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New Makanda Ken McIntyre CD Coming November 2nd

Passin' Thru Records, in collaboration with the Contemporary African American Music Organization (CAAMO) and Outward Visions, Inc., is proud to announce the November 2nd release of the late multi-instrumentalist/composer/educator Makanda Ken McIntyre's In the Wind: The Woodwind Quartets (Passin' Thru 41220). Recorded in late 1995 and early 1996, this ambitious, posthumously released solo recording features original compositions arranged for four woodwind quartet combinations (flutes, clarinets, saxophones, and double reeds), with McIntyre overdubbing all the parts on 13 different instruments.

This personal collection of inclusive African American Chamber Music brings together a wealth of musical traditions including the blues, straight-ahead and avant-garde jazz, calypso, and Western classical music. In the Wind is being released as part of the CAAMO Legacy Program, a multi-faceted effort to uphold McIntyre's legacy and commitment to education. Makanda Ken McIntyre has been described as “the best player you've never heard of who is a master virtuoso, an original and provocative composer, and a soul of great depth” (AllAboutJazz), and Gary Giddins (Village Voice) called him “a compelling virtuoso who can play anything with a reed and get a distinctive sound out of it.” Born and educated in Boston, he burst onto the national scene in 1960 with two acclaimed recordings as a leader on Prestige, Stone Blues and Looking Ahead with Eric Dolphy, and continued as a leader on Steeplechase, United Artists, and Passin' Thru until his death in 2001 at age 69. Also a prominent sideman, McIntyre recorded with Nat Adderley, Bill Dixon, Charlie Haden's Liberation Music Orchestra, and Beaver Harris and the 360-Degree Experience, and played on Cecil Taylor's landmark Unit Structures in 1966.

His long career was equally defined by an extensive commitment to education, which included earning a doctorate in Curriculum Design from UMass Amherst in 1975 and a nearly 25-year tenure at Long Island's SUNY Old Westbury, where he founded and chaired one of the country's first departments dedicated to arts in the African American tradition. He also taught at Wesleyan University, Smith College, New School University and CCNY.



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