The Sound Wall Jazz Series Presents KAL & THE NCC live in the listening room Friday, November 18, 2022.
Doors open at 6 p.m. and the concert will begin at 7 p.m.
Tickets:
- $25 general admission
- $45 workshop (Saturday, Nov 19, 10:30 a.m. at The Sound Wall with Khari Allen Lee Food by Chef Chris Wilton BYOB)
For the premiere performance of The Sound Wall Jazz Series, we are excited to welcome saxophonist Khari Allen Lee and the New Creative Collective. The New Creative Collective is a post-modern, New Orleans Music ensemble led by Khari Allen Lee and comprised of some of the Crescent City’s finest, including master visual artist/percussionist Marcus Akinlana, bassist David Pulphus, drummer Gerald Watkins, Jr., and guitarist Davy Mooney.
The Collective synthesizes music, visual art & spoken word with the intention to heal, uplift, & unite. Tuning their instruments to A432 Hz, the Collective moves sound in resonance with the heartbeat of Our Mother Earth to a great soothing, soul-stirring effect on all listeners. In addition to original music, the Collective presents inspired arrangements of new standards by the likes of Marley, Wonder, Gaye, and Lennon with the intent to augment “the Good, the True, and the Beautiful” in our world.
WORKSHOP: Each show is paired with a musicians' workshop the following day, inviting students of all ages and levels of ability. Visiting artists offer insights into their creative process, sharing their approaches to improvisation, collaboration, performance technique, and how they have allowed themselves to be guided and shaped by the history of this unique art form.
KHARI ALLEN LEE has performed and recorded with such luminaries as Alvin Batiste, Ellis Marsalis, the Treme Brass Band, Dr. John, Aretha Franklin, Terence Blanchard, Stevie Wonder, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Branford Marsalis, and many more. In addition to his own group, the New Creative Collective, he is the lead saxophonist and touring member of Delfeayo Marsalis’ Uptown Jazz Orchestra as well as his sextets & quintets. He formerly served as lead saxophonist of the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra directed by Adonis Rose and was on the faculty at the University of New Orleans and Loyola University following his extended tenure at the prestigious New Orleans Center for the Creative Arts. He was recently chosen to become the Auburn University Daniel F. Breeden Eminent Scholar in Residence for the Arts & Humanities.
MARCUS AKINLANA is an artist, traditional African Sango priest, martial arts instructor, and drummer. He currently resides in New Orleans where he co-runs Positive Fine Arts and WON Mural Society with his wife Fatu Akinlana, two art companies both founded in the 1980s. Through these organizations, Akinlana has fabricated over 20 public art monuments. They include major multi-media installations in the Indianapolis, Philadelphia, and Denver International Airports as well as in the Denver Performing Arts Complex, the Aurora Municipal Center in Colorado, and the Tangipahoa African American Museum in Hammond, Louisiana. He has also cofounded Ile Eko Asa Yoruba Ni New Orleans, a study institute for traditional African culture and spirituality serving the public. In 2012, Akinlana founded Avalanche JA Self Defense and Combat School, a martial arts training academy. As a professional drummer, he now combines his visual arts with music.
A native of St. Louis, Missouri, Grammy Award-winning bassist DAVID L. PULPHUS has performed with such internationally acclaimed artists as Elvin Jones, McCoy Tyner, Branford Marsalis, Frank Morgan, Kenny Baron, Mulgrew Miller, Slide Hamilton, Freddie Hubbard, Ellis Marsalis, Brian Blade, Wynton Marsalis, Nancy King, Davell Crawford, Ledisi, Donald Harrison Jr., Roy Hargrove, Cassandra Wilson, Tony Bennett, Ivan Lins, James Moody, Joshua Redman, Harry Connick Jr., Mark Whitfield, Alvin Batiste, Oscar Castro Neves, Steve Turre, Nicholas Payton, Henry Butler, Germaine Bazzle, and Victor Goines. In addition to these accomplishments and his work as an entrepreneur, he has served New Orleans as an educator, formerly at Langston Hughes Academy, a New Orleans elementary charter school. There hi implemented Music and the Brain, a grant-funded program linking early music instruction and cognitive ability through the keyboard, and Little Kids Rock, a guitar program.
DAVY MOONEY is a jazz guitarist from New Orleans who records for Sunnyside Records and is an assistant professor of jazz studies and head of the jazz guitar program at the University of North Texas. He competed in the 2005 Thelonious Monk International Guitar Competition, placing third, and studied at the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Performance from 2007 to 2009 under artistic director Terence Blanchard. Mooney received his master’s degree from the University of New Orleans (his hometown) in 2005, a Ph.D. in jazz performance from New York University, and has also made the foray into the literary world by self-publishing two novels, 2017’s “Annalee" and 2012’s "Hometown Heroes.” He has recorded seven CDs as a leader, and many others as a sideman. His latest Sunnyside CD: "Davy Mooney and the Hope of Home Band Live at National Sawdust," was recorded live in Brooklyn with Brian Blade, Jon Cowherd, John Ellis, and Matt Clohesy.
GERALD WATKINS, JR. is a drummer/percussionist originally from Norfolk, Virginia, currently based in New Orleans. He received his Bachelor of Science in Music from Norfolk State University and his Master of Music from Florida State University. He has performed nationally and internationally with musicians including members of the famed Marsalis family (Ellis, Delfeayo, and Jason), the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Eric Benét, Ledisi, and many others. In addition to performing, Gerald is a faculty member of the Ellis Marsalis Center for Music and loves to teach and mentor New Orleans’ young, creative minds.