Amina Claudine Myers

Amina Claudine Myers
Amina Claudine Myers Photo: Bob Travis
Background information
Birth name	Amina Claudine Myers
Born	March 21, 1942 (1942-03-21) (age 67) Blackwell, Arkansas United States
Genres	Jazz, Gospel
Occupations	Musician, composer, musical arranger
Years active	1969–present

Amina Claudine Myers (born March 21, 1942) in Blackwell, Arkansas; (a small community on US 64 in western Conway County) is an American jazz pianist, organist, vocalist, composer, and musical arranger.^[1]

Biography

Myers started singing and playing the piano and organ as a child in church choirs in the Dallas/Fort Worth area in Texas, where she grew up, and directed choirs at an early age. She graduated in concert music and music education at Philander Smith College in Little Rock, Arkansas in the early 1960s. After graduation, Myers moved to Chicago where she taught music, attended classes at Roosevelt University and worked with musicians such as Sonny Stitt and Gene Ammons. In 1966 she joined the AACM in Chicago, focusing on vocal compositions and arrangements, and recording her first jazz album with Kalaparusha Maurice McIntyre in 1969.

In 1976 Myers relocated to New York City, where she intensified her compositional work and expanded it into the realm of Off-Broadway productions. She also continued performing and recording as a pianist and organist with Lester Bowie (African Children (1978), The Fifth Power (1978), The Organizer (1991) and Funky T. Cool T. (1991)) and Muhal Richard Abrams (Lifea Blinec (1978), Spihumonesty (1979) and Duet (1981)). In 1985 she joined Charlie Haden's Liberation Music Orchestra. Notable collaborations also include recordings with Bill Laswell, Marian McPartland, the Art Ensemble of Chicago, Archie Shepp, David Murray, Arthur Blythe, Frank Lowe, Leroy Jenkins, Jim Pepper and Ray Anderson.

Discography

• 1979: Poems For Piano: The Piano Music Of Marion Brown
• 1979: Song For Mother E (with Pheeroan akLaff)
• 1980: Salutes Bessie Smith (with Cecil McBee, Jimmy Lovelace)
• 1983: The Circle Of Time (with Don Pate , Thurman Barker)
• 1984: Jumping In The Sugar Bowl (with Thomas Palmer , Reggie Nicholson)
• 1986: Country Girl (with Patience Higgins, Carlos Ward, Ricky Ford, Jerome Harris, Reggie Nicholson , Bola Idowu)
• 1987: Amina (with Jerome Harris, Reggie Nicholson, Bola Idowu, Ray Mantilla, Catherine Russell , David Peaston)
• 1988: Wasted Life Blues In: Various, Women in (E)Motion Sampler (1988-1994, VÖ: 1995, with Jerome Harris , Reggie Nicholson)
• 1989: In Touch (with Jerome Harris, Reggie Nicholson, Flare Funston, Pete Levin , Jason Mills)
• 1993: Women In (E)Motion-Festival (with Jerome Harris , Reggie Nicholson)

References

External links

• AllMusic page for Myers
• Amina Claudine Myers at AACM
• (Italian) Amina Claudine Myers at centrojazztorino
• Amina Claudine Myers at German Wikipedia