 |
Steve Coleman | |
|---|---|
 Steve Coleman in Paris, July 2004 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Steven Douglas Coleman |
| Born | September 20, 1956 Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
| Genres | Jazz, avant-garde, M-Base |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, composer, bandleader |
| Instrument | Saxophone |
| Labels | JMT, Pangaea, Novus, BMG, Label Bleu, Pi |
Steve Coleman (born September 20, 1956) [1] is an American saxophonist, composer, bandleader and music theorist. In 2014, he was named a MacArthur Fellow.
Steve Coleman was born and grew up in South Side, Chicago. [1] He started playing alto saxophone at the age of 14. Coleman attended Illinois Wesleyan University for two years, [1] followed by a transfer to Roosevelt University (Chicago Musical College).
Coleman moved to New York in 1978 and worked in big bands such as the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra, Slide Hampton's big band, Sam Rivers' Studio Rivbea Orchestra, and briefly in Cecil Taylor's big band. [2] Shortly thereafter, Coleman began working as a sideman with David Murray, Doug Hammond, Dave Holland, Michael Brecker and Abbey Lincoln. During his first four years in New York, Coleman played in the streets and in small clubs with a band that he put together with trumpeter Graham Haynes. This group would evolve into Steve Coleman and Five Elements, which would serve as the main ensemble for Coleman's activities. In this group, he developed his concept of improvisation within nested looping structures. Coleman collaborated with other young African-American musicians such as Cassandra Wilson and Greg Osby, and they founded the so-called M-Base movement. [1]
Coleman regards the music tradition he is coming from as African Diasporan culture with essential African retentions, especially a certain kind of sensibility. He searched for these roots and their connections of contemporary African-American music. For that purpose, he travelled to Ghana at the end of 1993 and came in contact with (among others) the Dagomba (Dagbon) people whose traditional drum music uses very complex polyrhythm and a drum language that allows sophisticated speaking through music (described and recorded by John Miller Chernoff [3] ). Thus, Coleman was animated to think about the role of music and the transmission of information in non-western cultures. He wanted to collaborate with musicians who were involved in traditions which come out of West Africa. One of his main interests was the Yoruba tradition (predominantly out of western Nigeria) which is one of the Ancient African Religions underlying Santería (Cuba and Puerto Rico), Vodou (Haiti) and Candomblé (Bahia, Brazil). In Cuba, Coleman found the group Afrocuba de Matanzas who specialized in preserving various styles of rumba as well as all in Cuba persisting African traditions which are mixed together under the general title of Santería (Abakuá, Arara, Congo, Yoruba). In 1996 Coleman along with a group of 10 musicians as well as dancers and the group Afrocuba de Matanzas worked together for 12 days, performed at the Havana Jazz Festival, and recorded the album The Sign and the Seal. In 1997 Coleman took a group of musicians from America and Cuba to Senegal to collaborate and participate in musical and cultural exchanges with the musicians of the local Senegalese group Sing Sing Rhythm. He also led his group Five Elements to the south of India in 1998 to participate in a cultural exchange with different musicians in the carnatic music tradition.
In September 2014, Coleman was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship for "refreshing traditional templates to create distinctive and innovative work in ... jazz." [4] [5]
In 2017, saxophonist María Grand emailed a private letter to seven friends, industry colleagues, members of the We Have Voice Collective, a group advocating for change in the jazz industry, and Coleman's wife, as well as authorising one of the recipients to share the letter with journalists and colleagues. [6] In the letter, she wrote that she believed Coleman had taken advantage of his position as her prominent and older mentor to groom and manipulate her into a romantic and sexual relationship characterised by 'an abusive dynamic' and 'sexual harrassment' from 2011 to 2016. [6] [7] In November 2018, Coleman sued Grand for defamation in a US district court, and Grand countersued, alleging defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress (IIED). [6] [7] Coleman's claim of defamation was ruled against by the court. Grand's claims of defamation and IIED were similarly deemed to fail as a matter of law. [6] Coleman has appealed. [8]
With Doug Hammond
With Dave Holland
With Thad Jones/Mel Lewis
With Mel Lewis
With Abbey Lincoln
With Errol Parker
With The Roots
With Cassandra Wilson
| With others
|
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, hymns, marches, vaudeville song, and dance music. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major form of musical expression in traditional and popular music. Jazz is characterized by swing and blue notes, complex chords, call and response vocals, polyrhythms and improvisation.
