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Tomeka Reid

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Tomeka Reid
Tomeka Reid performs at the Deutsches Jazzfestival in 2015.
Tomeka Reid performs at the Deutsches Jazzfestival in 2015.
Background information
Born1977 (age 46–47)
Washington, D.C., United States
Genres
Occupations
  • Composer
  • improviser
  • teacher
InstrumentCello
Labels
Websitetomekareid.net

Tomeka Reid (born 1977) is an American composer, improviser, cellist, curator, and teacher.[1][2]

Reid has performed and recorded with the Art Ensemble of Chicago,[3] Nicole Mitchell,[4] Anthony Braxton,[5] the AACM Great Black Music Ensemble,[6] Mike Reed's Loose Assembly,[7] and Roscoe Mitchell.[8] She leads the Tomeka Reid Quartet, with Tomas Fujiwara [de], Jason Roebke [de], and Mary Halvorson,[9] and is co-leader of Hear In Now, a trio with Mazz Swift [de] and Silvia Bolognesi [it].[10]

Reid founded and, as of 2024, still runs the now-annual Chicago Jazz String Summit and was named a 2017 "Chicago Jazz Hero" by the Jazz Journalists Association.[11] In 2019, Reid was appointed Darius Milhaud Distinguished Visiting Professor at Mills College.[12] She is a 2021 United States Artists Fellow and 2022 MacArthur Fellow.[13][14]

Early life and classical education

[edit]

Reid grew up outside of Washington, D.C., and in the 4th grade began playing cello at her elementary school in Silver Spring, Maryland.[15] Reid attended a French immersion school, but spoke very little French; she attributes much of her early enthusiasm for cello to the allowance of English in music class.[15] Reid could not afford additional cello instruction until high school: she briefly attended the Duke Ellington School of the Arts before dropping out due to the high cost of out-of-state enrollment, but assistance for low-income students enabled her to study at Levine School of Music in D.C.[16]

After high school, Reid began studying classical music at the University of Maryland, where she reconnected with Saïs Kamalidiin, a professor she had met at the Duke Ellington School.[17] Reid primarily studied classical music, but Kamalidiin introduced her to jazz performance and improvisation.[17] Reid also met Nicole Mitchell as an undergraduate, during a summer spent in Chicago;[18] Mitchell became another close mentor in improvised music, and Reid went on to perform on over ten albums with her, many as part of Mitchell's Black Earth Ensemble and Black Earth Strings quartet.[19] Reid continued to focus on classical music for the next several years after meeting Mitchell: she earned her Bachelor of Music in 2000,[20] and then moved to Chicago, where she continued her studies in classical cello performance at DePaul University. She completed her Master of Music in 2002.[21] After graduating, Reid began teaching at the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools, where she co-directed the string program for seven years.[22]

Career in jazz

[edit]

Reid became increasingly involved in the jazz community after moving to Chicago, and in 2009 she decided to more fully commit to the genre by beginning coursework toward a Doctor of Musical Arts in Jazz Studies.[23][20]

Later that year Reid played a show at The Hideout in a special version of Mike Reed's Loose Assembly, with the quintet of Reed, Reid, Greg Ward, Jason Adasiewicz, and Joshua Abrams joined by Roscoe Mitchell. A recording of the performance was later released as the album Empathetic Parts.[24] In 2010 Reid was also appointed Treasurer of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians[25] and played the Umbria Jazz Festival as part of the AACM Great Black Music Ensemble.[26]

In 2011, Reid left her job as orchestra director at the Lab School, choosing to instead focus on her career as a musician.[1] New Braxton House released Trillium E, the first studio recording of an Anthony Braxton opera, featuring the Tri-Centric Orchestra, which Reid had joined for the recording.[5] The following year she was awarded a residency at the University of Chicago's Washington Park Arts Incubator[27] and released her first album with Hear In Now, a co-led trio with Mazz Swift and Silvia Bolognesi.[10]

