BPC Personnel

Tyrone Henderson (co-founder and conductor) has just released a new CD Not So Unusual Blues featuring the late Fred Hopkins. Henderson has performed everywhere in New York and just about everywhere else. He has taught poetry workshops to people of all ages and will perform a "cyberpiece" he has co-written called The Technophobe and the Madman this month.

Golda Solomon (co-founder) is a college professor, poet, jazz docent and director of Po'Jazz, a live performance series which features spoken word with improvised jazz. Solomon's chapbook Flatbush Cowgirl was published in 1999. A forthcoming CD will be available later this year.

Gha'il Rhodes Benjamin is a poet, actress, storyteller and singer. The Detroit native currently resides in Brooklyn and teaches and performs throughout the tri-state area. Gha'il states: "It is a blessing to be part of the group of phenomenal writers (BPC). Within our writing family there is both nurturing, honest and freedom to be myself... Our words harmonize with our lives."

Quimetta Perle, co-writer of the Technophobe and the Madman is a multimedia artist. Creating images, writing stories and poems have been her passion since childhood. In addition to teaching at the Pratt Institute, she created PerleThings, a narrative work in CD-ROM form, and Demon Slayer an artist book. Her work is featured in the Digital Salon which is currently touring Europe.

Elizabeth Conrad Dispenza has recently returned to writing poetry as craft after writing and producing television projects. She has studied with Donald Justice and Carol Frost. She is currently the program assistant with the Jazz Studies Program at William Paterson College. She is delighted to have crossed paths with such stellar names in the jazz community as Rufus Reid, Don Braden and Stanley Turrentine.

Joe Exley (music director) tubist, has been recorded on television news themes, albums of rock and jazz, and has performed with many orchestras and bands in just about every type of music imaginable. Some of his credits include performing with William Russo and the Chicago Jazz Ensemble, the Chicago Jazz Orchestra and the Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra. Joe has been an Artist-in-Residence at the Bravo! Colorado Vail Valley Music Festival and the Birch Creek Performance Center.

Tom Aalfs violinist, composer and arranger, is a featured soloist on Etta Jones' and Houston Person's two recent CDs and has performed at many New York City venues including the Blue Note, Sweet Basil, Birdland, and the Museum of Modern Art. He has been with Po' Jazz at the Center since the series' inception. His new CD, Group 15, all Thelonius Monk compositions, was recorded with Jay Leonhart on bass and Peter Bernstein on guitar and is now available.

J.D. Parran multi-reedist, has recently released his first CD as a leader, JD Parran & Spirit Stage. His studio credits include recordings with Stevie Wonder and John Lennon. For fifteen years, he was a member of New Winds with Robert Dick and Ned Rothenberg, and is a longtime member of Anthony Davis' Episteme ensemble. In recent years he has worked with Shirley LeFlore, producing works such as Proclivity, which was written for and premiered by Don Byron's chamber ensemble Semaphore. He currently performs and records with Anthony Braxton's ensembles.

Ray Turull percussionist, was born in New York City's Spanish Harlem. By the age of 14 Ray was already out playing the club circuit; he is an all around percussionist, at home as much with congas as he is with bongos, timbales and many other percussion instruments. He has worked with such artists as the great pianist Hector Martinon, Edsel Gomez, Hector Lavoe, Charlie Palmieri, Dave Valentin and others. He has appeared, among other places, at Lincoln Center, Madison Square Garden, The Village Gate and The Cheetah Night Club.