Category Archives: NY Musicians

Recommended Event: WILL CONNELL MEMORIAL WEEK: Celebrating the Life & Music of the Heart & Soul of Downtown

Will ConnelText by NEW MASSES MEDIA RELATIONS/John Pietaro: (646) 599-0060 or newmassesmedia@gmail.com

Date: December 23, 26, 27, 28, 2014
Venue: The Stone (Ave C @ 2nd Street, New York, NY 10009, (212) 473-0043)
Ticket: $15
Genre: jazz/free jazz/improv

Will Connell‘s daughter, Safiya Martinez, and the musicians of WILL CONNELL MEMORIAL WEEK at the Stone would like to extend a warm invitation to all for this powerful event. Christmas week, DEC 23, 26, 27 & 28, downtown will celebrate the much-loved Connell, a force in creative music on both coasts over five decades. Will stood as an invaluable part of the original Horace Tapscott organization, a close comrade of the Black Arts Movement, groundbreaking voice of downtown Free Jazz and contemporary composition, and an elder statesman of the sounds of social change…

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Fred Ho left us…peace!

Photo courtesy of John Pietaro

Photo courtesy of John Pietaro

Text by John Pietaro

I was so very sorry to hear of Fred Ho’s passing. We had many contacts over the last couple of decades and shared performance and/or speaking engagements a few times. He was irascible and loved debates of any and every kind; he left NO prisoners! That energy allowed him to fight off this illness for so long. We last saw each other at the first Russell Maroon Shoats fundraiser at St Mary’s Church a couple of years ago where he played a powerhouse solo bari piece that illustrated none of the physical strain he was going through. I was a part of the ensemble led by Salim Washington and we performed a piece of Fred’s but he sat out that section of the gig as he was too exhausted after his solo piece. He rocked the rafters. Still, he had the passion and drive to smile so hard when he saw the musicians that he filled the hall with a warmth that made us feel a very deep love. Fred’s heart was as big as his tenacity.

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In Memory of The Fukushima Tsunami Victims…And What A Mess?!

Text bu Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi

Last Tuesday was the 3rd anniversary of the Fukushima disaster. Following NHK WORLD and reports from friends in Japan: the government’s efforts to fix all the problems have been insufficient and extremely slow. The people of Japan can’t figure out what the government has been doing. There are still 270,00 refugees, of whom 100,00 live in makeshift housing. The Fukushima nuclear power plant melt down can’t be stopped. Local administrations don’t know what to do. There is a lack of managing and carrying out reconstruction work. In other words: Japan is still a big mess. Who’s responsible for this? Of course, the whole country!

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Homegoing: Roy Campbell & Amiri Baraka

Photo courtesy of Arts for Art, Inc.

Photo courtesy of Arts for Art, Inc.

Roy Campbell was a warrior and hero in our New York City music community. He carried his armament (the trumpet, flugelhorn, flutes) wherever he went, and he went wherever he was needed. He was for the music, he was for his brothers and sisters. He was concerned about the next generation. But he didn’t want his peers to be forgotten. He didn’t want the History of this music, which was born out of struggle, to be forgotten. His music was not born in a university, but came from the struggle that he endured every day as a black man and as a human being trying to rise up and raise up.

Valerie Campbell-Morris, Roy Campbell’s sister, requested that at this time in lieu of flowers they would ask that any donations be submitted to Arts for Art in memory of Roy S. Campbell, Jr.

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ROY CAMPBELL, Jr, 1952-2014

Just as we are about to transmit this newsletter, we learned of sad passing of Downtown trumpet giant Roy Campbell, Jr. Mr. Campbell was born in LA in 1952 but raised in New York. Besides trumpet, Mr. Campbell played flugelhorn, pocket trumpet and flutes. Roy was a longtime friend and collaborator with William Parker, both are founding members of Other Dimensions in Music as well as members of Mr. Parker’s Little Huey Creative Music Orchestra.
Mr. Campbell led several bands of his own including the Akhenaten Ensemble, who were always a highlight of the Vision Festival. Other high points for Mr. Campbell’s playing include his work with Matt Shipp, Jemeel Moondoc, Charles Tyler, Whit Dickey and Dave Douglas’ Triple Trumpet Band. More recently, Mr. Campbell soared with work in Marc Ribot’s Spiritual Unity and a co-led band with Burton Greene. My favorite group that Roy Campbell has long worked with is the Nu Band with Mark Whitecage, Joe Fonda and Lou Grassi. Each of their half dozen discs are extraordinary.
One of the things I dug most about Roy is when he would emcee at the Vision Fest or even at his own gigs. He had a wonderful sense of humor and his occasional political rants were always charming. I am shocked at hearing of his passing since I just saw him a couple of months ago and he looked the picture of health. I would like to raise a toast to Mr. Roy Campbell, Jr., one of Downtown’s most distinguished musicians and sweetest spirits.

– Bruce Lee Gallanter, Manny ‘Lunch’ Maris, Chuck Bettis, Mike Panico

Text by Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi

I still can’t believe it that Roy passed away last Thursday. Because last Monday I jammed with him at Michael Wimberly’s event at the “Evolving Music” concert series. I enjoyed his trumpet playing.

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