Thursday Evening, March 31, 2016, at 8:00 m a r g Imani Uzuri o r P Marvin Sewell , Co–Musical Director, Guitars, and Banjo Chala Yancy , Violin e Graham Haynes , Cornet h James Hurt , Piano T Jerome Harris , Bass Satoshi Takeishi , Percussion and Drums Jarvis C. McInnis , Matthew D. Morrison , Rozz Nash , Guest Vocals This evening’s program is approximately 75 minutes long and will be performed without intermission. Please make certain all your electronic devices are switched off. Major support for Lincoln Center’s American Songbook is provided by Amy & Joseph Perella. Endowment support provided by Bank of America This performance is made possible in part by the Josie Robertson Fund for Lincoln Center. Steinway Piano Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse American Songbook Additional support for Lincoln Center’s American Songbook is provided by The DuBose and Dorothy Heyward Memorial Fund, The Shubert Foundation, Jill and Irwin B. Cohen, The G & A Foundation, Inc., Great Performers Circle, Chairman’s Council, and Friends of Lincoln Center. Public support is provided by the New York State Council on the Arts. Artist catering provided by Zabar’s and zabars.com MetLife is the National Sponsor of Lincoln Center UPCOMING AMERICAN SONGBOOK EVENTS IN THE STANLEY H. KAPLAN PENTHOUSE: Friday Evening, April 1, at 8:00 Grace McLean IN THE DAVID RUBENSTEIN ATRIUM: Tuesday Evening, April 5, at 7:30 Rick Barry The Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse is located in the Samuel B. and David Rose Building at 165 West 65th Street, 10th floor. The David Rubenstein Atrium is located on Broadway between West 62nd and 63rd Streets. Shows at the Atrium are free, with seating available on a first-come, first-served basis. For tickets, call (212) 721-6500 or visit AmericanSongbook.org. Call the Lincoln Center Info Request Line at (212) 875-5766 or visit AmericanSongbook.org for complete program information. Join the conversation: #LCSongbook We would like to remind you that the sound of coughing and rustling paper might distract the performers and your fellow audience members. In consideration of the performing artists and members of the audience, those who must leave before the end of the performance are asked to do so between pieces . Flash photography and the use of recording equipment are not allowed in the building. American Songbook I Meet the Artists s t s i t r A e h A V t O R E T H t C I R A R e T E P e Imani Uzuri M Vocalist and composer Imani Uzuri (co –musical director) creates music that reflects her rural North Carolina roots; she grew up singing spirituals and line-singing hymns with her grandmother and extended family in their small rural church. Critically praised for her mesmerizing vocals, wide range, and highly personalized compositions, Ms. Uzuri travels internation - ally creating concerts, experimental theater, performance art, and sound installations in venues and festivals that have included Joe’s Pub, The Kitchen, Central Park SummerStage, the Whitney Museum, Met Breuer, Museum of Modern Art, and Performa biennial. She has collaborated with artists across various disciplines, including musicians Herbie Hancock, John Legend, and Vijay Iyer; visual artists Wangechi Mutu, Carrie Mae Weems, and Sanford Biggers; choreographer Trajal Harrell; and composer Robert Ashley. Ms. Uzuri’s work incorporates her interests in world culture, improvisation, and sacred music. Her recent album, The Gypsy Diaries , draws on her roots as well as influences ranging from Sufi devotionals to Romany laments. She is currently composing a new musical, GIRL Shakes Loose Her Skin , with book and lyrics by playwright Zakiyyah Alexander (featuring the poetry of Sonia Sanchez). She recently premiered her first orchestral composition, Placeless , at Ecstatic Music Festival, drawing critical praise. Ms. Uzuri was a 2015 Park Avenue Armory artist-in-residence, and is com - posing her first opera, Hush Arbor , as a 2015 MAP Fund grantee. Marvin Sewell Marvin Sewell (co–musical director, guitars, banjo) is a musician, com - poser, and producer whose sound encompasses a fusion of jazz, blues, funk, alternative, and world music. Born and raised in Chicago, he began American Songbook I Meet the Artists playing guitar with the Malcolm X Community College Big Band in high school and jammed with many basement bands in the city. From there, he went on to perform with famous local musicians such as Von Freeman, Ramsey Lewis, Billy Branch, Jody Christian, and Big Time Sarah. In 1990 Mr. Sewell moved to New York City, and i n 1995 began a creative collaboration with Grammy-winning recording artist Cassandra Wilson. Over the next 15 years he would become her lead guitarist, arranger, bandleader, and musical director. In addition to leading the Marvin Sewell Group, he is a member of Jason Moran and the Bandwagon and travels the globe touring with a host of performing artists, including Angelique Kidjo, Herbie Hancock, Charles Earland, Wayne Shorter, Chaka