NINETY-FOURTH SEASON
Friday, November 22, 2024, at 8:00
Jazz Series
JASON MORAN AND THE BIG BANDWAGON
James Reese Europe and the Harlem Hellfighters: From the Dance Hall to the Battlefield
Jason Moran Piano
Tarus Mateen Bass
Nasheet Waits Drums
Darryl Harper Flute and Clarinet
Logan Richardson Alto Saxophone
Brian Settles Tenor Saxophone
David Adewumi Trumpet
Chris Bates Trombone
Reginald Cyntje Trombone
Jose Davila Tuba
Kenwood Academy High School Marching Band
Gerald Powell Director
Funding for educational programs during the 2024–25 Season of SCP Jazz has been generously provided by Dan J. Epstein, Judith Guitelman, and the Dan J. Epstein Family Foundation. The Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association acknowledges support from the Illinois Arts Council.
Chicago Jazz, DownBeat Magazine, WDCB 90.9FM Jazz, and WBEZ Chicago are media partners for this event.
AN INTRODUCTION FROM JASON MORAN
There is great beauty in the life of Lieutenant James Reese Europe. Within the scholarship of who he was and what his music is, it becomes clear that the history surrounding him is a complex and tightly woven knot. Each strand of the cord holds a uniquely American history, a history that also births another complex knot—JAZZ.
Europe becomes a freedom fighter. He learns aspects of this at an early age, as his violin teacher is the son of the great abolitionist Frederick Douglass. An early lesson he understands is that sound and freedom aid one another. With his violin, he arrives in New York on a mission. Much of this mission revolves around music, but his greater mission will be that of demanding equality for African American performers— PEOPLE. He finds fame by producing music for many societies: dances, parties, ceremonies, and concerts.
In 1910, Europe formed the groundbreaking Clef Club, a union for African American musicians. His 1911 standingroom-only Carnegie Hall premiere of the Clef Club Orchestra was a sensation. His work developing dance music with the famous dancing duo, Vernon and Irene Castle, innovated the fox trot
FILM CREDITS
Bradford Young Cinematographer
Stefani Saintonge Film Editor
Harbor Picture Company Color Correction
John Akomfrah Dramaturg
Stephany Neal Historian
Jati Lindsay Still Photography
tempos and other dance steps. With each of these developments Europe always found a larger stage. The “stage” will always be a portal for a place to test what is real and surreal.
In World War I, Europe found his largest and most dangerous stage. When he joined the15th New York National Guard Regiment, later becoming the 369th Infantry Regiment, known as the Harlem Hellfighters, he knew African American soldiers could not fight alongside white soldiers. His writing partner Noble Sissle was shocked that Europe signed up. Sissle asked Europe if he could get out of the war, would he? Europe replied, “If I could, I would not. My country called me, and I must answer. And if I live to come back, I will startle the world with my music.”
He indeed startled the world. One hundred years later, we celebrate a brave individual among a company of soldiers, the Harlem Hellfighters, who predicted a thought Martin Luther King, Jr., would write some forty-seven years later in his letter from a Birmingham jail: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
Hear We Are.
—Jason Moran
Postscript: The arrangements feature the Bandwagon with the seven horn players of the next generation. I take the pieces James Reese Europe played on his Pathé recordings, his music for the dancers Vernon and Irene Castle, and
his Clef Club pieces to show how they connect to the music my band creates today. In essence, I consider this part of a trilogy of pieces dedicated to Harlem musicians: Thelonious Monk, Fats Waller, and now James Reese Europe. I also sample some of his material and treat it as something for ambient electronica as well.
The visuals are by Oscar-nominated cinematographer Bradford Young, with direction by John Akomfrah. The video is a single-channel work that floats above the band. The images are poetic, because the piece is a meditation on a hero.
