Geri Allen
Background information
Born	(1957-06-12) June 12, 1957 (age 55) Pontiac, Michigan United States
Genres	Jazz, Post bop, Blues music, Funk, Gospel
Occupations	Musician Professor producer
Instruments	Piano
Years active	1982–present
Labels	Motema Music Polygram Storyville Blue Note Telarc
Associated acts	Timeline
Website	www.GeriAllen.com

Geri Allen (born June 12, 1957 in Pontiac, Michigan) is an American composer/pianist educator jazz pianist, raised in Detroit, Michigan, and educated in the Detroit Public Schools. Allen has worked with many of the greats of modern music, including Ornette Coleman, Ron Carter, Ravi Coltrane, Tony Williams, Dave Holland, Jack DeJohnette, Betty Carter, and Charles Lloyd. She cites her primary influences to be her parents, Mount Vernell Allen Jr, and Barbara Jean Allen, and her primary musical influences to be, mentors Marcus Belgrave, Donald Waldon, and Betty Carter, as well as pianists, Herbie Hancock, Mary Lou Williams, Hank Jones, Alice Coltrane, Cecil Taylor, Thelonious Monk, McCoy Tyner, Bud Powell and mentor, Dr. Billy Taylor. Allen is an Associate Professor of Jazz and Contemporary Improvisation in the School Of Music Theatre & Dance, at the University Of Michigan.

Biography[link]

Allen received her early music education at the famed Cass Technical High School in Detroit and the Jazz Development Workshop, where her mentor was the highly regarded trumpeter/teacher Marcus Belgrave.^[1] In 1979, Allen earned her bachelor's degree in jazz studies from Howard University in Washington, D.C. She studied under composer Thomas Kerr, and pianists Raymond Jackson, John Malachi, Fred Irby, Arthur Dawkins, and Komla Amoaku. After graduation, she moved to New York City, where she studied with the veteran bop pianist Kenny Barron. From there, at the behest of the jazz educator Nathan Davis, Allen attended the University of Pittsburgh, earning a master's degree in ethnomusicology,^[1] returning to New York in 1982, and began touring with Mary Wilson and the Supremes. In the mid-'80s, Allen became a charter member of both the Black Rock Coalition and the Brooklyn M-Base movement^[1] a collective including saxophonist Steve Coleman, and other significant contributors. Allen played on several of Coleman's albums, including his first, 1985's Motherland Pulse, and Coleman also played on her composition "The Dancer" on the LP, "In The Middle" (released in 1986), which featured veteran tap dancer, Lloyd Story. Allen also composed "The Glide Was In The Ride", performed by The Steve Coleman Group, listed on the New Smithsonian Collection of Classic Jazz.

Allen's own first album, The Printmakers, with Anthony Cox and Andrew Cyrille, from a year earlier, showcased the pianist's more avant-garde tendencies. In 1988 came Etudes, a cooperative trio effort with Charlie Haden and Paul Motian. In 1995, she was the first recipient of Soul Train’s Lady of Soul Award for jazz album of the year for Twenty-One, featuring Tony Williams and Ron Carter, and the first woman, and youngest person to receive the Danish "Jazz Par Prize". Allen continued to push the improvisational envelope with Sound Museum, a 1996 recording made under the leadership of Ornette Coleman. The Gathering followed in 1998. The Life of a Song was recorded with veterans Dave Holland on bass and Jack DeJohnette on drums. Her 2010 album "Flying Toward the Sound" was rated one of the Best Of 2010 on NPR, Downbeat, All About Jazz, and the Village Voice's Jazz Critics' Poll that year.^[2]"Timeless Portraits and Dreams" featured NEA Jazz Masters Jimmy Cobb and Ron Carter, as well as opera icon George Shirley singing "Lift Every Voice and Sing", saxophonist and mentor Donald Walden, vocalist Carmen Lundy, and the Atlanta Jazz Chorus under the direction of composer/multi-reedist Dwight Andrews.

In 2006, Allen was commissioned to compose "For The Healing Of The Nations" a Sacred Jazz Suite for Voices, written in Tribute to the Victims, Survivors and Their Families of the 9/11 Tragedy. The Suite was performed by Howard University's award winning Afro-Blue Jazz Choir, under direction of Connaitre Miller. Oliver Lake, Craig Harris, Andy Bey, Dwight Andrews, Mary Stallings, Carmen Lundy, Nneena Freelon, Jay Hoggard, and other jazz greats also participated. The poetry was contributed by Sandra Turner-Barnes.

Geri Allen took part in a documentary film titled "Live Music, Community & Social Conscience" (2007) while performing at the Frog Island Music Festival in Michigan. A documentary film that looks at how music connects us to our humanity, and to each other regardless of borders, politics, culture economics, or religion. Allen contributed original music to the documentary film Beah: A Black Woman Speaks, director Lisa Gay Hamilton, which received a Peabody Award. Also, Allen contributed orchestrations to Andy Bey's "American Song" which was nominated for a Grammy Award. She was the recipient of a 2008 Guggenheim fellowship.^[3]Allen's composition "Refractions", was released, in response to her Guggenheim Fellowship in Composition, as "Flying Towards The Sound" along with three short art films by film maker/photographer, Carrie Mae Weems, for Motema Music in 2010. "Geri Allen & Timeline Live" her second recording for Motema, featured bassist Kenny Davis, drummer Kassa Overall and tap dancer Maurice Chestnut, and was released simultaneously with "Flying Toward The Sound".

Allen received the "African-American Classical Music Award" from the Women of the New Jersey Chapter of Spelman College, and also received "A Salute To African-American Women: Phenomenal Woman" from the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity, Epsilon Chapter at the University of Michigan, in 2008. Allen received a nomination in 2011 for the NAACP Image Award for Best Jazz Album, "Geri Allen & Timeline Live". She was also nominated for both The 10th Annual Independent Music Awards in 2011 under the Live Performance Album category^[4], and for "Best Jazz Pianist", by the Jazz Journalists Association.

Ms. Allen performed this year in the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Monument Unveiling Concert, "A Theatrical & Musical Celebration Honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., MLK: A Monumental Life", presented in Constitution Hall, by Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.

Geri Allen currently teaches as Associate Professor of Jazz & Contemporary Improvisation at the School Of Music Theatre & Dance, at the University Of Michigan.^[5]

Discography[link]

As leader[link]

As sidewoman[link]

This section requires expansion.

