HarlemStage Presents THE FATS WALLER DANCE PARTY May 12-14

Presented in partnership with Center for Jazz Studies at Columbia University and the Columbia/Harlem Jazz Project

Four Performances!

Friday, May 13th; 9:00 pm & 11:00 pm

Saturday, May 14th; 9:00 pm & 11:00 pm

Description:

Aside from its regular nightly sets, Smalls was famous for its after hours jams and rent parties. Among the many artists Smalls hosted, Fats Waller was a regular who set the joint jumpin' with late night jams and rent parties. This tribute concert would look back at that legacy, the stride tradition and music for which Waller was a seminal figure and how it presents itself in the musical innovations of contemporary forms. Fats Waller is a recognized genius hailing from the stride piano tradition. He is noted for developing a unique piano technique and his prolific compositional history. This event is conceived as a dance party, a re-envisioning of the importance of moving to this music. In this event, Jason Moran and Meshell Ndegeocello will re-envision Waller's music to create a dance event that has a current feel but uses Waller's music. They will be joined by a 6-7 piece band. Moran's playing, composition and arrangement skills will shape the event while Ndegeocello, a master at creating an intimate and enticing connection to the audience through her bass playing and vocalizing, will take Waller's words and rework them to seem natural for today and get people to dance.

Harlem Stage has had a ten-year relationship with Moran and was the first arts organization to offer him a concert platform when he debuted as a bandleader in 1999. Since then, since then Harlem Stage has supportEd Moran in the field, worked with him no several projects, presented him and commissioned him with this work. Meshell Ndegeocello, is no stranger to Harlem Stage. She performed as an emerging artist in the 90s while Maverick Records scouted her in a performance at Aaron Davis Hall.

Featured Artists

Meshell Ndegeocello - vocals/bass

Jason Moran - piano

Mark Kelley - bass

Charles Haynes - drums

Lisa Harris - vocals

Leron Thomas - trumpet

Corey King - trombone

Artists Bios:

Jason Moran

Jason Moran, recent winner of a MacArthur "Genius" Award, is a pianist, composer, and bandleader who mines a variety of musical styles to create adventurous, genre-crossing jazz performances. Moran's signature corpus marries established classical, blues, and jazz techniques with the musical influences of his generation, including funk, hip-hop, and rock. On his solo piano album, Modernistic (2002), he explores the evolution of twentieth-century rhythmic techniques through his virtuosic execution of two-handed "stride" piano-a style used extensively by jazz artists in the 1920s-while Same Mother (2005) is a re-examination of the emotional and stylistic elements of the blues tradition. In original compositions for his ensemble, The Bandwagon, Moran uses the human voice as a starting point for melodic structure, translating speech patterns into a musical language through which the listener can reflect on the underlying connections between speech and music. More recently, Moran has collaborated with visual and performing artists and incorporated new technology in imaginative multimedia performances. His 2008 homage to Thelonious Monk, In My Mind: Monk at Town Hall, 1959, weaves together crafted and found audio and visual archival material and a reharmonization of the original big band arrangements, illustrating both Monk's contribution to the history of jazz as well as the enduring power of the musical form. Through reinterpretation of jazz standards and new compositions of his own, Moran is expanding the boundaries of jazz expression and playing a dynamic role in its evolution in the twenty-first century.

Jason Moran received a B.M. (1997) from the Manhattan School of Music. His additional recordings as a leader include Soundtrack to Human Motion (1999), The Bandwagon: Live at the Village Vanguard (2003), Artist in Residence (2006), and TEN (2010), among others. He joined the faculty of the New England Conservatory in 2010.

www.jasonmoran.com

Meshell Ndegeocello

Canonized, marginalized or just scrutinized, Meshell Ndegeocello has given up trying to explain herself. After 20 years in an industry that has called her everything from avant garde to a dying breed, what unquestionably remains is the fearsome bassist, prolific songwriter and the creativity and curiosity of an authentic musical force. With that, she has earned critical acclaim, the unfailing respect of fellow players, songwriters and composers, and the dedication of her diverse, unclassifiable fans.

Meshell Ndegeocello was born Michelle Johnson in Berlin, Germany and raised in Washington DC. By the early 90s, she had landed in New York armed with a demo recorded in her bedroom, joined the Black Rock Coalition, and was soon signed to Madonna's label. Her records, 8 to date, have offered lyrical ruminations on race, love, sex, betrayal, God, and power, and she has simultaneously embraced and challenged listeners with her refusal to be pigeon-holed musically or personally. Meshell has been both celebrated and berated for her politically charged lyrics, sexual boundary crossing, and for choosing the road less traveled - a winding adventure through her own musical ambitions rather than the industry formulas.

A vast array of influences have informed all of her albums, including Devil's Halo, and there are traces of her native go-go, hip hop, rock, R&B, new wave and punk in each. Each album has been a step away from the last, each used as a chance to investigate and integrate new sounds and ideas, and fans have been treated to everything from the deep-funk of Plantation Lullabies to the raw and confessional Bitter to the hip-hop loving Cookie. Possessed with instrumental gifts as diverse as her interests, Meshell composed, arranged and produced a jazz record in 2005.

A bass player above all else, Meshell brings her signature warm, fat, and melodic groove to everything she does and has appeared alongside the Rolling Stones, Madonna, Alanis Morrisette, James Blood Ulmer, The Blind Boys of Alabama, Tony Allen, John Medeski, Billy Preston, and Chaka Khan. As for her own bass-playing influences, she credits Sting, Jaco Pastorius, "Family Man" Barrett, and Stevie Wonder. Meshell was the first woman to be featured on the cover of Bass Player magazine and remains one of few women who lead the band and write the music.

Devil's Halo, Meshell's 8th album and her first for Mercer Street, harkens back to the way records used to be made: no click track or electronic synthetics, with a focus on musicianship and live band energy. Meshell feels that Devil's Halo represents a return to a place that she truly appreciates, music that is created and performed by people's hands. Produced by Meshell and guitarist Chris Bruce, and influenced by a wide breadth of sounds - from The Human League to Wu Tang to Yes - Devil's Halo displays Meshell's vocals and diversity throughout.

www.meshell.com

Presented with the Harlem Jazz Shrines. Presented in partnership with Center for Jazz Studies at Columbia & the Columbia/Harlem Jazz Project