Amina Claudine Myers
Encyclopedia
Amina Claudine Myers in Blackwell, Arkansas
; (a small community on US 64 in western Conway County) is an American jazz
pianist
, organist
, vocalist, composer
, and musical arranger
.
at Philander Smith College
in Little Rock, Arkansas
in the early 1960s.
After graduation, Myers moved to Chicago
where she taught music, attended classes at Roosevelt University
and worked with musicians such as Sonny Stitt
and Gene Ammons
. In 1966 she joined the AACM
in Chicago, focusing on vocal compositions and arrangements, and recording her first jazz album with Kalaparusha Maurice McIntyre
in 1969.
In 1976 Myers relocated to New York City, where she intensified her compositional work and expanded it into the realm of Off-Broadway
productions.
She also continued performing and recording as a pianist and organist with Lester Bowie
(African Children
(1978), The Fifth Power
(1978), The Organizer
(1991) and Funky T. Cool T.
(1991)) and Muhal Richard Abrams
(Lifea Blinec
(1978), Spihumonesty
(1979) and Duet
(1981)). In 1985 she joined Charlie Haden
's Liberation Music Orchestra
. Notable collaborations also include recordings with Bill Laswell
, Marian McPartland
, the Art Ensemble of Chicago
, Archie Shepp
, David Murray
, Arthur Blythe
, Frank Lowe
, Leroy Jenkins, Jim Pepper
and Ray Anderson
.
Arkansas
Arkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...
; (a small community on US 64 in western Conway County) is an American jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
pianist
Pianist
A pianist is a musician who plays the piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers, solo instrumentalists, or other performers.-Choice of genres:...
, organist
Electronic organ
An electronic organ is an electronic keyboard instrument which was derived from the harmonium, pipe organ and theatre organ. Originally, it was designed to imitate the sound of pipe organs, theatre organs, band sounds, or orchestral sounds....
, vocalist, composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
, and musical arranger
Arrangement
The American Federation of Musicians defines arranging as "the art of preparing and adapting an already written composition for presentation in other than its original form. An arrangement may include reharmonization, paraphrasing, and/or development of a composition, so that it fully represents...
.
Biography
Myers started singing and playing the piano and organ as a child in church choirs in the Dallas/Fort Worth area in Texas, where she grew up, and directed choirs at an early age. She graduated in concert music and music educationMusic education
Music education is a field of study associated with the teaching and learning of music. It touches on all domains of learning, including the psychomotor domain , the cognitive domain , and, in particular and significant ways,the affective domain, including music appreciation and sensitivity...
at Philander Smith College
Philander Smith College
Philander Smith College is a private, historically black college that is affiliated with the United Methodist Church. It is located in Little Rock, Arkansas. The student body averages around 850 attendees, with around 30% of that figure attending part time. Although known historically as a school...
in Little Rock, Arkansas
Little Rock, Arkansas
Little Rock is the capital and the largest city of the U.S. state of Arkansas. The Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 699,757 people in the 2010 census...
in the early 1960s.
After graduation, Myers moved to Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
where she taught music, attended classes at Roosevelt University
Roosevelt University
Roosevelt University is a coeducational, private university with campuses in Chicago, Illinois and Schaumburg, Illinois. Founded in 1945, the university is named in honor of both former President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. The university's curriculum is based on...
and worked with musicians such as Sonny Stitt
Sonny Stitt
Edward "Sonny" Stitt was an American jazz saxophonist of the bebop/hard bop idiom. He was also one of the best-documented saxophonists of his generation, recording over 100 albums in his lifetime...
and Gene Ammons
Gene Ammons
Eugene "Jug" Ammons also known as "The Boss," was an American jazz tenor saxophonist, and the son of boogie-woogie pianist Albert Ammons.-Biography:...
