40th Annual Jazz Service

Celebrate 40 years of Jazz at the First Unitarian Church in New Bedford. 

Our jazz service recognizes both the roots of jazz in American slavery and the deeply established existence of white supremacy throughout our nation today. To this end, our church supports the yearly assembling of an ensemble of excellent racially diverse musicians who come primarily from our city of New Bedford and its surrounding towns.

Our goal is to reflect on the racial realities of our country. We hope all who are present leave with a renewed commitment to work towards a more equal and just America.

The jazz service is a highlight in our year and helps us raise vital funds for our church and its social justice initiatives. 

We will have an opening by Linda Whyte Burrell and Everett Hoagland will read his poem "Jazz Theology".

Performing this year is AKOMA, (pron.: ah KOH mah in the Asante Twi language; meaning: ‘blood’, ‘heart’, as in ‘Nya Akoma’, ‘take heart’)

The Akoma ensemble plays original and traditional music in the African American heritage known as Jazz. Using elements of world music cultures from West Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and the Americas, the artists come together to create new sounds toward transcendence.

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Alexis Marcelo, pianist, creates a soulful New York City sound. He instinctively delivers a sound representative of a wide range of influences. Alexis’s training began when he began studying with JD Parran (AACM) at the Harlem School of the Arts and continued at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst where he studied composition with Yusef Lateef. Alexis has performed nationally and abroad at various festivals and prestigious venues, including the North Sea Jazz Festival (Yusef Lateef), the Detroit Jazz Festival (Yusef Lateef), Etnafest (Italy-Yusef Lateef), Mediawave Festival (Hungary-The Hub), and Alice Tully Hall in New York City. Alexis has also recorded multiple albums with former professor and mentor Yusef Lateef. Recently, Alexis recorded his first album and can be heard on current recordings of Adam Rudolph’s Go Orchestra & Moving Pictures, and a new recording with Malcolm Mooney (Can). Alexis Marcelo is a very unique pianist who looks to provide a soulful experience.

He believes in the power of music as a positive and uplifting force. Alexis is always looking to communicate those intimate parts of the soul through music. Alexis has been blessed to receive an extensive musical education at the Harlem School of the Arts. He went on to The University of Massachusetts at Amherst where he studied African-American Music/Jazz Piano Performance as well as composition with world-renowned saxophonist Dr. Yusef Lateef. Alexis has performed at the North Sea Jazz Festival, Etnafest in Italy, Alice Tully Hall and more. Alexis is featured on recordings with Yusef Lateef, Adam Rudolph, Mike Pride, and Malcolm Mooney.

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Avery Sharpe is a bassist/composer/educator/producer, and is considered a major force of his generation. Avery worked with piano jazz legend McCoy Tyner for 20 plus years, playing hundreds of gigs worldwide and appearing on more than 20 recordings with Tyner.

Sharpe’s credits also include sideman stints and recordings with jazz greats like Dizzy Gillespie, Wynton Marsalis, Yusef Lateef, Bobby McFerrin, Pat Metheny, Billy Taylor, and many more. In 1994 he started his own artist record label, JKNM Records. To date he has more than 13 titles as a leader for JKNM Records.

Sharpe is equally adept at songs and longer compositional forms. He has composed for films, jazz bands, orchestras, choirs, and plays. His monumental work 400: An African American Musical Portrait has been premiered to audiences worldwide.

Avery Sharpe was the Sterling Brown ‘22 Distinguished Visiting Artist in Residence in Music at Williams College and is now Artist Associate in Jazz Bass, and Jazz Coach at Williams College. He is also Faculty Advisor for the Williams Gospel Choir and affiliated faculty for Africana Studies.

Avery has served on the panels of National Endowment for the Arts, Chamber Music America, Meet the Composer, Rhode Island Foundation (for Composers), and more.

He continues to record, perform, and share his artistry with audiences across the world, and through these, has changed the lives of countless students and the jazz community.

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Charles Langford has been writing music since his teenage years. This Springfield, Massachusetts, jazz artist plays tenor, alto, soprano sax, clarinet and flute. Mr. Langford came to the Northeast United States after attending the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and the New School for Social Research in New York City. He studied composition and teaching with Billy Harper, Donald Byrd, and Barry Harris, among others. Prior to that, Mr. Langford studied with Archie Shepp, George Coleman and Yusef Lateef. Since then, Charles Langford has become one of the Boston area's top A-list players. He currently writes music for the daytime show The Young and The Restless on CBS. With his new release, "Powerless", Mr. Langford has great things in store featuring industry leaders, Jimmy Haslip, Russell Ferrante and Elan Trotman.

Charles continues to perform, record, and compose in many media and styles, collaborating with creative artists in multiple disciplines through the world.

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royal hartigan is a drummer, pianist, teacher, and author who has studied, lived, and performed the music of Asia, Africa, Europe, West Asia, and the Americas, as well as African American traditions. He has made a life focusing on the sounds and meaning from world cultures, bringing new concepts to drum set and jazz ensemble interactions, including time cycles and rhythms from India, West Africa, and the gong cultures of the Philippines, China, Korea, and Java. royal has produced four CDs and appears on over 40 others, many with the late Fred Ho. His books and films have documented the connections among global traditions, West African music, and the African American tradition known as jazz.

Author of the books blood drum spirit, West African Rhythms for Drumset, Dancin’ on the Time, and West African Eve Rhythms for Drumset, royal has spent decades studying with master artists and adapting rhythms, songs, and structures from global music traditions. He was a Fulbright scholar to the Philippines and Ghana. royal has lived and worked extensively in Ghana, the Philippines, and China. He brings the music he has learned into the jazz tradition as a natural extension of the African Diaspora music he has dedicated his life to, first introduced to him by his mother and uncle (he began tap dancing at three years old). royal has met and been inspired by many great artists, including Duke Ellington, Thelonious Monk, Randy Weston, Reggie Workman, Archie Shepp, and Sun Ra. He has studied with Lenny McBrowne, Clifford Jarvis, Max Roach, Ed Blackwell, Abraham Adzenyah, and Freeman Donkor, among others. His blood drum spirit ensemble has performed, given workshops, and collaborated with artists in Asia, West Africa, the Caribbean, and across the U.S.

This year, our event will be bigger and better than ever. We are adding a vendor fair from 10 AM to 3 PM, a raffle, and concessions to the church lawn. This event is free and open to the public. Donations are graciously accepted.

Vendors

Crafts by Donna

Anomaly Poetry

Lisa Elliott Handweaver

WeeHa Co.

Green Cottageworks

Susan Gelotte Block Prints

Caribe Creations

Cards by GG

New Bedford Pottery

League of women Voters SouthCoast

Raffle Prizes

Two tickets to New Bedford Festival Theater's summer production of Nunsense valued at $80

Health & Wellness Basket valued at over $100

Season Pass from Your Theater ($250 value)

$100 Gift Certificate to the Wamsutta Club

A Family Membership to The Rotch-Jones-Duff House ($85 value)

Breakfast for Two Basket valued at over $100

Local History Basket valued at over $100

More details to come!