With Betty Carter

• Droppin' Things (Verve, 1993)
• Feed the Fire (Verve, 1993)

With Ornette Coleman

• Sound Museum: Hidden Man (Harmolodic/Verve, 1996)
• Sound Museum: Three Women (Harmolodic/Verve, 1996)

With Steve Coleman

• Motherland Pulse (JMT, 1985)
• And Five Elements: On the Edge of Tomorrow (JMT, 1986)
• And Five Elements: World Expansion (JMT, 1986)
• And Five Elements: Sine Die (Pangaea, 1986) on one track only

With Charlie Haden

• Etudes (Soul Note, 1987)
• The Montreal Tapes: with Geri Allen and Paul Motian (Verve, 1989 [1997])
• The Montreal Tapes: Liberation Music Orchestra (Verve, 1989 [1999])

With Oliver Lake

• Expandable Language (Black Saint, 1984)

With Charles Lloyd

• Lift Every Voice (ECM, 2002)
• Jumping the Creek (ECM, 2004)

With Paul Motian

• Monk in Motian (JMT, 1988)

With Dewey Redman

• Living on the Edge (Black Saint, 1989)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official Website
• Geri Allen at Motéma Music
• Geri Allen at All About Jazz
• Geri Allen at NPR Music
• Jazz Conversations with Eric Jackson: Geri Allen from WGBH Radio Boston
• Geri Allen at Rhapsody

Jack DeJohnette
DeJohnette in 2006
Background information
Born	(1942-08-09)August 9, 1942 Chicago, Illinois United States
Genres	Jazz, jazz fusion, new age
Occupations	Musician, composer
Instruments	Drums, piano, percussion, melodica
Years active	1961–present
Labels	Milestone/Prestige, ECM, MCA, Blue Note, Columbia, Kindred Rhythm
Website	www.jackdejohnette.com

Jack DeJohnette (born 9 August 1942)^[1] is an American jazz drummer, pianist, and composer. An important figure of the fusion era of jazz, DeJohnette is one of the most influential jazz drummers of the 20th century, due to extensive work as leader and sideman for musicians like Miles Davis, Joe Henderson, Freddie Hubbard, Keith Jarrett, Sonny Rollins, and John Scofield.

Biography[link]

Early Life and Musical Beginnings[link]

DeJohnette was born on 9 August 1942 in Chicago, Illinois.^[2] He began his musical career as a piano player, studying from age four and beginning to play professionally at age 14,^[3] but he decided to forsake it and took on the drums as his main instrument.^[4] DeJohnette would later credit an uncle, Roy I. Wood Sr., as the person in his life who inspired him to play music. Wood was a Chicago disc jockey who would later become vice president of the National Network of Black Broadcasters.^[5]

DeJohnette began his drumming career playing R&B, hard bop, and avant-garde music in Chicago, leading his own groups while playing also with Richard Abrams and Roscoe Mitchell, both of whom were members of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians.^[6] In the early 1960s, Dejohnette had the opportunity to perform with John Coltrane and his quintet, an early foray into playing with big name jazz musicians.^[7]

In 1966 DeJohnette moved to New York City, where he became a member of the Charles Lloyd Quartet.^[8] A band that recognized the potential influence of rock and roll on jazz, Lloyd’s group was where DeJohnette would first encounter pianist Keith Jarrett, who would work extensively with DeJohnette throughout his career.^[9] However, DeJohnette left the group in early 1968, citing Lloyd’s deteriorating, “flat” playing as his main reason for leaving.^[10] While Lloyd’s band was where he received international recognition for the first time,^[11] it was not the only group DeJohnette played with during his early years in New York, as he also worked with groups including Jackie McLean, Abbey Lincoln, Betty Carter, and Bill Evans.^[12] DeJohnette joined Evan’s trio in 1968, the same year the group headlined the Montreux Jazz Festival and produce the album Bill Evans at the Montreux Jazz Festival. In November 1968 he worked briefly with Stan Getz and his quartet, which led to his first recordings with Miles Davis.^[13]

The Miles Davis Years[link]

In 1969, DeJohnette left the Evans trio and replaced Tony Williams in Miles Davis’ live band. Davis had seen DeJohnette play many times, one of which was during a stint with Evans at Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club in London in 1968, where he also first saw the exploits of bassist Dave Holland.^[14] Davis recognized DeJohnette’s ability to combine the driving grooves associated with rock and roll with improvisational aspects associated with jazz.^[15]

DeJohnette put some work into the album Directions, and was the drummer on the landmark album Bitches Brew. DeJohnette himself, along with others, saw the sessions that brought about this album as unstructured and done in fragments but as innovative nonetheless: “As the music was being played, as it was developing, Miles would get new ideas...He’d do a take, and stop, and then get an idea from what had just gone on before, and elaborate on it...The recording of Bitches Brew was a stream of creative musical energy. One thing was flowing into the next, and we were stopping and starting all the time.”^[16] While he was not the only drummer involved in the project, as Davis had also enlisted Billy Cobham, Don Alias, and Lenny White, DeJohnette was considered the leader of the rhythm section within the group.^[17] He played on the live albums that would follow the release of Bitches Brew, taken from concerts at the Fillmore East in New York and Fillmore West in San Francisco. These ventures were undertaken at the behest of Clive Davis, then president of Columbia Records.^[18]

DeJohnette continued to work with Davis for the next three years, which led to collaborations with other Davis band members John McLaughlin, Chick Corea, and Holland; he also drew Keith Jarrett into the band.^[19] He contributed to such famous Davis albums as Live-Evil (1971), A Tribute to Jack Johnson (1971), and On the Corner (1972).^[20] He left the Davis group in the middle of 1971, although he returned to the group for several concerts through the rest of that year.^[21]

DeJohnette as a Solo Artist and Bandleader in the 1970s and 80s[link]

DeJohnette had begun his career as a bandleader during his time in the Davis group. His first record, The DeJohnette Complex, was released in 1968; on the album, DeJohnette played melodica as well as drums, preferring often to let a mentor of his, Roy Haynes, sit behind the set. He also recorded, in the early 1970s, the albums Have You Heard, Sorcery, and Cosmic Chicken.^[22] He released these first four albums on either the Milestone or Prestige labels,^[23] and then switched to ECM for his next endeavors; ECM gave him a “fertile platform” for his “atmospheric drumming and challenging compositions.”^[24]

The musical freedom he had while recording for ECM offered DeJohnette many dates as a sideman and opportunities to start his own groups.^[25] He first formed the group Compost in 1972, but this was a short-lived endeavor, and DeJohnette cited the music as far too experimental to achieve commercial success.^[26] During this period, DeJohnette continued his career as a sideman as well, rejoining Stan Getz’s quartet from 1973 to October 1974, and also enticing Dave Holland to join Getz’s rhythm section.^[27] This stint briefly preceded the formation of the Gateway Trio, a group that DeJohnette helped form but did not lead. This group came directly out of the DeJohnette’s time with Getz, as Holland joined him in this group along with guitarist John Abercrombie, both of whom would become associated with DeJohnette throughout his career.^[28] His next group effort was Directions, a group formed in 1976 featuring saxophonist [Alex Foster], bassist Mike Richmond, and Abercrombie,^[29] showing the links between the members of the Gateway trio. This was another short-lived group, yet it led directly to the formation of DeJohnette’s next group, New Directions, which featured Abercrombie again on guitar along with Lester Bowie on trumpet and Eddie Gomez on bass.^[30] This group coexisted with another DeJohnette group, Special Edition, which was the first DeJohnette-led group to receive critical acclaim.^[31] This group also helped the careers of many lesser-known young horn players, as it had a rotating front line that included David Murray, Arthur Blythe, Chico Freeman, John Purcell, and Rufus Reid, among many others.^[32]

During this period, especially with Special Edition, DeJohnette offered “the necessary gravity to keep the horns in a tight orbit” in his compositions while also treating his listeners to “the expanded vocabulary of the avant-garde plus the discipline of traditional jazz compositions.”^[33] DeJohnette’s work with Special Edition has been interrupted regularly by other projects, the most significant of which are his recordings in 1983 and tours from 1985 as a member of Keith Jarrett’s trio, which was totally devoted to playing jazz standards.^[34] The trio included his longtime compatriot Jarrett and bassist Gary Peacock, and all three have been members of the group for over 25 years.^[35]

DeJohnette in the 1990s and the present[link]

