Oakland, CA–February 3, 2009. Mills College kicks off Black History Month with a rich series of special events and musical celebrations. Highlights include a public guest lecture by musical innovator Muhal Richard Abrams and a historic duet performance with Mills College music professor Roscoe Mitchell. All events will be held at Mills College, 5000 MacArthur Blvd., Oakland, CA.

Join musical innovator Muhal Richard Abrams, co-founder of the Chicago-based Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), in a free public conversation.

Widely recognized as one of the most influential artists in contemporary improvised music, Abrams has been the guiding spirit behind the legendary AACM since its formation in Chicago more than 40 years ago. The organization's musical influence has nurtured the international careers not only of legendary pioneers like the Art Ensemble of Chicago, but also of such musical innovators as Anthony Braxton, Leroy Jenkins, George Lewis, Amina Claudine Myers, Wadada Leo Smith, and Henry Threadgill.

"I always felt that you need to be about the work you need to do, and that's to find out about yourself. That's pretty much a full-time job. You pay close attention to others, but the work that you have to do for yourself is the most difficult. I seem to move forward every time I reflect on the fact that I don't know enough. If you feel you have something, it's very important to get that out and develop it," said Muhal Richard Abrams.

In 1990, Abrams was the first recipient of the prestigious international jazz award, the JAZZPAR Prize, presented by the Danish Jazz Center in Copenhagen. He is currently the Jean Macduff Vaux Composer-in-Residence at Mills College.

Muhal Richard Abrams on Piano
8 pm, Friday, February 27, 2009, Mills College, Littlefield Concert Hall
Tickets: $20 General Admission, $12 seniors
www.mills.edu/musicfestival

The legendary composer and improviser Abrams performs a concert of improvised duets on piano with special guest Roscoe Mitchell on saxophone.

A leader of avant-garde jazz and contemporary music, Mitchell is a founding member of the renowned Art Ensemble of Chicago and a co-founding member of AACM. With a distinguished career that began in Chicago in the sixties, the innovative solo performer has recorded more than 85 albums and written more than 250 compositions. In 2007, Mitchell was appointed to the Darius Milhaud Chair in Composition at Mills College.

His honors include Outstanding Service to Jazz Education Award by the National Association of Jazz Educators and an Image Award by the NAACP. In 2003, he was selected as artist-in-residence for the Chicago Jazz Festival, and in 2004, he received a commission from the City of Munich to compose three compositions, which premiered at the Symposium on Improvised Music. In 2006, he premiered two compositions, White Tiger Disguise and Far Side, at the prestigious Merkin Concert Hall.

OTHER FEATURED EVENTS:

The Unsung Diva Performance with Angela Dean-Baham
7:00 pm, Thursday, February 5, 2009, Lisser Theater FREE

After the Civil War, the daughter of former slaves Matilda Sissieretta Jones emerged to become the most notable Negro singer and perhaps the greatest opera singer of her time. Dean-Baham portrays Jones's travels to Europe and the Caribbean, her failed marriage at age 14 to a gambler and philanderer, and her near financial ruin due to legal embattlements over rights to use the moniker "Black Patti" as she became known.

"I wanted to know more about that kind of strength and courage, to be a single, black woman in the 19th century, making a career for herself," said Dean-Baham. "I was moved by her story and it has become my personal charge to revive her, to give her voice, to listen and uncover her side of the story."

For more information go to Black History Month events. 

From Travail to Triumph: A History Of African American Slavery Through Song
7:00 pm, Thursday, February 19, 2009, Mills College Chapel FREE

Directed by Carmen Marshall, singer Oye ti Omnira, members of the Friends of Negro Spirituals, and the Prayer Tower Church perform choir selections echoing the sounds and feelings of African American slavery.

For more information go to Black History Month events.

Nestled in the foothills of Oakland, California, Mills College is a nationally renowned, independent liberal arts college offering a dynamic progressive education that fosters leadership, social responsibility, and creativity to approximately 950 undergraduate women and 500 graduate women and men. Since 2000, applications to Mills College have more than doubled. The College is named one of the top colleges in the West by U.S. News & World Report, one of the Best 368 Colleges by the Princeton Review, and ranks 75th among America's best colleges by Forbes.com. Visit us at www.mills.edu.

PRESS CONTACT:
Quynh Tran
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