Tenor saxophonist Ricky Ford studied at the New England Conservatory, with, among others, Gunther Schuller and Ran Blake; while still in his early 20s, he toured with both the Duke Ellington Orchestra (under Mercer Ellington's leadership) and Charles Mingus. By the 1980s, he was considered one of the leading tenor saxophonists of his generation. He worked with Dannie Richmond's Quintet, Lionel Hampton, Mal Waldron, Beaver Harris and Abdullah Ibrahim’s Ekaya, and also more than a dozen albums as a leader. He has lived in France since the 1990s.
Thurman Barker Grew up in Chicago in the 1950s, Thurman Barker was exposed to the city’s rich musical heritage, regularly hearing R&B, doo-wop, soul, jazz, and blues. Accordingly, he began his professional career at age 17 by anchoring the rhythm section for blues legend Mighty Joe Young. He then attended the American Conservatory of Music and later Roosevelt University, where he received classical training. While serving as percussionist for the city’s Shubert Theatre throughout much of the 1960s, Barker played for numerous national touring productions, including Hair, The Wiz, Grease, One Mo’ Time, and Ain’t Misbehavin’. A versatile drummer and percussionist, he also performed with singers Billy Eckstine, Marvin Gaye, Bette Midler, and Vicki Carr, and worked with classical groups like the Chicago Chamber Players and the New York City Opera. Perhaps Barker’s most notable musical experience has been with the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), an organization founded in the 1960s to promote innovative music and its players. A charter member of the group, Barker first appeared in AACM productions with Joseph Jarman’s pioneering ensemble. He then went on to play with many other members, including Muhal Richard Abrams, Amina Claudine Meyers, Anthony Braxton, Leroy Jenkins, Roscoe Mitchell, and Henry Threadgill. In the 1970s and ’80s, after moving to New York, Barker worked with jazz giants Cecil Taylor, Sam Rivers and Billy Bang, touring with their groups and recording numerous albums with them. Most recently, he has performed with trombonist and composer George Lewis at the Festival International Musique Actuelle in Victoriaville, Quebec. Since creating Uptee Records in the late 1980s, Barker has released five recordings as a leader, including Voyage (1987), The Way I Hear It (1999), Time Factor (2001), Strike Force (2004), and Rediscovered (2008). In 1994, his work “Dialogue,” commissioned by Mutable Music, premiered at Merkin Concert Hall in New York City. The Woodstock Chamber Orchestra premiered Barker’s chamber piece “Expansions” in May 1999, and that same year he became a lecturer at Smolny University in St. Petersburg, Russia. Barker has taught jazz history and performance at Bard College since 1993. Through his efforts to develop the program, he was appointed professor of jazz studies in June 2016.
Tony Marino has been playing the bass, that is acoustic and electric, since he was in high school when he switched from guitar so that he might participate in the music curriculum.
Soon after, he started his professional music career as the house bass player at clubs and resorts in the Pocono and Catskill Mountains providing back-up to a myriad of well-known entertainers. Since then, he has toured internationally with the Dave Liebman Band. He also has played several times at SUNY Orange with the Chris Parker Quartet and Septet. In addition, he is the bass in the String Trio of New York. Recently, he recorded CDs with The Kaleidoscope Quintet with world-renowned saxophonist Joe Lovano, and with Expansions, Dave Liebman’s Quintet, which performed at Dizzys in NYC.
Marino’s versatility and wide range of musicality has afforded him opportunities to accompany and record with numerous artists from jazz to folk to pop. The bass is a part of his being. When he is playing, Marino and his bass are one and the instrument is his voice.
John Kordalewski is the leader, arranger and pianist for the Makanda Project, a 13-piece group performing previously unrecorded Makanda Ken McIntyre compositions. He has performed with musicians such as Charlie Rouse, Cab Calloway, Julius Hemphill, Odean Pope, Ricky Ford, Carl Grubbs, Webster Young, Byard Lancaster and Oliver Lake. For many years, he led a trio featuring Boston drummer Bobby Ward. He has conducted clinics and workshops at many colleges and universities, most recently at the University of KwaZulu Natal in Durban, South Africa, where his arrangements of compositions by pianist Ndikho Xaba and trumpeter Feya Faku have been performed. He is also currently collaborating with saxophonist Chico Freeman, writing first-ever big band arrangements of Freeman’s compositions.
Tickets: $30