DeJohnette continued to work with Special Edition into the 1990s, but did not limit himself to that. In 1990 he toured in a quartet consisting of himself, Herbie Hancock, Pat Metheny, and his longtime collaborator Holland,^[36] and released the Parallel Realities CD with this group the same year.^[37] In 1992 he released a major collaborative record, Music for the Fifth World, which was inspired by studies with a Native American elder and brought him together musically with players like Vernon Reid and John Scofield.^[38] He had also, during the 1980s, resumed playing piano, which led to his 1994 tour as an unaccompanied pianist.^[39] He also began working again with Abercrombie and Holland, reviving the Gateway trio.^[40]

In 2004 he was nominated for a GRAMMY award for his work on Keith Jarrett’s live album The Out-of-Towners, and continued to work with that group into 2005.^[41] In the next few years DeJohnette would begin and lead three new projects, the first of which was the Latin Project consisting of percussionists Giovanni Hidalgo and Luisito Quintero, reedman Don Byron, pianist Edsel Gomez, and bassist Jerome Harris.^[42] The other two new projects were the Jack DeJohnette Quartet, featuring Harris again alongside Danilo Perez and John Patitucci, and the Trio Beyond, a tribute to DeJohnette’s friend Tony Williams and his The Tony Williams Lifetime trio (consisting of Williams, Larry Young and John McLaughlin)featuring John Scofield and Larry Goldings.^[43] He also founded his own label, Golden Beams Productions, in 2005. That same year, he released Music in the Key of OM on his new label, an electronic album which he created for relaxing and meditative purposes on which he played synthesizer and resonating bells, and which was nominated for a GRAMMY in the Best New Age Album category.^[44] He continued to makes albums as a leader and sideman throughout this period as well, one of which was The Elephant Sleeps But Still Remembers, a collaboration that documents the first meeting of DeJohnette and guitarist Bill Frisell in 2001 and led to another tour, with Frisell and Jerome Harris.^[45] The next year Trio Beyond released Saudades, a live recording of a concert commemorating Tony Williams in London in 2004. In 2008 he toured with Bobby McFerrin, Chick Corea, and the Jarrett trio, and the next year won the Grammy Award for Best New Age Albumwith Peace Time.^[46] In 2010 he founded the Jack DeJohnette Group, featuring Rudresh Mahanthappa on alto saxophone, David Fiuczynski on double-neck guitar, George Colligan on keyboards and piano, and long-time associate Jerome Harris on electric and acoustic bass guitars.^[47] In 2012, DeJohnette released Sound Travels, a multi-genre album that DeJohnette himself dominates but features many new collaborators like Bruce Hornsby, Esperanza Spalding, and Lionel Loueke as well as old faces such as McFerrin, Quintero, and Jason Moran.^[48] He was also, in 2012, awarded with an NEA Jazz Masters Fellowship for his "significant lifetime contributions have helped to enrich jazz and further the growth of the art form."^[49]

Style[link]

Jack DeJohnette successfully incorporates elements of free jazz and world music, while maintaining the deep grooves of jazz and R&B drummers. His exceptional experience of time and style, combined with astounding improvisational ingenuity, make him one of the most highly regarded and in-demand drummers. He also occasionally appears on piano, on his own recordings. His drumming style has been called unique by many; some see him not as a drummer but as a “percussionist, colourist and epigrammatic commentator mediating the shifting ensemble densities” in his groups. Though he is often content with his drumming remaining behind the music, “his drumming is always part of the music's internal construction.”^[50] Modern Drummer magazine, in a 2004 interview, called DeJohnette’s drumming “beyond technique.”^[51] While most of his drumming is considered free and flowing, he commented that he has to play with a lot of restraint when playing with Keith Jarrett and his trio, saying that he’s challenged when playing in that group “to play with the subtlety that the music requires.”^[52] His work on the cymbals especially has been described as “loose,” creating an almost free tempo, and he calls himself an “abstract thinker” when it comes to soloing, saying that he puts “more weight on the abstract than, ‘What were you thinking in bar 33?’ I don’t like to think that way. I can do it, but I like to be more in the flow.”^[53] In terms of what he feels when he plays, DeJohnette said that when he plays, he goes “into an altered state, a different headspace. I plug into my higher self, into the cosmic library of ideas.”^[54]

Discography[link]

As leader[link]

• The DeJohnette Complex (Milestone, 1969)
• Have You Heard (Milestone, 1970)
• Sorcery (Prestige, 1974)
• Cosmic Chicken (Prestige, 1975)
• Untitled (ECM, 1976)
• Pictures (ECM, 1976)
• New Rags (ECM, 1977)
• New Directions (ECM, 1978) with John Abercrombie, Lester Bowie and Eddie Gomez
• Special Edition (ECM, 1979) with Arthur Blythe and David Murray
• New Directions in Europe (ECM, 1980)
• Tin Can Alley (ECM, 1980) with Chico Freeman, John Purcell and Peter Warren
• Inflation Blues (ECM, 1982)
• Album Album (ECM, 1984) with John Purcell and David Murray
• The Jack DeJohnette Piano Album (1985)
• Zebra (1989) with Lester Bowie
• In Our Style (DIW, 1986) with David Murray
• Irresistible Forces (1987)
• Audio-Visualscapes (1988)
• Parallel Realities (1990) with Pat Metheny, Herbie Hancock and Dave Holland
• Earthwalk (1991)
• Music for the Fifth World (1992)
• Extra Special Edition (1994)
• Dancing with Nature Spirits (ECM, 1995)
• Oneness (ECM, 1997)
• Music in the Key of Om (2005), nominated for a 2006 Grammy as Best New Age Album
• Music from the Hearts of the Masters (2005) with Foday Musa Suso
• The Ripple Effect (2005) with Ben Surman and Foday Musa Suso
• Hybrids (2005) with Ben Surman and Foday Musa Suso
• The Elephant Sleeps but Still Remembers (2006) with Bill Frisell
• Peace Time (2008)
• Music We Are (2009) with John Patitucci and Danilo Perez
• Sound Travels (2012)

As co-leader[link]

• Saudades on ECM Label, with John Scofield and Larry Goldings

• Gateway Trio on ECM with John Abercrombie and Dave Holland

• In Our Style with Dave Murray

• The Super Premium Band with Ron Carter and Kenny Baron

As sideman[link]

With John Abercrombie

• Timeless (ECM, 1974)
• Night (ECM, 1984)

With George Adams

• Sound Suggestions (ECM, 1979)

With Cannonball Adderley

• Lovers (1975)

With Geri Allen

• The Life of a Song (2004)

With Chet Baker

• She Was Too Good to Me (1974)

With Richard Beirach

• Elm (ECM, 1979)
• Trust (1993)

With George Benson

• Beyond the Blue Horizon (1971)
• Body Talk (1972)

With Joanne Brackeen

• Keyed In (1979)
• Special Identity (1981)

With Michael Brecker

• Michael Brecker (1986)
• Tales from the Hudson (1996)
• Don't Try This at Home (1998)
• Nearness of You (2000)
• Pilgrimage (2007)

With Henry Butler

• The Village (1987, Impulse!)

