Jazz Articles about Imani Winds

Imani Winds: The Classical Underground

by Russ Musto
March 27, 2005

Imani Winds is a contemporary woodwind quintet whose music is quietly breaking down the artificial barrier between the classical and jazz idioms. The group's members--Valerie Coleman (flute), Toyin Spellman (oboe), Mariam Adam (clarinet), Monica Ellis (bassoon), and Jeff Scott (French horn)--are young Afro-Americans intent on integrating their American Negro and Afro-Caribbean musical traditions into their chosen field of creative expression. The disc opens with Scott's arrangement of Astor Piazzolla's “Libertango, which adds percussionist Rolando Morales Matos on cajon, ...