$15 advance / $20 at the door
8pm showtime
Program:
8pm Soundtrack: Music of Nicole Mitchell
8:30pm Solar Sistren - Michelle Kinney, Faye Washington, Laura Harada, Mankwe Ndosi.
10:30pm Open Arrangement Session
About:
Great Black Music Mondays are nodes of sonic spiritual nourishment and freedom - freedom of expression and creation. Freedom of form and story. Freedom within the music as a vehicle*. Freedom and rootedness - a resonance connection to sonic ancestry carving more freedom - in and out and through the mainstream of popular music, of commerce. Crafting life and fluidity to seed and deepen bonds across genres and the globe.
Join Mankwe Ndosi and Sovereign Hues Productions for Great Black Music Mondays for the Month of December at Icehouse Minneapolis. Mankwe Ndosi, Curator in Residence for December’s Monday Night Jazz series will tend the deep roots of black classical cosmic sound and practice. These five nights combine the soundtracks of Black Women composers past and present, music from five different ensembles of Twin Cities’ exciting musical innovators, with late-night Open Arrangement Sessions. OAS’s (pronounced Oasisz), Ndosi’s variation of the Open Mic, where she will arrange trios from musicians who show up to play. December 23rd will feature acclaimed international cellist/composer/bandleader Tomeka Reid. Produced by Mankwe Ndosi (SY Productions) and Sovereign Hues. .
*nod to Nicole Mitchell's quotation, "Jazz is a Globalized African American Freedom Vehicle.
Michelle Kinney
Michelle Kinney is a lifelong improviser inspired by collaborative cross-genre work and non-traditional contexts for the cello. Improvising with her cello and looping device for daily dance classes as Musician in Residence at the U of MN’s Dance Program, Michelle rides impulse, gesture and gut response, rhythm and light/wave energy.
Michelle’s current projects include Maithree – The Music of Friendship, a collaboration led by South Indian Veena virtuoso Nirmala Rajasekar. Michelle also leads her own band What We Have Here, performing her original compositions; and co-leads the two cellos and tabla/drum quartet Jelloslave which has made two critically acclaimed recordings. A new trio The Stylites with Chris Cunningham and Nick Gaudette just debuted.
Other Twin Cities music artists requesting Michelle’s cello contributions include Queen Drea, Chastity Brown, George Cartwright, Noah Ophoven Baldwin, Adam Zhaller, Cody McKinney, among many others. She also composes and performs regularly for theater and dance.
Michelle’s work has been recognized and supported by the The McKnight Foundation, Metropolitan Regional Arts Council, The Bush Foundation, The Jerome Foundation, MN State Arts Board, NEA/Rockefeller, Harvestworks/Studio Pass, and the American Composers Forum. While living in NYC for 13 years, Michelle was lucky enough to work with some of the most respected innovators in new music, including the unforgettable Butch Morris, Henry Threadgill, Jason Hwang, Brandon Ross, Stomu Takeishi, Myra Melford, Bun Ching Lam & Shi-Zheng Chen.
Faye Washington
Detroit native, classical and jazz multi-instrumentalist Faye Washington has classed up stages nationally and internationally as a vocalist, flutist, and cellist. She’s worked with Operas, Orchestras, Symphonies, and Theaters in Michigan, Minnesota, New York, DC, and Russia. She’s worked as a soloist, with bands such as Imp Ork, New Day Band, and with artists including Women of the Calabash, Don Cherry, Julius Hemphill, James Newton, Jon Jang, James Carter, and David Murray. Washington is also known throughout the Twin Cities and beyond as a consummate Bandleader, for her commitment to music education, and as the current Director of the Capri Big Band out of North Minneapolis.
Laura Harada
Violinist Laura Harada is an eclectic musician, performing with groups spanning music from western to eastern classical, free jazz, Brazilian forro and choro, folk music from around the world, and the not easily categorizable.She appears with the National Arab Orchestra in Detroit and locally with Amwaaj , Samba Meu, and new trio Ottie the Mink.