In 2013, Reid founded the Chicago Jazz String Summit (CJSS), an international festival of avant-garde string performances.[28] After a three-year gap, starting in 2016 Reid has continued to organize the CJSS as an annual Chicago event during the first weekend of May, even though she moved to New York City for four years.[29] Reid ran the 2020 and 2021 Chicago Jazz String Summits as online streamed events, via Chicago's Experimental Sound Studio's facilities, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[30][31][32]

The Chicago Tribune named Reid Chicagoan of the Year in Jazz[33] at the end of a highly decorated 2015: Reid completed and released her first album of original works, the eponymous Tomeka Reid Quartet,[34] and a co-led trio with Nicole Mitchell and Mike Reed released their self-titled debut, Artifacts.[35] The Chicago Reader included the quartet release, with Tomas Fujiwara, Jason Roebke, and Mary Halvorson, as among the best albums of 2015[36] and the best Chicago albums of the decade.[37] DownBeat said Artifacts "might be one of the most important AACM records in a generation".[35] Both albums were included in the year's NPR Music Jazz Critics Poll.[38] Reid performed with a quartet arranged by Roscoe Mitchell, a recording of which was released later that year as Celebrating Fred Anderson,[39] and performed at the Chicago Jazz Festival, Hyde Park Jazz Festival, Pritzker Pavilion, Symphony Center, and Chicago Cultural Center.[33]

In 2016, Reid performed with Anthony Braxton's "10+1tet" at Big Ears Festival in Knoxville, Tennessee[40] and was the recipient of a 3Arts Award.[41]

Reid received her Doctor of Musical Arts in Jazz Studies from the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign in 2017.[42][43] Her year in releases included the Hear in Now trio's second record, Not Living In Fear,[44] and Signaling, a duo album with Nick Mazzarella [de] that was also included among the Chicago Reader's best Chicago albums of the decade.[37] She was named 2017 "Chicago Jazz Hero" by the Jazz Journalists Association.[11]

In 2018, Reid performed with the Chicago Composers Orchestra in premiering her first orchestral composition,[45] and traveled to Ethiopia, where she studied the masenqo, an East African string instrument.[46] She appeared on 2018 releases including a collective trio album with Dave Rempis and Joshua Abrams, titled Ithra;[47] Geometry of Caves, by a quartet with Kyoko Kitamura, Taylor Ho Bynum, and Joe Morris; and on Makaya McCraven's Universal Beings.[48]

In 2019, Reid was a Foundation for Contemporary Arts Grants to Artists recipient; the award assisted her in commuting between tour and work when she was notified in late August that she had received a fall appointment as Darius Milhaud Chair (visiting professor) in Music Composition at Mills College.[49][42]

She was winner of the "Miscellaneous Instrument" category in the 2019 and 2020 DownBeat critics polls[46] and is a 2021 United States Artists Fellow. In June 2020, the New York Times consulted Tomeka Reid, along with artists including Yo-Yo Ma, to offer suggestions for cello recordings that could make newcomers to the instrument "fall in love" with its sounds; Reid recommended a composition by Abdul Wadud.[50]

In October 2022, Reid was awarded a prestigious MacArthur Fellowship.[13] During 2022 she has been "Improviser in residence" for the city of Moers, Germany, in affiliation with the Moers [music] Festival.[51] During the 2023–2024 academic year, Reid was a "visiting scholar" at the Hopkins Center for the Arts of Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, where she developed The Tomeka Reid Stringtet large ensemble.[52]

Personal life

[edit]

In 2020, Reid moved back to Chicago, after having left for New York City circa 2016.[53] As of 2024, Reid lives in Chicago with her husband David Brown, a professor of architecture at the University of Illinois at Chicago.[13][54]

Discography

[edit]

As leader

[edit]

