18TH STREET ARTS CENTER’S 8TH MAKE JAZZ FELLOW TABARI LAKE
BRINGS THE CARIBBEAN TO LOS ANGELES
SANTA MONICA, CA — Rising star jazz bassist Tabari Lake became 18th Street Arts Center’s 8th Make Jazz Fellow in 2019, and will draw upon his childhood roots in the US Virgin Islands (USVI) to compose a new body of work as part of his three-month residency and Fellowship award. Lake will present these new compositions with a band of LA-based musicians in a free concert on March 9, 2019 at 8 PM at the venerable Leimert Park venue The World Stage.
A native of St. Thomas USVI, Lake grew up admiring the bassists in the local bands that would play during carnival festivities. He began his musical education at the local public school, first on steel pan, then clarinet, and finally finding his voice in the electric bass. Lake’s continued musical growth led him to relocate to the mainland to continue his education and dive deep into classical, and jazz studies. Lake quickly learned that he existed in dichotomies: both jazz and calypso, both classical and hip hop, both foreigner and American.
Tabari Lake will debut his first full-length work, set to explore the conditions of Virgin Islands identity and politics through the lens of the young USVI native. Lake hopes to illuminate the beauty of the sights and sounds of “America’s Paradise” and to spark dialogue about what it means to exist in a constant duality: as a carrier of your culture and as a contemporary artist.
Artistic Director Anuradha Vikram says of Lake, “As the first LA-based artist to receive the award, Tabari represents a new generation of jazz composers who are locally anchored and globally conscious. His investigations into the sounds of the US Virgin Islands will touch on African, South Asian, and Caribbean traditions, reflecting the richness of the African diaspora in a way that relates directly to local audiences.”
The Make Jazz Fellowship began 8 years ago, when 18th Street’s Executive Director Jan Williamson, former Artistic Director Clayton Campbell, board member Joan Abrahamson, and local musician Angel Luis Figueroa developed the residency as a proposal to the Herb Alpert Foundation, who have supported every Make Jazz Fellowship, beginning in 2011. While there are recognitions available to mid-career and established artists, this award is the only one of its kind to focus on emerging US composers. Fellows are nominated and selected annually by a diverse panel of jazz practitioners and experts.
Many past fellows have won awards for and released albums of the compositions they created in their Make Jazz residencies at 18th Street. Marquis Hill won the Thelonious Monk Competition in late 2014, shortly after his 2015 fellowship was announced, and Teddy Raven, John Ellis, Giorgi Mikadze, and Samantha Boshnack released albums of new work they created during their residencies. Cellist Tomeka Reid, the 2012 fellow, was recently awarded the 2019 Foundation for Contemporary Art Grant to Artists for Music.
2018 Make Jazz Fellow Samantha Boshnack says of the award,“This has been a life-changing experience for me. There is very little support out there for jazz composers. Getting encouragement and support to build my body of work has given me a lot of motivation to forge ahead in a career that is very hard to find an established path in.”
In addition to his final culminating concert at the World Stage on March 9, Lake will be holding a workshop and Q&A for student musicians from Centennial High School as part of the UCLA Center of Performing Arts’ Design for Sharing educational program; and an intimate show at Sam First Bar and Jazz Club in Culver City on February 3.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Tabari Lake is a Los Angeles based bassist and jazz composer. He has bachelor degrees of Bass Performance and Contemporary Writing & Production and a master’s degree in Contemporary Performance (Production Concentration) from Berklee College of Music. He has performed with artists such as Terence Blanchard, Dion Parson, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Joey Alexander, Victor Provost, Russell Gunn’s Royal Krunk Jazz Orkestra, Tia Fuller, and Sting among others.
EVENT INFORMATION
Tabari Lake: Make Jazz Fellowship Concert
March 9 | 8 PM
The World Stage
4321 Degnan Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90008
FREE WITH RSVP | For tickets, visit https://tabarilakemakejazzconcert030919.eventbrite.com
ABOUT THE MAKE JAZZ FELLOWSHIP AWARD
Sponsored by the Herb Alpert Foundation to honor and support jazz artists, 18th Street Arts Center annually hosts its Make Jazz Fellowship, awarded to a jazz composer for a three-month, fully funded residency. This opportunity is for an individual jazz artist to advance or complete a body of original compositions. For three months the Make Jazz Fellow lives and works among artists in sunny Santa Monica, California. The award supports the artist by providing a monthly stipend, a furnished live-in studio, and arranged opportunities to inspire Jazz students in partnership with Los Angeles-area colleges and universities.
ABOUT 18TH STREET ARTS CENTER
Celebrating its 30th anniversary in 2018-2019, 18th Street Arts Center is one of the top 20 artist residency programs in the US, and the largest in Southern California. Conceived as a radical think tank in the shape of an artist community, 18th Street supports artists from around the globe to imagine, research, and develop significant, meaningful new artworks and share them with the public. We strive to provide artists the space and time to take risks, to foster the ideal environment for artists and the public to directly engage, and to create experiences and partnerships that foster positive social change.
Additional information : 18thstreet.org
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