With Alice Coltrane and Carlos Santana

• Illuminations (1974)

With Compost

• Compost (1971)
• Life is Round (1973)

With Bill Connors

• Of Mist and Melting (ECM, 1977)

With Chick Corea

• Is (1969)
• Sundance (1969)

With Miles Davis

• Directions (1968–70)
• Bitches Brew (1969)
• Miles Davis at Fillmore: Live at the Fillmore East (1970)
• Live-Evil (1970)
• Big Fun (1970)
• Black Beauty: Live at the Fillmore West (1970)
• Live at the Fillmore East, March 7, 1970: It's About that Time (1970)
• A Tribute to Jack Johnson (1970)
• Circle in the Round (1970)
• On the Corner (1972)

With Paul Desmond

• Skylark (CTI, 1973)

With Eliane Elias

• Cross Currents (1987)

With Bill Evans

• Bill Evans at the Montreux Jazz Festival (1968)

With Antonio Farao

• Thorn (2000)

With Joe Farrell

• Joe Farrell Quartet (1970)
• Moon Germs (1972)

With Chico Freeman

• The Outside Within (1981)
• Freeman & Freeman (1981)
• Tradition in Transition (1982)

With Jan Garbarek

• Places (1977)

With Gateway

• Gateway (1975)
• Gateway 2 (1977)
• Homecoming (1994)
• In the Moment (1994)

With Stan Getz

• The Song Is You (1969)

With Mick Goodrick

• In Pas(s)ing (ECM, 1978)

With Herbie Hancock

• Blow-Up (1966)
• The New Standard (1996)

With Joe Henderson

• Tetragon (1968)
• Power to the People (1969)
• Black is the Color (1973)
• Multiple (1973)
• Double Rainbow: The Music of Antonio Carlos Jobim (1995)

With Dave Holland

• Triplicate (ECM, 1988)

With Freddie Hubbard

• Straight Life (1970)
• First Light (1971)
• Freddie Hubbard/Stanley Turrentine In Concert Volume One (1974)
• In Concert Volume Two (1974)
• Polar AC (1975)
• Super Blue (1978)

With D. D. Jackson

• Anthem (1999)

With Keith Jarrett

• Ruta and Daitya (1971)
• Standards, Vol. 1 (January 1983; studio recording)
• Standards, Vol. 2 (January 1983; studio recording)
• Changes (January 1983; studio recording)
• Standards Live (July 1985; live recording)
• Still Live (July 1986; live recording)
• Changeless (October 1987; live recording), a record of free improvisation
• Standards in Norway (October 1989; live recording)
• Tribute (October 1989; live recording), which consists of songs played in tribute to various jazz figures associated with them
• The Cure (April 1990; live recording)
• Bye Bye Blackbird (October 1991; studio recording), a tribute to the recently deceased Miles Davis
• Keith Jarrett at the Blue Note (June 1994; live recording), a six-disc boxed set that documents three nights (six sets) in the famous New York City nightclub
• Tokyo '96 (March 1996; live recording)
• Whisper Not (July 1999; live recording)
• Inside Out (July 2000; live recording), a record of free improvisation
• Always Let Me Go (April 2001; live recording), a double album of free improvisation
• The Out-of-Towners (July 2001; live recording)
• Up for It - Live in Juan-les-Pins, July 2002 (July 2002; live recording)
• My Foolish Heart (July 2001; a double album of a live recording, Montreux Jazz Festival 2001)
• Setting Standards - New York Sessions (2008; 3CD set of the first three albums by the trio: Standards1, Standards2, Changes from 1983)
• Yesterdays (2009)

With Steve Khan

• Got My Mental (1996)

With Eric Kloss

• Sky Shadows (1968)
• To Hear is To See! (1969)
• Consciousness! (1970)

With Eero Koivistoinen

• Picture in Three Colours (1983)
• Altered Things (1992)

With Lee Konitz

• Peacemeal (1969)
• Satori (1974)

With Steve Kuhn

• Trance (ECM, 1974)

With Hubert Laws

• The Rite of Spring (CTI, 1971)

With Dave Liebman

• Trio + One (1988)

With Charles Lloyd

• Dream Weaver (1966)
• Forest Flower (1966)
• Charles Lloyd in Europe (1966)
• The Flowering (1966)
• Love-In (1967)
• Journey Within (1967)
• Charles Lloyd in the Soviet Union (1967)
• Soundtrack (1968)

With Joe Lovano

• Universal Language (Blue Note 1992)

With Harold Mabern

• Straight Street (1989)
• The Leading Man (1993)

With Rudresh Mahanthappa & Bunky Green

• Apex (2010)

With Michael Mantler

• The Hapless Child and Other Inscrutable Stories (1976)

With Lyle Mays

• Fictionary (1992)

With John McLaughlin

• Electric Guitarist (1979)

With Jackie McLean

• Jacknife (1966)
• Demon's Dance (1967)

With Pat Metheny

• 80/81 (1980)
• Song X (1985) with Ornette Coleman

With Kalman Olah

• Always (2006)

With Gary Peacock

• Tales of Another (ECM, 1977)
• Voice from the Past - Paradigm (ECM, 1981)

With Chris Potter

• Unspoken (1997)

With Teri Roiger

• Misterioso (1998)

With Sonny Rollins

• Next Album (1972)
• Reel Life (1982)
• Falling in Love with Jazz (1989)
• Here's to the People (1991)
• Old Flames (1993)
• Sonny Rollins + 3 (1996)
• This Is What I Do (2000)

With Terje Rypdal

• Terje Rypdal / Miroslav Vitous / Jack DeJohnette (ECM, 1978)
• To Be Continued (ECM, 1981)

With John Scofield

• Time on my Hands (1989)

With Don Sebesky

• Giant Box (CTI, 1973)

With Wayne Shorter

• Super Nova (1969)
• Tribute to John Coltrane: Live under the Sky (1987)

With Wadada Leo Smith

• Golden Quartet (2000)
• America (Tzadik, 2009)

With John Surman

• The Amazing Adventures of Simon Simon (ECM, 1981)
• Invisible Nature (ECM, 1999)
• Free and Equal (ECM, 2001)
• Brewster's Rooster (ECM, 2008)

With Steve Swallow

• Real Book (1993)

With Gábor Szabó

• Mizrab (CTI, 1972)

With Szakcsi Generation

• 8 Trios for 4 Pianists (2005)

With Bobby Timmons

• Do You Know the Way? (1968)

With Ralph Towner

• Batik (ECM, 1978)

With Trio Beyond

• Saudades (2007)

With Stanley Turrentine

• Have You Ever Seen the Rain (1975)

With McCoy Tyner

• Supertrios (1977)
• Together (1979)
• 13th House (1982)

With Miroslav Vitous

• Infinite Search (1969)
• Magical Shepard (1976)
• Universal Syncopations (2003)

With Collin Walcott

• Cloud Dance (ECM, 1976)

With Bennie Wallace

• Twilight Time (1985)

With Peter Warren

• Solidarity (1981)

With Sadao Watanabe

• Round Trip (1974)

With Kenny Werner

• A Delicate Balance (1997)

With Kenny Wheeler

• Gnu High (1975)
• Deer Wan (1977)
• Double, Double You (1983)

With the World Saxophone Quartet

• Selim Sivad: a Tribute to Miles Davis (1998)

With Joe Zawinul

• Joe Zawinul (1971)

References[link]

