Contact: Golda Solomon, 877-529-9528,
or gs@goldajazz.com
For immediate release
Poetry
in Partnership with Jazz
Xuba Trio marks the spot at Po’Jazz,
the one-of-a-kind jazz and poetry series, in its third Thursday evening of the
month slot on August 19th Downstairs at The Cornelia Street Café. The downstairs room opens at
Host
Golda Solomon, “The Medicine Woman
of Jazz,” is delighted to welcome Xuba Trio,
featuring Joe Exley
on tuba, Dawoud
on sitar, and William Ruiz on
percussion. Golda, who will have just returned from a pair of performances in
Xuba is an experimental free
form trio. In his quest to liberate the tuba from its oompah-roots, Joe Exley has reinvented
and harnessed this powerful brass beast – combining it with drums, organ and
various world instruments. He is joined
in this performance by William Ruiz with his crowd-pleasing tribal drum set and
12-tongued modern Log drum, and sitarist Dawoud, whose music has been described as “a soulful ignition of jazz rhythms and
blues infused with East Indian and African hypnotic sounds (Heather Covington, Disilgold Publications).
Po’Jazz is increasingly becoming “the place to be” every
third Thursday. Gladys Serrano of Mutable Music says, “Po’Jazz
at
This
performance is part of a third Thursday of the month poetry and jazz series at
The Cornelia Street Café programmed by ICAAN co-founder Golda Solomon in
association with JazzJaunts (www.jazzjaunts.com). Dedicated to the belief that the arts are
vital for tapping into processes needed for individual healing and community
building, ICAAN (Interactive Communication and Arts Network) provides on-site
arts programming to workplaces, schools and other organizations. For more information about ICAAN, call
877-529-9528 or visit www.icaan.biz.
The Café is located at
The Cornelia Street Café
poetry series is curated by Angelo Verga. The next
event in this series will be held on Thursday, September 16th, from 6 until 8.
Artist bios follow; e-mail info@icaan.biz for photos.
About
the Artists
Dawoud is a sitarist, guitarist, composer,
improviser, performer, and poet. He has formulated
an approach to music that employs elements of diverse music from India, Persia,
Africa, etc., both modern and ancient, within a context of jazz (especially
modal and free), blues, trance, hip hop, and other American forms, calling it
Mystic Jaz. Dawoud’s earliest musical influence was Jimi
Hendrix, later expanding his listening tastes to include jazz, fusion,
classical, blues, and Indian raga, and then seeking exclusivity in jazz and
eastern music. He has studied with Kelvyn Bell, Pat Martino, Jeff Slatnick
(Ravi Shankar, Ali Akbar Khan), and Dr. Yusef Lateef .
He has released 4 solo recordings, Life
Experience, Rainy Afternoon Meditation, Dawoud &
the New Culture Ensemble, and The Tao of Mystic Jaz. He recently finished recording two side
projects, a CD of poetry recited over electronic music, and one of experimental
electronic music, and his latest CD is nearing completion. Dawoud has composed
and directed music for several plays and films, produced radio and cable
television programs, written a textbook on music and a collection of poetry,
and taught music privately at the Harlem School of the Arts and at the Bronx
School of Music and Art. “Dawoud's sitar
was a revelation” (Benoir, World Beat Jazz Newsletter). For more information
on Dawoud, visit www.mysticjaz.com.
Joe Exley tried the
violin, clarinet, oboe, bassoon, and saxophone before finding his musical voice
at age 15 in the tuba. Always searching for ways to fit the tuba into situations
where it might not normally be found led Joe to combine the tuba with electrification
and slightly altered technique, melding it into a completely viable, acceptable,
non-comedic, accessible commercial instrument that fits naturally into a talented
rhythm section or as an interesting solo instrument. An unexpected “sit-in” with with drummer Paul Wertico and his
band opened up Joe’s ears and mind to endless possibilities, and gave him a
glimpse of what he wanted the tuba to be.
While attending graduate school at
William Ruiz, percussion, is one of
today's most talented modern improvisational world music artists. Based in NYC, this young spirited Native
American (Taino) and Spanish Puerto Rican artist is
the creative force behind a unique blend of improvisational world tribal percussion
sounds. His tribal drum set and the 12
tongue modern Log drum are guaranteed crowd pleasers. Ruiz’s music can be found on many independent
film soundtracks and commercials, including the 2003 documentary, Pieces of Courage / In Search of
My Cultural Heroes, featuring John Leguizamo. He was
interviewed by CNN in 2002 about his efforts toward preserving the music of indigenous tribes, and performed
live on Diplomatic License. He has two recordings, In New York, featuring his Gray Wolf
Ensemble, and Live At
Cipriani, featuring his Brown Bear Trio. Upcoming projects include a solo recording,
produced by Amira Ruiz, a duo recording with Puerto Rican composer, trombonist, and
percussionist William Cepeda, and a recording with Grupo Afro Boricua, produced by
William Cepeda. For more information, visit www.williamruiz.net.
Golda Solomon, “the medicine woman of jazz,” is a professor of
communications, speech, and theater arts; a poet, performer, producer, and
docent; a supporter of women musicians as well as young musicians, poets, and
performers. She was project director of Po’Jazz at The Hudson Valley Writers’ Center for four
years, and co-founded the brooklyn
poetry choir. Golda has pioneered
several unique businesses including JazzJaunts, a personalized jazz service, and, with Barbara Sfraga, ICAAN (Interactive Communication and Arts Network),
which provides innovative, on-site, organization-specific arts programming to
workplaces, schools, and other organizations. Golda has a collection of poetry, Flatbush Cowgirl, published in 1999, for which
she co-produced a companion CD, First Set.
She also co-produced the CD Po’Jazz: Takin’ It To The Hollow, which includes over 20 poets and
musicians. In 2002, Golda's poetry won
first prize at the Writer's Workshop in