March 12
- Workshop: Saxophonist Joshua Redman with the Cornell University Lab Ensembles
Barnes Hall, Cornell University. Ithaca, NY.
 

April 20
- Panel Discussion: Pamela Wise (piano, composer), Akua Dixon (cello) and Adela Dalto (vocal)
"Women in 'Jazz'"
Moderated by Dr. Karlton E. Hester.
2 - 3PM - Africana Studies & Research Center, Cornell University. Ithaca, NY.

April 21
- Bass Clinic: Phil Bowler
White Hall, Cornell University. Ithaca, NY.
- Concert: Guest Artists Pamela Wise, Akua Dixon, Adela Dalto and members of Hesterian Musicism perform with the Cornell University Lab Ensembles
Dr. Karlton E. Hester, director.
8PM - Barnes Hall, Cornell University. Ithaca, NY.

April 22
- Concert: Hesterian Musicism and featured guest performances by Christopher Morgan Loy (piano, composer) with Ernestina Snead (vocal), Mamadou Diabate (kora, Mali), and Uhuru Kuumba Dance Ensemble
8PM - Barnes Hall, Cornell University. Ithaca, NY.

Phil Bowler

Phil Bowler's unique approach to the double bass is firmly rooted in the history and tradition of both African American and European art musics. His recording credits include releases with Wynton Marsalis, Branford Marsalis, Karlton
Hester, Ralph Peterson, Terence Blanchard, and Donald Harrison. He has toured with Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Wynton Marsalis, Max Roach, Slide Hampton, Horace Silver, Roy Haynes, and various others. He is currently leading his own quartet Pocket Jungle and working with renowned saxophonist Jackie Mclean. Phil also hosts "Jazz Adventures", a music and interview radio show on WPKN-FM in Bridgeport, which was selected by VARIETY magazine as 1989's best jazz program and Phil as the best radio personality.
 

Adela Dalto

Mixing sophisticated elements of Latin and Brazilian music with the most contemporary styles of American jazz, Adela Dalto creates a compelling blend of sensuous fiery rhythms with sultry vocals in her Latin jazz music. Born in Texas to Mexican parents, she grew up with the influence of R&B and a growing interest in jazz.  It was her late husband, Jorge Dalto, former pianist for George Benson, who encouraged her musical career and introduced her to the subtle and exciting rhythms of Latin and Brazilian music.  Adela has been performing in the local clubs in New York City with her band and as a special guest.  She has performed alongside great Latin musicians such as Jerry Gonzalez and Hilton Ruiz, jazz trumpeter Roy Hargrove, Brazilian pianist Aloisio Aguiar, and with Mauricio Smith's Latin Jazz Orchestra at the Rainbow Room in New York City.  Adela toured as featured vocalist with the late Mario Bauza's Afro Cuban Jazz Orchestra at the Pori Jazz, North Sea Jazz, Umbria Jazz, and the Montreux Jazz Festivals.  Her latest CD release, Papa Boco on Milestone Records, is a mix of Latin, Brazilian and jazz tunes containing several of her own lyrics.  She also has three Japanese CDs on the Venus Records label titled Exotica, Peace, and A Brazilian Affair.
 

Mamadou Diabate

Mamadou Diabate was born in 1975 in Kita, a Malian city long known as the center for the arts and culture of the Manding people of West Africa. As the name Diabate indicates, Mamadou comes from a family of griots, or jelis as they are known amongst the Manding. Jelis use music and sometimes oratory to preserve and sustain people’s consciousness of the past, a past that stretches back to the 13th century. Mamadou’s father Djelimory Diabate also played the kora, the jeli’s venerable 21-string harp, in the Instrumental Ensemble of Mali. At the age of four, Mamadou went to live with his father in Bamako, where the Ensemble is based. When it came time for him to return to Kita and go to school, Mamadou knew that the kora was his destiny. Since then Mamadou has not only become acknowledged musicians within Mali; in 1996 he had the chance to travel to the United States and has made his home in New York since then. In the United States Mamadou has performed with Malian stars Ami Koita, Tata Bambo Kouyate and Babani Koné as well as jazz luminaries Donald Byrd and Randy Weston.

(For a more extensive biography of Mamadou Diabate, please refer to the CU "Jazz" Festival page of 1999)
 

Akua Dixon

A native of New York City, cellist-composer-conductor Akua Dixon is a graduate of the famed High School of the Performing Arts where she studied cello with Benar Heifetz.  She performs nationally and internationally at concert halls, colleges, and jazz festivals.  Among the many noted artists with which she has performed are Duke Ellington, Lionel Hampton, Max Roach, Betty Carter, Ray Charles, Israel "Cachao" Lopez, Eubie Blake, Aretha Franklin, Diana Ross, the Temptations, and Sammy Davis, Jr. She is assistant-principal cellist of the Dance Theatre of Harlem Orchestra.  In 1973 Akua Dixon founded her own string quartet, Quartette Indigo, whose repertoire includes original works and her arrangements of jazz classics.  Featured in concert at the Berlin Jazz Festival and the Kool Jazz Festival, the quartet's release on Landmark records received four stars from Downbeat.  Akua Dixon has lectured at the Smithsonian Institute and won grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Rockefeller Foundation, and Meet The Composer for her compositions.
 

