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Amina Claudine Myers

Amina Claudine Myers, Pianist, Organist, Vocalist, Composer, Master Improvisationalist, Actress and Educator. Ms. Myers has performed nationally and internationally throughout Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia and North America. She is well known for her work involving voice choirs, voice and instrumental ensembles. Ms. Myers’ career in music began in her preteens and throughout high school directing church choirs, singing and playing gospel and rhythm and blues. She began playing and singing jazz in college in and around Arkansas. Myers studied concert music at Philander Smith College, Little Rock, Arkansas and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Music Education.

After moving to Chicago, Ill. in the 1960’s Ms. Myers taught in the public school system for six years. She attended Roosevelt University briefly and became a member of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) in 1966. As an AACM member she started composing for voice and instruments. In 1975 she organized her very first choir for a musical she wrote called I DREAM.

In 1976 Ms. Myers moved to New York City where her career became even more multifaceted. In 1977 she moved into the theater realm, writing pieces for this medium. She acted and composed music for a number of Off-Broadway productions. Ms. Myers was the assistant musical director for AIN’T MISBEHAVIN' prior to it’s Broadway production. In 1978 she was choral director at SUNY at Old Westbury for a year.

Ms. Myers has recorded and/or performed with Archie Shepp, Charlie Haden’s Liberation Orchestra, James Blood Ulmer, Lester Bowie, Bob Stewart, Joey Baron, Gene Ammons, Sonny Stitt, Muhal Richard Abrams, Bill Laswell, Eddie Harris, Von Freeman, Anthony Braxton, Henry Threadgill, Frank Lowe, Rahsaan Roland Kirk and other well known artists. Myers conducts workshops, seminar and residencies at colleges and universities, nationally and internationally.

There are eleven recordings released under Ms. Myers’ name: SAMA ROU (Songs From My Soul), piano and voice, Amina C Records; AUGMENTED VARIATIONS , Solo piano and voice, Vocal Quartet with Instrumental Trio and the Amina Claudine Myers Trio, Amina C Records; AMINA CLAUDINE MYERS LIVE in Bremen, Germany, Tradition and Modern Records; AMINA and IN TOUCH, RCA Novus; JUMPING IN THE SUGARBOWL and COUNTRY GIRL, Minor Music; THE CIRCLE OF TIME, Black Saint; AMINA CLAUDINE MYERS SALUTES BESSIE SMITH and SONG FOR MOTHER E, Leo Records; POEMS FOR PIANO, the piano music of Marion Brown, Sweet Earth Records.

Her larger works include: INTERIORS, a composition for chamber orchestra conducted by Peter Kotik and performed by S.E.M. Orchestra. This piece was produced by the AACM and performed at the NYC Society of Ethical Culture; IM-PROVISATIONAL SUITE FOR CHORUS, PIPE ORGAN AND PERCUSSION; for 16 operatic voices, pipe organ and two percussionists; WHEN THE BERRIES FELL, eight voices, piano, Hammond B3 and percussion; A VIEW FROM THE INSIDE, a staged piece showing the workings of the inside mind. This included a chef from New Orleans and his assistant, a weaver, pianist, guitar/trumpet/voice (Olu Dara) and choreographer Rrata Christine Jones. Original art work by Ms. Myers was on the set; FOCUS, a piece written for piano, voice, electric bass and photographic images from Myers’ home town of Blackwell. HOW LONG BRETHREN, based on Negro Songs of Protest originally created by Helen Tamiris, was recreated by choreographer Diane McIntyre. The music score was created by Genevieve Pitot with original orchestra arrangements by Leslie Loth. The orchestral score was discovered with instrumentation only. Ms. Myers recreated and re-edited parts that were found in pieces from the archives of George Mason University. She conducted the symphony orchestras with choruses (The Wesley Boyd Singers of Washington, D.C at George Mason University; and the Western University Chorus from Western University). Myers has composed a few big band compositions performed by AACM musicians. She has performed works written by writer Ntozake Shange and other new works created by Diane McIntyre. Myers has collaborated in ongoing concerts with her soul sister Sola Liu where they are combining Chinese and Afro-American music traditions through singing, playing and dancing.

