Nasheet waits bandcamp

Nasheet waits cymbals
Nasheet Waits, drummer and music educator, is a New York native.
Nasheet Waits is an American jazz drummer.

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Nasheet Waits: New York Love Letter (Bitter Sweet)

The 53 year-old New York drummer Nasheet Waits (raised by a famous percussionist father, Freddie Waits, and mentored by Max Roach) has been making himself an indispensable presence at the cutting-edge of American jazz since the turn of the millennium. He has led his own Tarbaby trio since the 1990s (the name comes from the 19th century collection of African-American folktales), and contributed to a raft of classy recordings by high-calibre leaders of many persuasions, including Andrew Hill, Geri Allen, and Jason Moran.

Now comes a pair of engrossingly different recordings with Waits at the helm, both hosted by the artist-centred Giant Step Arts, the non-profit operation founded by acclaimed jazz-photography partnership Jimmy and Dena Katz.

Tarbaby’s mixes Ornette Coleman, some improv-unleashing Orrin Evans originals, even the indestructible ‘Nobody Knows You When You’re Down And Out’. Ornette’s jaunty ‘Dee Dee’ (from 1965’s classic trio recordings ) gets a perkily joyous Monkish clang and a free-flow stream from Evans, and on t

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Renowned Drummer And Composer Nasheet Waits Joins New England Conservatory Jazz Studies Faculty

Waits built a group identity that resembled his own drum sound (aerated and unfastened, but deeply enmeshed in tradition) while drawing out the best in a crowd of younger compatriots. Few moments spoke more directly to what jazz is about, as a music and a practice.
—Giovanni Russonello, New York Times

New England Conservatory’s Jazz Studies Department has hired renowned drummer, composer and educator Nasheet Waits to join the jazz faculty beginning in the 2020-2021 academic year. In addition to his work as a leader, Waits is widely known for his performances and recordings with a jazz greats including Antonio Hart, Geri Allen, Marc Cary, Andrew Hill, Wallace Roney and many others.

“I’m thrilled that Nasheet Waits has agreed to join the faculty at NEC. I’ve been a fan of his playing for many years,” says Ken Schaphorst, Chair of NEC’s Jazz Studies Department. “He’s also played with many of our faculty and alums, including Fred Hersch and Jason Moran. I

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The cover art of Max Roach’s We Insist! Freedom Now Suite, from 1960, references the sit-in movement, which had taken off just that year in Greensboro, N.C. The piece “Tears for Johannesburg” was written in response to the even-more-recent Sharpeville Massacre in South Africa. In short, with this landmark piece of music, which draws from centuries of Black American musical history, Roach was delivering a contemporary take on what was going on in the world.

When Nasheet Waits was invited to mark the 100th year of Roach’s birth with a reimagining of the Freedom Now Suite at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) in Newark, he understood that part of the assignment would be to keep this 64-year-old piece connected to the present day.

He invited Saul Williams to recite poetry, knowing he would take on the issues that are dominant today, as his bluesological poems always do. And he constructed a stellar band that would carry the music into a present dimension, while still keeping it rooted. That group includes Cassandra Wilson on vocals, filling the spot Abbey Lincoln orig