In Memorium
NICKI MATHIS, artist, musician, singer, bandleader, producer, promoter, presenter, poet, writer, songwriter, was born in El Paso, TX, in 1936. She resided in Hartford, CT. Nick began singing in the tri-state area with the Emery Austin Smith and Norman Gage bands. She formed her own Afrikan Amerikan Jazz band in the 1980s, with Jim Argiro, Paul Brown, Jr.Ortiz, Emmitt Spencer, and Lenzy Wallace Jr. She began producing The Many Colors of a W*O*M*A*N Jazz Festivals, showcasing jazzwomen and their contributions to African American’s indigenous creative art form, jazz. Nicki received rave reviews, performing with Norman Johnson and Jr Ortiz for the Martin Luther King. Jr celebration at Yale Peabody Museum of National History. She and Norman celebrated last autumn at Windsor Art Center.
42