. In 1966 she joined the AACM
Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians
The Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians is a non-profit organization, founded in Chicago, Illinois, United States, by pianist/composer Muhal Richard Abrams, pianist Jodie Christian, drummer Steve McCall, and composer Phil Cohran....
in Chicago, focusing on vocal compositions and arrangements, and recording her first jazz album with Kalaparusha Maurice McIntyre
Kalaparusha Maurice McIntyre
Kalaparusha Maurice McIntyre is an American free jazz tenor saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist.McIntyre was born in Clarksville, Arkansas but his family moved to Chicago when he was a child. He began playing drums at seven, then switched to saxophone...
in 1969.
In 1976 Myers relocated to New York City, where she intensified her compositional work and expanded it into the realm of Off-Broadway
Off-Broadway
Off-Broadway theater is a term for a professional venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, and for a specific production of a play, musical or revue that appears in such a venue, and which adheres to related trade union and other contracts...
productions.
She also continued performing and recording as a pianist and organist with Lester Bowie
Lester Bowie
Lester Bowie was an American jazz trumpet player and composer. He was a member of the AACM, and cofounded the Art Ensemble of Chicago.-Biography:...
(African Children
African Children
African Children is a double LP by Lester Bowie recorded for the Italian Horo label and released in 1978. It features performances by Bowie, Arthur Blythe, Amina Claudine Myers, Malachi Favors, and Phillip Wilson.-Side Two:# "Captain Courageous" -10:40...
(1978), The Fifth Power
The Fifth Power
-Track listing:# "Sardegna Amore " - 6:20# "3 in 1 " - 9:32# "BBB [Duet]" - 5:52# "God Has Smiled on Me" - 18:02# "The 5th Power " - 4:58-Personnel:...
(1978), The Organizer
The Organizer
The Organizer is a 1963 Italian drama film directed by Mario Monicelli.The script was nominated for the Academy Award.-Plot:The story of exploited textile factory workers in Turin, Italy at the turn of the century and their beginnings of their fight for better working conditions...
(1991) and Funky T. Cool T.
Funky T. Cool T.
Funky T. Cool T. is the fifth album Lester Bowie recorded for the Japanese DIW label and the second album by his "New York Organ Ensemble". It was released in 1991 and features performances by Bowie, Steve Turre, Amina Claudine Myers James Carter, Phillip Wilson and Famoudou Don Moye.-Reception:The...
(1991)) and Muhal Richard Abrams
Muhal Richard Abrams
Muhal Richard Abrams is an American educator, administrator, composer, arranger, clarinetist, cellist, and jazz pianist in the Free jazz medium. Abrams compresses both contemporary and traditional ideas into lean, elegant pieces.- Biography :Abrams attended DuSable High School in Chicago...
(Lifea Blinec
Lifea Blinec
Lifea Blinec is an album by Muhal Richard Abrams which was released on the Arista Novus label in 1978 and features performances by Abrams, Joseph Jarman, Douglas Ewart, Amina Claudine Myers and Thurman Barker. The Allmusic review states "Muhal Richard Abrams headed one of his finest small combos on...
(1978), Spihumonesty
Spihumonesty
Spihumonesty is an album by Muhal Richard Abrams which was released on the Italian Black Saint label in 1979 and features performances by Abrams, George Lewis, Roscoe Mitchell, Amina Claudine Myers, Youseff Yancy and Leonard Jones with vocals by Jay Clayton.-Track listing:# "Triverse" - 6:01#...
(1979) and Duet
Duet (Muhal Richard Abrams album)
Duet is an album by Muhal Richard Abrams featuring duet performances with Amina Claudine Myers which was released on the Italian Black Saint label in 1981...
(1981)). In 1985 she joined Charlie Haden
Charlie Haden
Charles Edward Haden is an American jazz musician. He is a double bassist, probably best known for his long association with saxophonist Ornette Coleman...
's Liberation Music Orchestra
Liberation Music Orchestra
Liberation Music Orchestra is a jazz album by Charlie Haden, released in 1969 . It was Haden's first album as leader.The inspiration for the album came when Haden heard songs from the Spanish Civil War...
. Notable collaborations also include recordings with Bill Laswell
Bill Laswell
Bill Laswell is an American bassist, producer and record label owner....
