Imani Winds have four releases on Koch International Classics, including their 2006 Grammy Award nominated recording entitled The Classical Underground and This Christmas released in October 2008.
Imani Winds has established itself as more than a wind quintet. Since 1997, the Grammy nominated ensemble has taken a unique path, carving out a distinct presence in the classical music world with its dynamic playing, culturally poignant programming, genre-blurring collaborations, and inspirational outreach programs. With two member composers and a deep commitment to commissioning new work, the group is enriching the traditional wind quintet repertoire while meaningfully bridging European, American, African and Latin American traditions.
The group is in the midst of its Legacy Commissioning Project, an ambitious five-year endeavor launching Imani Winds into its second decade of music making. The ensemble is commissioning, premiering and touring ten new works for woodwind quintet written by established and emerging composers of various musical backgrounds. The select composers originate from different points of the globe bringing experience not only in classical music, but jazz, Middle Eastern, Latin, and harder to define sounds.
In 2007-08, Imani Winds performed extensively with jazz icon Wayne Shorter, culminating in a summer European tour of jazz festivals in Vienne (France), Lubeck (Germany), Kongsberg (Norway), Copenhagen (Denmark), Limerick (Ireland), and the North Sea Jazz Festival in Rotterdam, Netherlands. In 2008-09, the group will play several engagements with the Shorter Quartet, including dates at Carnegie Hall, Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, and Is Sanat Art and Culture Centre in Istanbul.
The wide range of programs offered by Imani Winds demonstrates their mission to expand the wind quintet repertoire and diversify sources of new music. From Mendelssohn, Jean Françaix, György Ligeti, and Luciano Berio, to Astor Piazzolla, Elliott Carter and John Harbison; to the unexpected ranks of Paquito D’Rivera and Wayne Shorter, Imani Winds actively seek to engage new music and new voices into the modern classical idiom. Imani members Valerie Coleman and Jeff Scott both regularly contribute compositions and arrangements to the ensemble’s expanding repertoire, bringing new sounds and textures to the traditional instrumentation.
Through commissions and performance the quintet regularly collaborates with other artists. Josephine Baker: A Life of Le Jazz Hot!, a collaboration with chanteuse René Marie and choreographer Christopher Huggins, has been performed in New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles, among other cities, to great acclaim. Imani Winds performed the world premiere of Terra Incognita, the first-ever commission for classical artists by jazz composer, performer and legend Wayne Shorter, and have shared the stage with Yo-Yo Ma for a rousing performance of Jeff Scott’s arrangement of Piazzolla’s Libertango. In 2007 the ensemble collaborated with bassist/trombonist Chris Brubeck of the famed Brubeck family for a performance and recording of music written especially for wind quintet and jazz quartet (released by Koch in 2008). The group’s Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center residency culminated in a recital in New York’s Alice Tully Hall with renowned clarinetist/saxophonist/composer Paquito D’Rivera. The ensemble has also worked with luminaries such as bandoneonist Daniel Binelli, saxophonist Steve Coleman, clarinetist David Shifrin, and pianists Gilbert Kalish and Shai Wosner. Future collaborations include Stefon Harris and David Krakauer.
Imani Winds’ extensive touring schedule has brought them to the Herbst Theater for San Francisco Performances, Seattle’s Meany Hall, University of Illinois’ Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, Ensemble Music Society of Indianapolis, La Jolla Music Society, and the Virginia Arts Festival. Additionally, they have performed at Atlanta’s National Black Arts Festival, Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, Chicago Symphony Musicians Residency Program, the Ravinia Festival, the Kennedy Center, and the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society.
Imani Winds enjoy frequent national exposure in all forms of media, including two features on NPR’s All Things Considered, appearances on APM’s Saint Paul Sunday, NPR’s Performance Today and News and Notes with Ed Gordon, the Bob Edwards Show on XM Satellite Radio, BBC The World, as well as frequent coverage in major music magazines and newspapers.
Their excellence and influences have been recognized with numerous awards including the 2007 ASCAP Award, 2002 CMA/ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming, as well as the CMA/WQXR Award for their debut and self-released CD Umoja. At the 2001 Concert Artists Guild International Competition, Imani Winds was selected as the first-ever Educational Residency Ensemble, in recognition of their tremendous musical abilities and innovative programming.
LINER NOTES:
Track 1:
The opening piece, Umoja (Ki-Swahili for unity), is the signature piece of Imani Winds. VColeman's composition
contains elements of the African drum circle and embodies the unity of mind, heart and spirit that makes the piece
outstanding in the world of contemporary chamber music.
Track 2:
Imani Winds joins forces with world-renowned percussionist Rolando Morales-Matos on Wapango, an energetic
piece by the Cuban-born musician and composer Paquito D' Rivera. Listen for the way the bassoon anchors the
other players with the well-written and well-executed bass line.
Track 3:
Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos wrote the Quintette in Forme de Choros while living in Paris. It is based
on the improvisatory dance form called choros that Villa-Lobos returned to many times in his career. A typical
choros starts out slowly and gradually builds to a dramatic climax. This piece is a tour-de-force for the entire
ensemble.
Track 4:
I Will, the ballad by John Clark, was originally written for his own jazz ensemble. Clark, an outstanding jazz
French horn player, then rewrote I Will for the Aspen Wind Quintet. Traces of improvisation are still redolent in
this arrangement, and Imani Winds revels in the lush harmonies written to accompany the simple tune.
Tracks 5-6:
The arrangements of Little David Play on Your Harp and Ev'ry Time I Feel the Spirit evoke the sound of an
African-American church choir both in the writing and in the performance of the pieces. Of note in the traditional
spiritual Little David is the amusing dialog between the flute and oboe.
Tracks 7-10:
Quintette by Jean Francaix, a "standard" of the woodwind quintet repertoire, is riddled with the quirky sense of
humor for which, French composer, Francaix is famous. Observe the bright colors elicited by the virtuoso flute and
clarinet lines in the first and last movements, and make sure to enjoy the way Francaix manipulates the theme of
the third movement into several sparkling variations.
Track 11:
Milonga Sin Palabras, an Argentinean dance song without words, is written by Astor Piazolla. Piazolla, master
player of the bandolian (a small accordion), is a prolific composer whose tango music is played by ensembles all
over the world. Imani Winds' interpretation of this Milonga is both delicate and passionate.
Track 12:
In Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing, we hear the African-American National Anthem reinterpreted. The masterful
arrangement of VColeman develops the hitherto unexplored aspect of the anthem as a song of celebration as well
as solidarity.
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