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Newman Taylor Baker

Noted percussionist Newman Taylor Baker is creating 21-century music for the washboard.

About Me

Newman Taylor Baker is a master percussionist known for his solo drum set project, Singin’ Drums, and Washboard XT, his current pursuit of 21st-century music for the washboard. He started on the washboard in 2010 when working with the Ebony Hillbillies. His hands “just knew what to do.” Newman plays the washboard like a drum set, placing the instrument in his lap and using prepared shotgun shells on his each of his fingers. This year Newman adds the epithet “Washboard XT” to his name in the spirit of 19th century Black String bands players. Washboard XT is also Baker’s band of many sizes. Marvin Sewell joined Newman in the band’s debut at Andrea Wolper's Why Not Experiment? series in the West Village. Baker toured with his band, Washboard XT Szczecin, to five cities in Poland and to three in Japan. Other appearances took place at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, the Washboard Festival, Logon, OH, and New York’s Arts for Art. Singin’ Drums is Newman’s enhanced, pitch-specific drum set configuration that has allowed him to develop a broad repertoire of music for the solo drum set. This music can be heard on “Drum Suite Life” and “The NYFA Collection” on Innova. Baker was awarded a New York Foundation for the Arts Music Fellowship for this project. Newman is active with the Matthew Shipp Trio, Vienna Carroll, Jemeel Moondoc, Andrew Lamb, the Deborah Brown Quartet and Sylwester Ostrowski with the NFM Leopoldinum Project, and The Lance Hayward Singers. Baker has toured the world with Billy Harper, Billy Bang, Sam Rivers, Henry Threadgill, Henry Grimes, Abdullah Ibrahim, Craig Harris, and Monnette Sudler. Over his 45-year career, he has performed with McCoy Tyner, Ahmad Jamal, Joe Henderson, Lou Donaldson, Charlie Rouse, and as part of the Richmond Symphony (with guest composer Aaron Copland) and the Delaware Symphony. He has also worked in the musical theater productions of new work by composers Leroy Jenkins, Diedre Murray, Henry Threadgill, and Jeanne Lee. Newman’s 21-year associations with Mickey D. & Friends Dance Company as musical director, and with Avodah Dance Ensemble as composer-in-residence, fostered his career as a teaching artist in universities, schools, art and community centers, and correctional facilities. Born in Petersburg, Virginia, and raised on the Virginia State College campus (now University), Newman Taylor Baker was mentored in music as a child by Dr. Undine Smith Moore, Dr. Thomas C. Bridge, and Dr. F. Nathaniel Gatlin. Baker earned an M.M. in Music Education from East Carolina University and a B.S. in Music Education from Virginia State University. He served as an adjudicator for Chamber Music America, received funding from the NEA and Meet The Composer, and is a founding board member of the Williamsburg Music Center in Brooklyn.