As co-leader

[edit]
Artifacts (with Nicole Mitchell and Mike Reed)
Alexander Hawkins & Reid
Hear In Now (with Mazz Swift and Silvia Bolognesi)
Joe McPhee & Reid
  • Let Our Rejoicing Rise (Corbett vs. Dempsey, 2022)
Joe McPhee / Dave Rempis / Reid / Brandon Lopez / Paal Nilssen-Love
  • Of Things Beyond Thule Vol. 1 (Aerophonic, 2020)
  • Of Things Beyond Thule Vol. 2 (Aerophonic, 2020)
Reid / Isidora Edwards / Elisabeth Coudoux
Reid / Kyoko Kitamura / Taylor Ho Bynum / Joe Morris
Reid & Fred Lonberg-Holm
  • Eight Pieces for Two Cellos (Third Stream, 2022)
Reid & Nick Mazzarella
Reid / Filippo Monico [de]
Reid & Joe Morris
Angelika Niescier / Reid / Savannah Harris
Dave Rempis / Reid / Joshua Abrams
Dave Rempis / Joe Morris / Reid / Jim Baker
  • Nettles (Aerophonic, 2016)
Claudia Solal, Katherine Young, Reid, Benoît Delbecq
  • Antichamber Music (The Bridge Sessions, 2019)
The Urge Trio (with Christoph Erb [de] and Keefe Jackson [de])
  • Live In Toledo (Veto Records, 2013)[60]
  • Live At the Hungry Brain (Veto Records, 2017)
  • Live In St. Petersburg (Veto Records, 2021)
Watershed (with Denis Fournier [de], Nicole Mitchell, Hanah Jon Taylor [de], Bernard Santacruz [de])
  • Watershed (RogueArt, 2012)

As sideperson

[edit]
with Anthony Braxton
  • Trillium E (New Braxton House, 2011)
  • 10+1tet (Knoxville) (Braxton Bootleg, 2016)
  • Anthony Braxton's Language Music (Sound American, 2016)
with Jaimie Branch
  • Fly or Die (International Anthem, 2017)
  • Fly or Die II: Bird Dogs of Paradise (International Anthem, 2019)
with Taylor Ho Bynum
  • Enter the Plustet (Firehouse 12, 2016)
  • The Ambiguity Manifesto (Firehouse 12, 2019)
with Rob Mazurek
with Nicole Mitchell
with Mike Reed's Loose Assembly
With others

