Performers

Matana Roberts’s Coin Coin: Prologue (New York)

Chicago-born saxophonist Matana Roberts is one of the key voices in jazz-derived creative music. On alto, Roberts has a keening and insistent tone, and her command allows her to draw upon and move through virtually the entire stylistic history of her instrument. Most importantly, there is an uncanny sense of identity – of her very being – in every note that she plays.

Her Coin Coin project is a “patchwork of sound” through which Roberts’s ancestral narratives can be traced, and by which she can pay homage to seven generations of forebears whose lives have spanned four continents. Her goal is “to paint a musical portrait of an extraordinary yet classic African American history.” In this way, Roberts places herself very much within the legacy of African American artists working toward self-invention through the celebration of the past.

In Matana Roberts, we are once again reminded that the best jazz and creative music have always had to do with much more than technical displays and impressive musicianship. While she is no doubt in possession of such musicianship, it is always in the service of something greater, deeper, and more powerful.

Website:

www.matanaroberts.com