1. ^ "Jack DeJohnette:Artist Info". Riad.usk.pk.edu.pl. 1942-08-09. http://riad.usk.pk.edu.pl/~pmj/dejohnette/info.html. Retrieved 2011-10-11. 
2. ^ Stephen L. Barnhart, Percussionists: a Biographical Dictionary (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2000), 88.
3. ^ "Jack DeJohnette: Biography". http://www.jackdejohnette.com/biography. Retrieved 23 April 2012. 
4. ^ Barnhart, Percussionists, 88.
5. ^ "Jack DeJohnette: Biography". http://www.jackdejohnette.com/biography. Retrieved 23 April 2012. 
6. ^ "Jack DeJohnette: Biography". http://www.jackdejohnette.com/biography. Retrieved 23 April 2012. 
7. ^ Lewis Porter, “Jack DeJohnette,” in Barry Kernfield, ed., The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, volume 1 (New York: Grove, 2002), 594.
8. ^ Barnhart, Percussionists, 88.
9. ^ Stuart Nicholson, Jazz Rock: a History (New York: Schirmer Books, 1998), 77-78.
10. ^ Nicholson, Jazz Rock, 81.
11. ^ "Jack DeJohnette: Biography". http://www.jackdejohnette.com/biography. Retrieved 23 April 2012. 
12. ^ Barnhart, Percussionists, 88.
13. ^ Porter, “Jack DeJohnette,” in Kernfield, ed., New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, 594.
14. ^ Paul Tingen, Miles Beyond: the Electric Explorations of Miles Davis, 1967-1991 (New York: Billboard Books, 2001), 51.
15. ^ Tingen, Miles Beyond, 55.
16. ^ Jack DeJohnette, quoted in Tingen, Miles Beyond, 65.
17. ^ Tingen, Miles Beyond, 65.
18. ^ Nicholson, Jazz Rock, 115.
19. ^ "Jack DeJohnette: Biography". http://www.jackdejohnette.com/biography. Retrieved 23 April 2012. 
20. ^ Barnharrt, Percussionists, 89; Nicholson, Jazz Rock, 117.
21. ^ Porter, “Jack DeJohnette,” in Kernfield, ed., New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, 594.
22. ^ "Jack DeJohnette: Biography". http://www.jackdejohnette.com/biography. Retrieved 23 April 2012. 
23. ^ "Jack DeJohnette: Biography". http://www.jackdejohnette.com/biography. Retrieved 23 April 2012. 
24. ^ Modern Drummer (12 May 2004). "Jack DeJohnette". Modern Drummer Magazine. http://www.moderndrummer.com/site/2004/05/jack-dejohnette/#.T4zA39VObbg. Retrieved 23 April 2012. 
25. ^ Modern Drummer (12 May 2004). "Jack DeJohnette". Modern Drummer Magazine. http://www.moderndrummer.com/site/2004/05/jack-dejohnette/#.T4zA39VObbg. Retrieved 23 April 2012. 
26. ^ Marjorie Burgess. "Jack DeJohnette Biography". Musician Biographies. http://www.musicianguide.com/biographies/1608000691/Jack-DeJohnette.html. Retrieved 23 April 2012. 
27. ^ Porter, “Jack DeJohnette,” in Kernfield, ed., New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, 594.
28. ^ "Jack DeJohnette: Biography". http://www.jackdejohnette.com/biography. Retrieved 23 April 2012. 
29. ^ Marjorie Burgess. "Jack DeJohnette Biography". Musician Biographies. http://www.musicianguide.com/biographies/1608000691/Jack-DeJohnette.html. Retrieved 23 April 2012. 
30. ^ Marjorie Burgess. "Jack DeJohnette Biography". Musician Biographies. http://www.musicianguide.com/biographies/1608000691/Jack-DeJohnette.html. Retrieved 23 April 2012. 
31. ^ Porter, “Jack DeJohnette,” in Kernfield, ed., New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, 594.
32. ^ Porter, “Jack DeJohnette,” in Kernfield, ed., New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, 594.
33. ^ Geoffrey Himes (3 June 1983). "Jack DeJohnette and Art Blakey". The Washington Post. http://search.proquest.com/docview/147551728/pageviewPDF?accountid=11837. Retrieved 23 April 2012. 
34. ^ Porter, “Jack DeJohnette,” in Kernfield, ed., New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, 594.
35. ^ "Jack DeJohnette: Biography". http://www.jackdejohnette.com/biography. Retrieved 23 April 2012. 
36. ^ Porter, “Jack DeJohnette,” in Kernfield, ed., New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, 594.
37. ^ "Jack DeJohnette: Biography". http://www.jackdejohnette.com/biography. Retrieved 23 April 2012. 
38. ^ "Jack DeJohnette: Biography". http://www.jackdejohnette.com/biography. Retrieved 23 April 2012. 
39. ^ Porter, “Jack DeJohnette,” in Kernfield, ed., New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, 594.
40. ^ Porter, “Jack DeJohnette,” in Kernfield, ed., New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, 594.
41. ^ "Jack DeJohnette: Biography". http://www.jackdejohnette.com/biography. Retrieved 23 April 2012. 
42. ^ C. Andrew Hovan (19 February 2005). "Reviews: Jack DeJohnette Latin Project". All About Jazz. http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=16688. Retrieved 24 April 2012. 
43. ^ "Jack DeJohnette: Biography". http://www.jackdejohnette.com/biography. Retrieved 24 April 2012. 
44. ^ "Jack DeJohnette: Biography". http://www.jackdejohnette.com/biography. Retrieved 24 April 2012. 
45. ^ "Jack DeJohnette: Biography". http://www.jackdejohnette.com/biography. Retrieved 24 April 2012. 
46. ^ "Jack DeJohnette: Biography". http://www.jackdejohnette.com/biography. Retrieved 24 April 2012. 
47. ^ "Jack DeJohnette:Biography". http://www.jackdejohnette.com/biography. Retrieved 16 July 2011. 
48. ^ "Sound Travels". http://www.jackdejohnette.com/music/sound-travels. Retrieved 24 April 2012. 
49. ^ "National Endowment for the Arts Announces the 2012 NEA Jazz Masters". http://www.nea.gov/honors/jazz/2012-NEA-Jazz-Masters-Announced.html. Retrieved 16 July 2011. 
50. ^ Stuart Nicholson (2 August 1998). "Jazz: Jack DeJohnette/Oneness: Drum major". The Observer. http://au8dt3yy7l.search.serialssolutions.com/?ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&ctx_enc=info%3Aofi%2Fenc%3AUTF-8&rfr_id=info:sid/summon.serialssolutions.com&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:journal&rft.genre=article&rft.atitle=Jazz%3A+Jack+DeJohnette%2F+Oneness%3A+Drum+major&rft.jtitle=The+Observer&rft.au=STUART+NICHOLSON&rft.date=1998-08-02&rft.issn=0029-7712&rft.spage=009&rft.externalDBID=OBSV&rft.externalDocID=32581846. Retrieved 24 April 2012. 
51. ^ Modern Drummer (12 May 2004). "Jack DeJohnette". Modern Drummer Magazine. http://www.moderndrummer.com/site/2004/05/jack-dejohnette/#.T4zA39VObbg. Retrieved 23 April 2012. 
52. ^ Modern Drummer (12 May 2004). "Jack DeJohnette". Modern Drummer Magazine. http://www.moderndrummer.com/site/2004/05/jack-dejohnette/#.T4zA39VObbg. Retrieved 23 April 2012. 
53. ^ Modern Drummer (12 May 2004). "Jack DeJohnette". Modern Drummer Magazine. http://www.moderndrummer.com/site/2004/05/jack-dejohnette/#.T4zA39VObbg. Retrieved 23 April 2012. 
54. ^ Modern Drummer (12 May 2004). "Jack DeJohnette". Modern Drummer Magazine. http://www.moderndrummer.com/site/2004/05/jack-dejohnette/#.T4zA39VObbg. Retrieved 23 April 2012. 

