Aug 26, 2025 1:53 PM
Blindfold Test: Buster Williams
Buster Williams, who at the age of 83 has been on the scene for 65 years, had never done a Blindfold Test. The first…
Mutual Mentorship for Musicians will honor pianist/composer/educator Michele Rosewoman on June 13.
(Photo: Chris Drukker)When the COVID-19 lockdown began in March 2020, musicians Jen Shyu and Sara Serpa co-founded Mutual Mentorship for Musicians (M³), an innovative platform created to normalize and give visibility to women and nonbinary musicians in the jazz and creative music industries.
“The music and performing arts worlds have been mostly shaped by male authority, creating huge inequities in access to resources, opportunities and career development for non-male artists and administrators,” Shyu and Serpa reflected. “M³ aims to bridge that gap, and make the arts world a much more equitable and equal place.”
In just three years, M³ has commissioned 60 women, nonbinary and mostly BIPOC musicians to create 30 collaborative music and video works across five cohort cycles, all while mentoring each other with wisdom imparted as musicians who have experienced the successes and injustices of the music industry.
Following three virtual festivals and one in-person festival, M³ will present its Second Annual M³ Lifetime Achievement Award to pianist/composer/educator Michele Rosewoman on June 13 at the National Jazz Museum in Harlem in recognition of her contributions to the community through her prolific musical accomplishments, leadership and educational work. The award is an unrestricted prize of $5,000.
For four decades, Rosewoman has expanded the horizons of jazz while remaining firmly rooted in tradition. A fearless bandleader and mentor, many have cited that working with Rosewoman made an indelible mark on their artistic development as musicians, composers and bandleaders. Rosewoman was part of M³’s Winter Solstice 2020 Cohort 2.
The event will also celebrate and premiere six new duo commissions of video and music completed by the current cohort of musicians, dubbed the M³ Fall Equinox 2022 Cohort 5: “Wobbly Tales,” by Rosángela Isabel Pérez Molero (Venezuela) and Jessica Jones (U.S.); “Mirrored Hands,” by Naomi Nakanishi (U.S.) and Aline Frazão (Angola); “Wake Me When It’s Green,” by Gwen Laster (U.S.) and Dafna Naphtali (U.S.); “Suryaning Giri Danu,” by CC Sunchild (U.S.) and Ni Made Ayu Dwi Sattvitri (Indonesia); “Miniatures,” by Kavita Shah (U.S.) and Zeynep Toramon (Turkey); “Apex, Rocketship, Seasons, What Is It Time For,” by Krissy Bergmark (U.S.) and Tara Kannangara (Canada).
To conclude the event, M³ will announce the 12 composer-performers of the next cohort (M³ Fall Equinox 2023 Cohort 6), who will start their mentorship cycle in September.
For more info on M³, click here. DB
“What I got from Percy was the dignity of playing the bass,” Buster Williams said of Percy Heath.
Aug 26, 2025 1:53 PM
Buster Williams, who at the age of 83 has been on the scene for 65 years, had never done a Blindfold Test. The first…
Don and Maureen Sickler serve as the keepers of engineer Rudy Van Gelder’s flame at Van Gelder Studio, perhaps the most famous recording studio in jazz history.
Sep 3, 2025 12:02 PM
On the last Sunday of 2024, in the control room of Van Gelder Studio, Don and Maureen Sickler, co-owners since Rudy Van…
The Free Slave, Cosmos Nucleus and Sunset To Dawn: three classic Muse albums being reissued this fall by Timer Traveler Recordings.
Aug 26, 2025 1:32 PM
Record producer and “Jazz Detective” Zev Feldman has launched his next endeavor, the archival label Time Traveler…
Butcher Brown, clockwise from top left: Marcus Tenney, DJ Harrison, Morgan Burrs, Corey Fonville and Andrew Randazzo. (Keyboardist Harrison couldn’t make the gig, so special guest Jacob Mann sat in with the band at the Reno Jazz Festival.)
Aug 19, 2025 12:41 PM
The band known as Butcher Brown has enjoyed the last half-decade basking in the glow from the twin engines of critical…
This year’s Jazz em Agosto set by the Darius Jones Trio captured the titular alto saxophonist at his most ferocious.
Aug 26, 2025 1:31 PM
The organizers of Lisbon, Portugal’s Jazz em Agosto Festival assume its audience is thoughtful and independent. Over…