Contemporary | Guest Choreographer
July 13 – July 20
Canadian-American Aszure Barton is a choreographer, director, and innovator whose work has been equated to “watching the physical unfurling of the human psyche” by the National Endowment for the Arts. Aszure started tap dancing at the age of three and has been creating dances since she was a teenager training with Canada’s National Ballet School where, together with classmate and choreographer Matjash Mrozewski, she helped originate the Stephen Godfrey Choreographic Showcase, which is still ongoing today. Through an international exchange platform, Aszure studied at the John Cranko Schule and since then, her works have been performed on countless stages throughout the world, including the Palais Garnier, Mariinsky Theater, The Kennedy Center, Studio 54, Teatro alla Scala, Lincoln Center, and Sadler’s Wells, as well as in museums and exhibits including the Smithsonian in Washington, DC. She has choreographed for theater, film, and opera, including the Broadway production of The Threepenny Opera directed by Scott Elliott and adapted by Wallace Shawn, starring Cyndi Lauper and Alan Cumming; a solo of Salome featuring Jessica Chastain in a theater production directed by Al Pacino; and LA Opera’s recent production of Tannhäuser. Aszure’s work has also been featured in television projects, such as on Sundance’s Iconoclasts TV Series alongside Alice Waters and Mikhail Baryshnikov.
Following her high school graduation, Aszure was invited to join the National Ballet of Canada, where she would work as an Apprentice for a season. Curious and driven, Aszure approached the company’s director, asking if he saw a future for her in his company, to which he replied, “I do, but you’re not a priority.” With these honest words spoken, she began carving her own path, going on to receive a Canada Council Grant to explore contemporary dance forms in Europe. This journey opened her eyes and fulfilled her unconventional itch for artistic freedom. Then, after exploring the dance and music scene in Montréal for three years, she moved to New York City as a freelance artist to pursue the making of her own work. In the early 2000s, Aszure danced with independent choreographers including Wendy Osserman, who further introduced her to authentic movement and improvisation, and encouraged her humor. Wanting her work to be seen, Aszure self-produced and presented her own choreography whenever and wherever she could, be it at studios, schools, in delis, clubs, or pubs, all while continuing to freelance and simultaneously work supplemental jobs. In these early years, the New York Times declared, “[Barton] likes to take risks.”
By 2002, she founded her own collective, Aszure Barton & Artists (AB&A), in order to create an autonomous, interdisciplinary, and collaborative platform for process-centered creation. That same year, AB&A made its official premiere at the Montréal Fringe Festival, followed by an inaugural season at New York City’s Joyce SoHo, a venue dedicated to showcasing work by emerging artists. Robin Staff, Executive Artistic Director of Dance Now (NYC), spoke highly of her early choreographies – “Ask people to describe Aszure Barton’s work, and the adjectives fly: dynamic, tribal, demanding, musical, authentic, risky. But ask them to place her in a tradition, and you’re likely to get silence. I don’t think you can categorize her.” Having developed dozens of works with her crew over the years, it was with her most trusted collaborators that the iconic BUSK was born; today, fifteen years later, the work continues to be performed and praised around the globe. A home built out of rebellion to support the ongoing practice of research, AB&A continues to be the space Aszure returns to to push her work further. Recently, this vision grew when she made her latest work for the company, this time in collaboration with her creative partner, acclaimed composer and trumpeter, Ambrose Akinmusire.
With a shared desire to bring more beauty into the world, the two birthed their first creation – A a | a B : B E N D – at Kampnagel’s International Summer Festival, where Falk Schreiber of Tanz Magazine described it as, “a game; a building up of constraints and an escape from these constraints, a celebration of choreographic precision and an undermining of this precision, in fact a collaborative work that also draws its appeal from the fact that two artists who are completely secure in their field playfully unsettle each other.”
Also in the early 2000s, Aszure developed an important working relationship with Mikhail Baryshnikov, who believes her to be “one of the most innovative choreographers of her generation.” She was the first Martha Duffy Resident Artist at Baryshnikov Arts in NYC, leading Baryshnikov to invite her to not only collaborate with him, but to join his project, Hell’s Kitchen Dance, as a dancer and choreographer along with Benjamin Millepied. The group went on to tour several of her works, (Over/Come, named “disturbing and delicious” by the San Francisco Chronicle), and this connection was the start of Aszure finding a longtime creative home at Baryshnikov Arts. Aszure has created with other renowned performers, as well, including Misty Copeland, Gillian Murphy, Isaac Hernandez, Paloma Herrera, Matthew Rushing, Ekaterina Shipulina, and Flamenco artist María Pagés. She has collaborated with celebrated clowns Claudio Carniero (Brazil), Patrick de Vallette and Fred Blin (France), and music artists, including Oscar-winning German composer and piano player Volker Bertelmann (also known as Hauschka).
With over 30+ years of making dances, Aszure continues to be an innovator of form, having contributed to an evolution of highly specialized dance and theater companies worldwide. She has worked with Hamburg Ballet, Bayerisches Staatsballett, Ballett am Rhein, Staatstheater Hannover, Gauthier Dance/Theaterhaus Stuttgart, Teatro alla Scala, Grand Thėǎtre de Genève, Nederlands Dans Theater, Ballet de l’Opéra national du Rhin, English National Ballet, Ballet Ireland, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, American Ballet Theatre, Martha Graham Dance Company, Limón Dance Company, Houston Ballet, Sydney Dance Company, National Ballet of Canada, Malpaso Dance Company, Ballet BC, and Les Ballets Jazz de Montréal, among others. In January 2024, Aszure premiered multidisciplinary work, Mere Mortals, at San Francisco
Ballet in collaboration with British electronic music producer/DJ Floating Points and mixed media artists Hamill Industries — the first evening-length work created by a female choreographer in SFB’s history, curated by Artistic Director Tamara Rojo. Aszure is currently Resident Artist at Hubbard Street Dance Chicago where her newest work, A Duo, was called “exquisite, subversive, exhilarating…and mildly offensive — as dance should be to move it somewhere new” by the Chicago Tribune.
As a creator, Aszure aims to cultivate a space where kind, conscious creativity meets regeneration, an inclusive environment where communal, cooperative energy can thrive. Through a rigorous and detailed collaborative process, she simultaneously respects and dismantles classical and contemporary forms; it is this practice that has propelled her into the field as an award-winning choreographer. Over the years, she has received accolades and honors, including a Bessie Award for her work BUSK, the Gross Prize for Awáa, and the Ken McCarter Award for Distinguished NBS Alumni. She is a grateful recipient of the prestigious Arts & Letters Award, joining the likes of Oscar Peterson, Eugene Levy, Karen Kain, Paul Shaffer, Alex Trebek, Christopher Plummer, and Margaret Atwood. She is also an official ambassador of contemporary dance in Canada. As an educator, Aszure is regularly invited to collaborate with private, public, and independent art institutions and forums around the globe. She served as Artist in Residence at The University of Southern California under the direction of William Forsythe and has developed a longtime working-relationship with The Juilliard School. Currently, Aszure is an artistic partner with Boston Conservatory at Berklee, and she maintains an ongoing presence at her alma mater, Canada’s National Ballet School.
Aszure is delighted to be returning to Jacob’s Pillow in the upcoming season due to her special connection to the organization. In the early years of AB&A, the company was repeatedly invited to create, perform, and teach at Jacob’s Pillow starting in 2004. Most recently, AB&A was meant to perform at the Pillow again in August 2020, but this was postponed due to the pandemic, making this opportunity to share the work again in 2024 a real treat.
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Tap Dance | Artist Faculty
July 28 – August 3
Nicholas Young is an artist, choreographer, dancer, musician, and a 2014 Bessie Award recipient. He began his professional career at the age of 16 in Austin, TX with Tapestry Dance Company under the direction of Acia Gray and Deirdre Strand. As Principal Dancer and Resident Choreographer of the company, he was awarded Best Male Dancer (2001) and Best Choreography (2003) by the Austin Critics Council. In the New York City cast of STOMP from 2003-2013, he moved forward with the production playing the lead role and acting as Rehearsal Director for the American Tour. Most recently, Nicholas served as the Associate Artistic Director of Dorrance Dance and has been a choreographer and collaborator with Artistic Director Michelle Dorrance for nearly a decade. Choreographic and conceptual collaborations with Dorrance Dance include: ETM The Initial Approach, ETM Double Down, Guggenheim Rotunda Project, Elemental (BAM), and Ways to Now (Jacob’s Pillow). Nicholas’ solo choreographic contributions to the company include Elastic Time which premiered at The Joyce Theater in New York City and Untitled Waveforms which premiered at Jacob’s Pillow. His work has been performed at Jacob’s Pillow, Sadlers Wells, Fira Tarrega, The Joyce Theater, City Center, and Hong Kong Arts Festival, among others. As a musician, Nicholas has performed and toured with Cyro Baptista’s Beat the Donkey, as drummer for Darwin Deez and Dorrance Dance, was cast in the Amazon film Música, and has created two electronic music scores for the documentaries Tap or Die and Aces and Knaves, produced by Jackie Pare.
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Contemporary | Guest Choreographer
July 6 – July 13
Andrea Miller is a groundbreaking choreographer, creative director, and founder of the internationally renowned multidisciplinary organization GALLIM, represented by Opus 3 Artists. A Hispanic creator and collaborator for dance, film, fashion, and the visual arts, Andrea is known for her exploration of the essential elements of human behavior and the alchemy of movement and performance. Her dance works are presented by leading institutions and festivals around the world including Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center, New York City Center, The Joyce Theater, BAM, Jacob’s Pillow, Royal Albert Hall, Sadler’s Wells, London Royal Opera House, Théâtre National de Chaillot, Teatre Grec of Barcelona, Theaterhaus Stuttgart, Canal Madrid, Teatro Nacional de Panamá, DanceHouse Vancouver, and Spoleto Festival, among others.
Andrea is a Guggenheim, Sadler’s Wells, New York City Center, and Princess Grace Fellow, and was featured in Forbes as an entrepreneur and leader in the dance world. She is the first choreographer to be named Artist in Residence at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, creating two large scale works for The Temple of Dendur and The Met Breuer. Her visual art collaborations include a sound, sculpture, and performance installation processing the pandemic for Lincoln Center, as well as works for London V&A, The Glass House, Art Basel, Frieze Festival, Grace Farms, and Grand Central Station.
Recent dance commissions include English National Ballet, New York City Ballet, Martha Graham Dance Company, Bern Ballet, Noord Nederland Dans, Pennsylvania Ballet, A.I.M by Kyle Abraham, Rambert2, Ailey II, and The Juilliard School. Film collaborations include celebrated directors Ariel Schulman and Henry Joost, Xavier Dolan, Ezra Hurwitz, Bat-Sheva Guez, and long time collaborator Ben Stamper. Collaborations in fashion and brands include multiple projects with Hermès, as well as Chanel, VOGUE, Bergdorf Goodman, SportsMax, KSwiss, Lacoste, Target, Calvin Klein, Crate & Barrel, SLS Hotels Miami and Las Vegas, and Beautiful Destinations.
Andrea’s repertory, creative methodology, and dance training have been taught at The Juilliard School, New York University, University of California Glorya Kaufman School of Dance, Harvard, Barnard, SUNY Purchase, and others. She has been an adjunct professor at Marymount Manhattan College and Barnard, and is currently guest faculty at The Juilliard School, where she is an alumna.
In 2022, Andrea’s commitment to creativity and dance education led to the establishment of the GALLIM School of Movement, a home for the exchange of movement wisdom, artistic practice, and community building through dance. Miller created the GALLIM Moving Artist & Parent Moving Artist Residencies to provide holistic support to the large community of artists who have previously been underrepresented in the movement arts.
Miller serves on the board of Chelsea Factory and The Doris Humphrey Foundation.
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Creating in Jazz and Tap Dance | Artist Faculty
July 21 – July 27, July 28 – August 3
A proud Canadian and New Yorker, Lisa La Touche is a tap dance artist, choreographer, educator, and cultural historian. Her performance credits include being an original cast member in Broadway’s Shuffle Along, choreographed by Savion Glover and Directed by George C. Wolfe, where she received both the Fred Astaire Award and the Actor’s Equity Award for Outstanding Broadway Chorus. She is proudly an Armstrong Now Artist in Residence in collaboration and connection with the Louis Armstrong House and Museum. Additionally, Lisa focuses a portion of her research and exploration in connection with her Trinidadian ancestry and is the brainchild behind her passion project, Trinidad & Tap Dance: As Folklore.
Her TV credits include the 70th Annual Tony Awards and Amazon’s original Z: The Beginning of Everything. Previous highlights have also included touring with the Savion Glover production Stepz, performing with Dormeshia at Harlem’s legendary Cotton Club, as well as performing with both New York’s Off-Broadway and the North American touring casts of STOMP. Since 2010, Lisa has directed her own performance company, Tap Phonics, and has been commissioned to present choreographic works for institutions such as The Brooklyn Museum, 92Y, Gibney Dance, Decidedly Jazz, and Fall For Dance North.
