Black Roots Summer

Fisher Center at Bard

SummerScape 2021

Chair Jeanne Donovan Fisher

President Leon Botstein

Executive Director Liza Parker

Artistic Director Gideon Lester

Black Roots Summer

Curated by Michael Mwenso and Jono Gasparro

Presented in association with Electric Root

Mwenso & the Shakes

Love Will Be the Only Weapon

July 23, 24 at 6:30 pm

Genius Mother Mary

A Sonic Retrospective of Mary Lou Williams

July 31 at 2 pm

The Sound of (Black) Music

July 30 at 6:30 pm

July 31 at 7:30 pm

The Stage at Montgomery Place

Bard College: The Montgomery Place Campus

Running time for each concert is approximately 90 minutes with no intermission.

The 2021 SummerScape season is made possible in part through the generous support of Jeanne Donovan Fisher, the Martin and Toni Sosnoff Foundation, the Advisory Boards of the Fisher Center at Bard and Bard Music Festival, and Fisher Center and Bard Music Festival members, as well as grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

Commissioning and development support for The Stage at Montgomery Place is provided by the Fisher Center’s Artistic Innovation Fund, with lead support from Rebecca Gold and S. Asher Gelman ‘06 through the March Forth Foundation.

Letter from the Artistic Director

Dear Friends,

Welcome to SummerScape 2021, and to four weeks of concerts at the brand-new Stage at Montgomery Place. Though the pandemic meant we couldn’t open the Spiegeltent this year, we’ve created these programs infused with the spirit of that beloved venue. We hope they bring you much delight, as we gather again for the first time in many months.

At the Fisher Center we are committed to long-term creative relationships with great contemporary artists, whose work we support through extended residencies and new commissions. The concerts in this series exemplify that commitment and include artists already beloved by Fisher Center audiences and others we’re glad to introduce to you for the first time.

The series is launched by the legendary performer Justin Vivian Bond, who hosted the Spiegeltent for five summers and now resides in the Hudson Valley. Viv brought joy to thousands of people during the pandemic with weekly concerts on Instagram Live in the guise of Your Aunty Glam, who is making a glamorous return to SummerScape. Incidentally, the Fisher Center recently supported the development of another new performance by Viv, a double act with the countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo, which will premiere at St. Ann’s Warehouse in Brooklyn this fall.

The following two weekends are celebrations of Black roots music, devised as an uplifting and healing experience by the brilliant jazz vocalist and curator Michael Mwenso. These three programs have been developed in an on-site residency at Montgomery Place, with a host of superb artists exploring a wide range of musical genres, from African diasporic traditions and jazz to The Sound of Music reimagined through an Afrofuturist lens. We’re delighted to welcome Michael, producer Jono Gasparro, and their collaborators (several of whom you may recognize from previous collaborations with Catskill Jazz Factory) to Bard for the SummerScape debut of Black Roots Summer.

The series concludes with the long-awaited return of director Daniel Fish, who developed his sensational, iconoclastic interpretation of Oklahoma! with Bard students before its professional premiere in SummerScape 2015. That production, of course, went on to Broadway, where it won a Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical. Now, Daniel is exploring Frank Loesser’s The Most Happy Fella, one of the most lyrical and operatic scores of the American songbook. The concert of songs from Loesser’s score reunites several Oklahoma! collaborators, including music arrangers Daniel Kluger and Nathan Koci, and performers Mary Testa and Mallory Portnoy, who are joined by a cast of incredible female and nonbinary singers and 13 musicians. The Most Happy Fella is, at its heart, about our longing for human connection. After the isolation of the past year—and in the hands of these great artists—these gorgeous songs will surely resonate in new and entirely contemporary ways.

Whether you are joining us for one concert or the whole series, we wish you evenings of joyful discovery on the lawns of Montgomery Place.

Best wishes,

Gideon Lester

Artistic Director

Curator's Note

The origins of Electric Root lie in years of mentorship by Wynton Marsalis, whom Mwenso and Gasparro both met as teenagers in separate countries (Mwenso in England, Gasparro in the United States). When they were first introduced to one another, in their early twenties, at a music festival in Italy, they realized they were both protégés of Marsalis and, after hours of conversation, decided they “wanted to change the world through Black music together,” according to Mwenso. Their friendship developed further once they were both in New York; Gasparro had become Marsalis’s right-hand man, and, at Gasparro’s urging, Marsalis brought Mwenso to Jazz at Lincoln Center to join its programming team and head the after-hours series at Dizzy’s Club.

Once they had both left Jazz at Lincoln Center, they formed Mwenso and the Shakes, a genre-spanning band the New York Times has called “intense, prowling, and ebullient,” and whose music NPR has described as “an explosion of ideas and sounds” radiating “infectious joy.” And because they were by now both accomplished curators—Gasparro went on to program Ginny’s Supper Club at Marcus Samuelsson’s Red Rooster restaurant in Harlem—they started developing themed concert programs that could cultivate an appreciation of Black music, its history, and its relevance, such as We Shall Overcome and Harlem 100, which have toured nationally.

Mwenso explains that in the midst of the pandemic, and in response to the murder of George Floyd, they realized, “Now is the time to push the doors down.” They established their mission-driven company, Electric Root, and set out to collaborate with universities and other institutions in order to “revolutionize how Black music is presented, expose lesser-known artists, decolonize music curriculum, provide artist-led antiracism training, and heal people.” Black music had healed Mwenso from an early age, when his mother was in a car crash and her husband perished in the accident. To support Mwenso while his mother processed the trauma in her own way, Mwenso’s godfather began taking him nightly to concerts in London by artists including Ray Charles, Gladys Knight and the Pips, John Lee Hooker, Betty Carter, Solomon Burke, and B. B. King, to name a few.

Gasparro says that for the company he and Mwenso led before the pandemic, Jazz Management Group (JMG), the business model was simply “quantity of performances”—of which they programmed or performed upwards of 1,000 a year. Electric Root embodies what they want to do for the next 20 years: develop what they describe as “a new model for Black music: recentering it, recrafting people’s relationship to how they see, hear, and feel it.” Gasparro elaborates, “Black music was sacred before commercialization. We want to get people back to understanding music as something that nourishes the soul.”

Electric Root’s engagement with the Fisher Center at Bard over the last year exemplifies the deep, multipronged collaboration Mwenso and Gasparro aim to have with institutions going forward. What was initially planned as simply a weekend of concerts last summer has grown to include beyond-performance work such as antiracism training, developed and led by Mwenso, Gasparro, Shariffa Ali, and Kamilah Long for the Fisher Center staff. Mwenso emphasizes, “The residency we and our collaborators have had with Bard has been an ideal opportunity for Black artists to create, free from the stresses of the commercial world.”

Following the SummerScape Black Roots Summer performances, Mwenso and Gasparro, through Electric Root, plan to take these works to cultural and academic institutions worldwide, effecting change within and through them.

Genius Mother Mary

Finding Meaning in the Life and Music of Mary Lou Williams

By Dr. Tammy L. Kernodle

There is a story behind every musical performance. That story might be one of musicians coming together feeling a vibe or groove and in that moment of inspiration riffs, notes, and rhythms come together to make a song.

Every musician has a story. Whether it is one rooted in overcoming adversity or challenging social conventions to express freedom and agency, there is a story.

This concert explores the story behind the music and the life of Mary Lou Williams. This year marks the fortieth anniversary of her passing. Yet historians, musicians, and jazz fans are still trying to understand who Mary Lou was, decode the elements that frame the unique and innovative approaches she advanced as an arranger, composer and pianist and unpack her many contributions to the progression of jazz.

Who was the real Mary Lou Williams? Was she the demanding artist who pushed the musicians that worked with her to new levels of creativity? Was she the embodiment of the jazzwoman’s desire to move from a place of marginality to a place of equality? These questions will be explored through the one thing that matter to Williams the most—her music.

Mother, genius, Mary are not just words. They reflect the complexities and layers that surround her legacy and her navigation of an industry that sought to defeminize her in order to understand the genius exhibited through her vast oeuvre. The irony of this is that that same industry also weaponize her femininity and race against her so her career was defined by circles of exploitation. During her lifetime she bore many names: “The Little Piano Girl of East Liberty”, “The Grande Dame of Jazz” and the “Lady who Swings the Band.” Each of these appellations represents the vastness of the seventy-one years in which she lived and the limitlessness of her artistic contributions.

In his 1973 autobiography Music is my Mistress, Duke Ellington wrote that “Mary Lou Williams is perpetually contemporary. Her writing and performing are and have always been just a little ahead throughout her career. . .her music retains and maintains a standard of quality that is timeless. She is like soul on soul.” (169) These words have served as one of the most enduring testimonies of Williams’ influence on jazz and speaks to how her peers viewed her. She was not an imitator of the men that surrounded her, but a skillful collaborator and mentor.

During her almost six-decade career, Mary Lou Williams defied genre distinctions, engaged in inter-generational social and music circles, and consistently challenged the gendered and myopic views of black culture, identity and most importantly jazz. This legacy has been marked in many ways—hundreds of compositions and/or arrangements, hundreds of recordings (in 78, 45, and LP version) and performances that stretched throughout the US and Europe. The question is often raised as to why Williams and her music is not as well-known as many of her peers? There is not one definitive answer to this question. But some answers can be gleaned from the music Williams created and their relationship to specific lived experiences.

Mary Lou Williams was born Mary Elfrieda Scruggs in Atlanta, Georgia on May 8, 1910. Her first exposure to music came through her mother Virginia’s playing at a local Baptist church. Mary often sat on her mother’s lap during rehearsals. It was during one of these moments that she first displayed her musical abilities. According to family lore, Mary began playing note-for note a tune her mother had moments earlier. Startled by her daughter’s sudden display of talent, Virginia reportedly dropped the child and ran to summon neighbors. The blues, ragtime, and spirituals that saturated the soundscape of her early years remained a core part of her sound identity throughout her life. For her they represented the sonic and cultural roots of jazz.

In 1915 the family migrated to Pittsburgh, PA and became part of the vibrant black community. It was in this setting that Mary’s talent blossomed. From the T.O.B.A. theater shows that her stepfather took her to, to the piano rolls of Fats Waller and Jelly Roll Morton that he purchased for her, they all had a significant influence on her evolution into the “Little Piano Girl of East Liberty.” Her talent earned her a reputation amongst local musicians and as early as age 12 she was traveling on the black vaudeville circuit known as the T.O.B.A. (Theater Owners Booking Association). Her tenure with this circuit lead to her marriage in 1927 to baritone saxophonist John Williams, whose subsequent invitation to the join T. Holder’s Dark Clouds of Joy (later called Andy Kirk’s Twelve Clouds of Joy) brought the couple to Kansas City, Missouri.

It was in the late-night jam sessions that peppered the segregated section of the city that Mary furthered her proficiency in boogie-woogie and stride piano. When the regular pianist for the Clouds of Joy could not make an audition date with Bruinswick/Vocalion, John convinced then bandleader Andy Kirk to call his wife. Mary played the audition date, which resulted in a recording contract. Although appreciative, Kirk had no intention of adding the pianist to the band. However, when the group arrived in Chicago months later for their recording date, Kirk was told that the session would not happen without Mary. She was sent for, and it was during this early session that she recorded two of the first solo records to be released under her name. Drag ‘Em and Nite Life showcased Mary’s mastery of the Harlem stride tradition and the elemental trademarks of her style—strong rhythmic left hand and intricate improvisations. Thinking that Mary alone was too plain, recording executive Jack Kapp added “Lou” to her name. From that point until her death in 1981, she would perform under the professional name of Mary Lou Williams.

In 1930 Williams officially became a member of the Andy Kirk band serving not only as pianist, but also as the group’s primary arranger. Her driving piano style became the foundation of the rhythm section and arrangements like Mary’s Idea, Walkin’ and Swingin’, and Little Joe from Chicago. The vast catalog of arrangements Williams produced during this period were central to the popularity of Clouds of Joy extending beyond Kansas City during the 1930s. Later when recounting these years, Williams would refer to them as her “starvation years.” She spoke vividly about the professional hardships many black bands endured.

