Akua Dixon

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Akua Patricia Dixon (Turre) (born July 14, 1948 in New York City ) is an American cellist, singer and composer who has emerged not only in classical but also in avant-garde jazz .

Live and act

Dixon comes from a musical family. Together with her sister, the violinist Gayle Dixon , after studying classical music, she founded the string quartet Quartette Indigo in 1972 , which accompanied Carmen McRae , James Blood Ulmer and Dizzy Gillespie ( Winter in Lisbon ) on albums . She also worked frequently with the Brooklyn Philharmonic . During the 1970s she taught cello and singing in Harlem Schools and the New Muse Community Museum in Brooklyn.

She performed with Duke Ellington , was a member of Lisle Atkinson's neo-bass ensemble, and wrote arrangements for Lauryn Hill and Aretha Franklin . She was often involved in productions by Steve Turre , with whom she was married from 1978 to 2012 and has two children. In 1989 she wrote The Opera of Mary Laveau together with Aishah Rahman . Dixon was involved in 58 recordings in the field of jazz between 1972 and 2016; she is on albums by Archie Shepp , Chico Hamilton , Woody Shaw , Henry Threadgill ( Lost in the Stars: The Music of Kurt Weill , 1985), Don Cherry , Charles Tolliver , Dom Um Romao , Buster Williams , Judi Silvano , David Byrne , Jackie Cain & Roy Kral , Monday Michiru , Betty Carter ( The Music Never Stops ) or James Carter .

In 2009/10 Akua Dixon played her debut album Moving On with Ron Jackson (guitar), Dwayne Burno and Willie Jones, III ; In 2014 she presented a self-titled album on which u. a. Kenny Davis and Regina Carter and their children Orion and Andromeda Turre had participated; The album Akua's Dance followed in 2017 (with Freddie Bryant , Russell Malone , Kenny Davis, Ron Carter and Victor Lewis, among others ). 2017 she was at the JJA awards the Jazz Journalists Association in the category jazz violinist nominated.

Discographic notes

  • Quartets Indigo Africa! Africa! (1997)
  • Akua Dixon (2015, with John Blake Jr. , Regina Carter , Kenny Davis , Patrisa Tomassini, Ina Paris, Gwen Laster, Chala Yancy, Andromeda Turre, Orion Turre).

literature

  • Leslie Gourse Madame Jazz. Contemporary Women Instrumentalists . Oxford University Press, 1995

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ D. Antoinette Handy Black Women in American Bands and Orchestras 1998, p. 127
  2. ^ Maurice Edwards How Music Grew in Brooklyn: A Biography of the Brooklyn Philharmonic Orchestra , 2006, p. 181
  3. ^ D. Antoinette Handy Black Women in American Bands and Orchestras 1998, p. 128
  4. ↑ Elizabeth Ann Beaulieu Writing African American Women: KZ , 2006, p. 747
  5. ↑ Tom Lord : The Jazz Discography (online, accessed November 30, 2017)
personal data
SURNAME Dixon, Akua
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Dixon Turre, Akua Patricia (married between 1978 and 2012)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American cellist and singer
DATE OF BIRTH July 14, 1948
PLACE OF BIRTH New York City