Atlanta – Jazz Road, South Arts’ national initiative supporting jazz artists, announces its largest investment in the field to date. Through Jazz Road Creative Residencies, 52 artists are receiving grants of up to $40,000 each, allowing them the opportunity to further explore their artform and work. Projects supported through Jazz Road Creative Residencies range from the creation of new works to community-driven collaborative events.
Meet the artists and read about each project
“Jazz Road Creative Residencies is uniquely artist-centric,” explained Sara Donnelly, South Arts’ Director of Jazz. “We left the interpretation of 'residency' open-ended so that artists could shape projects with few parameters and the greatest flexibility possible. Each artist has different artistic and career needs, especially as we look through and beyond the pandemic. These grants can help artists fulfill their dreams, be they about large-scale creative visions or the need to connect with new audiences. The recipient artists can either work with partners or on their own, but the artist is in the driver’s seat. Each artist maintains ownership of their work and receives equitable pay for their time and experience while conducting their project.”
The 52 recipients are a broad representation of the national field. Recipients come from every region of the country, and work within multi-faceted jazz/improvisation genres.
Some of the recipients and their projects include:
- Delbert Anderson and D/DAT from Farmington, NM. Requiring nearly 3,500 miles of travel, trumpet conceptualist Delbert Anderson’s 4-pc ensemble DDAT will continue education and research of Indigenous cultures through a Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Residency. Sites include: Morley Nelson Snake River Birds of Prey NCA, Celebration Park, Idaho; Lower Deschutes Wild and Scenic River, Oregon; and Bears Ears National Monument, Utah. Performances and community workshops will be captured by a documentary crew.
- Jason Marsalis from New Orleans, LA. Drummer Jason Marsalis and the 21st Century Trad Band, with additional local jazz legends, will partner with the Congo Square Preservation Society, New Orleans Jazz Museum, Jazz and Heritage School of Music, Ellis Marsalis Center, and New Orleans Center for the Creative Arts in the Congo Square Roots of Jazz Residency. The project centers on three-weeks of sessions within Living Classroom fieldtrips, museum jazz labs and performances at Congo Square within Louis Armstrong Park to explore the roots of Bamboula and Second Line rhythms.
- Camille Thurman from Newburgh, NY. Celebrating the legacy of Black women authors including Audre Lorde, bell hooks, Ntozake Shange and others, saxophonist/vocalist Camille Thurman will partner with HBCU North Carolina Central University to perform and meet with students from multiple departments. Additional activities with the Durham Arts Council and Hayti Heritage Center will include performances and video documentation.
Applications for Jazz Road Creative Residencies were open earlier this year. South Arts received more than 450 applications, which were reviewed by a panel of peer musicians and jazz luminaries. The funded projects will occur through June 30, 2022.
In addition to the Jazz Road Creative Residencies awards, South Arts continues to accept applications for Jazz Road Tours. Through Jazz Road Tours, artists can apply for grants of up to $15,000 to support tours that bring their work to audiences across the country.
Jazz Road, a national program funded by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation with additional support from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, is led by South Arts in partnership with the five other U.S. Regional Arts Organizations (Arts Midwest, Mid-America Arts Alliance, Mid Atlantic Arts, New England Foundation for the Arts, and Western Arts Alliance/WESTAF). Jazz Road Creative Residencies is the third grant opportunity in this initiative, adding to the ongoing Jazz Road Tours grants and previous COVID-19 relief grants from the Jazz Road Quick Assist Fund.
To learn more about Jazz Road and read about each Jazz Road Creative Residencies recipient and their projects, visit www.southarts.org or call 404.874.7244.
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About South Arts
South Arts advances Southern vitality through the arts. The nonprofit regional arts organization was founded in 1975 to build on the South’s unique heritage and enhance the public value of the arts. South Arts’ work responds to the arts environment and cultural trends with a regional perspective. South Arts offers an annual portfolio of activities designed to support the success of artists and arts providers in the South, address the needs of Southern communities through impactful arts-based programs, and celebrate the excellence, innovation, value and power of the arts of the South. For more information, visit www.southarts.org.