[The band played] long strings of one-nighters, traveling perhaps 300 miles between cities after playing. You know those 20’s cars didn’t have heaters or windshield wipers. In winter the roads were sheets of ice. There were some terrible accidents and delays. We’d arrive in town too late to play and we’d be stranded there without money to buy gasoline to get to our next gig. Sometimes after we played, Kirk would come back with his head down and we’d know we hadn’t been paid. . . It was pretty horrible now that I look back on it. But then we’d have fun, like we were like a family. (Kernodle 2020, 68)

The intricacies of Williams’ arrangements made her one of the highly sought-after arrangers of the 1930s and 1940s. She completely changed some of the conventions of big band music with her innovative combinations of instruments and integration of musical elements that extended out of regional styles that developed out of the insularity of the black communities she encountered during her travels through the South and Midwest. She is the first arranger to successfully supplant the rhythmic and harmonic structure of boogie woogie in a big band arrangement. She along with Count Basie provided a template for “swinging” the blues.

Although she received numerous from other bands, Williams remained loyal to Kirk. She did, however, produce arrangements for a number of bands including Earl Hines, Casa Loma, Benny Goodman, Jimmie Lunceford, and Duke Ellington. By the early 1940s most big bands in the U.S. had a Mary Lou Williams arrangement in their book, but she hardly garnered the type of name recognition or money that Fletcher Henderson or other arrangers received. Her relationship with John began to deteriorate during this period and eventually they divorced. Despite the dissolution of their marriage, the two remained close friends until Mary’s death in 1981.

In the meantime, growing tensions in the Kirk band and deteriorating conditions on the road began to affect Mary, who has grown more and more disenchanted. During a performance in Washington, DC in 1942 she walked off the stage, took her bags off the tour bus and caught a bus back to Pittsburgh.

For a short time, she settled back into her life as sister, daughter, and aunt. But through the promptings of trumpeter Shorty Baker and drummer Art Blakey, Williams returned to her music and forming a band with the two. It proved to be short-lived, largely because Baker left to join Duke Ellington’s band. Although they did not have a romantic relationship before this time, love blossomed between Baker and Williams and the two married on December 10, 1942. The marriage lasted six months. They never divorced and Williams never married again.

In support of her marriage Williams had moved to New York, but when the relationship fell apart, she decided to settle in the city. Single and free from the exploitation of the Kirk band, Mary Lou Williams set about rebranding herself. In 1943 John Hammond convinced Barney Josephson to hire Mary at his nightclub Café Society in New York.

For the next decade she would become a staple on the New York jazz scene performing nightly and hosting her own weekly radio show on WNEW. She also frequented the after-hours jazz session that were taking place at Minton’s and Monroe’s Playhouse uptown in Harlem. In time her Hamilton Terrace apartment became the meeting spot for the young generation of musicians who sought solace for the formulaic culture of swing. It was there in that small apartment that Williams nurtured the creative energy that birthed a cultural revolution. Thelonius Monk, Dizzy Gillespie, Sarah Vaughn, Tad Jones, and many others frequently gathered at Mary Lou’s to listen to records or showcase their newest compositions. Williams became one of the strongest musical and personal ties between the previous generation of jazz musicians and the young, emerging voices that were deemed the modernists. Despite the difference in age and professional experience, these musicians and Mary Lou Williams shared a desire to elevate readings of the black jazz musician and black art.

It was during the late 1940s and early 1950s that Williams experienced a creative peak that provided further evidence of how she continued to push the creative boundaries of jazz. Like Ellington she visualized the jazz big band as an Americanized version of the European symphonic orchestra and advanced the jazz suite as one of the ways in which a new symphonic aesthetic could be promoted. The jazz suite, a larger scale, multi-movement work, became the canvas through which both composers explored fusions of western European concert music and jazz. Her Zodiac Suite, a set of twelve symphonic poems based on jazz musicians born under various zodiac signs, was evidence of this. While Ellington is often credit with furthering this mode of jazz composition, Mary Lou Williams was the first jazz composer of the post-World War II epoch to have her work played by major chamber orchestras including the New York Philharmonic.

Her experimentation stretched beyond the conflation of classical and jazz idioms. In the Land of Oo Bla Dee, a composition performed and recorded by Dizzy Gillespie’s band, combined the conventions of big band jazz and bebop. Despite this level of activity and creativity, Williams still struggled during the late 1940s to recapture the critical success she had garnered during her early years with the Kirk band. In 1952, like many of her peers, Williams went to Europe where she received much acclaim. But working consistently, since her adolescence, the continued exploitation by her management, and the circus-like environment of music industry in Europe, began to take an emotional and physical toll on her. In 1954 she walked away from jazz, disappearing for three years.

During her departure from the jazz scene she converted to Catholicism, which became one of the singular events that would impact her perspective of the world and her music for the next twenty-four years. In the interim years between her conversion in 1957 and her return to jazz in the early 1960s, Mary Lou Williams devoted herself to the rehabilitation of jazz musicians and the musical education of children. Her Hamilton Terrace apartment, which had supported the creative voices of a generation of musicians only a decade earlier became a rehabilitation facility and half-way house for some of those same individuals after they fell victim to proliferation of the drug culture in jazz. Williams subsequently expanded these efforts through the formation of the Bel Canto Foundation. She supported this work through a series of thrift shops, in hopes that she could one day built of a more expansive facility. Unfortunately, Williams never raised enough money and the facility never materialized.

Her benevolent work did not stop there as it also came to include mentoring the next generation of musicians and jazz fans. In 1964 she returned to her hometown of Pittsburgh to care for ailing family members. It was also during this period that Williams convinced Bishop Wright to sponsor a jazz festival to celebrate the city’s contributions to the genre. This festival, which became known as the Pittsburgh Jazz Festival, was launched with proceeds going to the Catholic Youth Organization (CYO). Trombonist/Arranger Melba Liston served as Musical Director. The collaboration of these two women is noteworthy as their work signified a new pathway for women in jazz. For its first two years, the Pittsburgh Jazz Festival was the fonly female headed jazz festival in the United States.

Succumbing to the urgings of her religious confidants, Williams began composing religious compositions during this period. The first was A Hymn in Honor of St. Martin De Porres, which commemorated the canonization of the first black saint by the Catholic Church. It aligns with Williams coming into a deeper knowledge of her faith and identity as a Black Catholic during the height of the black civil rights struggle.

In 1966 Mary returned to Pittsburgh and was hired by Bishop Wright to teach music at the all-white Seton High School. She decided to write a jazz mass in order to teach students the fundamentals of music and the nuances of jazz.

I wrote a bop blues and the kids went wild. After that they couldn’t wait to get to class. I was teaching them to sing like Billie Holiday---teaching them the sounds the way she made them. They loved it. Several priest, who were jazz fans, had been urging me to write a Mass. So I began composing one during the class. I’d tell the kids to take a break and I’d write eight bars of the Mass. They’d sing it right off. Whenever the nuns came into the room, I’d shift to theory. But I wrote the Mass in a week. (Kernodle 2020, 217)

The work, known as the Pittsburgh Mass, was performed at St. Paul’s Cathedral in Pittsburgh, PA on June 10, 1967. Over the next six years Williams would dedicate herself to writing music that aided in bring to fruition the aspirations of the Second Vatican Council to revitalize the Catholic liturgy. The result was the beginning of another period of significant work and creativity defined through a dozen hymns and three more masses—Mass for Lenten Season (1968), the Mass for Peace and Justice (1969) and Mary Lou’s Mass (1970). These works combined jazz harmonies and gospel nuances with the liturgy of the Catholic Church. They were conceived of as forms of liturgy and not as concert pieces like Ellington’s Sacred Concerts. More importantly, Williams’ religious compositions correlated with a growing movement amongst Black Catholic clergy and laity to created and promote a black liturgical aesthetic. For the pianist/arranger this music was key to advancement a consciousness of racial unity, global peace, and black consciousness during the height of the violence and chaos that framed the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Though not an avowed follower of the civil rights movement, Williams’ music did correlate with the ideology promoted through the Black Arts and Black Nationalists Movements, especially the notion that jazz, despite its co-option into this narrative of American exceptionalism during the height of the Cold War, was black art that developed out of the black lived experience in America. Much like the Black Power and Nationalist Movements that espoused the importance of creating institutions and self-sustained infrastructure, Mary Lou Williams launched the recording imprint Mary Records and the publishing company Cecilia Music to promote and disseminate her religious compositions. One of highest endorsement of Williams’ contributions to the shifting culture of the Catholic Church came on February 18, 1975, when Mary Lou’s Mass was performed at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City. This celebrated historic moment reflected the beginning of another period of significant activity and influence. Williams experienced a new level of popularity as the feminist movement and the emergence of women in jazz festivals celebrated her pioneering status within the genre. Reissues of some of her early recordings in addition to new recordings like Zoning (1975), Free Spirts and a live recording of her set at the 1978 Montreux Jazz Festival garnered her new listeners.

In 1977 Mary was hired by Duke University to join the music faculty as its first Artist-in-Residence. In the four years that she served there she continued to educate the audiences on the historic and musical roots of jazz as well as promote the creative spirit of young players. In the years that followed her death in 1981, Mary Lou Williams’ legacy has been curated in many ways from the Mary Lou Williams Center for Black Culture on the campus of Duke University to the Mary Lou Williams Women in Jazz Festival at the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts and finally scholarly works, recordings, and films.

Mary Lou Williams (1910-1981) once said, “anything you are shows up in your music” and tonight’s concert provides you with a glimpse of who she was and all the places she traversed in her six-decade career. Listen carefully, for in these works you will hear not just one woman’s life story, but the evolution of a people as they moved from the south to the North, the agrarian to the urban, the oral tradition to a written one, and the many forms of music that documented their lives.

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Program

Mary’s Idea was one of the earliest arrangements Williams created for the Kirk band’s early recording dates with Bruinswick/Vocalion in 1930. Tonight’s concert featured the updated version Williams wrote in 1938. This recording signified the height of the Kirk band’s popularity and is representative of how Williams’ arranging style developed exponentially during those eight years and how she synthesized the sophisticated sectional work of the horns (trumpets, trombones, and reeds) that defined the East Coast big band aesthetic with the highly rhythmic and improvised style of Kansas City bands.

This arrangement contains many of the hallmarks of what made Williams’ compositional voice so innovative—the irregularity of phrasing, experimental and fluctuating rhythms (like an implied stacking of a ¾ rhythm over 4/4 in the shout chorus), and unique chord voicings that foreshadowed modern jazz. One of the exciting moments in this arrangement is when Williams disrupts the work of the horns with a 16-bar piano solo that documents how stride piano was integrated into the big band aesthetic. Within the vast catalog of arrangements Williams wrote during this period, Mary’s Idea is a standout.

* * *

What’s Your Story Morning Glory is another arrangement from the Kirk band’s 1938 Decca Sessions. It became a hit song for the band featuring vocals by Pha Terell. The song reflected Williams’ engagement in the practice of contrafacta, where new songs were created by borrowing the chord changes from a previous song. This new version would feature a new melody or head. It was not the same as musical quotations, another common device employed by jazz musicians, which included stating melodic phrase or rhythmic pattern from a pre-existing song. What’s Your Story Morning Glory draws its harmonic changes from the song Aunt Hagar’s Blues, written by W.C. Handy and Tim Brymn. The song became a jazz standard during the 1920s after it was recorded by several groups including The Original Memphis Five (1921) and Fletcher Henderson’s Orchestra (1922).

