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Sistas’ Place, 456 Nostrand Avenue, at the corner of Jefferson Avenue, where Jazz: A Music of the Spirit Lives and Culture is our Weapon, continues it’s 20th Historic Landmark Season. Saturday, February 27, 2016 @ 9 & 10:30pm we close out our African American History Month presentations with the Rashied Ali Tribute Band featuring trumpeter Josh Evans, saxophonist Lawrence Clark, pianist Greg Murphy, bassist Joris Teepe and special guest Jabali Billy Hart.

Jabali Billy Hart

On Saturday, February 27th, Sistas’ Place will celebrate the contributions of one of the great drummers of the 20th century by having the musicians who were part of his last band perform together under his name. Rashied Ali was an inspiration to Sistas’ Place. He performed at our venue on many significant occasions; in duo with Sonny Fortune; with this same quintet and with an historic all-star band we called One For Trane, that featured Odean Pope, Sonny Fortune, John Hicks, Reggie Workman and of course, Rashied. Don’t Miss the Rashied Ali Tribute Band!

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Rashied Ali Tribute Band Biography

Obvious to many, John Coltrane played a major and invaluable role both musically and personally in Rashied Ali’s life. Rashied polished and refined his “multidirectional” style of drumming alongside Coltrane. Those who were fortunate enough to have performed with Rashied recognized his genius and his important contributions and innovations to the jazz art form. Rashied’s mission was to “push the music forward” and to “make a difference.” With this in mind, he formed the latest edition of the Rashied Ali Quintet in 2003 (Rashied Ali – Drums, Lawrence Clark – Tenor Saxophone, Jumaane Smith – Trumpet (later replaced by Josh Evans), Greg Murphy – Piano and Joris Teepe – Bass).

The Quintet (in which Ali found a combination of musicians that really understood his artistic vision) released two CDs – Judgment Day Vol. 1 and Judgment Day Vol. 2 in 2005, both of which received significant national airplay and volumes of critical acclaim. In 2009, Rashied’s last recording as a leader – Live In Europe – was released on the Survival Records label. This group, which Jazz Times critic Bill Milkowski called “… one of the more potent working quintets in jazz today,” developed a style that combined modern post-bop with Ali’s trademark free jazz. They toured frequently, with their final performances taking place at The Art of Jazz festival in Toronto in June and at the Zinc Bar in NYC in July of 2009.

Photo credit: “Rashied Ali” by Bogdan Dimitriu @ Dotro Bucharest, Romania – Rashied Ali. Licensed under CC BY 2.0 via Commons

When Rashied passed away suddenly in August of 2009, the members of the quintet decided to keep playing his music. Greg Murphy recalls, “I remember Rashied’s Widow Patricia telling me ‘now YOU gotta keep the music alive’.” With several performances under their belt, the Rashied Ali Tribute Band is doing just that…playing Rashied’s original music and some of the other tunes he loved to play. None of the band members liked the idea of “Tribute Bands” but the love for Rashied and his music was so strong that they felt an obligation to continue exploring his conceptual vision.

The drum chair has been masterfully filled by Eric McPherson, Gene Jackson, Gerry Gibbs, Shinnosuke Takahashi and most recently Jabali Billy Hart, all of whom were admired by Rashied. The Quintet is a leaderless “Collective,” and the powerful music is pushing boundaries, just like it was during the many years with Rashied’s Quintet. With one recording: Live at the Zinc Bar now available on gregmurphy1.bandcamp.com/album/at-the-zinc-bar, the Rashied Ali Tribute Band hopes to continue carrying on the tradition and legacy that Rashied brought to the musical world.

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Make Reservations at (718) 398-1766!