Bibliography[link]

• Barnhart, Stephen L. Percussionists: a Biographical Dictionary. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2000.
• Burgess, Marjorie. “Jack DeJohnette Biography.” Musician Biographies. http://www.musicianguide.com/biographies/1608000691/Jack-DeJohnette.html (accessed 23 April 2012).
• Himes, Geoffrey. “Jack DeJohnette and Art Blakey.” The Washington Post, 3 June 1983. http://search.proquest.com/docview/147551728/pageviewPDF?accountid=11837 (accessed 23 April 2012).
• Hovan, C. Andrew. “Live Reviews: Jack DeJohnette Latin Project.” All About Jazz, 19 February 2005. http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=16688 (accessed 24 April 2012).
• Nicholson, Stuart. Jazz Rock: a History. New York: Schirmer Books, 1998.
• Porter, Lewis. “Jack DeJohnette.” In Barry Kernfield, ed., The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, volume 1. New York: Grove, 2002.
• Tingen, Paul. Miles Beyond: the Electric Explorations of Miles Davis, 1967-1991. New York: Billboard Books, 2001.
• “Jack DeJohnette: Biography.” Jack DeJohnette official website. http://www.jackdejohnette.com/biography (accessed 23 April 2012).
• Modern Drummer. “Jack DeJohnette.” Modern Drummer Magazine, 12 May 2004. http://www.moderndrummer.com/site/2004/05/jack-dejohnette/#.T4zA39VObbg (accessed 23 April 2012).
• “Sound Travels.” Jack DeJohnette official website. http://www.jackdejohnette.com/music/sound-travels (accessed 24 April 2012).

External links[link]

• Official website
• Jack DeJohnette's MySpace page
• Official biography
• At drummerworld.com
• Jack DeJohnette at BehindTheDrums.com - discography and equipment list
• Jack DeJohnette page and discography
• Jack DeJohnette on ECM Records
• Photos of Jack DeJohnette in Salzburg
• "Autumn Leaves" by Jack DeJohnette with Keith Jarrett and Gary Peacock
• Vic Firth page with four DeJohnette sample videos
• "Miles Runs The Voodoo Down": October 27, 1969 at Teatro Sistina, Rome, Italy with Miles Davis (tr), Wayne Shorter (ss, ts), Chick Corea (kb), Dave Holland (b), Jack DeJohnette (d)
• Jack DeJohnette interview at allaboutjazz
• http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00004Z3ZD

Kenny Davis (born September 4, 1961) is an American jazz bassist.

Davis released two albums as leader for Soul Note.^[1]

He was also member of the Blue Note Records group Out of the Blue and has appeared on albums by Gary Bartz, Art Farmer, Don Byron, Eric Person, Michele Rosewoman, Onaje Allan Gumbs and others.^[2]

Kenny is currently professor of Jazz Bass and Jazz History at the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ.

Discography[link]

As sideman[link]

• Earl MacDonald, "Re:Visions - works for jazz orchestra", Death Defying Records, 2010
• Carla Cook, Simply Natural, Maxjazz 2002
• Regina Carter, Something for Grace, Atlantic, 1997
• Cassandra Wilson, Blue Light 'til Dawn, Blue Note, 1993
• Steve Coleman & Five Elements, The TAO of Mad Phat Fringed Zones, Novus, 1993
• Out of the Blue, O.T.B Live at Mt. Fuji Jazz Festival, O.T.B/Blue Note, 1986

References[link]

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (October 2011)

Jeff "Tain" Watts
Watts performing with Wynton Marsalis in JazzFest 2007
Background information
Born	(1960-01-20)January 20, 1960
Origin	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Genres	Jazz
Occupations	Musician, bandleader, actor
Instruments	Drums
Labels	Dark Key Music
Associated acts	Wynton Marsalis, Branford Marsalis, Kevin Eubanks, Tonight Show Band
Website	tainish.com

Jeff "Tain" Watts is a jazz drummer born in 1960 who has performed with Wynton Marsalis, Branford Marsalis, Betty Carter, Michael Brecker, and others.

Biography[link]

Jeff “Tain” Watts holds the unique distinction of being the only musician to appear on every Grammy Award winning jazz record by both Wynton and Branford Marsalis.

He got the nickname "Tain" from Kenny Kirkland when they were on tour in Florida and drove past a Chieftain gas station, so "Jeff Tain" for "Chief-tain".^[1]

Watts has worked in the film and television industry as both a musician on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno for three years and as an actor, Rhythm Jones in Spike Lee’s Mo' Better Blues. Tain performed and recorded with the Branford Marsalis Quartet from 1985 to 2009. He currently performs with his own groups The Watts Project and the Jeff "Tain" Watts Quartet, as well as the great pianists McCoy Tyner, The George Cables Project, and Geri Allen. Watts started his own record label Dark Key Music in 2007, releasing Folk's Songs in 2007, Watts in 2009 and Family in 2011. Dark Key Music is a 2010 Grammy Award Winner: Best Instrumental Solo, Terence Blanchard for "Dancin' 4 Chicken". As a composer, Watts is a creative and innovative force in modern jazz, contributing most of the compositions on his own albums.

He is a Pittsburgh Steelers fan^{[citation needed]} and can be seen on the album cover of Branford Marsalis' Braggtown with a Terrible Towel.

Discography[link]

As leader[link]

• Megawatts (2004, originally recorded in 1991)
• Citizen Tain (1999)
• Bar Talk (2002)
• DeTAINed at the Blue Note (2004)
• Folk's Songs (2007) Dark Key Music
• WATTS (2009) Dark Key Music
• Family (2011) Dark Key Music

As sideman[link]

• Scenes in the City (1983) - Branford Marsalis
• Black Codes (From the Underground) (1985) - Wynton Marsalis
• Live at Blues Alley (1986) - Wynton Marsalis
• Standard Time Vol. 1 (1986) - Wynton Marsalis
• Royal Garden Blues (1986) - Branford Marsalis
• Open House (1988) - Harry Miller
• Random Abstract (1988) - Branford Marsalis
• When Harry Met Sally... (1989) - Harry Connick, Jr.
• Trio Jeepy (1989) - Branford Marsalis
• Crazy People Music (1990) - Branford Marsalis
• The Beautiful Ones Are Not Yet Born (1991) - Branford Marsalis
• I Heard You Twice the First Time (1992) - Branford Marsalis
• Bloomington (1993) - Branford Marsalis
• Dark Keys (1996) - Branford Marsalis
• Songbook (1997) - Kenny Garrett
• Two Blocks From the Edge (1998) - Michael Brecker
• Time Is of the Essence (1999) - Michael Brecker
• Simply Said (1999) - Kenny Garrett
• Requiem (1999) - Branford Marsalis
• Contemporary Jazz (2000) - Branford Marsalis
• Footsteps of Our Fathers (2002) - Branford Marsalis
• Romare Bearden Reveared (2003) - Branford Marsalis
• Eternal (2004) - Branford Marsalis
• Translinear Light (2004) - Alice Coltrane
• A Love Supreme Live (2004) - Branford Marsalis
• Channel Three (2005) - Greg Osby
• Braggtown (2006) - Branford Marsalis
• Quartet (2007) - McCoy Tyner
• Letter to Herbie (2008) - John Beasley
• Metamorphosen (2009) - Branford Marsalis
• Mostly Standards (2009) - David Kikoski
• Positootly! (2009) - John Beasley
• Mingus Big Band Live at Jazz Standard (2010) - Mingus Big Band
• Circles (2010) - Benito Gonzalez
• Circular (2011) - Laura Kahle
• Undeniable (2011) - Pat Martino

