Recipient Information
Location
Northfield, Massachusetts
Year of Award
2021
Grant or Fellowship
Jazz Road Creative Residencies Grant
Grant Amount
$31,516
About the Project
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.
Residency Location
Northfield, Turners Falls, and Northampton, MA
About the Artist
I began violin study at age 7, attended the H.S. of Music & Art in NYC, went to college at age 16 & studied in Beirut, Lebanon for 2 years (Beirut College for Women). After 15 years of Classical, New Song, Folk, and Charanga, I became a protégé of the Free Jazz movement touring, performing & recording w/ Archie Shepp, Leroy Jenkins, Marion Brown, John Carter, Lawrence “Butch” Morris, Andrew Cyrille, Elliot Sharp, Billy Bang, Henry Threadgill. I studied voice w/ famed Edward Boatner (Sonny Stitt’s father), who also coached Josephine Baker, Dinah Washington, Jon Lucien, others. Associations with Yusef Lateef & Ornette Coleman shaped my philosophy toward sound & career choices emphasizing musical autonomy.
Performances as leader & side-musician include New Music America (California and Milwaukee), Moors Festival (Germany), New Works Festival (Sao Paulo, Brazil), Carnegie Recital Hall, Frankfurt Jazz Festival (Germany), Nancy Jazz Festival (France), Montreal Jazz Festival (Canada), District Six Museum (South Africa), International Gospel Festival (Nova Scotia), National Theaters (Albania, Kosovo, Macedonia), various international colleges, universities, prominent national arts venues: Roulette Intermedia, Vision Festival, Real Artways, The Kitchen, others.
Recordings: Archie Shepp; Marion Brown; Dr. Umezu Band; Helios String Quartet; Leroy Jenkins; 4 records with John Carter; 4 records under my own name.
Awards & Grants: MA Cultural Council (composition, 2021); New England Foundation for the Arts (composition, 1993); Musician Deserving Wider Recognition in the Downbeat Magazine Critics' Poll (1989-92); National Endowment for the Arts (performance 1985 & composition, 1981); Barbara Deming Money for Women Fund (1984)
Arts-related extra musical achievements:
1994, Doctorate in Education (Improvisation & Arts for Change); 2010, Leader Certification from Amherst Writers & Artists. Over past 30 years as professor in university graduate programs (Lesley University; U. of Massachusetts) & undergraduate (Hampshire College; Antioch College; Goddard College) & concurrently as arts manager (director of Augusta Savage Art Gallery, UMass), my publications on improvisation as methodology are recognized & referenced by scholars. Received commissions from Smithsonian Institute for my fiber sculptures. Conducted trainings abroad focused on role of improvised music, writing, and visual art for resolving conflict (India, Mexico, Israel, South Africa).