People lock onto some rhythms better than others. Certain tunes captivate us and make us move; others less so. Join us as we explore how the motor cortex in the brain responds to different rhythms and tempos in music.
Come get your groove on with multi-instrumentalist jazz musician, composer, and educator T.K. Blue and Zuckerman Institute Professor of Neuroscience Mark Churchland for a jazz concert and dialogue, exploring the impact of rhythm and tempo on how we move.
Music on the Brain is a collaboration between the National Jazz Museum in Harlem and Columbia University’s Zuckerman Institute.
Talib Kibwe, or TK Blue, is a saxophonist, flautist, composer, arranger, and educator. He has appeared on over 85 recordings and performed with such artists as Don Cherry; Jaki Byard’s Apollo Stompers; Abdullah Ibrahim; Miriam Makeba; Randy Weston, Archie Shepp; Dizzy Gillespie; Pharoah Sanders; Andy Bey; Regina Carter; Bobby McFerrin; Dee Dee Bridgewater; Jimmy Scott; Mal Waldron; Arturo O’Farrill–just to name a tiny few.
TK is committed to music education. Having received a Bachelor’s Degree in Music and Psychology from NYU and a Master’s Degree in Music Education from Teachers College Columbia University, Blue has taught at every level from pre-K to the graduate level, including Long Island University LIU-Post where he was the director of jazz studies from 2007 to 2014.
TK’s 2017 release, Amour, his 11th CD as a leader, was cited as one of the best jazz recordings of the year by Downbeat Magazine. TK was later commissioned to compose a suite dedicated to the early presence of African-Americans in the upstate New York Hudson Valley area. The result was a CD entitled Follow The North Star based on the life of Solomon Northup and his memoir Twelve Years A Slave. His 12th CD as a leader is entitled The Rhythms Continue, dedicated to two NEA Jazz Masters Dr. Randy Weston and trombonist/composer/arranger Melba Liston. In 2019 TK conceived and performed The Motherland Connections, manifesting the African roots of Jazz, with its premier at Jazzmobile’s Summer Concert Series in Marcus Garvey Park in 2019. His 14th CD as a leader is entitled Planet Bluu, which features a younger generation of jazz masters, highlighting his dedication to education and the continuing legacy of jazz.
Dr. Mark Churchland is Assistant Professor of Neuroscience, Principal Investigator at Columbia’s Zuckerman Institute, and co-director of the Grossman Center for the Statistics of Mind, and a member of the Kavli Institute for Brain Science at Columbia University. Professor Churchland’s research focuses on how the brain controls voluntary movement, and focuses on questions such as: how does the brain prepare and generate voluntary movement? How do we turn thought into action?
National Jazz Museum in Harlem
We are your go-to venue for off-site meetings, receptions, film screenings, workshops, networking events, socials and more. Located in the heart of Central Harlem’s thriving culinary and entertainment district, The National Jazz Museum in Harlem is the perfect place to hold your next gathering.