Quraysh Ali Lansana, Nicole Mitchell & Friends
Start: Wednesday, September 9, 2009 - 7:30pm
Time: 7:30 p.m.
Cost: $10/$5 students
Location: Jazz Showcase, 806 S. Plymouth Ct., Chicago (Dearborn Station)
A not-to-be-missed book release party for Quraysh Ali Lansana's chapbook, bloodsoil (sooner red), published by the American Land Publishing Project. He will be joined by internationally acclaimed jazz flautist Nicole Mitchell, internationally acclaimed storyteller and musician Shanta, Chicago's own versatile and compelling Zahra Baker, veteran Chicago poetry-band member, Craig Nakamoto, and Califone members Tim Rutili and Ben Massarella.(It's also a birthday celebration for Quraysh.)
In bloodsoil (sooner red), Quraysh Ali Lansana writes on growing up black in the hard prairie landscapes of Oklahoma. Lansana is author of They Shall Run: Harriet Tubman Poems (Third World Press, 2004); a children's book,The Big World (Addison-Wesley, 1998); Poetry from the Masters: The Sixth Wave (Just Us Books, September 2009), a young adult anthology, and editor of seven anthologies, including Dream of A Word: The Tia Chucha Press Poetry Anthology (Tia Chucha Press, 2006). He is Director of the Gwendolyn Brooks Center for Black Literature and Creative Writing at Chicago State University, where he is also Associate Professor of English and Creative Writing. He is also a former faculty member of the Drama Division of The Juilliard School. Quraysh is the former Associate Editor-Poetry for Black Issues Book Review. Quraysh earned a Masters of Fine Arts degree at the Creative Writing Program at New York University, where he was a Departmental Fellow. He currently serves as a Contributing Editor for The Writer’s Chronicle of the Association of Writers and Writing Programs and is a board member of Young Chicago Authors, Inc. Quraysh is a 2008 Pushcart Prize nominee.
Nicole Margaret Mitchell has been noted as “a compelling improviser of wit, determination, positivity, and tremendous talent...on her way to becoming one of the greatest living flutists in jazz,” (Peter Margasak, Chicago Reader). A creative flutist, composer and bandleader, Mitchell placed first as Downbeat magazine’s "Rising Star Flutist 2005-2009, was awarded "Jazz Flutist of the Year 2008" by the Jazz Journalist Association and ““Chicagoan of the Year 2006” by the Chicago Tribune. The founder of the critically acclaimed Black Earth Ensemble and Black Earth Strings, Mitchell’s compositions reach across sound worlds, integrating new ideas with moments in the legacy of jazz, gospel, pop, and African percussion to create a fascinating synthesis of “postmodern jazz.” President of Chicago's Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), Mitchell works to raise respect and integrity for the improvised flute, to contribute her innovative voice to the jazz legacy, and to continue the bold and exciting directions that the AACM has charted for decades. Mitchell also currently directs the University of Illinois Chicago Jazz Ensemble
