ALTHEA RENÉ
Born on December 25th in Detroit, Michigan Althea René began her musical journey at the tender age of four. She studied classical music while attending Howard University. She gained musical inspiration from her father Dezie McCullers (one of Motown’s original Funk Brothers). She has since developed her own creative style. Some regard her as a “master of her craft” and one of the world’s most exciting solo improvisational flutists. The multi-platinum and Grammy-nominated saxophonist Najee playfully refers to her as the “Maceo of the flute”.
With a passionate mission to mentor women in the entertainment industry, Althea René authored an autobiography entitled “Becoming Chocolate Barbie – a guide for professional women in the music business” in June 2018. The book was written in an interview format so that readers may easily use it as a reference resource. Women who aspire for a life in business can appreciate the insights she shares.
Althea René gained musical inspiration from her father Dezie McCullers (one of Motown’s original Funk Brothers). She has since developed her own creative style. Some regard her as a “master of her craft” and one of the world’s most exciting solo improvisational flautists. The multi-platinum and Grammy-nominated saxophonist Najee playfully refers to her as the “Maceo of the flute”.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Arthur Doyle was born June 26, 1944 in Birmingham, Alabama and was inspired to play music as a child after watching Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington on television. During his high school years, he began listening to Miles Davis, John Coltrane and Sonny Rollins, and picked up gigs as a saxophonist. While still a teenager, he played with saxophonist Otto Ford, trumpeter Walter Miller and in R&B and blues groups.
After graduating high school, Doyle attended Tennessee State University in Nashville, receiving a degree in Music Education. While there he played with trumpeter Louis Smith and singers Gladys Knight and Donny Hathaway. He briefly went to Detroit, Michigan to play with hard bop trumpeter Charles Moore. He gravitated toward free jazz after playing at a Black Panthers festival.
Moving to New York City in 1968, Doyle worked with Sun Ra and Bill Dixon, and met and befriended saxophonist Pharoah Sanders and guitarist Sonny Sharrock. The following year, he recorded with Noah Howard and while in the city he met drummer Milford Graves, who encouraged him to pursue his natural affinity for pure sound. In 1977 he recorded his debut album Alabama Feeling, his first as a leader. He began playing with guitarist Rudolph Grey, and in 1980 along with Grey and drummer Beaver Harris, they became known as The Blue Humans and recorded Live NY 1980.
At around this time, Arthur began struggling with anxiety issues, and moved to Endicott, New York, where he worked as a counselor. In 1981, he moved to Paris, France where he began an association with multi-instrumentalist Alan Silva and his Celestrial Communication Orchestra, and participated in the recording of the album Desert Mirage in 1982. The following year, while in France, he was accused of rape and imprisoned. Maintaining his innocence he was pardoned and released in 1988 and during his time in prison, he wrote over 150 songs and assembled what he called the Arthur Doyle Songbook.
In the early Nineties Doyle returned to the United States, moving back to Endicott, and restarted his involvement in music. He resumed his association with Grey, playing at CBGB and releasing Arthur Doyle Plays and Sings from the Songbook Volume One on Grey’s Audible Hiss label. Over the next decade, he played and recorded with drummers Hamid Drake, Sabu Toyozumi, and Sunny Murray, among others, and formed The Arthur Doyle Electro-Acoustic Ensemble.
Saxophonist, bass clarinetist, flutist, and vocalist Arthur Doyle, who was best known for playing what he called free jazz soul music, died on January 25, 2014 in his hometown.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Jan Leder was born May 19, 1958 and raised in New York City and pursued her love for improvisation after twelve years of studying classical music. She studied for three years with pianist Lennie Tristano and then continued her jazz studies with pianist Connie Crothers for over ten years. A self-styled course of study in jazz history at SUNY Purchase led to her compilation of the first comprehensive history of women in jazz titled Women in Jazz: A Discography of Instrumentalists 1913-1968.
In February 1997 Monad Records released her first recording, Passage To Freedom, which was recorded live at the Five Spot in New York City. In 1999 Jan recorded Nonchalant, a collection of mostly original melodies.
Ms. Leder leads her own jazz ensembles in the New York City area, appearing at nightclubs, festivals, cultural functions and other public and private engagements. Her repertoire includes standard bebop, swing, blues and bossa novas as well as her own unique jazz compositions and those of her musical colleagues, including drummer/big band leader Art Lillard, with whom Jan collaborated on numerous compositions, mostly writing lyrics to his catchy songs.
From 1987 to 2012 Jan was a member of the flute section in Art Lillard’s Heavenly Band. Jan was also a member of a group of jazz flutists called the NY Jazz Flutet that included Dotti Anita Taylor, Elise Wood, Michele Smith and Chip Shelton along with drummer Art Lillard.
She entertains at healthcare facilities, teaches workshops and seminars, plays at fundraisers and jazz festivals. She has toured around the world, and composed pop, r&b, theater and film music. Leder has worked with the 9th Street Stompers, a popular local jazz band, playing their unique variety of jazz styles in parades, street fairs and other venues.
Flutist Jan Leder, who is a writer and publisher member of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers and a member of the National Association of Music Publishers, continues to perform, compose and teach jazz improvisation.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
John Barnes was born in Manchester, England on May 15, 1932. He started out his career as a flügelhorn player in the early 1950s, and adapted his playing skills to the clarinet, an instrument he favored. He played traditional jazz with Alan Elsdon, The Mike Daniels’ Delta Jazzmen and also The Zenith Six.
In May 1964, after a bad car crash Barnes was replaced by Al Gay, until his full rehabilitation as a member of Alex Welsh band. He continued and extended his career musically from 1967 with the Scottish dixieland jazz trumpet and cornet player Alex Welsh and his Jazz Band, which lasted ten years until 1977.
He began playing alto, baritone, soprano saxophone and the flute. During this period he rose to fame in the jazz arena appearing at the Newport Jazz Festival aged 37 in 1969. His skills on baritone saxophone earned him a huge jazz fan base, some suggesting he was the best they had seen in Europe. After leaving Welsh, Barnes worked as co-leader, with trombonist Roy Williams of the Midnite Follies Orchestra, which included many American jazz artists.
John worked with Janet Jackson, Leo Sayer, Humphrey Lyttelton, Gerry Mulligan, Spike Robinson, Bobby Wellins and Keith Nichols. He considered Coleman Hawkins and Johnny Hodges to be his two main saxophone influences throughout his career.
In 2011, while on holiday in Greece, Barnes suffered a stroke. As a result of his stroke, a benefit concert was held for him the following year at the 100 Club in Oxford Street, London.
Saxophonist, clarinetist and flutist John Barnes died on April 18, 2022 at the age of 89.
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ALI RYERSON
Performing for nearly five decades, jazz flutist Ali Ryerson consistently ranks among the top flutists in the Downbeat poll. An international touring/recording artist, she’s released 15 albums including Brasil: Quiet Devotion.
The Hartford Currant wrote, “She is all about the music, she serves it, molds it, makes it her own. She is at the mercy of her instruments, which she plays with such amazing proficiency that you forget that she is not glued to them.”
Ali Ryerson Quartet featuring Ricardo Peixoto, Leco Reis & Nanny Assis
Two shows: 4:00pm & 6:00pm | Fees Apply
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