About the Jazz Road Creative Residencies Recipients
Chico Freeman
San Diego, CA
Grant Amount: $40,000
Residency Location(s): Chicago, IL
The Chico Freeman 19-pc Orchestra will create new extended suite w/conductor, John Kordalewski, in honor of the Chicago legacy set by Freeman's legendary father Von Freeman. The University of Chicago, South Side Jazz Coalition and Constellation will be sites for open rehearsals and performances.
Edward Simon
Emeryville, CA
Grant Amount: $39,990
Residency Location(s): San Francisco, CA & New York, NY
Residency host San Francisco Conservatory of Music will present and video document a program celebrating the legacy of Latin American women songwriters and the world premiere of Edward Simon’s Chamber Music America commissioned work for the Edward Simon Trio with guests Mexican vocalist Magos Herrera and percussionist Luis Quitero. Collaborator Magos Herrera will lecture on the music of Latin American women.
John Escreet
San Gabriel, CA
Grant Amount: $40,000
Residency Location(s): Los Angeles, New York, Multiple
Create, workshop, record and perform new work for pianist Escreet's trio including bassist, Eric Revis and drummer, Damion Reid. In-studio recording for a new album will lead to new release shows at The Jazz Gallery (NY) and Sam First Jazz Club (Los Angeles).
Marcus Roberts
Tallahassee, FL
Grant Amount: $39,995
Residency Location(s): Tallahassee, FL
To create, perform, and record new work, "Tomorrow's Promises" with the Modern Jazz Generation 10-pc ensemble, fusing his original music with narration and spoken word. This is a new exploration of multi-disciplinary work while experiencing new visual impairment technology.
Sammy Figueroa
Miami Beach, FL
Grant Amount: $40,000
Residency Location(s): Miami, FL
Will record an album of his late father's most beloved songs (singer Charlie Figueroa) with arrangements by guests, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, John DaVersa, and Martin Bejerano. A performance at the Faena Jazz Series and workshops in Miami-Dade public schools in alliance with Young Musicians Unite!.
Wycliffe Gordon
Macon, GA
Grant Amount: $40,000
Residency Location(s): Macon, GA
Gordon with partner Douglass Theatre hopes to foster a new jazz scene in Macon, GA by engaging students from local school districts and Fort Valley State University, as well as churches across Central Georgia. Gordon will provide instruction and performance opportunities to residency participants.
Damon Locks
Chicago, IL
Grant Amount: $40,000
Residency Location(s): Knoxville, TN
Locks with Ben LaMar Gay and Arif Smith, will present a series of performances by the Black Monument Ensemble with partner, the Big Ears Festival. The ensemble will work through a pair of Black monument sites in East Tennessee - the Children's Defense Fund's Alex Haley Farm and the Highlander Research and Education Center. The ensemble will visit Black artist groups and youth organizations focused on vulnerable communities for workshops. A final performance will be presented during the Big Ears Festival.
Ernest Dawkins
Chicago, IL
Grant Amount: $40,000
Residency Location(s): Durham, NC
Create new artistic work, Refound Connections, based on history/culture of Durham. Hold performance, masterclasses and workshops for young musicians with partner Art of Cool Project. Audio and video documentation will be captured.
Joshua Abrams
Chicago, IL
Grant Amount: $40,000
Residency Location(s): Chicago, IL
Creation of new work to be recorded with large ensemble including Chicago's most active experimental composer/performers; presented at Constellation and the South Side's Stony Island Art Banks with Rebuild Foundation performance space. This space cultivates activism for cultural development and neighborhood transformation.
