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Steve Colson
ADEGOKE STEVE COLSON, pianist and composer, has performed internationally as a leader of jazz ensembles ranging from trios to orchestras. Born in Newark and raised in East Orange, NJ, he received his degree from Northwestern University School of Music and lived in Chicago for a decade before returning to the East Coast where he now resides. November 13, 1989 was proclaimed Adegoke Steve Colson Day by the City of Newark in honor of the premiere of his multi-media work, Greens, Rice, and a Rope, at Newark Symphony Hall during the national celebration of New Music America.
A critically acclaimed figure in modern jazz, Steve’s compositions are finding their way into the “jazz standard” repertoire and are being performed and recorded by some of today’s jazz greats as well as by his own group. He became a member of The Association for Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) in the early 70s, a musicians’ collective that has influenced music internationally in the 20th and 21st Century. Steve’s music has been compared to that of Monk, Mingus, and Ellington as well as Ives, Berio, and Stravinsky. He has received several commissions and awards for composition from organizations with interests in the arts, and has traveled throughout the world performing with many talented artists. Those with whom he has worked or featured in his presentations include Muhal Richard Abrams, Pheeroan AkLaff, Ed Blackwell, John Blake, Hamiet Bluiett, T.K. Blue, Andrew Cyrille, Baikida Carroll, Anthony Davis, Richard Davis, Kahil El’ Zabar, Douglas Ewart, Rachelle Farrell, Malachi Favors, Joe Ford, Rafael Donald Garrett, Benny Golson, Michael Gregory, Craig Harris, Fred Hopkins, Joseph Jarman, Leroy Jenkins, Oliver Lake, George Lewis, Branford Marsalis, Steve McCall, Andy McCloud, Makanda Ken McIntyre, Rene McLean, T.S. Monk, Butch Morris, Dushun Mosley, David Murray, Hannibal Peterson, Rufus Reid, Max Roach, Marlena Shaw, Dakota Staton, Henry Threadgill, Steve Turre, Chris White, Ed Wilkerson, Reggie Workman, Rev. Frank Wright, and many other gifted artists. He regularly appeared with the Spirit of Life Ensemble, and Amiri and Amina Baraka’s Blue Ark.
Steve arranged and conducted the music of Willie “The Lion” Smith for the national Lost Jazz Shrines project, which was an outgrowth of a United States Congressional Resolution declaring Jazz a “national treasure.” Tributes were presented in 11 major cities; “The Lion’s” music represented the City of Newark, N.J., and the concert was aired on PBS. Steve also worked as Music Director for the play, Adventures of a Black Girl in Search of God, by Canadian playwright Djanet Sears, with a cast that included the legendary Carmen de Lavallade. He worked with Amiri Baraka and Max Roach on their bopera, The Life and Life of Bumpy Johnson, and was commissioned to collaborate with Amiri Baraka and Richard Wesley by The New Jersey Chamber Music Society. The second book of their series, “...as in a Cultural Reminiscence…,” was the first world premiere to be presented in New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) during the opening season.
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Steve Colson: Tones For
by Giuseppe Segala
Esponente della seconda onda generazionale dell'AACM e insieme a Chico Freeman pupillo di Fred Anderson e allievo di Muhal Richard Abrams, il pianista Steve Colson, detto Adegoke dal nome yoruba corrispettivo di Steven, riflette nel proprio approccio stilistico la varietà a tutto campo metabolizzata in uno scenario coerente, come è tipico di quella scuola. Radici blues e neroamericane, eterofonie del jazz arcaico, influenze del pianismo eurocolto da Chopin a Debussy, attenzione alla poliritmia africana e alle asperità sonore della musica ...
read moreSteve Colson: Doing Jazz Justice
by Gordon Marshall
As well as being a great music educator, Steve Colson is one of the most versatile jazz pianists of the last forty years, with a grasp of idioms ranging from swing to free, and from European romanticism to new music. What's more, he is a master of compression, incorporating these sources into solos and compositions with the balance of a fine blended coffee. Colson has never been one to trumpet his own achievements, nor is he ...
read moreSteve Colson: The Untarnished Dream
by Terrell Kent Holmes
The embracing of jazz tradition while simultaneously reinterpreting is pianist Adegoke Steve Colson's pedigree and he continues to enrich us with every challenging note. The Untarnished Dream is more than a standard jazz trio session. With bassist Reggie Workman and drummer Andrew Cyrille as fellow standard bearers, Colson vividly interprets several original tunes he has composed throughout his distinguished (if somewhat overlooked) career. Colson's writing skills and the trio's musical excellence are on display immediately. The cleverly ...
read moreThe Power in Music
by Steve Colson
Toward the end of last year, the National Endowment for the Arts published results of its study on Public Participation in the Arts. One finding is that over a six-year period, less than 8% of Americans attended jazz events. So annually, out of some 300 million Americans, less than 2,500,000 attend jazz clubs, concerts and festivals and even those numbers may be dwindling. American popular culture has become primarily commercial, often putting the mind in a passive ...
read moreHarlem School Of The Arts Welcomes Pianist Adegoke Steve Colson Recipient Of South Arts Jazz Road Creative Residencies Grant
Source:
SM Communication Solutions
The 58-year-old Harlem School of the Arts (HSA), located in jny: New York City's historic community, is proud to welcome Grammy Award nominee and composer/pianist, Adegoke Steve Colson, recipient of the South Arts, 2021 Jazz Road Creative Residencies Grant, which is funded by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. Through funding made possible by this grant, Mr. Colson will lead Afternoon Jazz @ HSA master classes involving students across HSA’s interdisciplinary curriculum and the organization’s Jazz Program, and featuring some of ...
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Adegoke Steve Colson, 40+ Year Veteran Of AACM, Releases "Tones For" (Silver Sphinx Records), His First Solo Piano Album, Paying Tribute To Great Abolitionists – Out November 20th
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Fully Altered Media
On his first ever solo piano CD, Adegoke Steve Colson takes listeners on an epic journey through historic African-American struggles. Tones For, to be released on November 20th Colson’s own Silver Sphinx label, pays tribute to three icons of the battle against slavery: Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, and Frederick Douglass. The release of the album, Colson’s first since his acclaimed 2010 CD The Untarnished Dream, coincides with two significant anniversaries: 2015 marks 150 years since the end of the Civil ...
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AACM Pianist Steve Colson Interviewed at All About Jazz
Source:
All About Jazz
As well as being a great music educator, Steve Colson is one of the most versatile jazz pianists of the last forty years, with a grasp of idioms ranging from swing to free, and from European romanticism to new music. What's more, he is a master of compression, incorporating these sources into solos and compositions with the balance of a fine blended coffee.
Colson has never been one to trumpet his own achievements, nor is he given to self-promotion. From ...
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Steve Colson Trio - "The Untarnished Dream" - CD Release Concert This Saturday Feb. 6 at Symphony Space
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Fully Altered Media
This Saturday night, Feb. 6, the Steve Colson Trio featuring Andrew Cyrille on drums and Reggie Workman on bass + Iqua Colson on vocals will perform at the Leonard Nimoy Thalia theatre at Symphony Space in the Upper West Side of Manhattan. This is the Colsons first release since 2004 and Steves 5th album as a leader or co-leader. They previously led a group in the late 70s and early 1980s called The Colson Unity Troupe. See a beautiful feature ...
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Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson