ROOTS to SHOOTS

MICHAEL MOSS, composer/Artistic Director/Conductor, formed the Accidental Orchestra in 2016, a ~22 member renaissance jazz orchestra consisting of a horn, brass, string, and rhythm section and released HELIX (2018) to great critical acclaim. Moss traces the concept of a large group like this to the 1970s when, as President of Free Life Communication, a musicians' cooperative in NYC, Moss was one of the first jazz musicians employed an improvising string section of extraordinary violinists, violists, and cellists in Free Energy. Moss composed Ain Soph (Cross Current, Mike Moss/Four Rivers, 4th Stream Records, 1973) laying the cornerstone for the performance and release of his twelve-movement piece Qabbala::Entanglement inspired by the Kabbala and quantum physics performed by the Accidental Orchestra in 2019 (soon to be released on 4th Stream Records). Following a life-long passion for expanding jazz improvisation to include musical traditions from around the world, Moss has studied music of the Middle East, India, Senegal, Ireland and Europe to understand music reflecting different ethnic traditions and work them into compositions in the jazz tradition of John Coltrane, Eric Dolphy, Miles Davis and Cecil Taylor.

Michael Wimberly, percussionist, composer, educator and producer has erformed, recorded and toured internationally with innovative artists Charles Gayle, William Parker, Henry Rollins, Steve Coleman’s 5 Elements, Parliament Funkadelic, D’Angelo, Blondie, Angie Stone, and many others. Michael performed the Lion King on Broadway, The Wiz at the Beacon Theatre featuring Stephanie Mills, and Ntozake Shange’s “For Colored Girls” at the American Place Theatre. Sound design projects include; Shakespeare’s “Midsummer Night’s Dream” for the

Classical Theatre of Harlem, St. Lucy’s Eyes for the Cherry Lane Theatre, and shackled, Iced, and Chain for the National Black Theatre Company.

As a soloist, Michael’s been featured with Berlin's Rundfunk Symphony, Vienna's Tonkuntsler Symphony, Leipzig Symphony, International Regions Symphony Orchestra of Europe, Yakima Chamber Orchestra, Yakima, WA, and Sage City Symphony, Bennington, VT.

As a composer Michael's commissioned dance scores appear in the companies of Urban Bush Women, Joffrey Ballet, Alvin Ailey, Philadanco, Complexions, and Forces of Nature Dance Theatre. Film soundtracks include “Atlantic City Lights” for HBO, and “As An Act Of Protest” an independent feature. Michael has wo published percussion instruction books with Hudson Music Publishing entitled "Getting Started with Djembe", and "Getting Started with Cajon", and a new album “Afrofuturism” on Temple Mountain Records (TMR) distributed by Universal Music Group / Level Music. Michael is currently a member of the faculty of music at Bennington College in Bennington, VT since 2012.

Alexis Marcelo is a pianist with a deep love for music who creates a soulful New York City sound.. 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. He instinctively delivers a sound representative of a wide range of influences.

Alexis has been blessed to receive an extensive musical education at the Harlem School of the Arts when he began studying with JD Parran (AACM). 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 nationally and abroad at various festivals and prestigious venues, including the North Sea Jazz Festival, Etnafest in Italy and the Detroit Jazz Festival with Yusef Lateef, Mediawave Festival (Hungary-The Hub), Alice Tully Hall and more. Recently Alexis recorded his first album and is featured on recordings with Yusef Lateef, Adam Rudolph’s Go Orchestra & Moving Pictures, Mike Pride, Malcolm Mooney (Can), and with the Dance Clarinets in an upcoming 2020 release of Colorations-Explorations by Joe Daley. Last year he performed Michael Moss’ Qabbala::Entanglement on synthesizer in the Accidental Orchestra as well as with Van Lier Fellow Anaïs Maviel in an electroacoustic large ensemble.

Alexis Marcelo is a very unique pianist who looks to provide a soulful experience.

Ismael Baiz is a touring and recording artist who resides in New York since 2009. Originally from Caracas, Venezuela, Ismael began his music studies at age 5. After a bitter-sweet breakup with the piano, his interest for percussion sparked while at the Prudencio Esaa music school. Soon enough he began receiving private drum lessons and different teachers imparted their knowledge. One particular teacher with whom he studied for 8 years marked his drumming, Jose Mato, who ascends a line of exceptional classical percussionists.

He began performing professionally at age 14. A short time later he toured his native Venezuela and, had the opportunity of touring internationally.