Mars Williams
Chicago, IL
Grant Amount: $40,000
Residency Location(s): New Orleans, LA; Chicago, IL
Will be in residence at Music Box Village in New Orleans to develop and premiere DEVIL'S WHISTLE. This is an extension of earlier project for 13 interactive "musical houses" at Music Box Village, a community art project featuring unique, artist-made musical installations on a forested plot in the Upper 9th Ward in New Orleans. Williams will collaborate with media director, Kim Alpert, to video-document. Elastic Arts and Experimental Music Studio in Chicago will host performances. The Chicago-based orchestra will travel back to New Orleans for performance.
Aurora Nealand
New Orleans, LA
Grant Amount: $40,000
Residency Location(s): New Orleans, LA
Saxophonist/accordionist/vocalist Nealand and core ensemble to include drummer Mikel Patrick Avery, and other sonic collaborators, will build a "practice co-op" for New Orleans creative composers to work in tandem with environmental, racial and social justice advocates.
Ben Jaffe
New Orleans, LA
Grant Amount: $40,000
Residency Location(s): Knoxville, TN
In partnership with the Big Ears Festival (Knoxville), two sections of the Preservation Hall Jazz Band will perform and do extensive outreach with the East Tennessee Bluegrass Association (to explore connections between bluegrass and New Orleans jazz), work with the mizik rasin band RAM (to explore connections between New Orleans and Haitian-rooted beginnings), and Cattywampus Puppet Council (to work with schools in giant puppet making for parades w/Preservation Hall).
Donald Harrison
New Orleans, LA
Grant Amount: $40,000
Residency Location(s): New Orleans, LA
As a Big Chief in Afro-New Orleans culture, Harrison and the band will work with the Congo Square Nation Afro-New Orleans Cultural Group and Guardians Institute for community outreach. Harrison wants to write, rehearse, record, and perform new music. He will conduct workshops, lead discussions, host Q&As in the upper ninth ward at the Donald Harrison Sr Museum and Congo Square.
Jason Marsalis
New Orleans, LA
Grant Amount: $40,000
Residency Location(s): New Orleans, LA
Drummer Jason Marsalis and the 21st Century Trad Band w/ additional local jazz legends will partner with the Congo Square Preservation Society, New Orleans Jazz Museum, Jazz and Heritage School of Music, Ellis Marsalis Center, and New Orleans Center for the Creative Arts in the Congo Square Roots of Jazz Residency. The project centers on three-weeks of sessions within Living Classroom fieldtrips, museum jazz labs and performances at Congo Square within Louis Armstrong Park to explore the roots of Bamboula and Second Line rhythms.
Felipe Salles
Florence, MA
Grant Amount: $40,000
Residency Location(s): Wakefield, MA; New York, NY
Salles and his Interconnections Ensemble will collaborate with eight guest composers including Paquito D'Rivera, Yosvanny Terry and Melissa Aldana to rehearse and record new work exploring immigration.
Mehmet Ali Sanlıkol
Belmont, MA
Grant Amount: $36,350
Residency Location(s): Roslindale, MA
Sanlıkol and 19-pc Whatsnext? will write and record new compositions for jazz orchestra with guests, saxophonist Miguel Zenon, clarinetist Anat Cohen, and percussionist Antonio Sanchez. Music will fuse Western jazz and Middle Eastern (Turkish modes, microtones, rhythms) and draw on Muslim and Sufi literary and spirtual sources.
Terry Jenoure
Northfield, MA
Grant Amount: $31,516
Residency Location(s): Northfield, Turners Falls, and Northampton, MA
Experimental vanguard violinist/vocalist, Jenoure will work with her sextet to rehearse, perform and record a new composition. Teaching and performance will underscore Jenoure's role as a bandleader, Black Puerto Rican woman from the Bronx housing projects and serve as a model for young women of color in a primarily white environment. Improvisation workshops at the Shea Theatre and evaluative meetings with collaborators and general public will be coordinated through partner, Eggtooth Productions.