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Radio & Podcasts

New Releases, A Pride of Jazz Leos, Congratulations To Jazz Master Amina Claudine Myers & More

Read "New Releases, A Pride of Jazz Leos, Congratulations To Jazz Master Amina Claudine Myers & More" reviewed by Mary Foster Conklin


This broadcast includes new releases from Kaisa's Machine, Amy Engelhardt, the Towner Galaher Organ Trio, with a single from vocalist Monika Ryan, plus birthday shoutouts to guitarist Mary Osborne, vocalists Kay Starr, Helen Merrill, Luciana Souza, Phoebe Snow, Cynthia Scott, Janis Siegel, Joanie Palatto, Carmen Bradford, among others, closing with a salute to newly awarded Jazz Master Amina Claudine Myers. Thanks for listening and please support the artists you hear by seeing them live and online. Purchase their music so ...

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In Pictures

Sons d'Hiver 2023

Read "Sons d'Hiver 2023" reviewed by Luciano Rossetti


A collection of photos from the first part of Sons d'Hiver in Paris from January 27, 2023 to January 31, 2023 featuring Amina Claudine Myers Trio, Damon Locks Black Monument Ensemble, Majid Bekkas Gnaoua Fusion with guest Emile Parisien Hamid Drake Aly Keita, Sonny Troupé Nouvo Lokans, Eve Risser and Antonin-Tri Hoang Novembre Apparitions. ...

My Favourite Things

Amina Claudine Myers

Read "Amina Claudine Myers" reviewed by Paolo Peviani


Il tratto principale della mia musica. Il piano e la voce gospel delle origini, che suonavo da ragazza. Questo era durante il periodo del Gospel classico, in cui gruppi al femminile come Clara Ward, The Davis Sisters e le Gospel Harmonettes' andavano in radio e facevano concerti. La qualità che desidero nei musicisti che suonano con me. L'apertura, la capacità di ascoltarsi reciprocamente e di fidarsi della loro creatività mentre suonano. Come musicista, ...

Album Review

Amina Claudine Myers: Sama Rou. Songs From My Soul

Read "Sama Rou. Songs From My Soul" reviewed by Maurizio Zerbo


Gli spirituals sono parte integrante del mondo interiore di Amina Claudine Myers, che li ha rivisitati ciclicamente e sempre in forme diverse. In questo Sama Rou. Songs From My Soul il suo pianoforte è assistito da un vocalismo essenziale ma ispirato, con il quale interpreta alcuni grandi standard di un glorioso repertorio. A fare da trait d'union ci pensa la vena lirica e nostalgica della Myers, sempre al servizio della raffinatezza armonica con cui esplora gli anfratti armonici insiti in ...

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Interview

Amina Claudine Myers: From Mozart to Miles and Beyond

Read "Amina Claudine Myers: From Mozart to Miles and Beyond" reviewed by Kurt Gottschalk


Composer, pianist and singer Amina Claudine Myers is a part of the first generation of the famed Chicago collective the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM). Coming north from her native Blackwell, Arkansas, she was an unusual presence in the organization--not just as one of the few female members, but as a singer and songwriter willing to, at times, employ traditional song structures. Outside of the AACM, Myers has played in bands led by Gene Ammons, Dexter Gordon, ...

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Performance / Tour

Grace Note Productions Presents Amina Claudine Myers In Concert in Manassas, VA on June 3

Grace Note Productions Presents Amina Claudine Myers In Concert  in Manassas, VA on June 3

Source: Cynthia Cotton

Grace Note Productions is pleased to announce that they are sponsoring jazz pianist and vocalist, Amina Claudine Myers in Concert on Saturday, June 3, 2017 at 3 PM at the Wyndham Garden Manassas Hotel in jny: Manassas, VA. Accompanying Amina will be Alto Saxophonist Antonio Parker, Bassist James King, and Drummer Nasar Abadey. Also, to open the concert will be The Cristian Perez Trio, featuring Jazz Guitarist Cristian Perez, Flutist Yana Hristova, and Bassist Dan Brown. “Jazz is America’s only ...

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Interview

Composer/Pianist/Singer Amina Claudine Meyers Inteviewed at AAJ

Composer/Pianist/Singer Amina Claudine Meyers Inteviewed at AAJ

Source: All About Jazz

Composer, pianist and singer Amina Claudine Myers is a part of the first generation of the famed Chicago collective the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM). Coming north from her native Blackwell, Arkansas, she was an unusual presence in the organization--not just as one of the few female members, but as a singer and songwriter willing to, at times, employ traditional song structures. Outside of the AACM, Myers has played in bands led by Gene Ammons, Dexter Gordon, ...

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Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Central Park’s...

Red Hook Records
2024

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Sama Rou. Songs From...

Amina C Records
2017

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Little Boy Don't Get...

Douglas Records
2006

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Women In (E) Motion

Tradition & Moderne
2004

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In Touch

Black Saint
1989

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