#blackhistorymonth Transcendence & Transformation: Jaimeo Brown Transcendence & Samora Pinderhughes The Transformations Suite

More than just music, Jaimeo Brown Transcendence is a movement, a moment, and an imperative: home to a variety of collaborators and contributors, from different eras and across the globe. Work Songs is a call to action, a call to transcend: transcend traditional limits of creativity; transcend oppression; transcend to come together through the essential humanity that unites us. Work Songs samples the unknown laborer, the jailhouse, the coal miner, gandy dancer, and stonemason. The album resonates with echoes of protest and rhythms of a call to freedom. At a time where it feels like history is repeating itself and the world has lost its way, drummer, composer, educator and activist Jaimeo Brown asks, “What is important?” For Brown, the answer is to tell the unheard stories in the name of those who need them. To tell the stories of life and the human experience. To tell the stories of the forgotten. To honor the workers and the music of their
lives.

Jaimeo Brown is an educator, activist and artist whose work is a call to transcend: transcend traditional limits of creativity; transcend oppression; transcend from one to all - via artistic, technological and historical exploration, and the essential humanity that unites us. Examples of light and liberation permeate Jaimeo Brown. His childhood was spent on a Native American reservation and as a teenager, amidst the aimless youth and gang culture of the Bay Area, he discovered multiculturalism within a West Coast hiphop culture shared and celebrated by a broad group of minorities. Inspired equally by the beats and samples of J Dilla, Dr. Dre and DJ Premier, and the raw eloquence of Coltrane, Miles Davis and Art Blakey, he found shelter in practice: playing music was to be the epicentre of his spiritual awakening.

#wearethefabric

Jaimeo's world is one of togetherness. His life, like his work, is a patchwork of people, cultures and examples of the great human potential for acceptance and integration.

CONTRIBUTORS / COLLABORATORS:

Stevie Wonder || Carlos Santana || Q-Tip || Carl Craig || Kenny Garrett || Geri Allen || Greg Osby || Joe Locke || Pharoah Sanders || Bobby Hutcherson || Beyonce || Kanye West || Jay-Z || Frank Ocean || Snoop Dogg || D'angelo || John Legend || Common || Raphael Saadiq || Mary J Blige || Lalah Hathaway


Samora Abayomi Pinderhughes is a world-renowned pianist and composer who uses music to issue challenging questions about social justice and identity.

Director and creator of The Transformations Suite, an acclaimed project combining music, theatre, and poetry, Samora examines the radical history of resistance within the communities of the African Diaspora. The Transformations Suite debuted to huge enthusiasm throughout Brazil during a two-week tour, and has toured to sold-out audiences and standing ovations at Columbia University, NYU, Juilliard, Joe’s Pub, the Jazz Gallery, and the Museum of Natural History.

Samora’s projects as a leader include: I’m Still Here: Letters on Trauma & Healing (prod. Institute for Arts and Civic Dialogue), a conversation between people dealing with trauma in spaces with high levels of violence - especially within the prison industrial complex – with a heavy focus on the healing process; The James Baldwin Essays: Examining the American Dream Narrative, commissioned by Harlem Stage; The Migration of Protest: Meditations on Jacob Lawrence, for the Museum of Modern Art; and Billy Strayhorn: The Music of the Sutherland Period.

He has performed at the White House, The Smithsonian, Blue Note, MoMA, the Sundance Film Festival, Monterey Jazz Festival, and Carnegie Hall, and tours internationally with artists including Branford Marsalis, Christian Scott, Jose James, Harvey Mason, and Emily King. Samora aims to create beauty and inspire change with his music. He believes strongly in the positive and creative power of art, and strives to use music to address important issues and help those in need.