Mary Lou Williams’ reworking of Aunt Hagar’s Blues developed out of her friendship and correspondence with Paul Webster, trumpeter with Jimmie Lunceford’s band. In one particular letter Webster wrote “What’s your story morning glory? I haven’t heard from you,” which inspired Williams to write the 16-bar blues. Later Webster altered the arrangement adding an 8-bar bridge and renaming it Black Coffee. Webster’s claims on the song, was one of the many moments in which Williams was exploited and cheated out of royalties. The song was later covered by a number of artists including singers Ella Fitzgerald and Anita O’Day.

* * *

Virgo, Taurus, Scorpio from the Zodiac Suite

In 1944 Williams began composing The Zodiac Suite, a collection of pieces inspired by her interest in astrology. Each movement was based on the personality traits of selected jazz musicians and other performers born under specific astrological signs. Unlike her previous arrangements, the movements of the suite were individual compositions that displayed no motivic relationship. Each sign was conceived musically as a separate and individual idea. For the period of several weeks Williams showcased movements of the suite during her nightly sets at Café Society and on her weekly radio show on WNEW. The twelve movements were branded The Zodiac Suite and over the next decade were reconceived in multiple settings. It was first conceived of as piano solos but were later expanded into different iterations. A recording session for Asch Records in June 1945, produced seven movements that featured different instrument configurations-solo piano, a duo featuring bass and piano and trio (piano, bass, drums). Most relevant to this discussion is the orchestral setting she performed with chamber orchestra and jazz quartet in 1945-1946.

Taurus was dedicated to Mary, Duke Ellington, and Ellis Larkins. It was the first movement that she wrote and was recorded in 1944 under the title of Taurus Mood. Of all of the movements, this was one that had no direct musical direction. Williams described the spontaneity of the piece as being reflective of personality of individuals born under the sign. “Taurans are creative lovers of the arts. They procrastinate, but they also know in what direction they’re going. That’s real jazz. . . My music for the Sign of the Bull begins and ends with the same theme to indicate the personal that only changes when it is forced to do so.”

Virgo, written for journalist/producer Leonard Feather, reflects Williams’ mastery of the bebop aesthetic. This subgenre of jazz was beginning to develop in the after-hours culture of Harlem when she arrived in New York in 1942. Her apartment soon became the meeting place for the young musicians that defined it. In this movement Williams interweaves the harmonic language of bebop with the blues—one of the hallmarks of her style. Scorpio was written for Imogene Coca, Ethel Waters, bassist Al Lucas and dancer/choreographer Katherine Dunham, who later adapted it into a ballet. Here Williams writes a blues that is tinged with a subtle nod to what jazz musicians called the “Spanish Tinge” or the Afro-Caribbean rhythmic patterns and nuances. The polyrhythmic aspects of the interplay between the ostinato bass line and blues melody reminds us of the wide spectrum of cultural and musical influences that shaped jazz culture in America.

Inspired by Ellington’s performance of Black, Brown, and Beige at Carnegie Hall in 1943, Williams took the idea of an orchestral performance to Barney Josephson in 1945, shortly after the release of the recordings. Josephson agreed to sponsor the concert financially and secured Town Hall as the venue. Williams rescored the movements for a chamber orchestra consisting of oboe, flute, French horn, tenor sax (only for “Cancer”), five strings, piano, bass, and drums. She gave more attention to areas within the movements that could be improvised on to maintain the jazz feeling of the work. The revised Zodiac Suite was performed on December 31, 1945, by the Edmund Hall chamber orchestra under the direction of Milt Orient.” Another performance followed in 1946 with the Carnegie Pops Orchestra as part of a series of concerts celebrating jazz. Once again Williams set about revising the work with the help of Milt Orient for a 70-piece group. This version was performed on June 22,1946 with Herman Neumann conducting.

For almost a decade The Zodiac Suite was forgotten until Dizzy Gillespie decided to feature three movements during his 1957 set at the Newport Jazz Festival. The performance not only marked Williams’ return to public performance after a three-year hiatus, but also signified another re-imagining of the work into a big band arrangement. Trombonist/arranger Melba Liston’s reworking of Virgo, Libra, and Aries for this performance is documented on the recording Dizzy Gillespie Live at the Newport Jazz Festival. Although Williams never revisited the structural form heard in The Zodiac Suite, it served as the compositional foundation from which she developed her large-scale religious works during the 1960s and 1970s.

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In the Land of Oo-Bla-Dee

Our audible understanding of the progression of jazz becomes disjointed when one arrives at the early 1940s. That had much to do with the American Federation of Musicians strike against the recording industry. This dispute, which resulted in no commercial recordings being made between 1942 and 1944, left a vacuum in terms of recording technology capturing the shifting sounds being executed in local clubs and ballrooms. This is especially true in terms of the cultural revolution that was being launched in the after-hour jam sessions taking place in Harlem.

When recording resumed in 1944, it seemed like this new sound, which would eventually be called bebop, came out of nowhere. It completely disrupted the sonic and cultural aspect of postwar jazz in America. Bebop is generally referred to music that was framed around smaller combos. It was thought that the intricacy of the solo improvisation that defined the bebop aesthetic was better suited to those aggregations. However, Billy Eckstine and Dizzy Gillespie disrupted this narrative with their big bands. Gillespie and Mary Lou Williams became close friends when the pianist moved to New York in 1942. Soon her apartment on 63 Hamilton Terrace became the meeting place for Gillespie and other young jazz musicians. In the Land of Oo-Bla-Dee was one of several compositions written during the mid-1940s that showcased the influence of bop’s culture on Mary Lou Williams. She recorded the song in 1949 featuring vocals from Kenny “Pancho” Hagood. This setting for small combo became an underground hit and was awarded four stars by Downbeat magazine. Williams later rescored the work specifically for Gillespie’s big band, adding an intro that featured Latin rhythms. It was a nod to Gillespie’s collaborations with Afro-Cuban percussionist Chano Pozo.

* * *

Mary Lou’s Blues

In the years following World War II, Europe became the provincial outpost for American jazz and a major point of migration for black artisans who sought refuge from Jim Crow America. Mary Lou Williams was amongst a large number of black jazz musicians who were swayed by the economic possibilities and opportunities a growing European audience could bring. In 1952 she arrived in England to headline the Big Rhythm Show. It was the first of many showcases that featured jazz luminaries and her performances were enthusiastically acclaimed by jazz critics and fans. What was initially supposed to be a two-week stint in England for evolved into a two-year rotation of performances that extended to Holland and France. Noting the reception of black culture and musicians in Europe, Williams was inspired to think more broadly about her career and music. She no longer had any desire to share the spotlight or serve as arranger or sideman to someone else’s band. Instead, Williams turned her focus to putting together a combo consisting of some of the most talented European musicians. More than anything she wanted to produce a successful, critically acclaimed recording that would prepare the way for her return to the United States. Her first session resulted in eight sides for Britain’s Vogue label that featured bassist Allan Ganley and drummer Ken Napper.

In the fall of 1953, the pianist moved to Paris, where she became part of a blossoming black expatriate community on the Left Bank. She was contracted to play alternating sets at the Perdido Club and the Ringside. Williams’ stint at the Perdido Club was so well attended that the owner decided to rename the nightclub Chez Mary Lou. It was during this period that she also did a series of recordings that were released on the Club Français du Disque and Blue Star labels. Mary Lou Blues was recorded during these sessions, which provides strong evidence of how much Williams’ compositional voice had matured in the years following her departure from the Kirk band. The intricacies of horn riffs point to the modern sound of bands like Quincy Jones’ Orchestra and Charles Mingus’ Jazz Workshop. Williams’ strong left hand and tuneful blues interpretations cement her place in the pantheon of jazz pianists.

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Why

This melancholy ballad was recorded by Williams in London in 1954. It displays the simple elegance and ingenuity of her playing. It’s not hard to think that the reflective nature of this composition was emblematic of her state of mind during this period. Having worked consistently since the age of 12, Mary Lou Williams had entered a period of disillusionment. When she arrived in Europe two years earlier, she had hoped to boost her career and experience financial stability. In some respects, Europe had afforded Williams more opportunities for employment and interaction with talented musicians, but she still struggled financially. No doubt she wondered why her career had not blossomed like that of some of her peers. Like many musicians who stayed overseas for a long time, she discovered that the longer one stayed, the less popular one became and the less money one could hope to make. Could the contemplative nature of this work be her musical reflecting on all of the why’s of her life?

A Hymn in Honor of St. Martin De Porres

In 1957 after a period of exhaustion, depression, and disillusionment with the music business, Mary Lou Williams converted to Catholicism. Her path to the church was a circuitous one that began in Paris in 1954 with the reading of the Psalms as a means of finding comfort. After returning to the US, Williams continued to search for spiritual direction and found solace in the rituals of a local Catholic Church. For a time, Williams continued to separate herself from jazz and the music world; focusing instead on benevolent work that consisted of converting her New York apartment into a halfway house and/or soup kitchen for ailing musicians. Her conversion and the personal relationships she cultivated with various priests eventually lead to her reconciling her live for jazz and her perceived conflicts with her spirituality.

Under the guidance of Father Anthony Woods, S.J. parish priest at St. Francis Xavier in New York, and Jesuit seminarian Peter O’ Brien (who later became her manager) and Brother Mario Hancock, Williams began composing works that combined elements drawn from traditional jazz, blues, gospel with sacred texts. Williams described this body of music as “jazz for healing” and it became the focal point of much of her work as a composer and performer during the last decade or more of her life.

Her first work in this idiom was a large-scale choral work that was inspired by the canonization of De Porres in 1962 titled A Hymn in Honor of St. Martin de Porres. De Porres was an Afro-Peruvian lay brother who became known for his work with the poor. During his lifetime he established an orphanage and a children’s hospital in Lima, Peru. His life as a servant to others spoke directly to Williams’ aspirations to instigate social change through unselfish service. His canonization also deeply affirmed Williams’ African heritage within the mostly white denomination. Written for an expanded choir (each voice group doubled), St. Martin de Porres is primarily a cappella except for a short piano interlude in the midsection of the piece that sonically references the Saint’s Afro-Peruvian heritage. This work is emblematic of her early compositional style in the religious idiom and her attempts to replicate the high music, anthem-style that defined post-Council of Trent music in the Catholic Church.

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Selections from Mary Lou’s Mass

In 1969 while completing a five-month engagement in Copenhagen, Mary Lou Williams stopped in Rome. During a visit to the Vatican, she met with several church officials who took interest in her approach to sacred music. Despite not realizing her desire to have an audience with the Pope, Williams’ visit resulted in a commission to write a new Mass for peace and justice. Williams returned to the US soon afterwards and began working on the composition, which debuted at the Holy Family Church in New York on July 15, 1969. Feeling that the work’s message of “hope, peace and love was very important, Williams decided to revamp it into a jazz-rock setting in hopes of drawing the attention of younger audiences. In 1971 famed choreographer Alvin Ailey approached Williams about choreographing several dances to music from the Mass for Peace. The resulting work would be known as Mary Lou’s Mass. The final product reflected Williams’ continuous development of musical ideas that first appeared in her first mass the Pittsburgh Mass (1967) and the Mass for Lenten Season (1968).

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Syl-O-Gism is one of those musical gems that was reclaimed as the musical oeuvre of Mary Lou Williams was revisited in the 1990s with the reissuing of several albums in CD format. The album Zoning initially released in 1974, was one such project. Considered one of Williams’ best albums of her later years, Zoning was also significant in that it represented her return to secular music after almost a decade. Most of her studio recordings and live performances during the sixties and early seventies focused on her religious compositions. Zoning was the third album released on her imprint Mary Records, one of the only female-led jazz labels at that time. Williams launched the label in 1963 as a mechanism to disseminate her religious works. The album was critically acclaimed with critic Gary Giddens selecting it as one of the ten best albums of 1974 and clearly reflects how conversant Williams was with the sounds of 70s jazz as she moves stealthily between free jazz, blues, modal jazz, and funk.