Khan, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Terri Lyne Carrington, Prince, Fred Hopkins, Aimee Mann, George Benson, Mark Isham, Jorge Sylvester, Branford Marsalis, Regina Carter, Dianne Reeves, and Lila Downs. Chala Yancy Chala Yancy (violin) enjoys a career as a chamber musician, studio violinist, and early childhood music educator. She plays with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s and International Street Cannibals new music ensemble. Ms. Yancy has appeared on stage with performing artists such as Adele, Johnny Mathis, Il Volo, Mos Def, Don Omar, Beres Hammond, David Broza, and Kanye West. Television appear - ances include Good Morning America , Today , The Tonight Show , and Late Night with Seth Meyers . On Broadway Ms. Yancy has performed in Young Franken - stein , Motown: The Musical , and Amazing Grace . She has also performed at the Kennedy Center during the DC Jazz Festival and at Tanglewood Jazz Festival with Paquito D’Rivera, Mike Mossman, Nnenna Freelon, and Mike Garson. Ms. Yancy can be heard on recordings by A Great Big World, Alicia Keys, James Carter, Regina Carter, and Papo Vazquez’s Mighty Pirates Troubadours, as well as on Tania León’s Inura , which was nominated for a Grammy and Latin Grammy. She received her bachelor of music degree from New York University and her master’s from the Manhattan School of Music. Graham Haynes Graham Haynes (cornet) is regarded as an innovator on cornet and flugelhorn, and an emerging force in contemporary electronic music and world music. As a leader he has recorded 15 critically acclaimed CDs, including ¿What Time It Be! , Nocturne Parisian , and Tones for the 21st Century , which layers sound effects, textures, drones, and samples over electronically manipulated horn. Mr. Haynes has also collaborated on numerous CDs as a side person with such artists as Steve Coleman, Roy Haynes, Ed Blackwell, Abbey Lincoln, and Cassandra Wilson. Since 2013 Mr. Haynes has been a member of the Vijay Iyer Sextet. American Songbook I Meet the Artists Also a composer, Mr. Haynes has written for theater, dance, and film, including Flag Wars , a film funded by PBS, and an original soundtrack for the short film The Promise . Throughout his career, he has brought together different musical traditions from Africa, Asia, and Arabic countries, and has been a perennial guest at the Essaouira Gnaoua and World Music Festival in Morocco. James Hurt James Hurt (piano) is a conductor, arranger, composer, drummer, and pianist. His collaborations include working with Rashid Ali, Antonio Hart, Russell Gunn, DJ Logic, Meshell Ndegeocello, Q-Tip, Bernie Worrell, Maceo Parker, and Buster Williams. Mr. Hurt served as guest conductor and arranger for both Tess Marsalis & the Swing Daddies at the Iridium and the Jason Lindner Big Band at Smalls. As a pianist Mr. Hurt played in the Oliver Lake Big Band at the Knitting Factory, and on electronics, laptop, and keyboards in Butch Morris’s Nublu and Lucky Cheng’s orchestras. As a recording artist he can be heard on such labels as Atlantic, Impulse, Motown, High Note, Fresh Sounds, and Innerscope. He has also recorded on Grammy-nominated albums for Antonio Hart ( Here I Stan d), Abbey Lincoln (Wholly Earth ), and Russell Gunn ( Ethnomusicology , Vol. I). He released his own album, Dark Grooves—Mystical Rhythms , on Blue Note Records. Mr. Hurt also teaches both privately and through the New School’s jazz department. Jerome Harris Jerome Harris (bass) has won recognition as a versatile and penetrating stylist on both guitar and bass guitar. From 1988 to 1994 he was Sonny Rollins’s gui - tarist, and appears on five of his recordings. Since then, Mr. Harris has recorded and performed on six continents, with Jack DeJohnette, Bill Frisell, David Krakauer, Paul Motian, Ray Anderson, Don Byron, Bobby Previte, Oliver Lake, Amina Claudine Myers, Bob Stewart, George Russell, and Julius Hemphill, among others. His extensive international work includes stints in Japan with Rollins, as well as touring in six African countries, sponsored by the U.S. State Department, with saxophonist Sam Newsome and guitarist Marvin Sewell. Mr. Harris’s scholarly work includes an essay, “Jazz on the Global Stage,” pub - lished in the anthology The African Diaspora: A Musical Perspective (Garland/Taylor & Francis). He has taught courses on the history and social con - text of jazz and blues at Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts. After earning a bachelor of arts degree in psychology and social relations at Harvard College in 1973, Mr. Harris attended New England Conservatory of Music for jazz guitar. American Songbook I Meet the Artists Satoshi Takeishi Based in New York City since 1991, Satoshi Takeishi (percussion, drums) has performed and recorded in variety of genres, from world music, jazz, and con - temporary classical music to experimental electronic music. He continues to explore multicultural electronics and improvisational music with local musi - cians and composers.