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b Margasak, Peter (December 12, 2013). "Tomeka Reid: The cellist". Chicago Reader: The People Issue. Retrieved February 24, 2021.
  2. ^ Ross, Alex (June 29, 2020). "Musicians and Composers Respond to a Chaotic Moment". The New Yorker. Retrieved February 24, 2021.
  3. ^ Meyer, Bill (August 27, 2019). "The Art Ensemble of Chicago celebrate 50 years of pushing great Black music into the future". The Chicago Reader. Retrieved February 24, 2021.
  4. ^ Ratliff, Ben (December 30, 2015). "Tomeka Reid, a New Jazz Power Source". The New York Times. Retrieved February 24, 2021.
  5. ^ a b Whiteis, David (April 15, 2019). "Tomeka Reid: Story of Her Life". Jazz Times. Retrieved February 24, 2021.
  6. ^ Reich, Howard (September 15, 2010). "The luminous art of cellist Tomeka Reid". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved February 24, 2021.
  7. ^ Meyer, Bill (September 23, 2009). "Mike Reed's Loose Assembly with Roscoe Mitchell". The Chicago Reader. Retrieved February 24, 2021.
  8. ^ Meyer, Bill (August 29, 2017). "Avant-garde elder Roscoe Mitchell celebrates 50 years of Nessa Records". The Chicago Reader. Retrieved February 24, 2021.
  9. ^ a b Beta, Andy (October 10, 2019). "Tomeka Reid Quartet's "Old New" Is Fresh and Transformative". Bandcamp Daily. Retrieved February 24, 2021.
  10. ^ a b c Margasak, Peter (March 12, 2012). "Three Beats: Cellist Tomeka Reid steps out with Hear in Now". The Chicago Reader. Retrieved February 24, 2021.
  11. ^ a b "Tomeka Reid: 2017 Chicago Jazz Hero". Jazz Journalists Association. Retrieved February 24, 2021.
  12. ^ "Tomeka Reid". Mills. Retrieved February 24, 2021.
  13. ^ a b c "Tomeka Reid". United States Artists. Retrieved February 24, 2021.
  14. ^ Kogan, Rick (October 12, 2022). "MacArthur Foundation 'genius' grant winners for 2022 include 3 Chicagoans". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved October 12, 2022.
  15. ^ a b Allen, Clifford (June 2017). "Artist Feature: Tomeka Reid" (PDF). The New York City Jazz Record. Retrieved February 24, 2021.
  16. ^ Collins, Troy (2015). "Tomeka Reid: On the Rise". Point of Departure. Retrieved February 24, 2021.
  17. ^ a b "The Visiting Artist Series: Tomeka Reid" (PDF). The University of Maryland Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center. 2019. Retrieved February 24, 2021.
  18. ^ "Interview: The Amazing Tomeka Reid" (PDF). New Directions Cello Association and Festival. 2017. Retrieved February 24, 2021.
  19. ^ "Tomeka Reid: Credits". AllMusic.com. Retrieved February 24, 2021.
  20. ^ a b Snyder, Sarah (March 28, 2019). "Moving Between Musical Worlds: Tomeka Reid '00 discusses her journey to becoming a professional musician". University of Maryland School of Music. Retrieved February 24, 2021.
  21. ^ "DePaul Magazine: Class Notes". DePaul University: University Libraries. August 1, 2016. Retrieved February 24, 2021.
  22. ^ "The Distance Between". The University of Chicago Arts. Retrieved February 24, 2021.
  23. ^ Heckel, Jodi (February 26, 2016). "Cellist Tomeka Reid and her jazz quartet to play at Krannert Art Museum". University of Illinois News. Retrieved February 24, 2021.
  24. ^ Jackson, Michael (February 2011). "Mike Reed's Loose Assembly: Empathetic Parts" (PDF). DownBeat. Retrieved February 25, 2021.
  25. ^ Margasak, Peter (June 11, 2009). "A revamped AACM steps forward". The Chicago Reader. Retrieved February 24, 2021.
  26. ^ Reich, Howard (April 2, 2010). "AACM dives into new compositions". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved February 24, 2021.
  27. ^ "Arts and Public Life Selects Artists-in-Residence for 2012-13". University of Chicago. December 5, 2012. Retrieved May 22, 2019.
  28. ^ Reich, Howard (May 2, 2018). "Cellist Tomeka Reid convenes a bold Jazz String Summit". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved February 24, 2021.
  29. ^ Mandel, Howard (March 12, 2019). "On the Road with Cellist Tomeka Reid". DownBeat. Retrieved February 24, 2021.
  30. ^ Sasha Margolis (2020). "Just for Us". Chamber Music America. Retrieved June 11, 2021.
  31. ^ Padideh Aghanoury (May 10, 2021). "Chicago Jazz String Summit Showcases Improvisors Around the World". I Care If You Listen, of American Composers Forum. Retrieved June 11, 2021.