Jason Moran Piano
Pianist, composer, and artist Jason Moran is the artistic director for jazz at the Kennedy Center. He has released eighteen solo recordings with Blue Note Records and Yes Records. He curated the permanent exhibition Here to Stay for the newly opened Louis Armstrong Center in Queens, New York, and has co-curated the exhibition I’ve Seen the Wall: Louis Armstrong on Tour in the GDR 1965 at Das Minsk Kunsthaus in Potsdam, Germany. In 2022, he was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and was recently awarded the 2023 German Jazz Prize for Pianist of the Year. His latest recording, From the Dancehall to the Battlefield, is
devoted to the music of World War I jazz pioneer and organizer James Reese Europe, the big bang of jazz. Jason Moran has collaborated with a number of contemporary artists, such as Joan Jonas, Kara Walker, Stan Douglas, Theaster Gates, and Remy Jungerman.
Tarus Mateen’s creative genius and mastery of acoustic bass, electric bass, rhythm guitar, and piano make him one of the most soughtafter musician/ producers in hip-hop, house, blues, rock, reggae, soul, and straight-ahead jazz. He is consistently requested for performances and studio sessions with R&B and hip-hop artists including Outkast, Goodie Mob, Q-Tip, Lauryn Hill, Ghostface Killah, Ice Cube, and the Roots. Mateen has also made his mark with trumpeter/composer Terence Blanchard on the scores for Sugar Hill and for Spike Lee’s film Malcolm X. Mateen is part of a new generation of jazz crusaders, and his collaborators include Jason Moran, Nasheet Waits, Marc Cary, and the late Roy Hargrove. Mateen performs and records with pianist Jason Moran and the Bandwagon. Mateen has also worked with drummer Nasheet Waits on two stellar piano trio albums: Marc Cary’s Trillium and Jason Moran’s Facing Left.
Nasheet Waits Drums
Drummer and music educator Nasheet
Waits is a New York native. His interest in playing the drums was encouraged by his father, legendary percussionist Frederick Waits. While attending Long Island University, Waits studied privately with renowned percussionist Michael Carvin. Carvin’s tutelage provided a vast foundation on which Waits added influences from his father and from mentor Max Roach. It was Roach that first gave Waits’s talent an international spotlight, hiring him as a member of the percussion ensemble M’Boom. His talent came to the attention of reedman Antonio Hart, who asked Waits to originate the percussion chair of his first quintet, and he remained a standing member of Hart’s various ensembles. Most recently Waits has been a member of Andrew Hill’s various bands, Jason Moran’s the Bandwagon, and Fred Hersch’s trio. In addition, Waits teaches private lessons to youth and adults, stressing a personal approach to the drums and music.
Darryl Harper Flute and Clarinet
Darryl Harper began studying clarinet at the age of six in his native Philadelphia and was introduced to jazz at sixteen by trombonist Anthony Hurdle. Within a year, Harper was working professionally and began sitting in at sessions and performing with Tony Williams, Tyrone Brown, Eddie Green, Bootsie Barnes, and other veteran Philadelphia-based jazz artists. Harper’s credits include performances with Dee Dee Bridgewater, Roscoe Mitchell, Dave Holland, Orrin Evans, Freddie Bryant, Tim Warfield, and Uri Caine. He performed with violinist Regina Carter for two years and toured the United States, Europe, South America, and the Caribbean. Harper’s projects as a leader include the Onus, the piano-clarinet duo Into Something, and the C3 Project, an octet that presents multimedia work that includes dance, video, and poetry. As a composer, Harper has published and recorded over two dozen works. He currently serves as the John William Ward Professor of Music at Amherst College.
Logan Richardson Alto Saxophone
Logan Richardson hails from Kansas City, Missouri. He grew up in a household steeped in culture and creative minds. In the early 2000s, Richardson began to make a name for himself in New York City’s contemporary music scene performing with a number of notable musicians including Greg Osby, Stefon Harris, and Jason Moran. Richardson’s style was unique and drew on a wide range of influences, from bebop to hip-hop. Throughout his career, Richardson has been known for his innovative approach to Black Amercian and contemporary music. In addition to his work as a musician, he is also a producer and songwriter. In recent years, Richardson has become an advocate for social justice and has used his platform to speak out on issues related to race and inequality. He has also been involved in community outreach programs, working to bring music education to underserved communities.