Marc Cary
Baltimore, MD
Grant Amount: $38,770
Residency Location(s): Washington, DC
Cary's Indigenous People's Arkestra will create a live recording and documentary of new work fusing jazz and go go music, featuring local go go pioneers and community leaders. Arts incubator partner, Bloom Bars (DC) will promote open rehearsals, livestreams, and Q&A sessions. A live recording will be released as an album, and a documentary will be made available through YouTube webisodes.
Adegoke Steve Colson
Montclair, NJ
Grant Amount: $40,000
Residency Location(s): New York, NY
To write, rehearse, perform, and audio/video document new extended work for octet celebrating the Harlem School for the Arts and renewing artistic practice with students across multi-disciplines (dance, theater). Colson will collaborate with the Jazz Program to perform during A Train Festival of the Arts. Masterclasses/Performances for students, families and the community will also occur.
Delbert Anderson
Farmington, NM
Grant Amount: $40,000
Residency Location(s): Multiple locations & regions
In partnership with the Bureau of Land Mgmt, DDAT will visit five Indigenous communities through UT, OR and ID for residency workshops and tribal connection. A documentation team will be present.
Adam O'Farrill
Brooklyn, NY
Grant Amount: $24,700
Residency Location(s): Bethel, ME
Stranger Days will stay in rural Bethel ME hosted by Morning Glory Farm to rehearse and infuse new work through the inspiration of organic farming. New music will be rehearsed and performed at the local Gem Theatre as well as the surrounding Albany Mountain Trail and Bethel Community Forest.
Andrew Drury
Brooklyn, NY
Grant Amount: $40,000
Residency Location(s): Conway MA; Seattle, WA; Los Angeles, CA; San Diego, CA; New York, NY
Drury's The Forest will rehearse and perform work in three regions to include venues, Cornish College (Seattle), Roulette (NY), and Tuckaway Farm Music Studio (MA). Community improvisations will take place at the US/Mexico border fence and rural NH for participatory drumming, soup, sauna and ice skating
Aruán Ortiz
Brooklyn, NY
Grant Amount: $39,800
Residency Location(s): Dallas, TX
Pastor's Paradox Quartet (Aruan Ortiz alongside Don Byron, Lester St. Louis, Pheeroan AkLaff) will develop new music to be presented by Teatro Dallas. Ortiz will invite eight teen vocalists from Booker T Washington Highschool Music Conservatory to perform. Other community engagement will take place through the Martin Luther King Community Center and the Dallas Holocaust and Human Rights Museum. Work will be filmed.
Bobby Previte
New York, NY
Grant Amount: $40,000
Residency Location(s): Greensboro, NC
Previte, joined by saxophonist Charlie Hunter, will rehearse and perform compositions from BLUEPRINTS, a project begun earlier to foster local large ensemble development in Greensboro, NC. Partner venues for performances include the Revolution Mill, Studio 413, and The Flat Iron. Lectures/masterclasses will take place for students at Greensboro's North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, the largest historically black college in the US.
Camille Thurman
Newburgh, NY
Grant Amount: $40,000
Residency Location(s): Durham, NC
Celebrating the legacy of Black women authors including Audre Lorde, bell hooks, Ntozake Shange and others, saxophonist/vocalist, Camille Thurman will partner with HBCU North Carolina Central University to perform and meet with students from multiple departments. Additional activities with the Durham Arts Council and Hayti Heritage Center will include performances and video documentation.
Clarence Penn
Brooklyn, NY
Grant Amount: $40,000
Residency Location(s): Black Mountain & Asheville, NC
Drummer Penn's American Patchwork Quartet (Falu Shah, vocals; Clay Ross, guitar; Yasushi Nakamura, bass) will engage 60 students at Asheville, NC highschool for masterclasses/rehearsals. Two performances for 6000 attendees will take place at the Lake Eden Arts Festival in Black Mountain, NC. These communal activities will culminate in an album recording.
