Onaje Allan Gumbs

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Onaje Allan Gumbs is a musical collaborator. He has worked for more than 30 years with jazz, R&B and pop artists. In 1974, he created an arrangement of "Stella By Starlight" for the New York Jazz Repertory Company as part of a concert honoring Miles Davis at Carnegie Hall. He followed that with live and recorded performances with artists including Lenny White, Buster Williams, Cecil McBee and Betty Carter. In 1975, Onaje joined forces with trumpeter, Nat Adderley as part of his quintet contributing to the group’s releases on Atlantic and Steeplechase Records. Producer Nils Winter of SteepleChase, upon hearing Onaje’s improvisations, invited the young pianist to record a solo piano project entitled Onaje.

In 1976, Onaje provided the arrangement for the song that was to become the signature piece for the vocalist Phyllis Hyman, "Betcha By Golly Wow". In 1978, the Woody Shaw Group, for which Onaje was pianist, won the Down Beat Reader’s Poll for Best Jazz Group and for Best Jazz Album (Rosewood). The album was later nominated for a Grammy. In 1985, Onaje lent his keyboard and arrangement skills to "Lady In My Life" on guitarist Stanley Jordan’s debut album, Magic Touch on Blue Note Records.This was the first jazz album to maintain the top spot in Billboard Magazine’s jazz charts for more than fifty weeks.

In 1986, Onaje received the Min-on Art Award ..."in recognition of his great contribution to the promotion and development of a new musical movement for people with the aim of the creation of Peace..." Motivated by the goal for World peace, Onaje uses the practice of Nicherin Daishonin’s Buddhism as a philosophical, spiritual and technical approach to his life and his music.^{[citation needed]} His composition, "Quiet Passion" and his rendition of the Delphonics classic, "(Didn’t I) Blow your Mind This Time", both from his project That Special Part Of Me, have remained in rotation on the playlists of Smooth Jazz Radio Stations around the country since their introduction in February of 1988. Panasonic chose his song, "Dare To Dream", with lyrics by Charles Allen, as the theme for their tenth anniversary celebration of Kid Witness News.

In addition to the release of That Special Part Of Me and Dare To Dream on MCA Records, he currently has an independently financed solo project Remember Their Innocence. Onaje has been featured twice on National Public Radio's "Piano Jazz with Marian McPartland". He also composed, arranged and performed the original score for the Showtime film, Override, directed by actor and producer Danny Glover. In 1997, Onaje again embraced the music of Miles Davis as conductor/arranger for Grammy Award winning vocalist Cassandra Wilson’s concert, "Travelin' Miles."