As an educator and professor, she is currently on faculty at PACE University and Marymount Manhattan College, in addition to having taught at NYU, The School at Jacob’s Pillow, Rosie’s Theater Kids, the University of Calgary, Decidedly Jazz Danceworks, and the American Tap Dance Foundation. She is also a writer and director and has enjoyed collaborating on documentary filmmaking including her film TRAX encompassing her journey back to Alberta while discovering African-American migration history to western Canada, bridging histories across borders within the African Diaspora. Above all, her proudest achievement greatest inspiration, is the gift of being a mom.
For further info, please visit www.lisalatouche.com.
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Tap Dance | Legacy in Rhythm Guest Speaker
August 7
Marshall L. Davis Jr. was born in Miami Beach, FL and began his arts training at the African Heritage Cultural Arts Center in Liberty City, FL. By the age of 11, he was the 1989 Florida winner for the Tri-Star Pictures Tap Day contest, a promotion for the movie Tap starring Gregory Hines and Sammy Davis, Jr. At age 13, he accepted a check from Ed McMahon for winning the coveted title of 1991 Star Search Teen Dance Champion. Since winning, he has had the pleasure of performing with Harold “Stumpy” Cromer at the Guthrie Theater as Pocket in the musical Babes in Arms, directed by Garland Wright and choreographed by Liza Gennaro. Later, he joined the Tony award-winning Broadway production of Bring In ’Da Noise, Bring In ’Da Funk, choreographed by Savion Glover and directed by George C. Wolfe.
Marshall has performed and taught throughout Europe, Japan, Australia, and the United States. He is the protégé of the late Steve Condos of the “Condos Brothers.” He has also received guidance from James “Buster” Brown, Edwin Holland, Paul Kennedy, Ted Levy, Lavaughn Robinson, and Sam Weber. Named “Most Unusual Dance Soloist” by the Miami Herald for his rendition of the Morton Gould Tap Concerto, Marshall is also the recipient of Isaac Hayes’ Breaking the Barrier Award for his achievements at such an early age.
As a tap educator, he serves on the faculty of Queens College and Manhattan School of Music. Marshall can be seen through motion capture performance in the animated film Happy Feet Two, directed by George Miller. He is the tap choreographer and featured hoofer in Simply Sammy, a ballet choreographed by Darrell Grand Moultrie, set to the music of Sammy Davis Jr. Marshall worked as the Associate Choreographer to Savion Glover for the Broadway show Shuffle Along, as well for Encores Off-Center’s production of Don’t Bother Me, I Can’t Cope! His most recent work-in-progress is Revelations In Rhythm.
To learn more about Marshall and stay up to date with his latest endeavors, please visit @marshalldavisjr on Instagram.
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Tap Dance | Artist Faculty
August 3 – August 10
Heather Cornell is literally and metaphorically a mover and a shaker in the world of dance. An ensemble founder and sought-after solo artist, she is a choreographer, director, and producer. She has learned from and performed with giants of the tap dance genre. In a career that has spanned four decades, Heather has left an indelible mark on dance stages all over the world. She is an oral history fellow at the New York City Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center and is currently a full time faculty member at Hope College. The Heather Cornell Legacy Project, now in its second year, is an initiative to pass to the next generations her archives, lineage, and concepts through working to create an active shift of understanding of the artform in today’s practitioners and current pedagogy.
Arriving in New York in the early 1980s as a modern dancer from Ontario, Canada, Heather found tap dance quite quickly. She worked with and was mentored by tap artists such as Buster Brown, Cookie Cook, Chuck Green, Eddie Brown, Steve Condos, and Harriet “Quicksand” Brown, and was the only tap dancer mentored by iconic jazz bassist, Ray Brown. She toured internationally with Jazz Tap Ensemble and worked in NYC with Gail Conrad, Anita Feldman, Andrea Levine, and as clown partner to Noel Parenti. Eventually, Heather co-founded Manhattan Tap, a leading American tap and music ensemble which would go on to garner international acclaim. For close to 20 years, Heather served as the group’s choreographer, director, and soloist, collaborating on a huge body of work with her main collaborator, Keith Saunders. In 2004, she launched a successful solo career, creating a number of projects internationally, including Finding Synesthesia in collaboration with Andy Milne and commissioned by the London Jazz Festival, CanTap, an all Canadian music dance ensemble, Taps and Traps in collaboration with Jesse Stewart, Conversations, recreated in five countries with local artists, and her music ensemble, Making Music Dance, international touring and CD release in 2015.