Syl-O-Gism was not released on the initial Zoning album but was featured as the opening track for the 1995 reissue. It strongly centers Williams in the hard bop, soul jazz idiom with the rhythmic pocket created by the juxtaposition of the blues-inflected melody with the groove established by the bass and drums. The word syllogism means a type of logical argument based on two viewpoints or positions that arrives at a conclusion through deductive reasoning. This is a perfect description of how the groove and Williams’ penchant for the blues create a compelling argument for the timelessness of her music.

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Bibliography

Linda Dahl, Morning Glory: A Biography of Mary Lou Williams. University of California Press, 2001.

Duke Ellington, Music is My Mistress. 2^nd ed. Da Capo Press, 1976.

Tammy L. Kernodle, Soul on Soul: The Life and Music of Mary Lou Williams. 2^nd ed. University of Illinois Press, 2020.

______________. “This is My Story, This is My Song: The Historiography of Vatican II, Black Catholic Identity, Jazz and the Religious Compositions of Mary Lou Williams, U.S. Catholic Historian (2001).

______________. “Black Women Working Together: Jazz, Gender and the Politics of Validation” Black Music Research Journal (2014).

The Company

Curators Michael Mwenso and Jono Gasparro

Music Directors Chris Pattishall and Mathis Picard

Choreographer Naila Ansari

Directors Shariffa Ali and Kamilah Long

Vocalists Michael Mwenso, Charenee Wade, Brianna Thomas, Vuyo Sotashe, and Zhanna Reed

Musicians Julian Lee, Giveton Gelin, Alexis Lombre, Jalen Baker, Chris Smith, TJ Reddick, Jason Clotter, Dom Gervais, Rashaan Salaam, Franklin Rankin, Ahmad Johnson, and Negah Santos

Dancers Elijah Person and Netanya Thompson

Distinguished Scholar, Genius Mother Mary Dr. Tammy L. Kernodle

Tour Manager/Front of House Audio Engineer Taylor Roig

Audio Supervisor Santiago Leon

Costume Coordinator Madison Booth

Filmmakers Black Pixel Productions (Rhadamés Julián) and Midnight Piper Foreman

Associate Producer Sumaya Jackson

Producers Jono Gasparro for Electric Root and Caleb Hammons for Fisher Center at Bard

Who's Who

Ahmad Johnson

Ahmad T. Johnson is a multifaceted jazz musician who is quickly emerging as one of his generation's modal figures. Ahmad is from West Palm Beach, Florida, where he grew up in a household of the Arts. Johnson obtained a Bachelor of Music Degree at Michigan State University with a focus on Jazz Studies. He studied drummers from Max Roach to Art Blakey and dug deep into the roots of jazz—drawing inspiration from artists ranging from Duke Ellington to Duke Ellington Thelonious Monk. Ahmad has had the privilege of showcasing his talents while working alongside Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at the Lincoln Center Orchestra. He has performed at well-known venues such as Minton's Harlem, Smalls Jazz Club, Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and numerous national and international locations. Ahmad's ambition is to be a great musician committed to life-changing music and to connect with others on a spiritual level. He invites you to follow him on that journey.

Alexis Lombre

“Alexis Lombre has the work ethic of a veteran jazz star.”—Detroit Metro Times

Alexis Lombre is a pianist, vocalist, and bandleader who discovered early that the true essence of music is not just about what you hear but how music makes you feel. Her band has been opening acts for Chris Dave & the Drumhedz and Marquis Hill. As a side woman, she has toured internationally in South Africa with Englewood-Soweto Exchange, an effort powered by a MacArthur grant led by Ernest Dawkins. She also toured France as part of a Detroit-Paris exchange with Bacongo Square Boulevard, a trio comprised of French, Congolese, American musicians. Lombre has also played with internationally known musicians such as James Carter, the AACM Great Black Music Ensemble, Makaya McCraven, Donald Harrison, Bobby Watson, Buster Williams, Wadada Leo Smith, Dee Alexander, J Moss, Cece Peniston, Rudresh Mahanthappa, and Nona Hendrix.

In 2017, she released her first record Southside Sounds, a soulful reflection of her upbringing on Chicago’s Southside. Her newest single, “Come Find Me," was produced by Grammy-Award-winning guitarist Isaiah Sharkey. Lombre also produced a new mini-documentary series called THE PROCESS, where you can see the inner workings of her creative mind, available on Youtube now. She aims to encourage others to heal from the traumatizing world around them by finding their inner light.

Brianna Thomas

Vocalist, composer, and arranger Brianna Thomas is one of the most evocative and accomplished vocalists of her generation. Blessed with a sublime and soulfully syncopated soprano voice that scats, swoons, and croons at the speed of swing, Thomas has worked with a plethora of jazz stars from Clark Terry to Dianne Reeves, and Russell Malone to Houston Person, the Count Basie Orchestra, Wynton Marsalis, and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra. She is featured on Marsalis’ soundtrack to the motion picture, Bolden. Additionally, she has performed a nationwide tour with Michael Mwenso and the Shakes and at several premier venues, including Ginny’s Supper Club, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Detroit Symphony Hall, the Kennedy Center, the Montreux Jazz Festival, and the Apollo Theater. Thomas grew up in the Midwest, surrounded by music at an early age. Her mother, a non-musician, had an eclectic record collection that included Bessie Smith, Dinah Washington, and James Brown. Her father, drummer/vocalist Charlie “CJ” Thomas, took her to clubs when she was an infant—she sang in his groups when she was six. Brianna’s latest CD, Everybody Knows, received 4 ½ stars in Billboard magazine.

Charenee Wade

First Runner-Up in the 2010 Thelonious Monk Vocal Competition, the award-winning and critically acclaimed vocalist, arranger, educator, and composer from New York City, has excited audiences worldwide with her ingenuity and vibrancy through her artistry. Recipient of the 2017 Jazz at Lincoln Center Millennial Swing Award, Wade has worked with notable artists including Wynton Marsalis, Terri Lyne Carrington, Christian McBride, Winard Harper, Eric Reed, Jacky Terrason, Curtis Lundy, Robert Glasper, and Kyle Abraham (MacArthur Genius Awardee).

Wade's current CD, Offering: The Music of Gil Scott-Heron and Brian Jackson, is a powerful reinterpretation of the poet's musical library, which features notable artists including Lonnie Plaxico, Marcus Miller, Stefon Harris, Malcolm-Jamal Warner, and Christian McBride (spoken word).

An alumnus of Manhattan School of Music and Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, Wade has performed at some of the top venues, including Jazz at Lincoln Center, The Jazz Standard, and the Apollo. Additionally, she has performed at major festivals worldwide, including Montreux, the Copenhagen Jazz Festival, Istanbul Jazz Festival, Spoleto, Savannah Music, Jazz En Tete, Bern Jazz Festival, and Charlie Parker Jazz Festival. As an educator, Wade has taught masterclasses, clinics, and jazz camps in the U.S. and worldwide. She is currently an instructor at Aaron Copland School, Peabody Institute of John Hopkins University, and The Juilliard School.

Chris Pattishall

Pianist and composer Chris Pattishall is something of a chimera. Deeply grounded in the jazz piano tradition, Pattishall’s curiosity spans tango, gospel, 20th century orchestral, ambient electronic, and film music. His stylistic breadth is unified by his empathy, meticulous sense of detail, and inclination towards the surreal. Equally comfortable playing music acoustically and producing it electronically, Chris is a multifaceted artist pursuing a decidedly 21 st century practice. Pattishalls’s debut album Zodiac: A Reimagining of the Zodiac Suite by Mary Lou Williams was called a “startling achievement” by the New York Times and a “plangent, attention-holding tour de force” by BBC Music Magazine. The Wire noted the album’s extensive yet subtle production “successfully achieves an impression of forms melting and reconfiguring… an audible space opening up between the routine and the magical.” He is a featured performer on a wide range of recordings, from the Grammy-nominated debut of drummer/vocalist Jamison Ross to the film score of Rian Johnson’s Knives Out, as well as the radical deconstructions of guitarist/composer Rafiq Bhatia’s Standards, Vol. 1. Chris has directed a concert film featuring vocalist Vuyo Sotashe for Duke University’s 2020 season. His production work will be featured on several 2021 releases.

Chris Smith

Chris Smith is a Grammy award-winning musician, born & raised in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He started his musical journey on the violin when he was six years old. He later chose the upright bass to help the music department due to a shortage of bass players. In high school, he started playing electric bass in church. At 18, he took his first educational trip abroad to Spain with the prestigious Dave Brubeck Institute. After attending the program for two years, he moved to New York City, where he received his bachelor’s from The New School and master’s from Rutgers University. Since 2008, Chris has made a living playing music in New York City. He has a wide range of musical experience from playing for wedding bands, churches, and recording projects, as well as touring over 20 countries around the world. Chris has been very fortunate to work with Dave Brubeck, Branford Marsalis, Jeff "Tain" Watts, Kendrick Lamar, Quincy Jones, Justin Kauflin, Bill Laurance, Robert Glasper, and H.E.R. to name a few. Before the COVID-19 crisis, he was bi-coastal between New Jersey and Los Angeles, where he had been hired part-time at the Herbie Hancock Institute in UCLA. Today, he is based in his hometown of Minnesota, where he founded a consulting business that promotes music therapy. Additionally, he works as an Independent Living Skillsworker during the day. Chris is currently finishing a music therapy degree geared towards the mental health care of students. He hopes to start a trend amongst his peers to prepare the next generation for the future.

Dom Jervais

Dom Gervais is a New York City native from Harlem. He is a music producer and percussionist who began exploring music at the age of three when he picked up a violin. Dom can even be seen on an episode of Sesame Street showing Elmo how the violin works! When Dom was ten years old, he joined the NY Boys Club in Harlem and was introduced to the drum set. The rest, as they say, is history. Since then, Dom has performed at prestigious venues across the city and country, including the Apollo Theater, the Kennedy Center, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Symphony Space, and Birdland. As a music producer, Dom has worked with and written for various musical artists and is currently in collaboration with Death Jam A&R. He studied with Ralph Peterson at Berklee and Reggie Workmen at the Harlem School of the Arts. Currently, Dom is finishing up his Bachelor's Degree in Music Production at the Berklee School of Music.

Elijah Person

Elijah Person was born in The Bronx, New York, along with an older brother, a twin sister, and a beautiful baby brother. Both of Person’s parents are hard workers and have sacrificed a lot for the family. The family moved from state to state, constantly trying to find a stable living, eventually ending up in the Bronx, where life started to blossom. While growing up in the Bronx was rough, dancing was a lifesaver. Elijah began to dance at the age of three. As a child, Elijah would watch Michael Jackson dance on television every day, inspiring a lifetime pursuit of being a great dancer. Subsequently, Elijah began dancing everywhere around the city of New York. Dancing was a way to express and cope with stress. Elijah lost a lot of friends growing up, all of whom are missed dearly. Elijah is now 26 years old and continues to pursue the dream of dancing. Elijah's goal is to continue inspiring the youth and saving the younger generation from death and incarceration.

Franklin Rankin

Growing up in a home of R&B, Funk, and Soul lovers, music has always been at the heart of life for guitarist, composer, and educator Franklin Rankin. While his mother raised him on artists like Prince and Stevie Wonder, his grandfather was the first to introduce him to legends like Coltrane.

Franklin began exploring improvisational music at a young age while studying at the Harlem School of the Arts. He went on to graduate from the prestigious Berklee College of Music with a degree in Jazz Composition. While at Berklee, he was featured in the Best of Jazz Composition concert and arranged for the Rainbow Big Band, led by saxophonist Tia Fuller. Also, during that time, Franklin discovered an interest in film scoring and had the opportunity to compose for the short films of Beeka Regassa.

Currently based in New York, Franklin completed his Masters in Jazz Studies from New York University in 2019. He is a freelance musician who has performed with many artists, including Azealia Banks, Chris Potter, Micah Stampley, and more. He also instructs privately and at several institutions around the city.