The term "M-Base" is used in several ways. In the 1980s, a loose collective of young African American musicians including Steve Coleman, Graham Haynes, Cassandra Wilson, Geri Allen, Robin Eubanks, and Greg Osby emerged in Brooklyn with a new sound and specific ideas about creative expression. Using a term coined by Steve Coleman, they called these ideas "M-Base-concept" and critics have used this term to categorize this scene's music as a jazz style. But Coleman stressed "M-Base" doesn't denote a musical style but a way of thinking about creating music. Coleman also refuses the word "jazz" as a label for his music and the music tradition represented by musicians like John Coltrane, Charlie Parker, Louis Armstrong, etc. However, the musicians of the M-Base movement, which also included dancers and poets, strived for common creative musical languages, so their early recordings show many similarities reflecting their common ideas, the experiences of working together, and their similar cultural background. To label this kind of music, jazz critics have established the word "M-Base" as a jazz style for lack of a better term, distorting its original meaning.
Cassandra Wilson is an American jazz singer, songwriter, and producer from Jackson, Mississippi. She is one of the most successful female jazz singers and has been described by critic Gary Giddins as "a singer blessed with an unmistakable timbre and attack [who has] expanded the playing field" by incorporating blues, country, and folk music into her work. She has won numerous awards, including two Grammys, and was named "America's Best Singer" by Time magazine in 2001.
Joshua Redman is an American jazz saxophonist and composer. He is the son of jazz saxophonist Dewey Redman (1931–2006).
Ravi Coltrane is an American jazz saxophonist. Co-owner of the record label RKM Music, he has produced pianist Luis Perdomo, guitarist David Gilmore, and trumpeter Ralph Alessi.
Roy Anthony Hargrove was an American jazz musician and composer whose principal instruments were the trumpet and flugelhorn. He achieved worldwide acclaim after winning two Grammy Awards for differing styles of jazz in 1998 and 2002. Hargrove primarily played in the hard bop style for the majority of his albums, but also had a penchant for genre-crossing exploration and collaboration with a variety of hip hop, neo soul, R&B and alternative rock artists. As Hargrove told one reporter, "I've been around all kinds of musicians, and if a cat can play, a cat can play. If it's gospel, funk, R&B, jazz or hip-hop, if it's something that gets in your ear and it's good, that's what matters."
Michael Cain is a pianist and composer.
Bob Stewart is an American jazz tuba player and music teacher.
Walter Dewey Redman was an American saxophonist who performed free jazz as a bandleader and with Ornette Coleman and Keith Jarrett.
Gary Thomas is an American jazz saxophonist and flautist, born in Baltimore, Maryland. He was a member of Jack DeJohnette's Special Edition band and has worked with John McLaughlin, Herbie Hancock, Pat Metheny, John Scofield, Jim Hall, Dave Holland, Greg Osby, Wayne Shorter, Ravi Coltrane, Cassandra Wilson, Wallace Roney, Steve Coleman, and Miles Davis.
David Gilmore is an American jazz guitarist.
Lonnie Plaxico is an American jazz double bassist.
Marvin "Smitty" Smith is an American jazz drummer and composer.
Harry Allen is an American jazz tenor saxophonist born in Washington, D.C. Allen plays mainstream jazz and bossa nova. He has performed live and recorded with Scott Hamilton, a tenor saxophonist to whom Allen has frequently been compared. He is best known for his work with John Colianni, Dori Caymmi, Keith Ingham, John Pizzarelli, and Bucky Pizzarelli.
Ralph Alessi is an American jazz trumpeter, composer, and ECM recording artist. Alessi is known as a virtuosic performer whose critically-acclaimed projects include his Baida Quartet, with Jason Moran, Drew Gress, and Nasheet Waits, and This Against That, his quintet with Andy Milne, Gress, Mark Ferber, and Ravi Coltrane. Alessi has also recorded and performed with artists including Steve Coleman, Uri Caine, Fred Hersch, and Don Byron.
Andy Milne is a Canadian jazz pianist, who records and performs both as a solo artist and as the leader of the ensemble Dapp Theory. He was born in Hamilton, Ontario, and raised in Kincardine and Toronto. One of ten siblings, he studied music at York University, where he was a student of Oscar Peterson.
Bobby Few was an American jazz pianist and vocalist.
Kenny Davis is an American jazz bassist.
Sean Rickman is an American musician from Washington, D.C. He has worked with Shawn Lane, Garaj Mahal, Dapp Theory, Steve Coleman, Maxwell, Meshell Ndegeocello, Blacksheep, Phil Upchurch, David Fiucynski and Screaming Headless Torsos, Kai Eckhardt, Anthony Tidd's Quite Sane, K'Alyn, Angela Bofill and George Duke. Rickman was lead singer and drummer for Garaj Mahal from 2007 to 2011 and his rock band Big Mouth featuring guitarist Leonard Stevens. He was also featured alongside Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter and Marcus Miller on the Tribute to Miles 2011 tour.
This is the discography of American jazz musician Paul Motian.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Academics | |
| Artists | |
| People | |
| Other | |