  32. ^ "7th Annual Chicago Jazz String Summit: April 30th - May 1st, 2021". Tomeka Reid. 2021. Retrieved June 11, 2021.
  33. ^ a b Reich, Howard (December 23, 2015). "Chicagoan of the Year in Jazz: cellist, composer, bandleader Tomeka Reid". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved February 24, 2021.
  34. ^ Pollock, Matt (August 10, 2015). "Cellist Tomeka Reid Plays Sounds from the Soul". Chicago Magazine. Retrieved February 24, 2021.
  35. ^ a b Gottschalk, Kurt (June 14, 2018). "Artifacts Investigates AACM at Spoleto". DownBeat. Retrieved February 24, 2021.
  36. ^ Margasak, Peter (December 22, 2015). "The year in music: 2015". Chicago Reader. Retrieved February 24, 2021.
  37. ^ a b "The best Chicago albums of the 2010s". Chicago Reader. January 30, 2020. Retrieved February 24, 2021.
  38. ^ "The 2015 NPR Music Jazz Critics Poll". NPR. December 21, 2015. Retrieved February 24, 2021.
  39. ^ Margasak, Peter (November 2015). "Roscoe Mitchell Quartet Celebrating Fred Anderson" (PDF). DownBeat. p. 46. Retrieved February 24, 2021.
  40. ^ Walls, Seth Colter (April 3, 2016). "Big Ears Festival diary – three days at Knoxville's genre-spanning event". The Guardian. Retrieved February 24, 2021.
  41. ^ "Tomeka Reid". 3Arts. 2016. Retrieved February 24, 2021.
  42. ^ a b "Tomeka Reid with Selina Trepp and Adam Vida". Mills Performing Arts. 2020. Retrieved February 24, 2021.
  43. ^ Reid, Tomeka (2017). Jazz for the cello: Fostering effective expression through historic transcribed brass and reed solos (A.Mus.D. thesis). University of Illinois. hdl:2142/96139. Retrieved February 24, 2021 – via Illinois Digital Environment for Access to Learning and Scholarship.
  44. ^ a b Pollastri, Neri (June 5, 2017). "Hear In Now: Not Living In Fear". All About Jazz. Retrieved February 24, 2021.
  45. ^ Reich, Howard (January 11, 2018). "Tomeka Reid takes a shot at an orchestral premiere". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved February 24, 2021.
  46. ^ a b Cohen, Aaron (November 10, 2020). "Tomeka Reid Looks For Challenging Situations". DownBeat. Retrieved February 24, 2021.
  47. ^ a b Beta, Andy (September 20, 2018). "Dave Rempis / Tomeka Reid / Joshua Abrams: Ithra". Pitchfork. Retrieved February 24, 2021.
  48. ^ Chinen, Nate (October 29, 2018). "Makaya McCraven: Universal Beings". Pitchfork. Retrieved February 24, 2021.
  49. ^ "Tomeka Reid". Foundation for Contemporary Arts. 2019. Retrieved February 24, 2021.
  50. ^ "5 Minutes That Will Make You Love the Cello". The New York Times. June 3, 2020. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved June 11, 2020.
  51. ^ "Improviser". Moers Festival. Retrieved October 12, 2022.
  52. ^ "Performance: The Tomeka Reid Stringtet featuring a Hop Resident Artist and Roth Visiting Scholar". Dartmouth College. April 11, 2024. Archived from the original on April 10, 2024. Retrieved July 30, 2024.
  53. ^ Cohen, Aaron (February 14, 2022). "Finding Artifacts". DownBeat. Retrieved February 28, 2022.
  54. ^ Robson, Britt (April 16, 2024). "Tomeka Reid's All-Encompassing Cello Music". Bandcamp Daily. Retrieved July 30, 2024.
  55. ^ "Tomeka Reid". AllMusic. Retrieved June 19, 2010.
  56. ^ Whitehead, Kevin (October 13, 2015). "'Tomeka Reid Quartet' Offers A Tightly Synchronized Mix Of Cello And Guitar". NPR. Retrieved February 24, 2021.
  57. ^ "Tomeka Reid - 3+3". Jazz Music Archives. Retrieved June 21, 2024.
  58. ^ Attarian, Hrayr (November 6, 2015). "Nicole Mitchell/Tomeka Reid/Mike Reed: Artifacts". All About Jazz. Retrieved February 24, 2021.
  59. ^ Meyer, Bill (October 28, 2021). "Artifacts, and then there's this". Chicago Reader.
  60. ^ Astarita, Glenn (March 23, 2015). "The Urge Trio: Live In Toledo". All About Jazz. Retrieved February 24, 2021.
  61. ^ "Color Systems". RogueArts. September 2024. Retrieved December 10, 2024.
  62. ^ Fordham, John (January 27, 2023). "Art Ensemble of Chicago: The Sixth Decade: From Paris to Paris review – devoted heirs carry the torch". The Guardian. Retrieved March 17, 2023.
  63. ^ Felsenthal, Daniel (March 2, 2020). "Jeremy Cunningham: The Weather Up There". Pitchfork. Retrieved February 25, 2021.
  64. ^ Carr, Eric (February 11, 2003). "Giddy Motors: Make It Pop". Pitchfork. Retrieved February 25, 2021.
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