Newswise — From April 18 through 21, 2007, Spelman College will host its second "Kenyetta: A Festival of Women in Jazz," honoring female leaders in jazz music. Internationally renowned pianist Geri Allen will headline the festival this year, which also features singers Tulivu-Donna Cumberbatch and Audrey Shakir, drum ensemble Giwayen Mata, and the Spelman College Jazz Ensemble and Glee Club. Several Spelman College departments and programs, including Music, Comparative Women's Studies, the Cosby Chair in Fine Arts, and the Jazz Ensemble, are partnering with Spelman's Center for Leadership and Civic Engagement to sponsor the festival. All events are free and open to the public.
Wednesday, April 18, at 7:30 p.m. in Sisters Chapel: Opening Ceremony with Giwayen Mata drum ensemble. Concert by singer Tulivu-Donna Cumberbatch and her Magnificent Trio — pianist Donald Smith, bassist Rachiim Ausar-Sahu, and drummer Mark Johnson. A native of Brooklyn, N.Y., Cumberbatch has toured extensively in Europe, the Caribbean, West Africa, and North America. She has performed with John Hicks, the Brooklyn Philharmonic, Diedre Murray, and Onaje-Allan Gumbs, among others, and is the featured vocalist in two of composer-trumpeter Hannibal Lokumbe's symphonies, Children of the Fire and Flames of South Africa. She has also performed Lokumbe's music with the Kronos Quartet and choreographer Dianne McIntyre. Possessed of a smooth, sultry, soulful vocal sound, Cumberbatch can be heard on numerous recordings, including her four solo albums.
Thursday, April 19, at 7:30 p.m. in Sisters Chapel: Atlanta-based vocalist Audrey Shakir will join the Spelman Jazz Ensemble and Glee Club in an evening of original jazz compositions by Atlanta composers Dwight Andrews, Joe Jennings and Kevin Johnson. Shakir is well-known in both jazz and academic circles, having participated frequently in the National Black Arts Festival, the Atlanta Jazz Series, WCLK's broadcasts from the Penta Hotel, the Spoleto Festival in Charleston, and the UNCF Tribute to Apollo Theater All-Stars. She has taught at Spelman College and Georgia State University.
Friday, April 20, at 8 p.m. in Sisters Chapel: Geri Allen Trio, with bassist Kenny Davis and the legendary drummer Jimmy Cobb. Allen is a celebrated, award-winning pianist-composer who maintains a worldwide performance schedule. The list of artists with whom she has recorded or performed over the last 20 years reads like a Who's Who of the music world. The first woman and youngest person ever to win the Danish Jazzpar Prize, she has also received the keys to the cities of Detroit and Cleveland, Howard University's Benny Golson Award, and Spelman College's African American Classical Music Award. Allen graduated from Detroit's famed Cass Technical High School, went on to Howard University for undergraduate study, and earned a master's degree in ethnomusicology from the University of Pittsburgh. Having taught at Howard, the New School (NYC), and the New England Conservatory, Allen is currently associate professor of jazz and contemporary improvisation at the University of Michigan, where she continues to inspire a new generation of musicians.
From her first major-label release in 1992, The Nurturer (Blue Note) to her recent award-winning CDs The Life of a Song and Timeless Portraits and Dreams (Telarc), she has garned further acclaim for her performances and collaborations in the recording studio. Her sacred jazz composition, For the Healing of the Nations, a tribute to victims and survivors of the 9/11 tragedy, premiered in September 2006.
Saturday, April 21, at 8 p.m. in Sisters Chapel: Kenyetta concludes with the annual spring performance of the Spelman College Jazz Ensemble, directed by Joe Jennings. This year the Jazz Ensemble completed its 17th national tour, gathering new fans and teaching old ones that jazz isn't a man's world after all. Over the years, they have performed at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival and in Chicago, Detroit, Philadelphia, Newark, New York, and Baltimore, at numerous colleges and universities, and at the National Black Arts Festival, The Kennedy Center, the Schomburg Center for Social Research (NYC), and The New Jersey Performing Arts Center, among others.
Organized in 1983 by Joe Jennings, this unique combination of vocalists, wind players, and rhythm section has shared the stage with such jazz greats as Wynton Marsalis, Nancy Wilson, Valerie Capers, Straight Ahead, The Uptown Sting Quartet, Dee Dee Bridgewater and Regina Carter. Besides directing the Jazz Ensemble and teaching at Spelman, Jennings has been director of music at the Atlanta Center for Black Art and artist-in residence at Atlanta's Neighborhood Arts Center. He was founder and director of the Neighborhood Arts Ensemble (a 22-piece big Band in Atlanta), leader of The Joe Jennings Saxtet, founder and director of the Metropolitan Atlanta Youth Ensemble (a jazz workshop for urban youth), and co-founder/director of the recording group Life Force.
For more information on the festival and to obtain a full schedule, please call the Spelman College Music Department at (404) 270-5476. All times and events are subject to change.
Spelman College:Founded in 1881, Spelman College is the only historically Black college in the nation to be included on the U.S. News and World Report's list of top 75 "Best Liberal Arts Colleges — Undergraduate," 2005. Located in Atlanta, Ga., this private, historically Black women's college boasts outstanding alumnae, including Children's Defense Fund Founder Marian Wright Edelman; U.S. Foreign Service Director General Ruth Davis; authors Tina McElroy Ansa and Pearl Cleage and actress LaTanya Richardson. More than 83 percent of the full-time faculty members have Ph.D.s or other terminal degrees and the student-faculty ratio is 12:1. Annually, nearly one-third of Spelman students receive degrees in the sciences. The students number more than 2,186 and represent 43 states and 34 foreign countries. For more information regarding Spelman College, visit: [email protected].
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