{"id":1082,"date":"2020-07-01T00:05:47","date_gmt":"2020-07-01T05:05:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/?p=1082"},"modified":"2021-06-24T17:09:36","modified_gmt":"2021-06-24T22:09:36","slug":"musical-mentors-bartz-and-shepp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/musical-mentors-bartz-and-shepp\/","title":{"rendered":"Musical Mentors: Gary Bartz & Maisha’s ‘Night Dreamer’ and Archie Shepp, Raw Poetic & Damu the Fudgemunk’s ‘Ocean Bridges’"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The term \u201cmentor\u201d comes from a character in Homer\u2019s Odyssey<\/em>, an epic written in the 8th Century BCE. However, the concept of mentorship dates back to an even earlier era. Some historians suggest that the concept may be as old as humanity itself. Though hardly novel, there can be significant benefits to both parties. From Ray Charles\u2019 teaching of Quincy Jones to Roy Hargrove\u2019s of Ambrose Akinmusire<\/a>, these benefits extend to countless musicians, past and present. With two contemporaneous releases – Gary Bartz and Maisha\u2019s Night Dreamer <\/em>(Night Dreamer, 2020) and Archie Shepp, Raw Poetic, and Damu the Fudgemunk\u2019s Ocean Bridges<\/em> (Redefinition Records, 2020) – showcase these relationships to the public. Of course, both elders are undoubtedly masters of their art.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gary Bartz first earned a reputation as one of the best alto saxophonists since Cannonball Adderley while performing with the Max Roach\/Abbey Lincoln Group and as a Jazz Messenger with Art Blakey. He later joined McCoy Tyner\u2019s band where the pianist fostered him in the music of John Coltrane. Bartz also worked with Miles Davis; together they produced one of the trumpeter\u2019s most underrated albums, Live-Evil<\/em> (Columbia, 1971). During the remainder of the 1970s, Bartz heavily focused on his own ensemble, the NTU Troop, which uniquely addressed issues of Black pride while blurring African music, funk, soul, and jazz. For the past almost twenty years, he has taught at Oberlin College while continuing to record and tour. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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