Music In Homes: Charlie Parker Centennial Jazz Ambassadors
Tickets available at palmerwoodsmusicinhomes2022.eventbrite.com
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Saturday, July 23
Garden Concert
Guitarist A. Spencer Barefield • Saxophonist Kasan Belgrave
Trumpeter Trunino Lowe • Bassist Jonathan Muir-Cotton • Drummer Everett Reid
This concert will honor the Centennial (plus 2) of Charlie "Bird" Parker, one of the most influential innovators of Jazz and BeBop, a master of improvisation, and a brilliant composer. The program will feature original and classic jazz by Parker and others who were inspired by him.
Composer/guitarist A. Spencer Barefield will lead the ensemble and present original compositions with support from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. The artistic director of Music in Homes, is “an extraordinary guitarist/composer” according to JazzTimes. He has performed extensively throughout Europe and the U.S. with legends Roscoe Mitchell, Lester Bowie, Oliver Lake, and Reggie Workmen, to name a few. A Kresge Arts Fellow, and recipient of numerous grants for composing, he recently presented a major performance at the Detroit Institute of Arts, where several of his compositions were performed by a 10-piece star-studded line, including Roscoe Mitchell and PUBLIQuartet.
We are thrilled to present saxophonist Kasan Belgrave, son of the late, virtuoso trumpeter Marcus Belgrave, who performed on our Music in Homes concerts a number of times. Kasan has performed the music of Charlie Parker with none other than Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis! The concerts with JLCO at Orchestra Hall and elsewhere were virtual due to COVID, but now Detroit-area attendees can hear his mastery live at MIH. A multi-woodwind-instrumentalist, Kasan holds a unique stance in the city as one of the young torchbearers who continues the legacy of Detroit jazz royalty, the foundation laid by his father and other jazz masters and mentors such as Wendell Harrison and Rodney Whitaker. A number of years ago, Kasan performed a duo with Aretha Franklin at her final Detroit concert, and recently performed at Detroit Symphony Orchestra Hall with the Paradise Jazz Series Big Band directed by Kris Johnson with Terence Blanchard and Kurt Elling.
They’ll be joined by trumpet sensation Trunino Lowe, a young up-and-coming star who leads his own ensemble and has performed with veteran artists Marion Hayden, Wendell Harrison, Rodney Whitaker, Sean Dobbins, Marcus Elliot, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Terri Lynn Carrington, and others. Bassist Jonathan Muir-Cotton will join the rhythm section with drummer Everett Reid. Muir-Cotton is a student at Michigan State University and has been mentored by some of the great Detroit bassists like Marion Hayden, Robert Hurst, Rick Robinson, Rodney Whitaker and Ralphe Armstrong. Reid, also known for his electronic music, is a graduate of the University of Michigan Jazz program and has worked with many of Detroit’s top Jazz artists, including Marcus Elliot, Pamela Wise and others. Reid originally hales from Chicago and is sure to bring that innovative spirit to the rhythm section.