Heather has held workshops for 35 years where she has trained free-thinking improvisational music and dance artists focused on the magic of the community. She was a co-creator, with Thanos Daskalopolous and Max Pollak, of Tap Motif in Lefkada, Greece, an eight year music and dance summit focused on creating balanced multi-disciplinary pedagogy through the freedom of improvisation.
Heather calls herself a physical percussionist—someone whose rhythmic, precise foot movement adds to or creates the musicality of a piece—and she dances using different textures of sound, including wood, leather, and sand. And always, she dances only to live music, never music that is “canned.” For more info, check out her website: www.manhattantap.org.
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Tap Dance | Legacy in Rhythm Guest Speaker
July 31
Producer, choreographer, performer, and teacher, Roxane Butterfly is a direct heir of The Original Hoofers with whom she learned all about the tap dance craft. Given the name ‘Butterfly’ by bebop tap legend, Jimmy Slyde, Roxane’s worldwide career has spanned 35 years and has featured work with renowned bands and orchestras throughout international music venues, and amongst some of the most established tap companies in the country including Lynn Dally’s Jazz Tap Ensemble (Los Angeles) and Tamangoh’s Urban Tap (New York).
Roxane has been a featured performer in major productions such as Kenneth Feld’s MADhattan (Las Vegas), toured her all women-troup BeauteeZ’n The Beat across the United States, and was a pioneer on the world-music scene with the Roxane Butterfly’s Worldbeats Ensemble, blending the jazz tap aesthetics with North-African music and flamenco. Thanks to the generous support of the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation, New York Foundation For the Arts, Meet The Composer Fund, and Lower Manhattan Cultural Funds, Roxane Butterfly’s Worldbeats Ensemble has performed around the world throughout France, Germany, Spain, Canada, and in New York City at venues including the Public Theater, Central Park’s Summerstage, Lincoln Center, and Symphony Space, among others.
After teaching for over two decades at prestigious universities and performing arts schools, Roxane founded the Jimmy Slyde Institute in Barcelona, Spain and continues to teach in the professional training division of the Juste Debout School, at the Conservatoire Frédéric Chopin, in addition to the Pôle Supérieur de Boulogne Billancourt. Currently, Roxane continues to develop work with her internationally-touring project, Company SmARTS, which features her daughter who has down syndrome. And since 2018, Roxane has taught at the Paris Summer Tap Intensive.
Roxane was the first woman in tap history to receive a Bessie Award and thus, she has opened the door for future generations of women present in the tap industry. Moreover, Roxane was the first immigrant dancer to be granted permanent residency in the United States as a tap dancer.
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Tap Dance | Legacy in Rhythm Guest Speaker
August 14
Kurt Albert is among the highest ranking tap dance leaders in Europe, having over 30 years of experience in international show business. Kurt was fortunate to learn the art of American Rhythm Tap from influential mentors such as Carnell Lyons, Brenda Bufalino, Josh Hilberman, and Buster Brown, while further advancing his training by attending workshops led by Honi Coles, Cholly Atkins, Dianne Walker, Jimmy Slyde, Sarah Petronio, Steve Condos, Eddie Brown, Fred Kelly, Prince Spencer, Cookie Cook, Fay Ray, and Leonard Reed. He was a member of Brenda Bufalino’s International Tap Dance Orchestra, and since 1990, has shared the stage frequently with Carnell Lyons, Brenda Bufalino, and Josh Hilberman. For over 30 years, Kurt has danced alongside his partner Klaus Bleis, the two of them forming Germany’s best known tap duo, Tap and Tray. Currently, as protégés and friends of Carnell Lyons, the partners are researching the tap and jazz worlds to write a biography of Carnell. In addition to his continued work with Tap and Tray, Kurt has worked with the jazz band, Melody and Rhythm, for 15 years alongside drummer, Allen Blairman, and saxophone player, Olaf Schönborn. And since 2019, Kurt has worked with Thomas Marek in their Vienna Jazz Tap Project.
