Matana Roberts
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Matana Roberts (mah-tah-Na) is a dynamic young African American female saxophonist, composer, improviser and conceptualist. She is a native of Chicago Illinois.
Roberts is one of a small number of female jazz saxophonists in the world. She was fortunate enough to be surrounded by senior musicians, who showed her by example the importance of listening to one's personal creative voice, while at the same time using jazz and improvised music tradition as creative guides, not as definition. She has crafted a voice that speaks to her own individuality. She feels strongly that her music should not only reflect universal human emotions, but that it should also testify, critique, document, and respond to the many socio-economic, historical, and cultural inequalities that exist not only in the USA but all over the world.
She has played with Roscoe Mitchell, Oliver Lake, Marty Erhlich, Eugene Chadbourne, Henry Grimes, Hannah Marcus, Fred Anderson, Steve Lacy, Nicole Mitchell, Jeff Parker, Robert Barry, Joe Maneri, Miya Masaoka, Vijay Iyer, David Boykins, and Ralph Alessi. She is a member of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians.