Giveton Gelin

From the age of 10, Gelin taught himself to play the trumpet simply by emulating his favorite records. After years of self-tutelage, Adrian D’Aguilar, bass player, began to mentor him, providing him the tools to play jazz. Posteriorly, the Nassau-born trumpeter would study with Dr. Eddie Henderson at the Oberlin Conservatory. The same year, he received recognition at the Young Arts Foundation and Betty Carter Jazz Ahead Program. Thereafter, he continued his studies at the Juilliard School and is expecting to graduate in 2021.

In the span of three years, Gelin has played with pioneers of the NY jazz scene such as Curtis Lundy, Bobby Watson, Roy Hargrove, Sullivan Fortner, Wynton Marsalis, Ben Wolfe, and Jon Batiste. Additionally, the 21-year-old trumpeter has received tutelage from some of the world’s greatest, including Wynton Marsalis, Nicholas Payton, Ralph Peterson. Furthermore, he was the protege of the late Roy Hargrove. Earlier this year, the Bahamas-native was awarded the 2020 LetterOne Rising Star Jazz Award and ASCAP's Herb Alpert Award. Ultimately, Gelin's artistic vision is to pay tribute to his ancestors and unify others by incorporating universal human experiences into sound. Through his quintet, the young trumpeter brings forth a new narrative to jazz music.

Jalen Baker

Jalen Baker was born in Washington DC and raised in Houston, TX. He is a vibraphonist, percussionist, educator, and composer whose early training involved classical and jazz, quickly deciding to focus on the latter. In May 2017, Jalen received his BA in Jazz Studies from Columbia College Chicago. While matriculating at Columbia College, Jalen studied with percussionist Jarrett Hicks. He distinguished himself as a jazz vibraphonist receiving several accolades, including outstanding soloist at both the Notre Dame and Elmhurst Jazz Festivals, as well as being one of two chosen students representing Columbia at the Arcevia Jazz Festival in Arcevia, Italy. While in Chicago, Jalen was also an active musician, playing in various venues around town with the Jarrard Harris Quartet, The Dod Kalm Quartet, Human Bloom, and his own group, Musiki Tano. He was also chosen to be a member of the Chicago Next Gen Allstars by the Chicago Jazz Institute.

Jalen was accepted as a Graduate Assistant in the Jazz Performance program at Florida State University, and in May 2019, he received his master’s in Jazz Studies. During his tenure at Florida State, Jalen distinguished himself as a performer, being chosen as a Ravinia Jazz Fellow in 2018. He has been an active performer with the Leon Anderson Quartet, The Ulysses Owens Trio, and The Ulysses Owens Quartet as well as being bandleader for his own project, Musiki Tano, across venues in and around Georgia and Northern Florida. Jalen was also recently the featured guest with the Savannah Jazz Orchestra.

Jason Clotter

Jason Clotter is a bassist from Puerto Cortes, Honduras, who currently resides in the mecca of jazz that is New York City. After his years migrating from Honduras to New York City, he started studying the bass at age 17 after enrolling at Celia Cruz Bronx High School of Music. He and his talent have grown tremendously since. Clotter has taken part in many prestigious programs such as Jazz at Lincoln Center, NAFME, Manhattan School of Music, and much more. Additionally, Clotter has shared the stage with numerous great musicians, including Vincent Herring, Stacy Dillard, Wallace Roney, Eric Lewis, Steve Davis, and many more. He has performed in multiple celebrated venues around the world such as Jazz at Lincoln Center, Smalls Jazz Club, Smoke Jazz Club, Grand Ole Opry, and Reduta Jazz Club in the Czech Republic. Clotter has been selected to be a part of multiple programs such as Jazz Lincoln Center, Manhattan School Music Pre-College, Bloomingdales School of Music, the Skidmore Jazz Institute, and many more. Jason is currently storming the jazz scene as an up-and-coming Bassist. His mission is to create beautiful music and keep this music alive as it flows through the soul and spirit.

Jono Gasparo

Jono Gasparro was born in Cleveland, Ohio, into a blue-collar family with roots in Italy. His grandfather longed to be a touring musician but chose the stability of life as a union representative and Teamster. He created a basement refuge of instruments, which he and his grandson Jono would play, and so began the young boy’s lifelong passion for music. Jono's father was an avid music listener and collector who discovered the blues by way of rock music, paving the way for his son’s exploration of the genre.

Music was a space of healing and uplift that offered Jono a view beyond suburban life, a space for dreaming, and a source of unwavering internal strength. He was the first in his family to graduate from college, earning a BA in Music Education from Miami University in Ohio, and going on to work for Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York. His first full-time job was assisting Wynton Marsalis, for whom he later produced a series of lectures at Harvard University in addition to later work on TV series, album & book releases, and world premiere symphonies by Marsalis. He built the organization's livestream platform and developed a multi-year K-12 educational partnership with Harlem Children's Zone.

Jono went on to serve as Director of Music at Red Rooster Harlem / Ginny's Supper Club under Marcus Samuelsson for several years before founding JMG Live in 2016. Before the pandemic, the organization produced over 1000 performances annually. He served as manager to Michael Mwenso, whose acclaimed albums and performances include the Monterey and Newport Jazz Festivals. He produced large-scale national tours including We Shall Overcome, a tribute to Martin Luther King, Jr. led by Damien Sneed as well as Harlem 100 with Mwenso & the Shakes in addition to special guests. He is the co-founder of Electric Root with Mwenso, and their initiatives include the Artist Led Anti-Racism Workshop with Shariffa Ali and Kamilah Long, the Black Roots Summer Series at Bard College, and a WNET-TV special All Arts "Michael Mwenso Honors George Floyd." Gasparro lived in New York City for 13 years before moving to LA in 2020. His wife and two-year-old son look forward to welcoming their newest family member in 2021. He remains a staunch believer in the electricity generated between artists and audiences and in the inimitable power of music to transform people.

Julian Lee

“Julian is just absolute soul. He’s serious. He’s got the feeling. Absolute jazz pours out of his horn.” —Wynton Marsalis

Julian Lee is a graduate of the Juilliard Jazz Program (BM ‘17), and a recipient of the Lincoln Center Emerging Artist Award. A woodwind specialist, his main focus is the tenor saxophone. Julian has toured and performed worldwide with world-class artists, namely Wynton Marsalis, Christian McBride, Michael Mwenso and the Shakes, the Dizzy Gillespie All-Star Big Band, and Jon Batiste.

Born into a family of musicians, Julian was steeped in musical study from a young age. He picked up the saxophone at age seven after seeing his father, Mike Lee, play the horn with the great Billy Hart on drums. At age 13, he knew he wanted to pursue music as a career and put in countless hours studying and learning from his father and the recordings of masters, namely Lester Young, Dexter Gordon, and John Coltrane.

While at Juilliard, Julian had the pleasure of studying with the great Joe Temperley in the year before his passing. He thinks of Joe every time he goes to play the horn.

Julian appears on the Jazz At Lincoln Center Orchestra release of Duke Ellington’s Black, Brown, and Beige as a featured soloist. His debut album is scheduled to be released in late 2021.

Kamilah Long

Kamílah L. Long is an innovative leader and dynamic theatrical professional. Her multifaceted theater career includes roles as an actor, director, producer, educator, fundraiser, activist, and speaker. She started her career in theater as a storyteller, which led her to join Actors Equity and to become a professional actor before completing her undergraduate theater degree from Alabama State University. Kamilah went on to receive a Master’s Degree in Fine Arts in Performance along with a Certificate in African American theater from the University of Louisville.

She serves as the Executive Director of Play On Shakespeare, and is the owner of The Black Whole, a multimedia company focused on centering the Black global community through art and storytelling.

Mathis Picard

Mathis Picard, born May 30th, 1995, is a French-Malagasy pianist, composer, producer, and bandleader whose music influences span many stages and ages. Rooted in a tradition of live acoustic performance that incorporates the latest musical technology, Mathis creates his own style that merges Electronic Bass Music, Jazz, Classical & Stride Piano.

Mathis, who began playing at the age of three, quickly became passionate about music from the dance idiom and is currently focused on sharing that passion globally—whether it's with his orchestra, Mathis Sound Orchestra, his solo project, or his emerging quartet, The Elements.

When not performing his music, Mathis has had the honor of sharing the stage with artists such as Mwenso and the Shakes, Braxton Cook, Ron Carter, Lee Ritenour, Jason Moran, CROWN, Kindness, and Wynton Marsalis.

Michael Mwenso

Michael Mwenso was born in Freetown, Sierra Leone. He spent his teenage years “hanging out” and witnessing some of the greatest Black artists of the 20th Century in London, where he was exposed to musicians such as Ray Charles, B.B.King, and many more. In his youth, Mwenso started honing his talents as a trombonist, singer, and performer, playing in a range of styles from reggae to Afrobeat and carnival bands. Mwenso’s talent as a performer caught the attention of many, subsequently leading him to meet James Brown, who allotted space for him to sing and dance at his London shows.

In 2012, friend and jazz musician Wynton Marsalis brought Mwenso to New York City to serve as a curator and programming associate at Jazz at Lincoln Center while also booking nightly sets at Dizzy’s Club. Over the next few years, Mwenso booked, performed, and curated throughout the institution’s spaces.

Through these performances, Mwenso began collaborating with a wide variety of Juilliard-trained musicians that soon became known as The Shakes. This unique group of global artists presents music that merges entertainment and artistry with a formidable timeline that reflects the history of African and Afro-American music. In 2019, Mwenso and his band The Shakes released their debut album, Emergence [The Process of Coming Into Being], to widespread critical praise—The New York Times proclaimed, “Mr. Mwenso, a Sierra Leonean vocalist, comes from the jazz world, but his messages arrive in the form of a growl, not a croon, and his band, the Shakes, is a thrashing hybrid whose concerts often take the form of a prewar revue. If a tap dancer arrives to blow your mind midsong, don’t say you weren’t warned.”

Naila Ansari

An Assistant Professor in theater and Africana Studies at SUNY Buffalo State College, Naila Ansari has merged artistry and scholarship to build and create collaborative works that facilitate conversations on race and Black performance.  Her most recent project, a forthcoming book titled Choreographies of Black Women Joy, focuses on the performance of joy through the creative archiving of oral histories, movement histories, live-performance, and film. Ansari is currently the Dance Director for Ujima Company, Inc. selected by the late Lorna C. Hill, as well as serving as the producer for the THIS LOVE THING project presented by the Inner-Muslim Action Network (IMAN) out of Chicago, IL.

Negah Santos

An incredible hand percussionist born and raised in São Paulo, Brazil, Anne Caroline Santos Da Silva, also known as Nêgah Santos, has a unique sound, which is influenced by several styles such as Brazilian, Afro-Cuban, Fusion, R&B, Jazz, Pop, African, and World Music.

Performing professionally since her teens in Brazil, Nêgah shared the stage with several artists such as Tony Tornado, Falamansa, and Sandra de Sá. Negah was part of the prestigious NGO Meninos do Morumbi. Posteriorly, she became part of the musical theater scene as the percussionist for plays O Primo Basílio and Mulheres Alteradas.

She graduated from Berklee College of Music as part of the Global Jazz Institute outreach program. Nêgah has performed with her own project, ChoroBop, and with many artists, including Grammy Award Winners Joe Lovano, Esperanza Spalding, Danilo Perez, Alejandro Sanz, A.R Rahman, Terri Lyne Carrington, Giovanni Hidalgo, and Diane Reeves, as well as prolific artists such as Ledisi, Clinton Cerejo, Joyce, Marcos Valle, Toni Tornado, Nona Hendrix, Lizz Wright, Miguel Zenon, Meshell Ndegeocello, Tia Fuller, Valerie Simpson, Sheila E., Al Jarreau, Women of the World, and Alcione. Recently, Nêgah has become the first female percussionist for the Riverdance show as part of the 21st Anniversary Euro Tour in 2016. Additionally, Nêgah has performed in several countries, including Brazil, Argentina, the Dominican Republic, Panama, the USA, United Kingdom, Germany, England, Ireland, and China. She has also performed in renowned festivals and taught workshops around the globe. Recently Nêgah has joined the third season of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert as part of the house band along with Jon Batiste and Stay Human. In 2019, Nêgah Santos also became endorsed by Contemporanea Intstrumentos Musicais (Brazil) and LP (USA).

