Note: Over the past few months — at the suggestion of trumpeter Delbert Anderson (Diné) — I’ve had the pleasure to get to know and talk with vocalist and activist Julia Keefe (Nez Perce), who has generously contributed her time and insight for my ongoing book project. In support of her work and in the spirit of reciprocity, I offered to draft a press release for her upcoming show, a double-bill with bassist Mali Obomsawin (Abenaki Odanak). I’ve written about Mali’s music before and enjoyed meeting them when the three of us spoke recently for this release. If you’re in the NYC area next week for Winter Jazz Fest, APAP, or any other reason, be sure to check out the show!
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“Standing on Their Own”: Native artists Julia Keefe and Mali Obomsawin highlight the past, present, and near future of jazz at Joe’s Pub
Saturday, January 13, 2024
Doors open at 6pm.
Two up-and-coming jazz artists who describe their collaborations as “a beautiful meeting of the minds” will headline an upcoming show at Joe’s Pub (at the Public Theater) on Saturday, January 13th, at 6:30pm. Bandleaders Julia Keefe (Nez Perce) and Mali Obomsawin (Abenaki Odanak) will lead their ensembles, the Indigenous Big Band and Sweet Tooth, performing compositions from their recent successful tours and recordings, and previewing new music.
Bassist Obomsawin, who also performs with the Big Band, will perform repertoire from the 2022 debut album Sweet Tooth – hailed by Morgan Enos (Jazz Times) as “gripping, dynamic, and thunderous music” — as well as new compositions written for the ensemble. Keefe’s Indigenous Big Band continues a very busy touring schedule with this stop in New York City – with upcoming performances at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC in March and Fall 2024 dates in the southwestern U.S. Keefe will also be celebrating the release of her long-awaited Mildred Bailey Project album (to be released on January 4th with an album release at Birdland on the 8th). The two ensembles will also perform together on Obomsawin’s “Blood Quantum,” from their first album.
Keefe’s Mildred Bailey Project offers important insight into these musicians’ artistic and political messages. Keefe honors Bailey as a pre-eminent vocalist in US jazz history – revered among her contemporaries – and as a Native woman living at a time in the United States when Native identity and cultural history were suppressed and erased. Both Keefe and Obomsawin tap into the political history of jazz as protest music and of Afro-Indigenous solidarities dating back centuries, drawing on music as a platform for creating community and imagining more equitable futures.
Both Keefe and Obomsawin are quick to point out that representing Native perspectives does not mean “sounding Native…there is no one Native sound.” The diversity of compositions that the audience will hear at Joe’s Pub will reflect not just a range of cultural traditions but also musical genres, historical periods, languages, and personal influences. Discussing her lineage in free improvisation and avant-garde composition, Obomsawin invokes Ornette Coleman, Don Cherry, and Charles Mingus, as well as the mentorship of musicians like Taylor Ho Bynum and Bill Cole who continue these musicians’ legacies. Musically and politically Obomsawin, who like Keefe is a dedicated advocate for Native and global Indigenous causes, says “I feel like I really embrace the ideology of free jazz very thoroughly as a person and a musician, working towards a freedom from structures and boundaries that are limiting or caging in.”
Keefe promises an exciting night of music for all: “We’ll showcase the diversity and vitality of Indigenous jazz music by showing what Mildred Bailey did, what [saxophonist] Jim Pepper did, what [trumpeter] Delbert Anderson does, as well as Mali. We showcase the legacy of Indigenous jazz but also the future of what it can be. We can do a dirty old swing tune and also some really out and visceral contemporary music.”
Tickets are $25 (exclusive of service fees) and can be purchased at publictheater.org. There is a 2 drink or 1 food item minimum, per person, during every show at Joe’s Pub. For last-minute tickets, please visit our Box Office at 425 Lafayette Street. Web sales and phone sales end when doors open, and tickets may be available for in-person, walk-up sale right before the show begins.
The Public Theater is located at 425 Lafayette Street (at Astor Place), New York City.
For more information, see:
www.juliakeefe.com/julia-keefe-indigenous-big-band/
www.publictheater.org/productions/joes-pub/2024/j/julia-keefe-mali-obomsawin/
The Rhythm of Study 