Recognition[link]

Grammy Awards[link]

• Career Wins: 6^{[2][dead link]}
• Career Nominations: 15

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Jeff "Tain" Watts

• Official website
• Review of Folk's Songs at JazzChicago.net

Esperanza Spalding
Spalding performing at the Newport Jazz Festival on August 10, 2008
Background information
Born	(1984-10-18) October 18, 1984 (age 27) Portland, Oregon, US
Genres	Jazz, jazz fusion, bossa nova, neo soul
Occupations	Musician, composer, educator, bandleader
Instruments	Upright bass, bass guitar, and vocals
Years active	2000–present[1]
Labels	Heads Up International, Hush, Merge
Associated acts	Stanley Clarke, Patti Austin, and Joe Lovano
Website	www.esperanzaspalding.com

Esperanza Spalding (born October 18, 1984)^[2] is an American multi-instrumentalist best known as a jazz bassist and singer, who draws upon many genres in her own compositions. In 2011, she won the Grammy Award for Best New Artist at the 53rd Grammy Awards,^[3] making her the first jazz artist to win the award.^[4][5]

Biography[link]

Early life and early education[link]

Spalding grew up in the King neighborhood of Portland, Oregon,^[6] a neighborhood she describes as "ghetto" and "pretty scary".^[7] Her mother raised her and her brother as a single parent.^[8] Spalding has a diverse ethnic background.^[7][9] Her father is African-American and her mother is of Welsh, Native American, and Hispanic descent.^[10] She also has an interest in the music of other cultures, including that of Brazil,^[11] commenting, "With Portuguese songs, the phrasing of the melody is intrinsically linked with the language, and it's beautiful."^[12]

Her mother shares Spalding's interest in music, having nearly become a touring singer herself.^[8][13] But while Spalding cites her mother as a powerful influence who encouraged her musical expansion, she attributes her inspiration for pursuing a life in music to watching classical cellist Yo-Yo Ma perform on an episode of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood when she was four.^[8]

By the time Spalding was five, she had taught herself to play the violin and was playing with the Chamber Music Society of Oregon.^[8] Spalding stayed with the Chamber Music Society of Oregon until she was fifteen and left as concertmaster.^[8] Due to a lengthy illness when she was child, Spalding spent much of her elementary school years being homeschooled,^[8] but also attended King Elementary School in northeast Portland.^[6] During this time, she also found the opportunity to pick up instruction in music by listening to her mother's college teacher instruct her mother in guitar.^[12] According to Spalding, when she was about eight, her mother briefly studied jazz guitar in college; Spalding says, "Going with her to her class, I would sit under the piano. Then I would come home and I would be playing her stuff that her teacher had been playing."^[12] Spalding also played oboe and clarinet before discovering the bass in high school.^[8][14] She is able to sing in English, Spanish, and Portuguese.^[15]

Spalding had begun performing live in clubs in Portland, Oregon as a teenager,^[11] securing her first gig at 15 in a blues club, when she could play only one line on bass.^[16] One of the seasoned musicians with which she played that first night invited her to join the band's rehearsals "so she could actually learn something", and her rehearsals soon grew into regular performances spanning almost a year.^[16] According to Spalding, it was a chance for her to stretch as a musician, reaching and growing beyond her experience.^[12] Her early contact with these "phenomenal resources", as she calls the musicians who played with her,^[12] fostered her sense of rhythm and helped nurture her interest in her instrument.^[16] She does not consider herself a musical prodigy.^[17] "I am surrounded by prodigies everywhere I go, but because they are a little older than me, or not a female, or not on a major label, they are not acknowledged as such", says Spalding.^[17]

Spalding had intended to play cello,^[12] but discovered the bass during a one-year stint at age 14 at the prestigious performing arts high school, The Northwest Academy, to which she had won a scholarship.^[16][18] The school was not a good fit, but the bass was.^[16] Spalding found high school "easy—and boring" and dropped out. When she was 15 or 16 years old, Spalding started writing lyrics for music for the local indie rock/pop group Noise for Pretend, touching on any topic that came to mind.^[17] Although she had taken a few private voice lessons, which taught her how to protect her voice, her primary singing experience had come from "singing in the shower", she said,^[17] before she started performing vocals for Noise for Pretend.^[12] Her desire to perform live evolved naturally out of the compositional process, when she would sing and play simultaneously to see how melody and voice fit together, but she acknowledges that performing both roles can be challenging.^[12][19] In a 2008 interview, she said, "[W]hat can be difficult is being a singer, in the sense that you are engaged with the audience, and really responsible for emoting, and getting into the lyrics, melody, etc., and being an effective bassist/band leader".^[19]

Spalding left high school at 16 and, after completing her GED, enrolled on a music scholarship in the music program at Portland State University, where she remembers being "the youngest bass player in the program".^[8] Although she lacked the training of her fellow students, she feels that her teachers nevertheless recognized her talent.^[8] She decided to instead apply to Berklee College of Music on the encouragement of her bass teacher, and did well enough in her audition to receive a full scholarship.^[13][16] In spite of the scholarship, Spalding found it a challenge meeting living expenses, so her friends arranged a benefit concert that paid her airfare and a little extra.^[12][16] Spalding's savings did not last long. Broke and exhausted,^[20] she considered leaving music and entering political science,^[13] a move jazz guitarist and composer Pat Metheny discouraged, telling Spalding she had "the 'X Factor'" and could make it if she applied herself.^[13] During her time at Berklee, her primary bass instructor was John Lockwood.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] 2004–07: Musical beginnings, teaching and Junjo

Spalding performing at the Umbria Jazz Festival in Perugia, Italy on July 12, 2007

Gary Burton, Executive Vice President at Berklee, said in 2004 that Spalding had "a great time feel, she can confidently read the most complicated compositions, and she communicates her upbeat personality in everything she plays".^[16] Ben Ratliff wrote in The New York Times on July 9, 2006, that Spalding's voice is "light and high, up in Blossom Dearie's pitch range, and [that] she can sing quietly, almost in a daydream" and that Spalding "invents her own feminine space, a different sound from top to bottom."^[21] Spalding was the 2005 recipient of the Boston Jazz Society scholarship for outstanding musicianship.^[8] Almost immediately after graduation from college later the same year, Spalding was hired by Berklee College of Music, becoming one of the youngest instructors in the institution's history,^[12] at age 20.^[22] As a teacher, Spalding tries to help her students focus their practice through a practice journal, which can help them recognize their strengths and what they need to pursue.^[12]

Her debut album Junjo was released on April 18, 2006, on the Ayva Music label.^[23][24] It was created to display the dynamic that she felt among her trio.^[17] Though Junjo was released solely under her name, Spalding considers it "a collaborative effort".^[12]

[edit] 2008–10: Esperanza

Spalding performing on December 10, 2009 at the Nobel Peace Prize Concert of 2009