Netanya Thompson

A native of Buffalo, New York, Netanya discovered her love for dance at the tender age of three by training in traditional and non-traditional African dance. After pursuing other dance genres, Netanya attended Buffalo Academy for Visual and Performing Arts, furthering her craft. Netanya has trained and performed throughout Western New York. She has participated in New York City Dance Africa, annual Kwanzaa and Juneteenth celebration performances, multiple community dance companies, and Buffalo State’s Dance Theater company. Netanya holds a B.S. in Business Administration with a minor in Dance from Buffalo State College. She plans to continue her training by engaging with local and global communities, carrying with her the experience of modern dance, ballet, jazz, and African styles. She aspires to combine business with art.

Rashaan Salaam

Rashaan Salaam was born and raised in Miami, Florida. Ever since Rashaan’s youth, an infatuation for music has been alive—particularly calypso and soca, the music of Trinidad & Tobago, where Rashaan’s origins lie. As a child, Rashaan attended performing arts elementary and middle schools, learning piano and trombone and having their first exposure to jazz bands. This opened up their world to masters of jazz—Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, and J.J. Johnson. From that moment embarked on a life-changing journey. Rashaan later moved to New York City to participate in the Essentially Ellington National Jazz Competition—their first time playing with hundreds of skilled musicians from many different backgrounds and cultures. Rashaan is grateful for their musical journey and the people who've helped along the way. This is only the beginning of Rashaan’s new musical journey, one with inspiring things to come.

Shariffa Ali

Shariffa Chelimo Ali is a Kenyan-born, New York-based creative leader committed to working with an open heart at the intersection of the performing arts and humanitarianism. As a theater director and academic, Shariffa moves her audiences to engage with timely issues touching upon Black, Afropolitan, and African-American identities. Shariffa has directed and lectured at colleges where her productions have brought many “firsts” to campuses: “first all-female cast and creative team” for her production of Zimbabwean born Danai Gurira’s Eclipsed at Princeton University; “first all-black ensemble with a director of color” for her production of Dominique Morisseau’s Detroit67; “best-attended show” for her production of We are Proud to Present… at Yale University.

Shariffa worked at the Public Theater in New York, where she served in numerous capacities, often piloting new roles that serve her interest in curating radical spaces of hospitality, equity, inclusion, diversity as well as promoting anti-racism throughout the institution.

2019 marked Shariffa’s New York Off-Broadway directorial debut, in which she brought South African writer Yaël Farber’s Mies Julie to audiences at Classic Stage theater. Shariffa’s Regional theater credits include acclaimed writer Jocelyn Bioh’s School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play at Pittsburgh Public Theater, followed by a world premiere of Karen Zacarias’ The Copper Children at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival as well as Lynn Nottage’s gripping work on the illicit ivory trade Mlima’s Tale at St Louis Repertory theater.

Shariffa’s forthcoming VR (Virtual Reality) project Atomu took home top honors for best VR project at the inaugural Digital Lab Africa Competition and made its debut at the Sundance International Film Festival in 2020.

Atomu, which draws from ancient Kikuyu mythology touching on themes of LGBTQ rights, has since received global interest, development, and incubation at the Sundance Institute, Utah, Royal National Theatre, UK, and POV Spark. In addition to her work as a theater director, Shariffa maintains her commitment to activism as a community organizer. She has lead diversity and inclusion workshops with Princeton University’s Lewis Center for the Arts and has participated in workshops with a particular interest in the intersections of Arts and Social Justice lead by Arts Equity and EMC arts. She acts as an advisory committee member of Africa’sOut! founded by renowned Kenyan artist Wangechi Mutu.

Here, Shariffa provided critical support and leadership for an initiative geared towards advancing radical change through the power of art and activism, particularly supporting artists, initiatives, and institutions from Africa and its Diaspora that celebrate freedom of creative expression. Shariffa is a graduate of the University of Cape Town’s select Theater and Performance division and holds a Bachelor of Arts (Honors) degree. And perhaps the thing that she is most proud of is that she was featured in the New York Times Gentleman’s style section for her great taste in fashion.

Sumaya Jackson

Sumaya Jackson, a native New Yorker, began her dance training at the age of six at The Ailey School. Upon graduating with honors from The Dwight School, she furthered her dance training at The Juilliard School, where she received her Bachelor of Fine Arts. Sumaya continued to dance in New York City with Kyle Abraham and Janis Brenner. While freelancing, she worked for Magnolia Bakery, closely with its president, Bobbie Lloyd. During her eight years at Magnolia, Sumaya was the General Manager for four locations and assisted with franchising operations overseas in the Middle East. In 2017, she began working for Complexions Contemporary Ballet, overseeing company operations as well as their educational programs. Sumaya is currently the Assistant Company Manager at Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.

Taylor Roig

Taylor Roig started his journey in the music world at age fifteen, teaching himself how to play guitar. Not being proficient enough to join a band at first, Taylor received a four-track tape recorder from his mother to capture his friend's garage band. He was instantly hooked and began teaching himself recording and mixing through reading instruction manuals. Taylor then went on to study audio engineering at New York City’s School of Audio Engineering and worked at numerous New York studios, including Jimi’s Hendrix’s Electric Lady Studios.

In 2013, Roig began working as a live sound engineer at Dizzy’s Club in Jazz at Lincoln Center. It was then, at the late-night jam sessions, where Taylor first met Michael Mwenso. He was then introduced to Jono Gasparro and began working for Electric Root at Ginny's Supper Club at Red Rooster Harlem as a live sound engineer, eventually becoming Director of Production.

TJ Reddick

TJ Reddick is an American musician and educator, as well as a graduate from The Juilliard School. He currently resides in New York City, which has led to collaborations with artists including Wynton Marsalis, Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, Chick Corea, Jon Batiste, Nicholas Payton, Alicia Olatuja, Will Downing, Mwenso and the Shakes, among others. He has as well performed at many venues, including Radio City Hall, Rose Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Harvard, Balboa Theater, Adrienne Arsht Center, Smalls Jazz Club, Blue Note Jazz Club, Smoke Jazz Club, Dizzy’s, Marciac Jazz Festival, Belize Jazz Festival, Jacksonville Jazz festival, Jacksonville Bethel Baptist Church, Greater Refuge Temple, Mattox Revival Center, and City Tabernacle. TJ believes art shapes and gives color to the world we live in and that art plays an integral role in building communities.

Vuyo Sotashe

Vuyo (Vuyolwethu) Sotashe is a New York-based vocalist, composer, and performer originally from South Africa. Since moving to the United States as a Fulbright Scholar, he has performed with multiple celebrated jazz legends including Dee Dee Bridgewater, Jimmy Heath, George Benson, Al Jarreau, Barry Harris, and Winard Harper, to name a few. Vuyo has appeared with multi-Grammy Award winner and Pulitzer Prize winner Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra as a featured artist on their 2018 Winter Big Band Holidays tour (US), as well as their South African Songbook tour in Europe and his home country of South Africa. Sotashe has also appeared as a leader and sideman at the internationally acclaimed Montreux Jazz Festival, the Monterey Jazz Festival, Cape Town International Jazz Festival, Newport Jazz Fest, Joy of Jazz, and Arcevia Jazz Festival. He is the recipient of the Van Lier Fellowship for Music at Joe's Pub/Public Theater for 2018-2019. Additionally, he has collaborated and performed in Somi Kakoma's debut theater work "Dreaming Zenzile", which premiered at Joe's Pub as well as the Apollo, later making his commercial ff-Broadway debut as part of the cast in "Black Light", created by performance artist Daniel Alexander Jones in February and October of 2018. Sotashe has gone on to premiere a new play, "Cartography" by Kaneza Schaal & Christopher Myres at the Kennedy Center in January of 2019. His most recent collaborative theater project was Ohio (St. Ann’s Warehouse/The Bengsons). Currently, he performs as one of the fronting vocalists in the internationally touring, multi-disciplinary band collective Mwenso and the Shakes, while leading his own ensemble appearing on stages across the United States and around the world. Sotashe continues to create, collaborate, record, and perform as an indelible creative voice both in his homeland of South Africa, New York City, as well as the international scene."

Zhanna Reed

Zhanna Reed is a creative artist currently residing in Buffalo, NY. She is an emerging entrepreneur and multimodal craftsman, actress, dancer, model, vocalist, writer, and occasional leftie, who honors the value of creating a moment of connection with herself and others. She captivates her audience in all she does with a tasteful mix of grace and boldness.

Zhanna has always carried charisma for music. Every given Sunday, she would sprint from her seat in the pew to join the church choir in song and thus became an honorary member at the tender age of two. She nurtured her gifts of voice and many talents while attending Buffalo Academy for Visual and Performing Arts. Zhanna is an Alumna of Buffalo State University of New York, from where she obtained an Arts degree. Devotion to service, research, and natural leadership earned her the distinguished honor of graduating Magna Cum Laude, holding the Arts and Humanities Dean’s Award, and the SUNY Chancellor's Award.

“By making art, we transcend and transform what is current; we stir up what's inside. We press both maker and partaker. When we lie dormant, we die in stagnation. I answer the call. I come to live.” —Zhanna Reed

Special Thanks

Isabel Soffer, Ted Chapin, Robin Walton, ALLARTS, Adrian Alea, J. Ching, Play On Shakespeare’s Lue Douthit and staff, Myra Young Armstead, Amy Husten, Steve Rutko, Lauren Bailey, Helene Tieger, John Gomez, Michael Clayton, Amy Parrella, Peter Verdesi, Michael Davidson, Bard Security, Bard Buildings and Grounds, Bard Environmental Services, and the Bard College COVID-19 Response Team.

Health and Safety Protocol development by Dr. Wendy Ziecheck and Elaine Winslow-Redmond.

Public relations for Black Roots Summer by Blake Zidell and Associates. SummerScape photography by Maria Baranova.

Book and Resources List

As a way to give our audience a chance to engage even deeper with our performances, the Fisher Center and Oblong Books & Music have created resource lists for our programming this summer. 10% of proceeds from purchases made at Oblong using our links support programming at the Fisher Center.

Members get a 10% discount off of their total with a dedicated promo code.

Explore the collection

Supporters

Support for the Fisher Center and Bard Music Festival is provided by the following individuals, corporations, and foundations, among many others. We thank you for joining the late Richard B. Fisher with your generosity and partnership.

If you wish to become a member or make a contribution in support of vital arts experiences, please call 845-758-7987 or visit fishercenter.bard.edu/support.