Craig S. Harris
New York, NY
Grant Amount: $40,000
Residency Location(s): Harlem, NY
Harris and his Harlem Nightsongs Ensemble will enhance his long standing residency at Mount Calvary Baptist Church, Harlem. In the tradition of Charles Mingus and Sam Rivers, young musicians are invited to sub for elders. The public is invited to free afternoon rehearsals and evening performances. Pre-show talks on social issues occur with invited speakers.
Elio Villafranca
Bronx, NY
Grant Amount: $40,000
Residency Location(s): Springfield, MA
To bring the 10-piece Jass Syncopators to Sonido Musica and String Village students in Springfield, MA for a residency centering on the Yoruba and Arara cultures intersections with jazz. Music will be recorded for final video presentation, in-person and streamed.
Fabian Almazan
New York City, NY
Grant Amount: $40,000
Residency Location(s): Miami, FL; Dallas, TX
Cuban émigré pianist Almazan will interview residents of the Sacrifice Zones ("Black Snow", Ocala FL, etc.) and compose music for trio to include bassist, Linda May Han Oh and drummer, Henry Cole. Collaborators are visual stage light/sculptor Andrew Scott and international speaker, Dr. Mustafa Santiago Ali, produced in partnership with Live Arts Miami.
Gordon "Ches" Smith
Brooklyn, NY
Grant Amount: $33,030
Residency Location(s): New York, NY; Yorktown, VA
"We All Break" ensemble is an exploration for Smith's continued immersion in the tanbou (Haitian traditional drum). Project will expand the band's palette of drumming and strengthen vocal work inspired by Port-au-Prince style drumming. Three intensive workshops with drum master will take place in Newport News, VA and Brooklyn.
Immanuel Wilkins
Brooklyn, NY
Grant Amount: $39,975
Residency Location(s): Philadelphia, PA
Great Philadelphia legend, Odean Pope has mentored most of the city's music scene's emerging voices. One protege, Wilkins, coupled with Pope will produce a new "bespoke" ensemble in partnership with Ars Nova and provide community exploratory workshops. The residency will be documented.
jaimie branch
New York, NY
Grant Amount: $40,000
Residency Location(s): New York, NY
FLY OR DIE's jaimie branch (with cellist, Lester St. Louis; bassist, Jason Ajemian; and drummer, Chad Taylor) will develop new music and visual work that is directly related to Red Hook (Brooklyn). Outdoor rehearsals, open studios and concerts will occur with partners, 360 Record Shop, Erin Basie Pier and the Red Hook Art Project and Houses (NYC Housing Authority). Funds allow a highly professional recording process to follow which also enables branch's full ownership of the master recordings.
Jason Moran
New York, NY
Grant Amount: $32,500
Residency Location(s): New York, NY & Northridge, CA
Moran's composition will tie together multi-disciplinary components to re-create and premiere the lost Martha Graham piece, "Canticle". In partnership with the Nazarian Center for the Performing Arts, Moran and the Martha Graham Dance Company will collaborate with noted choreographers exploring street dance and dance rooted in Afro-Caribbean, Taiwanese and Lebanese perspectives. The work will premiere at The Soraya in March 2022.
M3 Musicians LLC (Mutual Mentorship for Musicians - Jen Shyu & Sara Serpa, co-founders)
New York City, NY
Grant Amount: $40,000
Residency Location(s): New York, NY
Mutual Mentorship for Musicians, a 26-member cohort led by Jen Shyu and Sara Serpa, has commissioned 24 women, non-binary, BIPOC members to create work during a 10-day residency w/video screenings, 24 performances over 2 nights, 12 workshops, symposiums, and action panels in partnership with the Winter Jazz Fest (NY) in multiple locations (The New School, Nublu, Berklee Power Station, middle schools in Brooklyn).
