Sun 11/14 @ 7PM
Cleveland sax player/composer/educator Chris Coles grew up in Cleveland and currently teaches at Kent State University and the Tri-C Creative Arts Academy, among other places. He holds music degrees from Youngstown State University and the University of Akron, and he’s a busy part of the region’s performing scene, one of the young guns following in the footsteps of the veterans who created a thriving jazz scene.
In 2015, he was moved to write “Nina Lives,” in memory of the worshippers who were murdered at Charleston, South Carolina’s Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church by a white supremacist. He won Akron’s 2017 Knight Foundation Arts Challenge for the piece.
Now he’ll bring his Nine Lives Project at Cuyahoga Community College on Sunday November 14. This immersive performance will and draw on jazz, dance, spoken word and animation to reflect on issues of social justice, racial inequality and gun violence. Coles will lead an ensemble that includes bassist Dave Morgan, percussionists Zaire Darden and Anthony Taddeo, keyboard player Theron Brown, sax players Bobby Selvaggio and Brad Wagner, trumpet player Tommy Lehman, trombone player Chris Anderson, trombone player and featured soloist Sam Blakeslee, vocalist Emily Laycock, choreography and dance by Dominic Moore Dunson, emcee lyrics by Jul Big Green and spoken word lyrics by Orlando Watson.
It’s free but you must reserve a ticket. Masks are required and you must also show proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test.
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