellow, Vijay Iyer. Among the various accolades received internationally, the CD was picked as The Jazz Times Editor's Choice. His other recordings have also received high praise, including The Untarnished Dream—with Iqua, and Jazz Legends Andrew Cyrille and Reggie Workman; this CD was voted into the top 40 of the International Jazz Critics Poll. His work as an artist has been discussed/reviewed in many languages and can be found in countless magazines, newspapers, periodicals, and in several books.
https://colsonsmusic.com/About Iqua Colson, voice
Iqua Colson—vocalist, composer, lyricist, arts administrator, producer, educator—has shared the stage with many of this era's great artists. She was named a Vocal Talent Deserving Wider Recognition by Downbeat Magazine and has been recognized by Billboard Magazine for distinguished achievement as a lyricist. The international media has praised her placing her in the company of some of our finest known vocal innovators and stylists including Betty Carter, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, and Abbey Lincoln.
https://colsonsmusic.com/About Reggie Nicholson, percussion
A member of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) since 1979, percussionist-composer Reggie Nicholson has twice been nominated for the Alpert Award in the Arts, and his compositions exhibit a keen aware of sound, space, and timbre. He has performed at many venues around the world, and has released recordings for solo percussion, percussion ensemble, percussion with electronics, and chamber forces.
https://www.reggienicholson.com/About Thurman Barker, percussion
Percussionist-composer Thurman Barker is a recipient of a 2022 NYSCA award for composition and is a Professor Emeritus of Bard College in music and jazz studies. An original member of the AACM, Barker has collaborated closely with other AACM members, including Dr. Muhal Richard Abrams, Amina Claudine Myers, Anthony Braxton, Leroy Jenkins, Roscoe Mitchell and Henry Threadgill, as well as Sam Rivers and Cecil Taylor. Barker composes music for ensembles large and small, moving beyond genre to reflect the human experience itself.
https://upteeproductions.com/About Alice Teyssier, flute
About Toyin Spellman-Diaz, oboe
Oboist Toyin Spellman-Diaz earned her Bachelors of Music degree from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and her Master's and Professional Studies degrees at the Manhattan School of Music. Her orchestral career includes performances with the New York Philharmonic, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Chicago Civic Orchestra, Orchestra of St. Luke's, and the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra.
Hailed by the Washington Post for her "smooth, controlled tone and excellent technique," Toyin has performed concertos with the Chicago Civic Orchestra, Manhattan Virtuosi, and with the Kennedy Center Youth Orchestra.
An original member of Imani Winds, Ms. Spellman-Diaz has built her career as a champion of contemporary chamber music.
Along with her Imani Winds colleagues, she is devoted to discovering new and diverse musical voices and cultures to increase and enhance the woodwind quintet repertoire. She has also collaborated with some of today’s most influential chamber music ensembles, including Alarm Will Sound, the Antara Ensemble, and Camerata Pacifica. She is on faculty at New York University and the Curtis Institute of Music, and is on the Board of Directors of American Composer's Orchestra.
https://www.curtis.edu/person/toyin-spellman-diaz/About Alexander Davis, bassoon
About Jonathan Finlayson, trumpet
About Daniel Lippel, electric guitar
About Jacqueline Kerrod, harp
About Josh Modney, violin
Josh Modney—AKA Modney—is a violinist and creative musician working at the nexus of composition, improvisation, and interpretation. A "new-music luminary" (The New York Times) hailed for "jaw-dropping technical skill…" and as "one of today's most intrepid experimentalists" (Bandcamp Daily), Modney is a foremost interpreter of adventurous contemporary music, and has cultivated a holistic artistic practice as a composer, solo improviser, bandleader, music director, writer, arts administrator, and collaborator.
https://joshmodney.com/