Then, came the New York experience and he found himself in The Collective School of Music as a full-time student for 2 years. Following that, he attended the CCNY Jazz Performance Program. Studying with a line-up of teachers such as: Ian Froman, Peter Retzlaff, Bob Quaranta, Kim Plainfield, Vince Cherico, Marko Djordjevic, Chris Coleman, Tim Ries, Dan Carillo, Vanderlei Pereira, Mike Hollober, amongst others who helped refine and develop his sound and vision in music.

Ismael currently performs nationally and internationally with artists such as: Yordano, Monte, Amine Hachem, Ali Bello, The Latino Experimental Project, just to name a few. Aside from this, he continues teaching and recording in his state of the art studio.

In 2009, Maelo Drums sprung from Ismael’s rigorous research and dedicated passion towards providing unique designer sounds for unique artists. To learn more about MAELO DRUMS visit: www.maelodrums.com

With a cultural melting-pot in his brain, Ismael is constantly composing original music and arrangements with The Latino Experimental Project; a musical experiment that mixes his Venezuelan roots, Afro-Latin and Caribbean styles with

Adam Lane By combining a disparate set of influences into a unique and personal improvisational voice, Adam Lane has become recognized as one of the most original creative voices in the New York improv scene. He is the leader of several different ensembles that perform his original creative music compositions. His most recent projects include The Adam Lane Trio, featuring legendary reedist Vinny Golia, Four Corners, a co-lead ensemble with reedist Ken Vandermark, The Full Throttle Orchestra (both West and East coast versions), formed to perform Lane’s large group music for improvising orchestras, and an ongoing solo project that combines unique processed double bass improvisations with Lane's original story telling. Sam Prestiani of Jazziz says of Lane’s writing: “His confidence and confrontational prowess as well as his abiding sense of lyricism and heavy-groove power place him in the lineage of forward-jazz adventurism.”

Lane is the recipient of numerous awards and grants including the Julius Hemphill award for large ensemble jazz piece, several meet the composer awards, and a Paternings Scholarship award for study at the Darmstadt School for New Music where Lane studied double bass with Steffano Scodanibbio, and attended master classes in composition with Karlheinz Stockhausen.

As a sideman he has performed with an eclectic mix of musicians, from tenor great John Tchicai, to alto iconoclast Richard Tabnik, to rock legend Tom Waits, plus Steve Cohn, Michael Bisio, Lou Grassi, Perry Robinson, Julian Priester, Blaise Siwula, Burton Greene, Mark Whitecage, Michael Moss, and Kalaparush Maurice McIntyre as a co-leader. As a leader he worked with Avram Fefer, Roy Campbell, Barry Altschul, Tayler Ho Bynum.

Warren Smith was born May 14, 1934, in Chicago, Illinois, to a musical family.[1] His father played saxophone and clarinet with Noble Sissle and Jimmie Noone, and his mother was a harpist and pianist. At the age of four Smith studied clarinet with his father. He graduated from the University of Illinois in 1957, then received a master's degree in percussion from the Manhattan School of Music in 1958.One of his earliest major recording dates was with Miles Davis as a vibraphonist in 1957. He found work in Broadway pit bands beginning in 1958 when he was in the original production of Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story. WIS also played with Gil Evans that year. In 1961 he co-founded the Composers Workshop Ensemble. In the 1960s Smith accompanied Aretha Franklin, Nina Simone, Lloyd Price, and Nat King Cole; he worked with Sam Rivers from 1964–76 and with Gil Evans again from 1968 to 1976. In 1969 he played with Janis Joplin and in 1971 with King Curtis and Tony Williams. He was also a founding member of Max Roach's percussion ensemble, M'Boom, in 1970.In the 1970s and 1980s Smith had a loft called Studio Wis that acted as a performing and recording space for many young New York jazz musicians, such as Wadada Leo Smith and Oliver Lake. Through the 1970s Smith played with Andrew White, Julius Hemphill, Muhal Richard Abrams, Nancy Wilson, Quincy Jones, Count Basie, and Carmen McRae. Other credits include extensive work with rock and pop musicians and time spent with Anthony Braxton, Charles Mingus, Henry Threadgill, Van Morrison, and Joe Zawinul. He continued to work on Broadway into the 1990s, and has performed with a number of classical ensembles.Smith taught in the New York City public school system from 1958 to 1968, at Third Street Settlement from 1960 to 1967, at Adelphi University in 1970–71, and at SUNY-Old Westbury from 1971.

PHOTOS BY SCOTT FRIEDLANDER

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