Amina Claudine Myers Revisits Her Formative Years

Interview, From the Magazine, Amina Claudine Myers

By Veronica Johnson I Sep. 23, 2025

“Who I am today is because of my experiences with the AACM,” Amina Claudine Myers said of the artist-led Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians.
(Photo: Crystal Blake)

At 83 years young, pianist, organist, vocalist, composer and NEA Jazz Master Amina Claudine Myers is just as active and creatively spirited as she was in her 20s and 30s. To start, she is currently working on a symphony about the life of Harriet Tubman, which she hopes to finish by next spring. She is plotting the release of chorus music she composed for the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians’ 60th anniversary in the fall. She is also working with her gospel quartet, Generation Four, to honor musicians of the 1950s such as Clara Ward and Ward Singers and The Staple Singers.

“I want to express music about people that have made a difference in African American culture, our deep people that have done positive things. And Harriet Tubman is one of the main ones; her life is so interesting, so I wanted to express that through the music. There is always something to do with vocal music and creating music, period,” said Myers via telephone from her home in Midtown, New York, where she’s lived since 1976.

At this stage in her life, Myers may be enjoying the fruits of her accomplishments, but she is also far from done adding to her legacy.

In June, she released her 12th solo record, Solace Of The Mind (Red Hook), a vivid collection of revisited compositions from her formative years.

Myers is known for using piano and voice to execute her music, as she enjoys the freedom of solo piano over performing with a band. On Solace Of The Mind, for example, she goes back to her roots by imposing a more meditative approach to songs such as “African Blues,” “Steal Away” and “Song For Mother E,” which appeared on her 1980 Leo Records album recorded with a quartet. The first version had a fuller, richer texture, whereas the solo piano rendition on Solace Of The Mind is more personal reflection.

Myers said that most of the songs began as improvised compositions and were gradually extended over time. Red Hook Records founder Sun Chung, who produced this record and worked with her on her prior release, pushed Myers to strip all her previous and new music to its deepest core.

“The process was about embracing what Amina played and capturing the music’s essence, which was achieved by providing an honest and supportive ear, and coming up with complementary suggestions,” said Chung. “During the pre-production phase, we selected the compositions. Then, in the studio, it became clear that one of the main focuses would be the melodic components of the songs, rather than extended improvisations.”

Myers recorded about five or six takes of each of the compositions, after which she entrusted Chung to select the best moments of each take to then shape into a final version.

“Working with masters such as Amina is a different process than working with younger musicians,” Chung said. “Their language is already formed so it is less about developing the music itself or the preparation of it, but rather capturing the master’s energies in their purest form.

“It was a pleasure and an honor to work with her on Solace Of The Mind. It was very much a collaborative experience, as there were many musical discussions that took place.”

The levels of calmness and complexity in Myers’ playing are unparalleled, bringing to mind her 60-plus years of performing and navigating jazz, blues and gospel, which is at the core of all her art.

Myers grew up in Blackwell, Arkansas, and was raised by her great aunt and uncle. She began taking piano lessons at the age of 6. A year later, her family moved to Dallas, where she continued lessons and was introduced to gospel music. In 1957, the family returned to Arkansas, where Myers formed a gospel group that toured locally. In college, she learned how to play the blues, became student director for the choir and taught herself to play the organ. After graduation, Myers moved to Chicago, where she taught music at an elementary school for six years. It was in Chicago that Myers was introduced to jazz.

“I met a girl from Detroit who came up to me and said, ‘I got a gig for you at this nightclub and it pays $5 an hour.’ I said I can’t perform at no club,” Myers recalled. “But I had some nerve back then, and that’s how I started playing jazz solo piano, copying Nina Simone, the easy songs like “I Loves You Porgy.” I made friends with the Black piano players from Memphis and learned how to play jazz from them. I never went out to try to get work thinking of myself as a musician. It was always people who put me in these positions.”

Myers moved to Chicago at a time when Black jazz musicians were concerned that rock music was overshadowing jazz. She joined the AACM, formed in 1965 to support, nurture and record original music by jazz musicians. The founders, pianists Muhal Richard Abrams and Jodie Christian, drummer Steve McCall and composer Phil Cohran, organized free music education programs for inner-city youth and were instrumental in helping develop Chicago’s avant-garde scene.

“Who I am today is because of my experiences with the AACM. When I moved to New York, Lester Bowie asked me to go to Europe with his group, and that started introducing people to my music, so I was able to get more work,” she said. “I will always be a member of the AACM and am grateful for my experiences with them.”

The organization also fueled her writing output. She started composing for voice and instruments. Of her 12 solo albums, all incorporate compositions that blend blues, gospel and jazz. As her musical stock and popularity grew, she worked and recorded with icons like saxophonist Archie Shepp, bassist Charlie Haden’s Liberation Music Orchestra and saxophonists Gene Ammons, Sonny Stitt, Von Freeman, Anthony Braxton and Rahsaan Roland Kirk.

Her 2024 recording, Central Park’s Mosaics Of Reservoir, Lakes, Paths And Gardens, with trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith, marked their first collaboration since the duo’s early days in the AACM. They are planning to release a second record together next year.

Outside of her work as a jazz musician, Myers is also known for her theatrical endeavors, composing music and acting in off-Broadway productions. She has debuted larger orchestral pieces, including Interiors and When The Berries Fell. In 2010, the Chicago Jazz Institute commissioned her to compose and direct a composition for a 17-piece jazz orchestra in honor of pianist-arranger Mary Lou Williams’ 100th birthday.

For an octogenarian, Myers revels in keeping her plate full and has no plans to change. There are upcoming concerts in Brazil later this year. She quickly pointed out that she has more music to share with the world and getting it out is what she currently has her sights on.

“I’ll never retire. That’s not even a thought in my head because music is ongoing. I always want to grow in knowledge and to express the things that I’ve learned, the feelings and situations that have shaped me and to express that through music.” DB