Magos Herrera
New York, NY
Grant Amount: $39,929
Residency Location(s): New York, NY
"Tropical'' residency for Mexican-born Herrera's quartet to record (audio and video) her new music with The Knights Orchestra. Music includes Latin-American and jazz gems and some original previously written pieces through a Chamber Music America New Jazz Works grant. Herrera now has the opportunity to afford orchestral artists fees for rehearsals and recording.
Meg Okura
Bronx, NY
Grant Amount: $40,000
Residency Location(s): New York, NY
The Pan Asian Chamber Jazz Ensemble will perform and record music in conjunction with community conversations at Temple Israel, NY. A panel, moderated by an equity and inclusion strategist and using the experiential interactive platform Mentimeter will precede a 75 minute live/streamed concert.
Melvin Gibbs
Brooklyn, NY
Grant Amount: $40,000
Residency Location(s): New York, NY Los Angeles, CA
The Harriet Tubman band will write, perform and record new work with the Los Angeles-based hip-hop/jazz artist Georgia Anne Muldrow. The new music and process will be professionally recorded and documented.
Michele Rosewoman
New York, NY
Grant Amount: $40,000
Residency Location(s): New York, NY
With support from partnering organizations, Michele Rosewoman will curate a program that explores junctions of contemporary jazz and Cuban cultural traditions, featuring her New Yor-Uba ensemble joined by Francisco Mora Catlett's Afro Horn and Roman Diaz's Rumba Ensemble for a live performance through Arts for Art (NYC) to be filmed for a HotHouseGlobal online national Cuban TV (and international) broadcast that will include a HotHouse roundtable reunion and community engagement partner Habana/Harlem (NYC) panels/interviews.
Miles Okazaki
Brooklyn, NY
Grant Amount: $30,900
Residency Location(s): Brooklyn, NY
Trickster (with Matt Mitchell, Sean Rickman, Anthony Tidd) will develop and perform music from recent albums that was unseen by the public due to cancelled tours. The band will perform the new work at SEEDS (Brooklyn) and publicize free afternoon concerts for the public and young musicians not able to participate in formal jazz education.
Nasheet Waits
New York, NY
Grant Amount: $40,000
Residency Location(s): Jackson, MS NC
WeUpReUp (Waits, Eric Revis and JD Allen) is a manifesto/forum to promote Black music to Black students/young adults. Project director Maya Cunningham of DuBois Black Music Project at UMass-Amherst and artists will partner in the South with North Carolina Central University, Jazz Studies Department; Visit Jackson Mississsippi Tourism; Godbolt Consultant; Tougalou College; Jackson State University. Offerings include masterclasses and two Black Music Symposiums on African-American identity in jazz and the music/activism of master Max Roach. The band will perform at the Jackson Visitors Center and the Mississippi Museum of Art.
Nona Hendryx
New York City, NY
Grant Amount: $39,395
Residency Location(s): NY Cambridge, MA
Hendryx (with percussionist, Will Calhoun and keyboardist Etienne Stadwijk) is commissioned by Central Square Theater (MA) to create music for a new play, "Young Nerds of Color". She will also write a stand-alone suite of compositions inspired by the project.
Ronnie Burrage
Brooklyn, NY
Grant Amount: $31,550
Residency Location(s): Brooklyn & Old Westbury, NY; St. Louis, MO
Burrage and the Holographic Principle revisit St. Louis roots for week-long residencies in partnership w/ Walt Whitman Theater Brooklyn College PAC, the ZACK at Kranzberg Arts Center in St. Louis, and SUNY-Old Westbury. New music/e-book/and multi-disciplinary work will be produced based on music as a social justice tool, source of healing, and community grounding. Workshops will culminate in performances.