When asked in 2008 why she plays the bass instead of some other instrument, Spalding said that it wasn't a choice, but the bass "had its own arc" and resonated with her.^[17] Spalding says that for her discovering the bass was like "waking up one day and realizing you're in love with a co-worker."^[12] By the time she randomly picked up the bass in music class and began experimenting with it, she had grown bored with her other instruments.^[16][25] Her band teacher showed her a blues line for the bass that she later used to secure her first gig.^[16] After that, she went in to play the bass daily and gradually fell in love.^[12]

Ratliff wrote in The New York Times again, two years later, on May 26, 2008 that one of Spalding's central gifts is "a light, fizzy, optimistic drive that's in her melodic bass playing and her elastic, small-voiced singing" but that "the music is missing a crucial measure of modesty."^[26] He added, "It's an attempt at bringing this crisscrossing [of Stevie Wonder and Wayne Shorter] to a new level of definition and power, but its vamps and grooves are a little obvious, and it pushes her first as a singer-songwriter, which isn't her primary strength."^[26] Pat Metheny said in 2008 it was immediately obvious "that she had a lot to say and was also unlike any musician I had ever run across before. Her unique quality is something that goes beyond her pretty amazing musical skills; She has that rare 'x' factor of being able to transmit a certain personal kind of vision and energy that is all her own."^[20] Andrés Quinteros wrote in the Argentinian periodical, 26Noticias on October 28, 2008 that Spalding is one of the greatest new talents on the jazz scene today.^[27] Patti Austin hired Spalding to tour with her internationally after Spalding's first semester at Berklee,^[16] where Spalding supported the singer on the Ella Fitzgerald tribute tour "For Ella".^[12] In 2008, Spalding recalled the tour as educational, helping her learn to accompany a vocalist and also how to sustain energy and interest playing the same material nightly.^[12] She continued to perform with Austin periodically for three years.^[12] During the same period, while at Berklee, Spalding studied under saxophonist Joe Lovano before eventually touring with him.^[12] They began as a trio, expanding into a quartet before joining quintet US5 and traveling across the United States from New York to California.^[12] As of 2008, she was also in the process of developing several courses for students at Berklee, including one that focuses "on transcribing as a tool for learning harmony and theory."^[12] Due to touring commitments, Spalding stopped giving classes at Berklee. She lives in New York and Austin, Texas.

Spalding performing at the Northsea Jazz Festival, 2009

Esperanza is Spalding's second studio album. Being exposed to many different cultural impressions while growing up, Spalding sings in three different languages, English, Spanish, and Portuguese.^[28] After Spalding's Grammy win in February 2011, the album entered the Billboard 200 at 138. With Esperanza, Spalding's material was meant to be more reflective of herself as an artist, with musicians selected to best present that material.^[17] Ed Morales wrote in PopMatters on June 23, 2008 that Esperanza is "a sprawling collage of jazz fusion, Brazilian and even a touch of hip-hop".^[29] Siddhartha Mitter wrote in The Boston Globe on May 23, 2008 that "the big change" in Esperanza "is the singing..... This makes it a much more accessible album, and in some ways more conventional".^[30]

On December 10, at the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize ceremonies, Spalding performed at Oslo City Hall in honor of the 2009 Laureate President Barack Obama and again at the Nobel Peace Prize Concert the following day. She was personally selected by Obama, as per the tradition of one laureate-invited-artist to perform.^[31] Spalding also was the featured final act for the opening night of the 2009 Park City Jazz Festival in Park City, Utah, one of the top jazz festivals in the country. She closed the show with a number along with bass artists Brian Bromberg and Sean O'Bryan Smith, who also performed earlier that day.^[32] As a tribute to Prince, Spalding was invited to sing along with Patti LaBelle, Alicia Keys, and Janelle Monáe. Spalding performed the 1987 hit single "If I Was Your Girlfriend".^[31][33] On February 7, 2010, Spalding became the most searched person and second most searched item on Google as a result of her appearance the previous evening on the PBS television program Austin City Limits.^[34][35]

[edit] 2011–present: Chamber Music Society and Radio Music Society

In February 2011, at the 53rd Grammy Awards, Spalding won the "Best New Artist" award.^[36] In November 2011, Spalding won "Jazz Artist of the Year" at the Boston Music Awards.^[37] Spalding collaborated with Tineke Postma on the track "Leave Me A Place Underground" from the album The Dawn Of Light in 2011.^[38] She also collaborated with Terri Lyne Carrington on the album The Mosaic Project where she features on the track "Crayola".^[39] Spalding sings a duet with Nicholas Payton on the track "Freesia" from the album Bitches in 2011.^{[40] [41]} Her next project was an album titled Radio Music Society, which she hoped would showcase jazz musicians in an accessible manner suitable for mainstream radio.^[36] With Radio Music Society, she hoped to incorporate her own musical compositions with covers of such artists as the Beach Boys and Wayne Shorter. She also plans to record an album with Milton Nascimento in the future.^[42]

Chamber Music Society was the third album by Spalding. After her surprise Grammy win, the album re-entered the Billboard 200 at number 34 with sales of 18,000.^[43] A video was made for the song "Little Fly".^[44] The song is a poem by William Blake set to music by Spalding. A vinyl version of the album was released in February 2011. This version of the album included a bonus track titled "Morning" that will be included in the tracklist of her upcoming Radio Music Society album.^[45] Chamber Music Society, inspiration from her earlier days as a concertmaster is apparent in her fusion of three-piece string ensemble with piano, keyboards, drums and percussion. As Patrick Jarenwattananon wrote for NPR Music, "the finished product certainly exudes a level of sophisticated intimacy, as if best experienced with a small gathering in a quiet, wood-paneled room."^[46] Spalding was the best-selling contemporary jazz artist, and her album Chamber Music Society was the best-selling contemporary jazz album, of 2011.^[47]

On February 26, 2012, Spalding performed at the 84th Academy Awards, singing the Louis Armstrong standard, "What a Wonderful World", alongside the Southern California Children's Chorus to accompany the video montage that celebrated the film industry greats who passed away in 2011 and early 2012.^[48] Radio Music Society is Spalding's fourth studio album, released by record label Heads Up International on March 20, 2012.^[49][50][51] Spalding appeared on Later... with Jools Holland.^[52]

Artistry[link]

Influences and attitude toward music and jazz[link]

Spalding alternates between upright bass...		and bass guitar in her performances

Spalding cites jazz bassists Ron Carter and Dave Holland as important influences on her music; Carter for the "orchestration" of his playing and Holland for the way his compositional method complements his personal style.^[53] She has described the saxophone player Wayne Shorter,^[13] and singer-songwriter Milton Nascimento, as heroes.^[54] She has also noted her preference for the music of Brazil.^[13]

Spalding says she loves fusion music and was influenced by a "wonderful arc that started 40 years ago where people kept incorporating modern sounds into their music."^[29] She has expressed concerns that jazz has wandered from its roots, suggesting that jazz has lost its street value and its relevance to "the Black experience to the Black Diaspora and beyond" now that has been co-opted by the "seasoned 'art' community".^[7] She notes that in its early days, jazz was "popular dance music" and "the music of young people who considered themselves awfully hip", and believes "hip-hop, or neo-soul [...] is our 'jazz' now as far as the role these genres play in the music genre lineage".^[7] Spalding, who has expressed a desire to be judged for her musicianship rather than her sex appeal, believes that female musicians must take responsibility to avoid oversexualizing themselves.^[29][13] and that in order to write original music, one must read and stay informed about the world.^[13] She has said she models her career on those of Madonna and Ornette Coleman.^[12]

Discography[link]

Solo albums[link]