Brian Settles Tenor Saxophone
Saxophonist and composer Brian Settles has established himself as a force with a long-term artistic vision—blending the outwardly engaging with the deeply personal, reconciling his intimate command of the jazz lineage with a commitment to his own experimental voice. Settles two albums as a leader feature entirely original music, highlighting his buoyant, pithy compositions: Secret Handshake (Engine, 2011), featuring the five-piece Central Union, was named the Best Jazz Record of the Year by both the Washington City Paper and CapitalBop.com. Settles followed up with Folk (Engine, 2013), a trio album acclaimed by Something Else Reviews and the NYC Jazz Record. In 2015 he was listed as a Rising Star on Tenor Saxophone in DownBeat magazine’s Critics Poll, and he earned an artist fellowship from the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities. He also has worked as a teacher and mentor at the Washington Jazz Arts Institute since 2002.
David Adewumi Trumpet
Dave Adewumi is an award-winning trumpet player, composer, and educator captivated by the transcendental nature of music.
Influenced by his strong Nigerian upbringing in New Hampshire, he studied at the New England Conservatory and was mentored by several critically acclaimed musicians, including Ralph Alessi, Ran Blake, Frank Carlberg, John McNeil, and the late Laurie Frink. Adewumi was accepted to the prestigious Betty Carter Jazz Ahead program and the following year studied at the Banff Center and at Harvard University with Vijay Iyer. In 2016 Adewumi was accepted to the highly selective Jazz master’s degree program at Juilliard under the artistic leadership and instruction of Wynton Marsalis. Adewumi would go on to receive the Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans and first prize in the Carmine Caruso International Jazz Trumpet Competition. His most recent collaborations have been with Jason Moran and the Bandwagon’s Absence of Ruin and Dave Douglas’s Engage and Dizzy Atmosphere
Chris Bates Trombone
Chris Bates is a passionate activist for the preservation of jazz music. A classical musician in his formative years, in 2014 Bates moved to New York, where he was first hired by NEA Jazz member Sue Mingus as a member of the Grammy Award–winning Mingus Big Band at the age of twenty-two. He continued to play and tour with the band until Mingus’s health declined; she died in 2022. Well-versed in all styles of music, Bates has played many shows as a bandleader across the music scene with his own quartet. He later elected to broaden his horizons as a lyricist. He characterizes his taste as eclectic and influenced by his life experiences. Bates is now a member of Henry Threadgill’s Very Very Circus, replacing the late Curtis Folkes. His YouTube channel is Chris Bates Trombone TV.
Reginald Cyntje Trombone
Reginald Cyntje is a trombonist, educator, producer, and composer. The concept of his music ministry is to spread love, peace, and social justice with each expression. Growing up in the U.S. Virgin Islands, he has created and performed an eclectic range of music in his career. To date, Cyntje has recorded seven albums of original music as a leader and appeared on many recordings, from jazz to hip-hop. He’s performed with such luminaries as Dr. Billy Taylor, Illinois Jacquet, Martha Reeves and the Vandellas, D-Nice, Dion Parson and the 21st Century Band, Ron Blake, Marc Cary, Joe Chambers, Cyrus Chestnut, George Duke, the Duke Ellington Orchestra, Four Tops, Benny Golson, Wycliffe Gordon, Sean Jones, Johnny O’Neal, Nicholas Payton, Vanessa Rubin, Terrell Stafford, the Temptations, Gary Thomas, Tim Warfield, Larry Willis, and many other extraordinary artists. Cyntje is also the director of jazz studies at Duke Ellington School of the Arts.