Christopher Morgan Loy

Christopher Morgan Loy has presented annual recitals in Ithaca featuring his new works since 1989. His compositions include works for piano, chamber ensembles, chamber orchestra, full orchestra, and chorus.  He has received more than 20 commissions from individuals and organizations since the 1980¹s.  Loy¹s music has been premiered in Cleveland, Detroit, Houston, New York, San Francisco, San Antonio and Ithaca.  He earned the Doctorate of Musical Arts degree from Cornell University in 1993.  Christopher is currently assistant director of Sage Chapel Choir; teaches piano at Cornell; and he serves on the faculties of the 171 Cedar Arts Center in Corning, NY, and the Community School (CSMA) in Ithaca. He is organist and choirmaster of the Newfield Methodist Church.
 

Ernestina Snead

Ernestina Snead has studied music and sung spirituals for church services, public events, and radio broadcast since childhood.  She continues to pursue this genre of music as a soloist.  She has sung with groups such as the Sage Chapel Choir, the Ithaca Community Chorus, and the Cornell Chorale. She has organized three African-American Spirituals Concerts and two concerts of Duke Ellington's Sacred Music in Ithaca. Tina is director of Research Communications at Cornell University. Her degrees are B.A. English, M.L.S. Library and Information Sciences, and M.A. Television and Radio Broadcasting. Tina has pursued music along side her other work. She studied voice locally with Angus Godwin, Marion Hanson, and Yves Parkes.

"African-American spirituals are part of my heritage and a source of meditation for me. It¹s always a pleasure to share them with others in hope that they will inspire, as they have done for many, dating back to the birth of this country."
 

Pamela Wise

Pianist Pamela Wise  followed a path from the gospel music of her hometown church through the urban landscape of rhythm and blues to find a musical home in the world of jazz.  She grew up in Steubenville, Ohio, where her father was a jazz musician and a church choir director.  Wise began composing music and playing the piano by ear at the age of 5 and started formal lessons when she was nine.  Eventually, she became the pianist for her father's choir.  Later, as a teenager, she started a R&B group called Ohio Movement, which toured in Ohio, West Virginia and Pennsylvania.  After studying at Cleveland State University, she moved to Detroit, which is where she began a more in depth discovery of jazz. There, she hooked up with some of the city's top jazz artists, such as Marcus Belgrave, Harold McKenny, and Wendell Harrison.  When her music turned toward the Afro-Cuban jazz realm she got to know Jerry Gonzalez and Steve Berrios in New York.  She's recorded two CDs:  Wise Tells and Songo Festividad! and is a regular at the jazz club Bomac's in Detroit.

(For a more extensive biography of Mamadou Diabate, please refer to the CU "Jazz" Festival page of 1995)

Cornell Chronicle - 04/20/2000

http://www.news.cornell.edu//Chronicles/4.20.00/jazz_festival.html

The Department of Music presents its ninth annual Cornell Jazz Festival, "Women in Jazz," today, Friday and Saturday, April
20-22. Directed by Karlton Hester, the Herbert Gussman Director of Jazz Studies, the festival includes two concerts and a
panel discussion and features three female jazz artists.

The festival opens today, April 20, with a panel discussion about women in jazz. This free event will be in the Hoyt Fuller
Lounge of the Africana Studies and Research Center, 310 Triphammer Road, from 2 to 3 p.m.

On Friday, April 21, at 8 p.m. in Barnes Hall Auditorium, the Cornell University Lab Ensembles will be joined by three guest
artists -- Adela Dalto, vocals; Akua Dixon, cello; and Pamela Wise, piano. Advance tickets are $4 for students, $6 for the
general public, and are available at the Willard Straight Hall ticket office, the White Hall ticket office, Hickey's Music Center
and the Ithaca Guitar Works. Tickets at the door are $5 for students, $7 for the public.

Mixing sophisticated elements of Latin and Brazilian music with the most contemporary styles of American jazz, Dalto creates a compelling blend of sensuous, fiery rhythms with sultry vocals in her Latin jazz music. She has performed alongside such great Latin musicians as Jerry Gonzalez and Hilton Ruiz, jazz trumpeter Roy Hargrove, Brazilian pianist Aloisio Aguiar, and with Mauricio Smith's Latin Jazz Orchestra at the Rainbow Room in New York City. Dalto toured as featured vocalist with the late Mario Bauza's Afro Cuban Jazz Orchestra at the Pori, North Sea, Umbria and Montreux jazz festivals. Her latest CD release, Papa Boco on Milestone Records, is a mix of Latin, Brazilian and jazz tunes containing several of her own lyrics. She also has three Japanese CDs on the Venus Records label titled Exotica, Peace and A Brazilian Affair.

