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Donal Fox

Donal Fox is internationally acclaimed as composer, pianist, and improviser in both the jazz and classical fields.

His numerous awards include a 1997 Guggenheim Fellowship in music composition, a 1998 Fellowship from the Bogliasco Foundation (Italy), and 1999, 2001, and 2003 nominations for a CalArts/Alpert Award in the Arts.

Mr. Fox's exciting and innovative "Jazz Duet Series" has included concerts, recordings, and collaborations with Oliver Lake, John Stubblefield, Billy Pierce, David Murray, Elliott Sharp, Regina Carter, Andrew Cyrille, Stefon Harris, Al Foster, Gary Burton, John Patitucci, and poet Quincy Troupe to name a few. He has recorded as composer and pianist for New World Records, Evidence Records, Music & Arts, Passin' Thru Records, Yamaha's Original Artist Series, and Wergo Records.

Mr. Fox served as the first African American composer-in-residence with the St. Louis Symphony from 1991 to 1992. In the l993-94 season, Mr. Fox was a special guest artist at the Library of Congress in a program that was recorded by National Public Radio, and was a visiting artist at Harvard University where he received a Certificate of Recognition from the President of Harvard College for his contribution to the arts.

In the 1998-1999 season, he was a featured concert artist with the Richmond Symphony (VA) where he gave the world premiere performance of Anthony Kelley's piano concerto Africamerica. The concerto asks for Mr. Fox to compose and improvise four cadenzas and many solo passages, bridging both jazz and classical styles inherent in the concerto. In the 2003-2004 season, he was a featured concert artist with the American Composer Orchestra Improvise Festival! where he gave the New York premiere performance of T.J. Anderson's piano concerto Boogie Woogie Concertante with the MSM Jazz Philharmonic at LaGuardia Concert Hall. The concerto was written especially for Mr. Fox and asks for him to improvise all the solo passages and cadenzas in the eight movement work with spontaneous interactive dialogue with the orchestra.

In 2003 and 2004, Mr. Fox held artist-in-residence posts at the Tyrone Guthrie Center in Northern Ireland and the Oberfäzer Künstlerhaus in Schwandorf, Germany.

Mr. Fox was named Top Ten Jazz Act in 2004 in the company of Herbie Hancock, Sonny Rollins, and Ron Carter by jazz journalist Bill Beuttler of The Boston Globe.

In the 2005-2006 season, Mr. Fox will premiere his Monk and Bach Project at Jazz at Lincoln Center and a new work composed in memory of concert tenor William A. Brown at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall.

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Jazz Primer

Thinking Outside The Musical Box

Read "Thinking Outside The Musical Box" reviewed by Donal Fox


What is jazz? It is a state of mind, a spiritual quest for true unfettered artistic expression. A human expression of individual freedom, social freedom and love. Jazz is also about diversity. Diversity is important, isn't it? We expect it in our social lives. We demand respect and honoring in our society as artists and as human beings, because we need to help maintain equality and social justice among all the people of the world. In our music and in ...

255
Album Review

Donal Fox: The Scarlatti Jazz Suite Project

Read "The Scarlatti Jazz Suite Project" reviewed by Greg Thomas


The Scarlatti Jazz Suite Project commences with a short aria in G minor by Domenico Scarlatti, the famed baroque composer of over 550 sonatas for harpsichord. Pianist Donal Fox evinces an elegant pianissimo touch, setting the stage for the title composition, which refracts another Scarlatti theme into a 3/4 romp, with repeating motifs that build tension. Drummer Terri Lyne Carrington and bassist John Lockwood accentuate the pulse, joined by vibraphonist Warren Wolf, who lends rhythmic assent and ...

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500

Education

Donal Fox Named Visting Artist at MIT

Donal Fox Named Visting Artist at MIT

Source: Dawn Singh Publicity

COMPOSER-PIANIST DONAL FOX AND WRITER-ACTOR RICARDO PITTS-WILEY NAMED MARTIN LUTHER KING VISITING ARTISTS AT MIT CAMBRIDGE, MA -- Composer-pianist Donal Fox and writer-actor Ricardo Pitts-Wiley have been named Martin Luther King Visiting Artists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for the 2009-2010 academic year. Established in 1995, MLK Program participants are appointed for their contributions to their professions and their potential contributions to the intellectual life of MIT. The program, which supports six to twelve visiting professors and scholars in ...

352

Recording

Scarlatti Jazz Suite Project: The 10 Best New Jazz Releases for 2008!

Scarlatti Jazz Suite Project: The 10 Best New Jazz Releases for 2008!

Source: Dawn Singh Publicity

Mr. Fox's New Release--Donal Fox Quartet Live: Scarlatti Jazz Suite Project (Leonellis Music)--was selected by award winning jazz journalist Ken Franckling in All About Jazz for The 10 Best New Jazz Releases for 2008! The 10 best new jazz releases, listed alphabetically: Brian Blade, Season of Changes (Verve) Randy Brecker, Randy in Brazil (MAMA Records) Avishai Cohen Trio, Gently Disturbed (RazDaz) Donal Fox, The Scarlatti Jazz Suite Project (Leonellis Music) Melody Gardot, Worrisome Heart (Verve) Generations, Tough Guys (ICA) The ...

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