Donors to the Fisher Center

Leadership Support

Arthur F. and Alice E. Adams Charitable Foundation

Carolyn Marks Blackwood and Gregory H. Quinn

The Educational Foundation of America

Jeanne Donovan Fisher

Alan H. and Judith Fishman

Jay Franke and David Herro

S. Asher Gelman ’06 and Mati Bardosh Gelman

Rebecca Gold and Nathan M. Milikowsky

The HF Foundation

Barbara and Sven Huseby

March Forth Foundation

Millbrook Tribute Garden

Anthony Napoli

New York State Council on the Arts

Rockefeller Brothers Fund

Denise S. Simon and Paulo Vieiradacunha

Martin and Toni Sosnoff

Felicitas S. Thorne

Golden Circle

Henry L. Kimelman Family Foundation

Donald and Gay Kimelman

Nancy and Edwin Marks Family Foundation

National Endowment for the Arts

T. S. Eliot Foundation

Director

Anonymous

Anne Donovan Bodnar and James L. Bodnar

Terence C. Boylan ’70 and Illiana van Meeteren

Dionis Fund of Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation

The Ettinger Foundation

Stefano Ferrari

Jana Foundation

Prof. Nancy S. Leonard and Dr. Lawrence Kramer

Lucille Lortel Foundation

New England Foundation for the Arts

Amanda J. Rubin

Alan Seget

Sarah and David Stack

Thendara Foundation

Producer

Carol and Harvey Berman

Gary DiMauro and Kathryn Windley

Thomas and Bryanne Hamill

Arnold Iovinella Jr. and William Bozzetto

Paul and Lynn Knight

Lazard Asset Management

MAP Fund

Martha Patricof

Ted Ruthizer and Jane Denkensohn

Sarah and Howard Solomon

Patron

The Dates Fund of the Community Foundations of the Hudson Valley

Curtis DeVito and Dennis Wedlick

James Gillson

Beth Jones and Susan Simon

Gideon Lester and Tom Sellar

Robert A. Meister

Ruth E. Migliorelli

Liza Parker and Frank Migliorelli

Samuel and Ellen Phelan

Myrna B. Sameth

David Schulz

Gail Shneyer and Abraham Nussbaum, MD

Donors to the Bard Music Festival

Leadership Support

Kathleen Vuillet Augustine

Bettina Baruch Foundation

Robert C. Edmonds ’68

Estate of Clyde Talmadge Gatlin

Jane W. Nuhn Charitable Trust

Felicitas S. Thorne

Millie and Robert Wise

Golden Circle

Helen and Roger Alcaly

Jeanne Donovan Fisher

Dr. Barbara Kenner

Denise S. Simon and Paulo Vieiradacunha

Director

The Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation

Anonymous, in honor of Stuart Stritzler-Levine

Michelle R. Clayman

Susan and Roger Kennedy

Edna and Gary Lachmund

Amy and Thomas O. Maggs

Drs. M. Susan and Irwin Richman

Ted Snowdon and Duffy Violante

Allan and Ronnie Streichler

Anthony and Margo Viscusi

Producer

John Geller and Alan Skog

Marstrand Foundation

Christina Mohr and Matthew M. Guerreiro

Martin L. and Lucy Miller Murray

Stewart’s/Dake Family

Dr. Siri von Reis

Patron

Anonymous

Johan de Meij and Dyan Machan

Dr. Sanford Friedman and Virginia Howsam

Helena and Christopher Gibbs

Elena and Fred Howard

Alison L. Lankenau

Karl Moschner and Hannelore Wilfert

Jacqueline Royce

Janet and Michael Sirotta

Edwin Steinberg and Judy Halpern

United Way of the Capital Region

Olivia van Melle Kamp

Irene Zedlacher

William C. Zifchak, Esq.

List current as of June 3, 2021

Boards

Bard College

Board of Trustees

James C. Chambers ’81, Chair

Emily H. Fisher, Vice Chair

George F. Hamel Jr., Vice Chair

Elizabeth Ely ’65, Secretary; Life Trustee

Stanley A. Reichel ’65, Treasurer; Life Trustee

Fiona Angelini

Roland J. Augustine

Leonard Benardo

Leon Botstein+, President of the College

Mark E. Brossman

Jinqing Cai

Marcelle Clements ’69, Life Trustee

The Rt. Rev. Andrew M. L. Dietsche, Honorary Trustee

Asher B. Edelman ’61, Life Trustee

Robert S. Epstein ’63

Barbara S. Grossman ’73, Alumni/ae Trustee

Andrew S. Gundlach

Matina S. Horner+

Charles S. Johnson III ’70

Mark N. Kaplan, Life Trustee

George A. Kellner

Mark Malloch-Brown

Fredric S. Maxik ’86

Juliet Morrison ’03

James H. Ottaway Jr., Life Trustee

Hilary Pennington

Martin Peretz, Life Trustee

Stewart Resnick, Life Trustee

David E. Schwab II ’52

Roger N. Scotland ’93, Alumni/ae Trustee

Annabelle Selldorf

Mostafiz ShahMohammed ’97

Jonathan Slone ’84

Alexander Soros

Jeannette H. Taylor+

James A. von Klemperer

Brandon Weber ’97, Alumni/ae Trustee

Susan Weber

Patricia Ross Weis ’52

+ex officio

Fisher Center

Advisory Board

Jeanne Donovan Fisher, Chair

Carolyn Marks Blackwood

Leon Botstein+

Stefano Ferrari

Alan Fishman

Neil Gaiman

S. Asher Gelman ’06

Rebecca Gold Milikowsky

Anthony Napoli

Denise S. Simon

Martin T. Sosnoff

Toni Sosnoff

Felicitas S. Thorne, Emerita

Taun Toay ’05+

Andrew E. Zobler

Bard Music Festival

Board of Directors

Denise S. Simon, Chair

Roger Alcaly

Kathleen Vuillet Augustine

Leon Botstein+

Michelle R. Clayman

David Dubin

Robert C. Edmonds ’68

Jeanne Donovan Fisher

Christopher H. Gibbs+

Paula K. Hawkins, Emeritus

Thomas Hesse

Susan Petersen Kennedy

Barbara Kenner

Gary Lachmund

Thomas O. Maggs

Kenneth L. Miron

Christina A. Mohr

James H. Ottaway Jr.

Felicitas S. Thorne

Siri von Reis

+ex officio

Administration

Bard College Senior Administration

Leon Botstein, President

Coleen Murphy Alexander ’00, Vice President for Administration

Myra Young Armstead, Vice President for Academic Inclusive Excellence

Jonathan Becker, Executive Vice President; Vice President for Academic Affairs; Director, Center for Civic Engagement

Erin Cannan, Vice President for Civic Engagement

Deirdre d’Albertis, Vice President; Dean of the College

Malia K. Du Mont ’95, Vice President for Strategy and Policy; Chief of Staff

Peter Gadsby, Vice President for Enrollment Management; Registrar

Mark D. Halsey, Vice President for Institutional Research and Assessment

Max Kenner ’01, Vice President for Institutional Initiatives; Executive Director, Bard Prison Initiative

Debra Pemstein, Vice President for Development and Alumni/ae Affairs

Taun Toay ’05, Senior Vice President; Chief Financial Officer

Stephen Tremaine ’07, Executive Director, Bard Early College; Vice President for Early Colleges

Dumaine Williams ’03, Vice President for Student Affairs; Dean of Early Colleges

Fisher Center Administration

Executive Director

Liza Parker

Artistic Director

Gideon Lester

Administration

Brynn Gilchrist ’17, Executive Assistant

Kayla Leacock, Summer Hiring Manager

Artistic Direction

Caleb Hammons, Director of Artistic Planning and Producing

Catherine Teixeira, General Manager

Nunally Kersh, SummerScape Opera Producer

Hannah Gosling-Goldsmith, Artist Services and Programs Manager

Thai Harris Singer ’20, Producing Assistant

Development

Debra Pemstein, Vice President for Development and Alumni/ae Affairs 

Alessandra Larson, Director of Development 

Kieley Michasiow-Levy, Individual Giving Manager 

Michael Hofmann VAP ’15, Development Operations Manager  

Elise Alexander ’19, Development Assistant

Production

Jason Wells, Director of Production

Stephen Dean, Associate Production Manager

Andrea Sofia Sala, Production Administrator

Rick Reiser, Technical Director

Josh Foreman, Lighting Supervisor

Moe Schell, Costume Supervisor

Danny Carr, Video Supervisor

Eric Sherman, Audio Supervisor

Communications

Mark Primoff, Associate Vice President of Communications

Darren O’Sullivan, Senior Public Relations Associate

Amy Murray, Videographer

Publications

Mary Smith, Director of Publications

Cynthia Werthamer, Editorial Director

Ann Forbes Cooper, Editor

Marketing and Audience Services

David Steffen, Director of Marketing and Audience Services

Nicholas Reilingh, Database and Systems Manager

Maia Kaufman, Audience and Member Services Manager

Brittany Brouker, Marketing Manager

Garrett Sager, Digital Marketing Assistant

Jesika Berry, Senior House Manager

Rachael Gunning ’19, House Manager

David Bánóczi-Ruof ’22, Assistant House Manager

Billie-Jo Buttner, Assistant House Manager

Rebecca Rivera, Assistant House Manager

Emma Smith ’23, Assistant House Manager

Alex Snyder, Assistant House Manager

Robert Kittler ’11, Parking Manager

Collin Lewis APS ’21, Audience and Member Services Coordinator

Erik Long, Box Office Supervisor

Paulina Swierczek VAP ’19, Box Office Supervisor

Hazaiah Tompkins ’19, Community Space Manager

Facilities

Mark Crittenden, Facilities Manager

Ray Stegner, Building Operations Manager

Liam Gomez, Building Operations Assistant

Chris Lyons, Building Operations Assistant

Robyn Charter, Fire Panel Monitor

Bill Cavanaugh, Environmental Specialist

Drita Gjokaj, Environmental Specialist

Oksana Ryabinkina, Environmental Specialist

Bard Music Festival

Executive Director

Irene Zedlacher

Artistic Directors 

Leon Botstein

Christopher H. Gibbs

Associate Director

Raissa St. Pierre ’87

Scholar in Residence 2021

Jeanice Brooks

Program Committee 2021

Byron Adams

Leon Botstein

Jeanice Brooks

Christopher H. Gibbs

Richard Wilson

Irene Zedlacher

Director of Choruses

James Bagwell

Vocal Casting

Joshua Winograde

Producer, Staged Concerts

Nunally Kersh

Seasonal Staff

Administration

Reesha Agarwal, General Management Intern

María Bernedo ’23, Marketing Intern

Hadley Parum ’21, Development Operations Intern

Caroline Ryan, Membership and Special Events Intern

Company Management

Andrew Hendrick, Company Manager (BMF/Staff and Crew)

Kaitlyn Barrett, Company Manager (Opera)

Erika Foley, Company Manager (Montgomery Place)

Cristina Gerla, Associate Company Manager (Fisher Center)

Amber Daniels, Associate Company Manager (Montgomery Place)

Megan Carpenter, Company Management Coordinator (Montgomery Place)

Brittney Dolan, Company Management Assistant

Mikalah Jenifer ’22, Company Management Assistant

Molly McDermott, Company Management Assistant

Gavin McKenzie ’22, Company Management Assistant

Tatyana “Taty” Rozetta ’21, Company Management Assistant

Jake Stiel ’21, Company Management Assistant

Health Safety

Arabella Powell, Health Safety Manager

Hazaiah Tompkins ’19, Health Safety Assistant Manager

Erin Duffey, Health Safety Coordinator

Aholibama Castañeda Gonzalez, Health Safety Coordinator

Laura Gutierrez, Health Safety Coordinator

Annaleise Loxton, Health Safety Coordinator

Aimeé Mangual Pagán, Health Safety Coordinator

Anthony Wells, Health Safety Coordinator

Production/Facilities

Laura Hirschberg, Production Manager (Montgomery Place)

Nakia Shalice Avila, Assistant Stage Manager (Montgomery Place)

Drewe Goldstein, Production Assistant (Montgomery Place)

Eric Oloffson, Site Supervisor (Montgomery Place)

Lynn Krynicki, Stage Manager (Opera)

Patty Garvey, Assistant Stage Manager (Opera)

Eileen Goodrich ’16, Assistant Stage Manager (Opera)

Trevion Walker, Production Assistant (Opera)

Faith Williams ’22, Production Assistant (Opera)

Scene Shop

JP Misciagna, Assistant Technical Director (Sosnoff)

Mark Quiles, Assistant Technical Director (Montgomery Place)

