Shirazette Tinnin is a recent 2022 Latin Grammy Nominee for (Andean-Funk, “The Sacred Leaf"), 18th St. Make Jazz Fellow, Fulbright Scholar recipient, published author, health coach, music director, drummer, composer and bandleader. She is a newly appointed full time associate professor of percussion at Berklee College of Music where she directs The Dee Dee Bridgewater Ensemble and teaches Private Instruction.
Shirazette Tinnin has a television credit for the 1st season of The Meredith Viera Show on NBC (2015) along with around the world notariety!
Shirazette’s latest album, The Cards That Life Can Deal (2021) is available on SoundCloud, iTunes and Spotify. Tinnin has new music underway featuring bassist Christian McBride releasing in 2024.
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Bertha Hope, an iconic jazz pianist, was born in Los Angeles, CA. She began playing piano at the very early age of three. During this time, Bertha was taught by her parents, both of whom worked in the entertainment industry.
During this time, Bertha was taught by her parents, both of whom worked in the entertainment industry. When she began playing piano, Bertha played classical music, but eventually migrated to jazz music, particularly influenced by legendary jazz pianist Bud Powell.
Bertha Hope is in conversation with interview with Talia Castro-Pozo.
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Melanie George is an educator, choreographer, scholar, and certified movement analyst. As a curator and dramaturg specializing in rooted jazz dance and adjacent dance forms, and contemporary dance-theatre, she has worked on projects for Urban Bush Women, Raja Feather Kelly, Helen Simoneau, Michelle Gibson, Dormeshia, Machine Dazzle, Susan Marshall, Alice Sheppard/Kinetic Light, Ephrat Asherie, Kimberly Bartosik, and SW!NG OUT among others. Melanie is featured in the documentary UpRooted: The Journey of Jazz Dance and a contributing scholar to Jazz Dance: A History of the Roots and Branches and Rooted Jazz Dance: Africanist Aesthetics and Equity in the Twenty-First Century (University Press of Florida). She is the Associate Curator and a Scholar in Residence at Jacob’s Pillow, Assistant Professor of dance at Rutgers University, and has guest lectured at Harvard University, the Yale School of Drama, and The Juilliard School. Named one of Dance Magazine’s 30 over 30, she is the recipient of the Outstanding Leadership Award from the National Dance Education Organization. In 2024 she curated the American Dance Platform for The Joyce Theater, featuring the platform-within-a-platform, Jazz at The Joyce. Melanie is currently touring as emcee/dramaturg/dancer with LaTasha Barnes Presents The Jazz Continuum.
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Choreographer, educator, and curator Sekou McMiller (he/him), at the forefront of a new movement in the dance world, his melange of Afro Latin Jazz, Afro-Caribbean (Salsa/Mambo, Cha-cha-cha, Rumba, Yoruba) urban dance, modern, jazz, and contemporary styles, augmented by his explosive energy on and off stage, has earned Sekou broad recognition world-wide. Sekou has performed and choreographed for top latin artists including Gilberto Santa Rosa, Willie Colon, Cheo Feliciano, Johnny Pacheco, Tito Rojas, Tito Nieves, PitBull, and the pop icon Madonna. In addition to his recent Residency at Jacob’s Pillow, McMiller is a fellowship recipient with The Alvin Ailey Foundation’s New Directions Choreography Lab and the City University of New York (CUNY) Dance Initiative. Sekou has received certificates of training from both the prestigious Danza Contemporanea de Cuba in Havana, Cuba and École des Sables in Toubab Dialaw, Senegal.
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