Rashid Bakr (musician)
Rashid Bakr (actually Charles Downs; born October 3, 1943 in Chicago ) is an American drummer of free and creative jazz .
Live and act
Rashid Bakr grew up in the Bronx, New York . Under the influence of the music of John Coltrane , he decided to become a musician, especially since an uncle was the swing drummer Jo Jones . As a child, Bakr met Art Blakey and Max Roach when they were visiting the family; from Roach he got his first drumsticks. Later role models were the drummers Andrew Cyrille , Elvin Jones , Sunny Murray and Milford Graves , but also Kenny Clarke and later Tony Williams . Rashid Bakr attended Queens College, studied chemistry and psychology, and graduated from Brooklyn College's School of Clinical Psychology .
After college and military service, the saxophonist Bobby Zankel made the acquaintance of Cecil Taylor , whose big band Bakr joined in 1973; at the time he performed two concerts with Taylor, at Columbia University and another at Carnegie Hall . The band also played bassist William Parker , who put him in touch with Jemeel Moondoc , who had worked in New York since 1976; Rashid Bakr then played in his ensemble Muntu until 1981 , with whom he recorded five albums. In the early 1980s, Bakr also played with Billy Bang , Roy Campbell , Raphe Malik , David Murray , David S. Ware , Frank Wright . In 1981 he worked again with Cecil Taylor and performed with Jimmy Lyons and William Parker in Europe.
After returning to New York, Bakr worked full-time as a social worker in the Lighthouse facility for the blind and founded the formation Other Dimensions in Music in the early 1980s with William Parker, Roy Campbell and the saxophonist / flutist Daniel Carter . In 1983 Bakr performed with the Cecil Taylor Unit on another European tour in Germany; In 1984 he worked on Cecil Taylor's album Winged Serpent (Sliding Quadrants) ( Soul Note ), on which Bakr can also be heard as a singer. In 1993 Bakr worked again with the pianist on his FMP album Always a Pleasure with Sirone , Tristan Honsinger and Charles Gayle .
In 1996 Bakr played in a trio with Parker and saxophonist Frode Gjerstad ( Seeing New York from the Ear on Cadence Jazz Records ); 1998 in a trio with saxophonist Glenn Spearman and pianist Matthew Goodheart ( First and Last on Eremite). He also worked with Arthur Doyle , Charles Gayle , Ras Moshe , and with Thomas Borgmann , Peter Brötzmann (The Cooler Suite).
Discographic notes
- Rashid Bakr Quintet - Earth Native (Majic Records, 2001)
literature
- Bielefeld catalog 1988 & 2002.
- Richard Cook , Brian Morton : The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD . 6th edition. Penguin, London 2002, ISBN 0-14-051521-6 .
Web links
- Biography at AUM Fidelity
- biographical references at hallwalls.org
- Other Dimensions in Music
- Biography at jazzword.com
Individual evidence
personal data | |
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SURNAME | Bakr, Rashid |
ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Downs, Charles (real name) |
BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American free and creative jazz drummer |
DATE OF BIRTH | October 3, 1943 |
PLACE OF BIRTH | Chicago |