Hick Renadette, Head Flyman

Anthony Arevalo, Carpenter

Parker Callais, Carpenter

Winston Cheney, Carpenter

Gina Coatney, Carpenter

Shane Crittenden, Carpenter

Sam Dickson ’19, Carpenter

Brendan Dromazos, Carpenter

Alden Girsch, Carpenter

Brian Kafel, Carpenter

Maggie McFarland ’21, Carpenter

Nikita Minin ’19, Carpenter

Mike Murphy, Carpenter

Shane Rogers, Carpenter

Pat Schneider, Carpenter

Peter Servatius ’18, Carpenter

Kat Taylor, Carpenter

Alexandra Theisan, Carpenter

Justin Titley, Carpenter

Quinland Thompson, Carpenter

Electrics

Nick Ligon, Festival Head Electrician

Shane Crowley ’18, Light Board Operator (Sosnoff)

Rachel Daigneault, Electrician (Sosnoff)

Walter Daniels, Electrician (Sosnoff)

Rachel Goldberg, Electrician (Sosnoff)

Camille Harkins Electrician (Sosnoff)

Nicole Sliwinski, Electrician (Sosnoff)

Connor Gibbons, Electrician

Conor Thiele, Electrician

Nick Hawrylko, Lighting Designer/Head Electrician (Montgomery Place)

Sydney Merritt-Brown ’23, Electrician (Montgomery Place)

Costumes

Gabrielle Laroche, Shop Foreperson (Sosnoff)

Alysha Burgwardt, Wardrobe Supervisor (Montgomery Place)

Sarah Knight, Wardrobe Supervisor (Sosnoff)

Jackie Vela, First Hand/Principal Dresser (Sosnoff)

Kat Collins, Stitcher/Chorus Dresser (Sosnoff)

Sara Sa, Craftsperson (Sosnoff)

Tracee Bear, Stitcher (Sosnoff)

Sharon Greene ’19, Stitcher/Principal Dresser (Sosnoff)

Aidan Griffiths, Stitcher (Sosnoff)

Paulina Campbell, Principal Dresser (Sosnoff)

Jules Capuco ’17, Principal Dresser (Sosnoff)

Gabrielle Marino, Principal Dresser (Sosnoff)

Ellie Hart Brown, Chorus Dresser (Sosnoff)

Lauren Cordes, Chorus Dresser (Sosnoff)

Christopher Lunetta, Chorus Dresser (Sosnoff)

Chris Minter ’21, Chorus Dresser (Sosnoff)

Angela Woodack ’21, Chorus Dresser (Sosnoff)

Audio

Norah Firtel, Audio Engineer 1 (Sosnoff)

Cal Swan-Streepy, Audio Engineer 2 (Sosnoff)

Kitty Mader, Audio Assistant (Sosnoff)

Cariahbel Azemar ’19, Audio Engineer (Montgomery Place)

Adjua Jones, Audio Engineer (Montgomery Place)

Duane Lauginiger, Audio Engineer (Montgomery Place)

Video

Kat Pagsolingan, Festival Video Engineer

John Gasper, Video Engineer 1

Martin Benesh, Video Engineer 2

Properties

Patrice Escandon, Props Supervisor

Rowan Magee, Props Artisan

Alanna Maniscalco, Props Artisan

Anais Main, Props Apprentice

Bard Music Festival

Danielle Brescia, Stage Manager

Kathryn Giradot, Stage Manager

Lydia McCaw, Stage Manager

Nora Rubenstone ’11, Stage Manager

Gauri Mangala, Assistant Stage Manager

KeAysia Middlebrooks, Assistant Stage Manager

Drew Youmans TŌN ’19, Assistant Stage Manager

Petra Elek ’24, Stagehand

Emily Hanson, Stagehand

Luis Herrera ’24, Stagehand

Zoe Jackson, Stagehand

Beitong Liu ’22, Stagehand

Esther Roestan, Stagehand

Miles Salerni, Stagehand

Nathaniel Sanchez ’24, Stagehand

Matt Strieder ’21, Stagehand

Audience and Member Services Front of House Staff

Bri Alphonso-Gibbs ’22

Ana Aparicio ’23

Domitille Arents

Michael Barriteau ’23

Norah Cullers

Mina DeVore ’24

Ash Fitzgerald ’24

Daisy Gadsby

Itzel Herrera Garcia ’23

Nico Gusac ’23

Joel Guuahnich ’24

Elias Hernandez ’21

Francis Huang ’23

Grace Leedy

Lucia Link

Emma Livingston

Summer Lown

Catherine Lyu ’23

Kira Milgrim

Ivy O’Keefe

Laila Perlman ’21

Michael Picciuolo ’22

Katherine Pullaro

Adam Renth

Rebecca Rivera

Evan Rohrmeier

Tamar Sandalon

Rose Snyder

Christopher Steffen-Boone

Anya Swinchoski ’22

Ana Talsness ’24

Melissa Toney ’22

Mitchell Watson

Sindy Yang ’22

Xindi Zhang

Audience and Member Services Representatives

Nat Curry ’21, Box Office Representative

Noah Hoagland ’22, Box Office Representative

Lea Rodriguez ’22, Box Office Representative

Tiffany Thompson, Box Office Representative

About

ABOUT FISHER CENTER

The Fisher Center develops, produces, and presents performing arts across disciplines through new productions and context-rich programs that challenge and inspire. As a premier professional performing arts center and a hub for research and education, the Fisher Center supports artists, students, and audiences in the development and examination of artistic ideas, offering perspectives from the past and present, as well as visions of the future.

The Fisher Center demonstrates Bard’s commitment to the performing arts as a cultural and educational necessity. Home is the Fisher Center for the Performing Arts, designed by Frank Gehry and located on the campus of Bard College in New York’s Hudson Valley.

The Fisher Center offers outstanding programs to many communities, including the students and faculty of Bard College, and audiences in the Hudson Valley, New York City, across the country, and around the world. Building on a 161-year history as a competitive and innovative undergraduate institution, Bard is committed to enriching culture, public life, and democratic discourse by training tomorrow’s thought leaders.

The Fisher Center presents more than 200 world-class events and welcomes 50,000 visitors each year. It supports artists at all stages of their careers and employs more than 300 professional artists annually. The Fisher Center is a powerful catalyst of art-making regionally, nationally, and worldwide. Every year it produces eight to 10 major new works in various disciplines. Over the past five years, its commissioned productions have been seen in more than 100 communities around the world. During the 2018–19 season, six Fisher Center productions toured nationally and internationally. In 2019, the Fisher Center won the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical for Daniel Fish’s production of Oklahoma!, which began life in 2007 as an undergraduate production at Bard and was produced professionally in the Fisher Center’s SummerScape festival in 2015 before transferring to New York City.

ABOUT BARD COLLEGE

Founded in 1860, Bard College is a four-year residential college of the liberal arts and sciences located 90 miles north of New York City. With the addition of the adjoining Montgomery Place estate, Bard’s campus consists of nearly 1,000 parklike acres in the Hudson River Valley. It offers bachelor of arts, bachelor of science, and bachelor of music degrees, with majors in nearly 40 academic programs; graduate degrees in 11 programs; nine early colleges; and numerous dual-degree programs nationally and internationally. Building on its 161-year history as a competitive and innovative undergraduate institution, Bard College has expanded its mission as a private institution acting in the public interest across the country and around the world to meet broader student needs and increase access to liberal education. The undergraduate program at the main campus in the Hudson Valley has a reputation for scholarly excellence, a focus on the arts, and civic engagement. Bard is committed to enriching culture, public life, and democratic discourse by training tomorrow’s thought leaders. For more information about Bard College, visit bard.edu.

LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT FOR BARD COLLEGE IN ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON

Developed in Cooperation with the Stockbridge-Munsee Community

In the spirit of truth and equity, it is with gratitude and humility that we acknowledge that we are gathered on the sacred homelands of the Munsee and Muhheaconneok people, who are the original stewards of this land. Today, due to forced removal, the community resides in Northeast Wisconsin and is known as the Stockbridge-Munsee Community. We honor and pay respect to their ancestors past and present, as well as to future generations and we recognize their continuing presence in their homelands. We understand that our acknowledgement requires those of us who are settlers to recognize our own place in and responsibilities toward addressing inequity, and that this ongoing and challenging work requires that we commit to real engagement with the Munsee and Mohican communities to build an inclusive and equitable space for all.

REINTERPRETING MONTGOMERY PLACE

When Bard College acquired the Montgomery Place property in 2016, we began an extensive review and inventory of the collections, archives, and the property itself.

Our work going forward is to expand upon the research and resources we have inherited from the previous owners of the property, much of which has focused on the 180-year residency of the Livingston family.

We are developing a more robust and inclusive history of Montgomery Place, one that traces its geological past and present, and the development of property ownership on the land. We will look closely at how these themes connect to the largely missing narratives of Native Americans and African Americans.

Through staff and faculty working groups, as well as individual course work and research projects by Bard College students, we are embracing a wider view, one that includes themes of ecology, agriculture, human inhabitation, labor history, commercialism, and more.

We encourage you to visit our Student Work page to explore recent course projects and to join us for future public programs and events as we continue to reinterpret Montgomery Place.

Text developed by Montgomery Place scholars & staff. Learn more at bard.edu/montgomeryplace.

Become a Member

Individual supporters are essential to sustaining the Fisher Center at Bard as an extraordinary part of cultural life in the Hudson Valley and beyond. Generous contributions from arts supporters like you help make everything at the Fisher Center possible.

Our members support world-class performing arts and enjoy a variety of discounts and benefits. Please join us!

BECOME A MEMBER

Friend ($75) Benefits include:

• Access to tickets before the general public

• Invitations to season previews and open house events

• Dedicated “member's hour” for Montgomery Place SummerScape performances; arrive early, enjoy a picnic and secure premium seating

• Free access to all SummerScape virtual programming

• Fully tax deductible

Supporter ($150) All of the above, plus:

• Waived ticket-handling fees (save $4.50 per ticket)

• Invitation to a behind-the-scenes tour of the Fisher Center

• Fully tax deductible

Sponsor ($300) All of the above, plus:

• Invitations to opening-night parties

• SummerScape production poster

• Special Invitations to live-streamed events being recorded for presentation on UPSTREAMING

• $250 tax deductible

Sustainer ($500) All of the above, plus:

• Bard Music Festival limited-edition T-shirt

• SummerScape production poster signed by the cast

• $415 tax deductible

Benefactor ($1,000) All of the above, plus:

• Bard Music Festival book (University of Chicago Press)

• Invitations to working rehearsals and directors’ presentations

• $750 tax deductible

Patron ($1,500) All of the Benefactor benefits, plus:

• Access to the best seats and personalized ticket handling through the Patron Priority Line

• Recognition in performance programs

• $1,180 tax deductible

Producer ($2,500) All of the above, plus:

• Pop-up Patron’s Lounge access at select performances throughout the year

• Private, behind-the-scenes tour of the Fisher Center for you and your guests

• $2,030 tax deductible

Director ($5,000) All of the above, plus:

• Reserved VIP parking for all events at the Fisher Center

• $4,380 tax deductible

Venue Map

Upcoming Events

King Arthur

JULY 25 – AUGUST 1

Idealism, treachery, honor, and perfidy collide in this richly lyrical opera by French composer Ernest Chausson. Performed by a stellar cast, helmed by baritone Norman Garrett and mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke, this production of King Arthur takes us to a world in the midst of upheaval where long-standing codes of honor and loyalty no longer hold sway.

Learn More

Most Happy in Concert

Songs from Frank Loesser's The Most Happy Fella

AUGUST 5–7

Frank Loesser’s masterpiece, The Most Happy Fella, is a gorgeous meditation on our longing for human connection. In this concert version of Most Happy, Loesser’s lyrical score is performed by seven female and non-binary voices backed by thirteen musicians, giving audiences a new way to experience the songs of an American musical treasure.

Learn More

Nadia Boulanger and Her World

AUGUST 6–15

The Bard Music Festival returns for its 31st season with an exploration of the life and work of Nadia Boulanger (1887–1979), the pioneering Parisian pedagogue, composer, conductor, pianist, organist, and indomitable personality who shaped more than a generation of American musicians.

Learn More

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Join the Fisher Center’s e-newsletter at fishercenter.bard.edu.

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