Kurt’s credits as a teacher and performer include New York City’s Tap City Festival (2001, 2003, 2006, and 2014), Rhapsody in Taps Festival (Los Angeles, CA), Rhythm Tap Dance Festival (NC), Kansas City Tap Dance Day, Rhythm at the Regent (Boston, MA), Helsinki City Beat Tap Festival, International Tap Festival Limoges (France), Chicago Human Rhythm Project, Portsmouth Percussive Dance Festival (NH), Moscow Tap Parade Festival, Festival D’Estiu Reus (Spain), Tap Breizh Festival Rennes (France), Tap Ahead Festival, Tap Festival Berlin, Heidelberg Human Rhythm Projekt, Montpellier Tap Festival, and Stockholm Tap Festival, among others.
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Creating in Jazz | Artist Faculty
July 21 – July 27
Natasha Powell is a Toronto, Canada native who has been working in the dance industry for 20 years. Her soulful approach to movement that transcends genre can be seen and felt in her dancing, choreography, and teachings.
Growing up in a Caribbean home, dancing has always been at the forefront of Natasha’s life. She has collaborated and created over 20 dance works for live performance. As Founder, Artistic Director, and Choreographer for her company, HOLLA JAZZ, Natasha created the award-winning show FLOOR’D, the company’s first full-length production, presenting historical jazz dances in a contemporary aesthetic. The production was nominated for four Dora Mavor Moore Awards (including Outstanding Original Choreography and Outstanding Production) alongside winning the Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble Award and was named one of the top 10 dance shows of the past decade by NOW Magazine. Her choreographic language has led her to collaborate on theater projects on Canadian Stage productions of Choir Boy (2022) and Fall on Your Knees (2023). Natasha is also a recipient of the Johanna Metcalf Prize in the Performing Arts, presented by the Metcalf Foundation.
Inspired by social dances such as jazz, hip hop, and house dance, Natasha shares her love for movement through teaching dance classes and workshops in Toronto and across Canada. She helps individuals find their personal groove, make breakthroughs in their dancing, and ultimately experience joy in their bodies.
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Creating in Jazz | Music Director
July 21 – July 27
Based in New York City, saxophonist Christopher McBride’s work includes education, arranging, composition, and performance. He has been slowly but steadily turning heads with his ubiquitous work as an invaluable sideman since the mid-2000’s. Christopher is steadily gaining respect amongst fans, critics, and his peers as one of the most versatile saxophonists in the world. His debut album Quatuor de Force (2012) certainly establishes his ability to lead a group and write his own soulful, melodically indelible tunes. Applauded for his ability to play in all musical situations, Christopher has the ability to unleash a fiery attack and serrated tone, though on his first album he explores a more measured, mellow sound heavily influenced by contemporary R&B—with a strong shot of Cannonball Adderley’s post-bop sensuality. As a composer, Christopher was selected as the 2022 Make Jazz Fellowship Artist at The 18th Street Arts Center in Santa Monica, California.
Born in Chicago, where his professional career began in 2007, Christopher moved to New York City in 2013. His group, The Whole Proof, has played venues all over New York City. Christopher ran his Singer Meets Saxophonist series at the famed Minton’s Playhouse in Harlem from 2017-2019. The musicians he has performed with over the years span many genres. He has shared the stage with Billy Preston, Percy Gray, Roy Hargrove, Pete Rock, Rakim, Big Daddy Kane, Talib Kweli, Lupe Fiasco, Guy Sebastian, Solange, Ne-Yo, Jennifer Hudson, Alice Smith, Brandon Flowers, Lea DeLaria, 88 Keys, Milton Mustafa, Winard Harper, and the Marquis Hill’s Blacktet.
As a recording artist, Christopher’s February 2023 release Ramon made the Top 25 on the JazzWeek Charts and stayed on the charts for 14 weeks, as well as making the JazzWeek Top 100 albums for 2023. The sophomore release has received critical acclaim. All About Jazz called the album “a sonic marvel that showcases a robust grasp of bebop and contemporary jazz idioms.” As a performing artist, he has received a Grammy Certificate for his work as a collaborator/soloist on Steven Feifke and Bijon Watson’s 2022 album Generation Gap Jazz Orchestra.
As an educator, Christopher has served as the Director of Education for the Second Line Arts Collective, a non-profit organization based out of New Orleans, LA. His primary duties included writing curriculum for the Little Stompers Division and teacher development. He also teaches regularly at Jazz at the Lincoln Center, as well as touring nationally with various educational programs.
As a journalist and consultant, Christopher has worked with Forbes Ignite, the innovation coalition of Forbes.
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