Naima Lowe
Tulsa, OK
Grant Amount: $40,000
Residency Location(s): Multiple
Artists travel the South researching all-black towns from OK to SC; residency culminates in a music creation workshop with 4-5 in residency in Bamberg, SC
Jamaaladeen Tacuma
Philadelphia, PA
Grant Amount: $40,000
Residency Location(s): Whiteville, NC
To return to his family's hometown of Whiteville, NC and create a new work space in a former church for new work development informed by elders and local community leaders. Multi-generational social gatherings and performances will be documented at potential sites such as The Chef & The Frog restaurant, and other locations in the surrounding area.
Orrin Evans
Philadelphia, PA
Grant Amount: $40,000
Residency Location(s): DC PA NJ
Evans will bring his Captain Black Big Band to the DC Jazz Festival and promote a musical/cultural exchange between DC and Philadelphia. Evans will emphasize the big band as a cohesive small ensemble, provide big band workshops, and premiere the new work inspired by the residency with the participation of many DC artists.
William Cepeda
Loiza, PR
Grant Amount: $40,000
Residency Location(s): PR
Cepeda will create the 20-pc Big Band Jazz Orchestra of Puerto Rico to integrate Puerto Rican folkloric genres into the contemporary jazz big band format. Partnering with the Institute of Puerto Rican Culture, Old San Juan Heritage Foundation, Municipality of Loiza and the Ponce Art Museum, performances and recordings will take place throughout multiple locations.
Gregory Tardy
Knoxville, TN
Grant Amount: $39,665
Residency Location(s): Knoxville, TN
Tardy will develop, rehearse and perform new work with a large ensemble based on the novel, "Pilgrim's Progress" also involving the Knoxville Jazz Orchestra. Open rehearsals will take place at the West Park Baptists Church. Performances will take place at the Cumberland County Playhouse in rural Crossville and culminate with a video recording for the East Tennessee PBS affiliated Live at Lucille's.
Lisa E. Harris
Houston, TX
Grant Amount: $40,000
Residency Location(s): Dallas, TX
With partner Ballroom Marfa, this residency is focused on the society culture of segregated Dallas, TX, and will allow for creation of a sonic and visual expression of the Dream Album with the ensemble.
Kip Hanrahan
Reston, VA
Grant Amount: $40,000
Residency Location(s): Brooklyn NY
Write and record next two volumes of artist's "A Thousand Nights" work which became known as the Arabian Nights, in the mid-1980’s and produced three recordings. The newly assembled large ensemble includes some of today's most notable Latin jazz artists and will also include vocalists Carmen Lundy and Xiomara Laugart. Author Ishmael Reed will contribute lyrics for three of the songs.
Amy Denio, representing the Tiptons Sax Quartet, LLC
Seattle, WA
Grant Amount: $40,000
Residency Location(s): Seattle, WA
The Tiptons Sax Quartet with duo Correo Aereo and virtual reality artist/technologist, queer Asian-American Jude Dai will collaborate on new work performance and recording in partnership with Earshot Jazz Festival, Chief Sealth High School, and the Seattle Composer Alliance.
Johnaye Kendrick
Tacoma, WA
Grant Amount: $39,925
Residency Location(s): Joshua Tree, CA
To retrofit a Joshua Tree vacation rental into a sanctuary-esque recording studio where Johnaye Kendrick and vocal collective, säje (Kendrick, Sara Gazarek, Amanda Taylor, Erin Bentlage) will record and edit the vocal arrangements for their debut album. During the two week residency, säje will offer end-of-day live-streamed/communal breakdowns of daily creative progress. The final recording will feature luminaries such as Terri Lyne Carrington, Jacob Collier, Ambrose Akinmusire and Gerald Clayton, and is set to be released in the Spring of 2022.
Julia Keefe
Spokane, WA
Grant Amount: $40,000
Residency Location(s): Olympia, WA
Creating new music for all-indigenous big band, the Native American Big Band, Keefe will involve tribal leaders in the region and connect communities with a link to the rich history of Native Americans in Jazz. The debut performance will take place at The Washington Center for the Performing Arts and include professional videography.