Live from Harlem: JFA Presents: Oluyemi Thomas Positive Knowledge Quartet

“Positive Knowledge” is a performance duo that features multi-instrumentalist Oluyemi Thomas (bass clarinet, saxophones and percussion) and Ijeoma Thomas (voice and percussion). Their compositions emerge from a long, intense, and ongoing involvement with American improvisational and jazz traditions, as reconfigured through their participation in the musical life of other cultures. Both performers have undertaken extended musical travels, in sub-Saharan and northern Africa, the Middle East, and South America (particularly Brazil), as well as Europe and North America. For many listeners, their performances themselves resemble a journey, though not to any known places. The works of “Positive Knowledge” undertake an ecstatic quest of the spirit, seeking the uncommon sounds of sense, correspondence, and borderless harmony. For this concert, the duo will be accompanied by bassist Hilliard Greene and drummer Pheeron akLaff.

This event will stream on the Jazz Foundation and Jazz Museum Facebook pages and the Museum YouTube Channel.

This project is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature and by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and by the Howard Gilman Foundation.