A native of New York City, cellist-composer-conductor Dixon is a graduate of the famed High School of the Performing Arts, where she studied cello with Benar Heifetz. She performs nationally and internationally at concert halls, colleges and jazz festivals. Among the many noted artists with whom she has performed are Duke Ellington, Lionel Hampton, Max Roach, Betty Carter, Ray Charles, Israel "Cachao" Lopez, Eubie Blake, Aretha Franklin, Diana Ross, the Temptations and Sammy Davis Jr. She is assistant principal cellist of the Dance Theatre of Harlem Orchestra. In 1973 Dixon founded her own string quartet, Quartette Indigo, whose repertoire includes original works and her arrangements of jazz classics. Featured in concert at the Berlin Jazz Festival and the Kool Jazz Festival, the quartet's release on Landmark Records received four stars from Downbeat.

Pianist Wise followed a path from the gospel music of her hometown church through the urban landscape of rhythm and blues to find a musical home in the world of jazz. She grew up in Steubenville, Ohio, where her father was a jazz musician and a church choir director. Wise began composing music and playing the piano by ear at the age of 5. As a teen-ager, she started an R&B group called Ohio Movement, which toured in Ohio, West Virginia and Pennsylvania. After studying at Cleveland State University, she moved to Detroit, where she began a more in-depth discovery of jazz. There she hooked up with some of the city's top jazz artists, such as Marcus Belgrave, Harold McKenny and Wendell Harrison. She's recorded two CDs, Wise Tells and Songo Festividad!, and is a regular at the jazz club Bomac's in Detroit.

Jazz Festival 2000 closes Saturday, April 22, at 8 p.m. in Barnes Auditorium with "Hesterian Musicism," a term coined by
Hester to represent the process through which composition and performance merge to create aesthetic environments where
musicians, kinetic and visual artists, and poets can produce new art forms through imaginative effort. Participants performing
original compositions by Hester include Bill Johnson (trumpet), Phil Bowler (bass), Edward Smith (percussion) and Steve
Marra (drums). They are joined by guest artists Christopher Morgan Loy (piano), Ernestina Sneed (vocals) and Mamadou
Diabate (kora). The event includes a dance performance by the Uhuru Kuumba Dance Ensemble.

Advance tickets for this concert are $2 for students, $4 for the general public, and are available at the locations listed above.
Tickets at the door are $3 for students, $5 for the general public.

April 20, 2000
By David Kaplan
(CULE President, Fall 1999 / Spring 2000)

Welcome to the Ninth Annual Cornell "Jazz" Festival,

I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone in attendance for their continued support of "Jazz" at Cornell.  This year’s Women in "Jazz" Festival marks the ninth year that the Cornell University Lab Ensembles (CULE), under the directorship of Dr. Karlton Hester, have celebrated African-American music with a 3-day festival of concerts, workshops and discussions.  This year, the Lab Ensembles are lucky enough to have the opportunity to perform with 3 guest artists: Adela Dalto, Akua Dixon, and Pamela Wise.

I would also like to take this chance to reflect on my last four years working with Dr. Hester and CULE.  First, I am very excited about the idea of dedicating this year’s festival to the contributions of women in "Jazz."  Over the past four years, I have seen the number of women musicians in the group increase as more and more women begin to feel comfortable in the overwhelmingly male-dominated world of "Jazz."  I hope that this festival and the guest artists invited to perform tonight further inspire the women in the group, and those in the audience, to pursue "Jazz" seriously.

I would also like to thank all of those whose contributions have made this festival possible.  Co-sponsors of this year’s women in "Jazz" Festival include: the Student Activity Finance Committee, the Student Community Fund, and the Women’s Studies, Africana, and Music departments.  Without the help of these organizations (as well as private contributors) I would not have had the chance over the past four years to play with Wendell Harrison, Charles Tolliver, Billy Taylor, Donald Byrd, Steve Turre, Randy Weston, Benny Powell and others.

The opportunity to play with these musicians is literally a "once-in-a-lifetime" opportunity--less really.  I am involved in Agricultural and Biological Engineering, and yet I not only played with Donald Byrd on one of his own pieces, but also sat around Dr. Hester’s kitchen table later that night and soaked up that man’s wisdom until 5 am.  These experiences are un-tradable and unforgettable.

As I graduate, I look back upon my four years with Dr. Hester and CULE as a defining part of my "Cornell Experience."  If we can make tonight a shade as memorable for you as it promises to be for me, we will have done our job.

Enjoy,

David Kaplan
President CULE