Jose Davila Tuba
Tubist, trombonist, arranger, composer, and recording artist Jose Davila is a versatile New York–based musician whose work spans a broad spectrum of musical genres. A native of Puerto Rico, Davila has worked with Ray Charles, Andrew Hill, Tito Puente, Celia Cruz, Marc Anthony, Eddie Palmieri, Butch Morris, along with the Lincoln Center Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra, the Arturo O’Farrill Big Band, the American Symphony Orchestra, and New York City Opera Orchestra. Davila has worked with Henry Threadgill for over a quarter century, including as an original member of Zooid, which was awarded the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for their recorded work “In for a Penny, In for a Pound.” He is also a member in bands led by guitarist Liberty Ellman, alto saxophonist Steve Lehman, pianist Jason Moran, and trombonist Ray Anderson. He has been instrumental in expanding the tuba’s role as an integrated rhythm-melodic instrument and a front-line solo voice.
Kenwood Academy High School Marching Band
Gerald Powell Director
Jeanel Leblanc Assistant Director
Kyndal Purkett Drum Line Instructor
PICCOLO
Cailer Saulsberry
FLUTES
Camariana Anderson
Kaili Brown
Naomi Hunter
Kai Johnson
Micah Judah
Leah Nichols
Aria Peel
Adele Sorkin
Mora Spicer III
Na’Vee Thompson
Kendall Zakaria
OBOE
Faith Russell
CLARINETS
Harmony Abrams
Maurice Barry
Oluwafunmilola Coker
Brendan Courtney
Ashton Hill
Jada Isreal
Alysha Jordan
Gabrielle Kane
T’Anna Lomack
Reese Mackey
Trey Patterson
Jadiel Rodriguez
Kayden Swantek
ALTO SAXOPHONES
Jeremiah Ainsworth
Dallis Alderman
Blake Anderson
Darryl Carter
Kristin Dowell
Drake Harris
Mianna Hogan
Adrian Lopez
Jude Lumpkin
Demeir Williams
TENOR SAXOPHONES
Jose Gomez
Maliyah Haynes
Frederick Owens
Jaden Scott
Carieon Smith
BARITONE SAXOPHONE
Haze Szmulewitz
TRUMPETS
Jeremiah Algahmie
America Barner
Tanner Bell
Leonardo Gomez
Marquis Hicks
Cameron Jackson
Jaylen Scott
Jerimiah Woods
HORNS IN F
Caleb Hill
Erin Smith
Anna Wargaski
TROMBONE
Kaden Carter
Thomas Rudbeck
Niya Sancho
Ezra Skol
Maria Vazquez
Jaliyah Wheaton
EUPHONIUM
Aiden Henry-Jones
Cheyenne Lofton
Jonah Skol
TUBAS
Justin Beard
Zyon Boles
Deaven Johnson
Sascha Stephens
PERCUSSION
Rihannah Alston-Henry
Scarlett Blaise
Michael Brewer
Joseph Cooper
Tyler Dixon
Aaron Fite
Daija Gibson
Robert Gilmore
Elijah Grant
Caleb Hall
Kyzir Jones
Tiye Judah
Robinnay McGee
Andreas Murry
Erial Otto
Zoi Patterson
Kimora Porter
Myles Russell
Mia Scott
Gabrielle Weaver
Kyndall Williams
Funding for educational programs during the 2024–25 Season of SCP Jazz has been generously provided by Dan J. Epstein, Judith Guitelman, and the Dan J. Epstein Family Foundation.
SYMPHONY CENTER PRESENTS
Jeff Alexander Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association President
Cristina Rocca Vice President for Artistic Administration
The Richard and Mary L. Gray Chair
James M. Fahey Senior Director, Programming, Symphony Center Presents Lena Breitkreuz Artist Manager, Symphony Center Presents
Michael Lavin Assistant Director, Operations, Symphony Center Presents & Rental Events
Joseph Sherman Production Manager, Symphony Center Presents & Rental Events