The W.E.B. Du Bois Department of Afro-American Studies at UMASS, Amherst
in partnership with the We Insist! Collective & the We Up Re Up Jazz Festival
presents
FIRE FRIDAYS
"The Cats Talk Back"
Mini Concerts & Panel Discussions on Hot Topics in Jazz
Reclaiming The Black American Music Known as Jazz
Fridays 7-9PM on 4.23 | 4.30 | 5.7
with Jazz Masters Both Present & Future
REGGIE WORKMAN
CHARLES MCPHERSON
STEVE COLEMAN
JD ALLEN
NASHEET WAITS
ANTOINE DRYE
ERIC REVIS
PRODUCED & MODERATED BY MAYA CUNNNINGHAM
Ethnomusicologist, Africanist/African American Scholar, Cultural Activist
Black Music Practitioner (Jazz Vocals)
Ph.D. Candidate, W.E.B. Du Bois Department of Afro-American Studies
DONALD EDWARDS QUINTET (4.23)
Donald Edwards, Drums
Abraham Burton, Tenor Sax
Anthony Wonsey, Piano
Ben Wolfe, Bass
David Gilmore
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ANTHONY WONSEY TRIO (4.30)
Anthony Wonsey, Piano
Dmitri Kolesnik, Bass
Chris Beck, Drums
*WPFW 89.3 Pacifica Jazz - SPECIAL LIVE BROADCAST*
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NASHEET WAITS & BLOOD BROTHERS (5.7)
Nasheet Waits, Drums
Abraham Burton, Tenor Sax
Marvin Sewell, Guitar
Luques Curtis, Bass
The W.E.B. Du Bois Department of Afro American Studies has the extraordinary opportunity to continue the work of legacy faculty like Max Roach, Reggie Workman, Yusef Lateef and Archie Shepp with the Spring 2021 inaugural season of the Du Bois Black Music Project. Throughout his time on faculty in the Department, Max Roach engaged in scholarship that addressed major issues of race and power in Black music with a focus on jazz.
We follow in his footsteps with the online event series Fire Fridays: The Cats Talk Back, which presents mini-concerts and panel discussions to put Black music culture-bearers in conversation with hot topics in jazz. This series was conceived by Afro American Studies doctoral student Maya Cunningham, who is an ethnomusicologist, a cultural activist, and a jazz vocalist.
The Du Bois Black Music Project has partnered with the We Insist! Collective and the We UP - Re Up Online Jazz Festival, led by world renowned tenor saxophonist JD Allen, Nasheet Waits (Drummer, Jason Moran’s Bandwagon), and Eric Revis (Bassist, Branford Marsalis), in collaboration with celebrated jazz trumpeter, Antoine Drye.
This series facilitates intergenerational dialogues with the elder, bridge and young lion generations of jazz culture bearers, who are at the creative vanguard of the music, and who in other Black forms center their voices in controversial topics in jazz scholarship, including cultural appropriation, institutionalization, and contested ownership.