, Marian McPartland
Marian McPartland
Margaret Marian McPartland, OBE is an English-born jazz pianist, composer, writer, and the host of Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz on National Public Radio, NPR.-Early life:...
, the Art Ensemble of Chicago
Art Ensemble of Chicago
The Art Ensemble of Chicago is an avant-garde jazz ensemble that grew out of Chicago's AACM in the late 1960s. The group continues to tour and record through 2006, despite the deaths of two of the founding members....
, Archie Shepp
Archie Shepp
Archie Shepp is a prominent African-American jazz saxophonist. Shepp is best known for his passionately Afrocentric music of the late 1960s, which focused on highlighting the injustices faced by the African-Americans, as well as for his work with the New York Contemporary Five, Horace Parlan, and...
, David Murray
David Murray (jazz musician)
David Murray is an American jazz musician. Murray plays mainly tenor saxophone and sometimes bass clarinet. He has recorded prolifically for many record labels since the mid-1970s.-Biography:...
, Arthur Blythe
Arthur Blythe
Arthur Blythe is an American jazz alto saxophonist and composer. His stylistic voice has a distinct vibrato and he plays within the post-bop subgenre of jazz.- Biography :...
, Frank Lowe
Frank Lowe
Frank Lowe was an American avant-garde jazz saxophonist and composer.Born and brought up in Memphis, Tennessee, Lowe took up the tenor saxophone and then moved to San Francisco...
, Leroy Jenkins, Jim Pepper
Jim Pepper
Jim Pepper was an American jazz saxophonist, composer, and singer of Native American ancestry.-Biography:...
and Ray Anderson
Ray Anderson (musician)
Ray Anderson is an independent jazz trombone and trumpet player. Anderson is a boisterous trombonist who is masterful at multiphonics. Trained by the Chicago Symphony trombonists, he is regarded as pushing the limits of the instrument. He is a contemporary and colleague of trombonist/composer...
.
Discography
- Poems for Piano: The Piano Music of Marion BrownPoems for Piano: The Piano Music of Marion BrownPoems for Piano: The Piano Music of Marion Brown is the debut album by American pianist Amina Claudine Myers featuring performances recorded in 1979 for the Sweet Earth label.-Reception:...
(Sweet Earth, 1979) - Song for Mother ESong for Mother ESong for Mother E is the second album by American pianist Amina Claudine Myers featuring performances recorded in 1979 for the Leo label.-Reception:The Allmusic review by Michael G. Nastos awarded the album 4½ stars stating "Sounds like a bigger group...
with Pheeroan akLaffPheeroan akLaffPheeroan akLaff is an American jazz drummer. Pheeroan akLaff began playing in his hometown of Detroit, and Ann Arbor, Michigan with Travis Biggs, Ars Nova, The Ebony Set, The Last Days, and Rod Lumpkin, recorded with Major Lansky. Moved to New Haven, Connecticut and formed DejaVu with Dwight...
(Leo, 1980) - Salutes Bessie SmithSalutes Bessie SmithSalutes Bessie Smith is the second album by American pianist Amina Claudine Myers featuring performances recorded in 1980 for the Leo label.-Reception:...
(Leo, 1980) - The Circle of TimeThe Circle of TimeThe Circle of Time is the fourth album by American pianist Amina Claudine Myers featuring performances recorded in 1983 for the Italian Black Saint label.-Reception:...
(Black Saint, 1983) - Jumping in the Sugar BowlJumping in the Sugar BowlJumping in the Sugar Bowl is the fourth album by American pianist Amina Claudine Myers featuring performances recorded in 1984 for the Minor Music label.-Reception:...
(Minor Music, 1984) - Country Girl (Minor Music, 1986)
- Amina (RCA/Novus, 1987)
- In Touch (RCA/Novus, 1989)
- Women In (E)Motion Festival (Tradition & Moderne, recorded 1988 released 2004)
External links
- [ AllMusic page for Myers]
- Amina Claudine Myers at AACM Amina Claudine Myers at centrojazztorino
- Amina Claudine Myers at German Wikipedia