Douglas Ewart

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Douglas R. Ewart (* 1946 in Kingston , Jamaica ) is an American jazz multi-instrumentalist ( flutes , saxophones , clarinets , bassoon , didgeridoo , percussion , rainmaker , vocals ), composer , music teacher and instrument maker .

Live and act

As a child, Douglas Ewart developed a passion for mobiles and self-made musical instruments such as bamboo flutes and hand drums . In 1963 he emigrated to the United States and completed an apprenticeship as a tailor until 1967, after which he studied music theory , composition , saxophone and clarinet at the AACM music school . His teachers included Muhal Richard Abrams , Roscoe Mitchell and Joseph Jarman , who became important mentors for his musical development. Ewart, who later became chairman of the AACM and music teacher at its facilities, taught a.o. a. also at the Contemporary Art Center (New Orleans), the School of the Art Institute of Chicago , the Field Museum of Natural History (Chicago), the DuSable Museum of African-American Art (Chicago), the University of Illinois , Norfolk State University and at the National Museum of American History in Washington, DC.

He kicked u. a. with Muhal Richard Abrams, George Lewis , Anthony Braxton , Henry Threadgill , Mwata Bowden and Wadada Leo Smith . Ewart founded his label Arawak Records in 1983 , on which his albums Red Hills , Banboo Meditations at Banff and the suite Bamboo Forest appeared. In 1987 Ewart was awarded the Creative Arts Fellowship of the Japan-US Friendship Commission and received a scholarship to study the construction and playing of the Shakuhachi flute in Japan for a year .

His compositions Red Hills and Migration of Whales were performed by a clarinet ensemble made up of Don Byron , Anthony Braxton, Edward Wilkerson , Roscoe Mitchell and Henry Threadgill. His composition Ewartology follows the spiritual tradition of Charles Mingus ' Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting . He has also worked on recordings by Chico Freeman ( Morning Prayer , 1976), George Lewis ( Shadowgraph 5 , 1977), Dennis González ( Namesake , 1987) and Roscoe Mitchell (1978).

In 2019 he was awarded the Musgrave Medal in Silver.

Discographic notes

  • George Lewis / Douglas Ewart - Jila - Save! Mon - The Imaginary Suite ( Black Saint , 1979)
  • Douglas Ewart and Inventions Clarinet Choir - Angles Of Entrance (Arawak, 1998)
  • Douglas Ewart - Songs of Sunlife. Inside The Didjeridu (Innova Recordings, 2003), with Adam Lane and Stephen Goldstein

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ William C. Banfield: Black notes: essays of a musician writing in a post-album age , p. 180 f.
personal data
SURNAME Ewart, Douglas
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ewart, Douglas R.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American jazz musician and instrument maker
DATE OF BIRTH 1946
PLACE OF BIRTH Kingston , Jamaica