Tickets price: 160 PLN
1st set Stephen McCraven African-American Heritage Ensemble
Stephen McCraven – drums
Ricky Ford – saxophone
Suleiman Hakim – saxophone
Florent Allirot – double bass
Lamine Sow – percussion instruments
Dominik Wania – piano
photo: press materials
Stephen McCraven started playing drums in school bands at age 8 in Palo Alto, California. At 10, he moved to Hamden, CT and attened n New Haven, CT Jimmy Stavris Drum School. He studied at Berklee College of Music, Boston with Alan Dawson and went on to U.of Masssachusetts where he studied with Max Roach and Archie Shepp. Steve toured Europe with Marion Brown in 1977 and recorded on Marions album La Placita. Expatriating to Paris in 1978, he studied with Philly Jo Jones, Kenny Clarke, Oliver Johnson, and George Brown. Since 1988 Steve has been Archie Shepp’s drummer. He also works with David Murray and Piotr Wojtasik. Steve played with Sam Rivers for 10 years, as well with Yusef Lateef, Mal Waldron, Harold Ashby, Freddie Hubbard, Hank Crawford, Charles Tolliver, David “Fathed” Newman, Surgar Blue, Horace Parlan, Calvin Newborn, Micael Gregory, James Moody, Pee Wee Ellis, Benny Golson, Arthur Blythe, Michel Graillier, Jalal Nouridine (Last Peots), Kirk Lightsey, Walter Bishop,Jr., Billy Harper and others. Steve recorded 10 albums as a leader. He’s the father of Makaya McCraven.
photo credit: Philippe Cible
Ricky Ford was born in Boston and studied at the New England Conservatory. In 1974, he recorded with Gunther Schuller and then played in the Duke Ellington Orchestra under Mercer Ellington from 1974 to 1976. After this he played with Charles Mingus (1976–77), Dannie Richmond (1978–81), Lionel Hampton (1980–82), and then in the Mingus Dynasty (1982). He also played with Abdullah Ibrahim (1983–90) and Mal Waldron (1989–94), and has recorded with many other notable musicians including Yusef Lateef, Sonny Stitt, McCoy Tyner, Freddie Hubbard, Amina Claudine Myers, Sathima Bea Benjamin, Steve Lacy, and others. Ford has recorded extensively as a leader for Muse and Candid. He settled in Paris, France, in the 1990s. He taught at Istanbul Bilgi University from 2001 to 2006. In 2009 he founded the Toucy Jazz Festival in Yonne (France), and invited musicians including Rhoda Scott (2009) and Ravi Coltrane (2011).
photo: press materials
Suleiman Hakim is jazz artist, producer, composer. Musician and globetrotter Suleiman Hakim, native of Los Angeles, California, has performed in 70 countries around the world. Educated at the University of Massachusetts, this talented multi-instrumentalist and vocalist, is known for his original and unceasing thirst for growth and change in the world music movement but, always respecting and protecting the African-American tradition, his roots. Former student of Max Roach, at U-Mass at Amherst between 1974-1977, was counseled by Mr. Roach before offering him the opportunity to performed with him, in Chicago in 1976, leading to his first European tour. Suleiman was only twenty two years old. Having his opportunity to study with this great master who worked with Charlie Parker, Duke Ellington, and Clifford Brown, was the beginning of Suleiman’s International career!
photo: press materials
Florent Allirot is a 35 year old French doublebass player based in Paris. He started this instrument at 20 and quickly studied in Boulogne-Billancourt conservatory where he graduated both in Jazz and Classical music. In his professionnal career he plays and tours with great artists such as Stephen McCraven, Sulaiman Hakim, Ricky Ford, Ayad and Sary Khalifé and actively participates in projects in the Parisian Jazz scene.
photo: press materials
Lamine Sow was immersed in music and dance from an early age. He joined the Ballet Bougarabou in Senegal, created and directed by his father, first as a dancer and then as a percussionist. In 1990, he moved to Paris, France, where he continued to perform in shows such as Opéra Africa at the Opéra National de Paris and La Fête Africaine du Roi Lion at Disneyland Paris. His participation in the Black Ballad show with Archie Shepp and his encounter with jazz were a real musical turning point for him. From then on, he joined groups such as Carlos Ward Quintet, Touré Kunda, Differents Colours, Escape with Patrick Müller, Black Studies with Steve MacCraven.
photo: press materials
Dominik Wania began to gain recognition in the music market by playing alongside Tomasz Stańko. He received an invitation from the legendary jazzman right after graduating from the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. During his four-year collaboration with the trumpeter, in his band Wania met his next musical partner, saxophonist Maciej Obara, and he is still a member of his quartet. One of the most important Polish formations of recent years has allowed the pianist to develop his talent and launch an international career. With Obara’s band he has visited the best jazz halls and festivals in the world, and have recorded six albums, the last two of which are also in the ECM Records catalogue. Wania’s work is multi-faceted, as in addition to performing and recording in numerous jazz constellations, he also devotes himself to teaching at the academies in Cracow and Katowice, as well as to recording film music in collaboration with Zbigniew Preisner.
2nd set Makaya McCraven
Makaya McCraven – drums
Corey Wilkes – trumpet
Junius Paul – double bass
Matt Gold – guitar
photo credit: Sulyiman
The drummer, producer, and sonic collagist Makaya McCraven is currently one of Chicago’s most in-demand artists whose inventive process & intuitive, cinematic style defy categorization. Being deemed a true innovator McCraven brilliantly moves between genres and pushes the boundaries of jazz, electronica, composition and rhythm to create forms of his own.
His breakthrough album In the Moment was released with International Anthem Recording in January of 2015 and quickly seen as a dramatic statement by McCraven, where he debuted a unique brand of “organic beat music” that quickly launched him into the vanguard of not only Internationally-known jazz artists, but also a niche genre of next-wave composer-producers blurring the boundaries of jazz & electronic music. Following his impressive debut McCraven followed a string on incredible releases including 2018’s widely-popular Universal Beings (International Anthem) and We’re New Again, his rework of Gil Scott-Heron’s final album for XL Recordings. McCraven lastly released Deciphering the Message – a collection of 13 pieces from Blue Note Records extensive catalogue, rearranged and remixed with the new sound. The album was released in October 2021 on Blue Note Records.
In These Times is the new and seventh (!) album (released September 23, 2022) via the three-label collaboration of International Anthem, Nonesuch & XL Recordings. In These Times features several notable guest performances, including guitarist Jeff Parker, harpist Brandee Younger, and Ohmme’s Macie Stewart. Junius Paul, Marta Sofia Honer, and Lia Kohl are also among those joining the Chicago-based percussionist.
