Irvin Mayfield
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Irvin Mayfield | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Irvin Mayfield, Jr. |
| Born | September 7, 1977 |
| Origin | New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S. |
| Genre(s) | Afro-Cuban jazz Post-bop Latin jazz |
| Occupation(s) | Bandleader Trumpeter Organist Educator Composer Cultural Ambassador Arranger |
| Instrument(s) | Trumpet Organ |
| Years active | 1990s–present |
| Label(s) | Basin Street Records Half Note Records |
| Associated acts | Wynton Marsalis Delfeayo Marsalis Jason Marsalis Los Hombres Calientes Eric Reed Bill Summers Dr. Michael White |
| Notable instrument(s) | |
| B937 24-Karat Gold trumpet by Monette Instruments STC3B-2 mouthpieces |
|
Irvin Mayfield, Jr. (born September 7, 1977 ) is an American jazz trumpeter and bandleader. He has been serving as Cultural Ambassador of the City of New Orleans since 2003. He co-founded and has co-led the Afro-Cuban jazz group Los Hombres Calientes since 1998. Their debut album won Billboard's 2000 Contemporary Latin Jazz Album of the Year. Mayfield has released ten albums since 1998, and has played at prominent Jazz Festivals during his career.
In 2002 he founded and became Artistic Director of The New Orleans Jazz Institute. Working out of the Institute is a 501(c)(3) jazz ensemble called The New Orleans Jazz Orchestra or NO JO, also founded and directed by Mayfield. The orchestra made its debut in the same year the Institution was founded. In September of 2003, Mayfield was unanimously bestowed with the title of Cultural Ambassador for the City of New Orleans by the United States Senate and other governmental bodies. His performance at the Higher Ground Hurricane Relief Benefit Concert gained national attention in syndication.
Contents |
[edit] Biography
Irvin Mayfield, Jr. was born on September 7, 1977 in New Orleans, Louisiana to Joyce Alsanders and the late Irvin Mayfield, Sr.[1] His mother was a school teacher at a school in the Upper Ninth Ward. He is the youngest of five brothers, and has three half-brothers and one half-sister from his mother's previous marriage. Growing up, he resided in several sections of New Orleans, including the Ninth Ward. He played organ at his church sometimes growing up. His father, a military man, was once a drill sergeant in the United States Army and also a boxer.[2]
He received his first trumpet when he was in the fourth grade, asking his father for one after seeing the success a friend of his was having with girls by playing the instrument. His father—who had played trumpet in high school—encouraged him to practice and improve as much as he could. The first song he learned to play on trumpet was "Just A Closer Walk With Thee"; he later performed this piece at the Higher Ground Hurricane Relief Benefit Concert in 2005—one day before he learned that his father had died in the flood after Hurricane Katrina. Early in his public school education, Mayfield befriended fellow schoolmate Jason Marsalis. Jason is the son of jazz pianist Ellis Marsalis, of the famous Marsalis family.[3]
Mayfield began his musical career during the latter half of the 1980s, playing with the Algiers Brass Band, a traditional New Orleans based street act. His early work with the band was educational for him. In the late 1990s he shared an apartment in New York City with Wynton Marsalis for a brief period. Wynton was already an accomplished recording artist at the time.[4]
As a young man he attended and graduated from NOCCA, acquiring a scholarship to the famous Juilliard School of Music based in New York City. Instead of accepting the scholarship, at the behest of Ellis Marsalis, he decided to attend University of New Orleans instead (where Ellis ran the jazz studies department). In spite of being an educational experience for him, he left within his first year.[5]
In 1998 Mayfield helped found Los Hombres Calientes, a New Orleans jazz group that incorporates Afro-Cuban jazz with rhythm & blues. Original members include Mayfield, Bill Summers, Jason Marsalis, Victor Atkins III, David Pulphus and Yvette-Bostic Summers. Shortly after forming, the band signed with Basin Street Records, a New Orleans-based jazz record label.[6] His recording debut with Los Hombres Calientes was a success, and Mayfield gained national recognition as a result. Though the band has not released a studio album since 2005, they still remain active.[7]
In the fall of 2002 Mayfield founded the Institute of Jazz Culture at Dillard University, having been an artist-in-residence there since 1995.[8] The mission of the Institute is to combine several educational approaches toward jazz music, offering courses which combine music with politics and culture. Affiliated with the Institute is Dr. Michael White, holder of the Keller Chair of the Humanities at nearby Xavier University (a fellow recording artist for the Basin Street Records label, also). Much of the inspiration for founding the Institute came from Mayfield's time spent living with Marsalis as Artistic Director of Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York, wondering why New Orleans did not have such a place.[9]
| The most important thing I want people to understand is that coming to the concert, buying a ticket, is really participating in the rebuilding process of New Orleans. It’s putting a hammer and a nail to a roof. Irvin Mayfield.[10] |
In December of 2002 Mayfield founded the sixteen-piece New Orleans Jazz Orchestra, of which he still serves as artistic director, a jazz ensemble listed as a 501(c)(3) dedicated to education in the performing arts.[11] Proceeds from events related to the group help to fund organizational expenditures, and the ensemble originally worked out of the Institute of Jazz at Dillard University[12].
Mayfield serves as bandleader, and other members have included Evan Christopher, among others. As of January of 2006, the new home of the orchestra has been at Tulane University. The orchestra also has a residency program at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) that includes educational workshops, performances and commissioned musical pieces for debut in Newark, New Jersey. Currently the orchestra is performing New Orleans: Then and Now nationwide, featuring selections from the early years of jazz in New Orleans as well as some penned by Mayfield himself. Mayfield believes strongly that supporting the orchestra helps put the musicians of New Orleans back to work.[10]
[edit] Strange Fruit
.jpg/180px-Strange_Fruit_(Irvin_Mayfield).jpg)
The idea for Mayfield's "Strange Fruit", a 90-minute opus based in 1920s Louisiana, came about on a visit to a photographic exhibit in Atlanta called Without Sanctuary: Lynching Photography In America in 2002. The exhibit features photographs from the book of the same name by Hilton Als and James Allen. With him was then president of Dillard University and current head of the United Negro College Fund Michael Lomax. Lomax encouraged him to develop a way to express this American story through music. [13]
Photographs from this exhibit can be viewed at withoutsanctuary.org. The piece was commissioned by Dillard University, and Mayfield has brought it to a number of Historically black colleges and universities. The music combines jazz elements with negro spirituals and classical music. The show premiered at Dillard in 2003.[13]
The composition follows the lives of three main characters named Charles, Mary Anne and LeRoi. Charles is a 25 year old white man from a family of bankers, just back from college and ready to start a family. LeRoi is a young black man in his early 20s from a well-to-do black family and son of a preacher, off for the summer and ready for college. Mary Anne is a young white woman courted by Charles, but who falls in love with LeRoi. When Charles discovers what has happened while he was away at college, he beats Mary Anne and reports to the sherriff that LeRoi beat and raped her. The town forms a lynch mob and the governor is set to attend. Feeling some remorse for what he had brought about, Charles confesses to the sherriff that he had beaten Mary Anne and that she never had been raped. The sherriff, unwilling to cancel due to the visit of the governor, allowed the lynching to proceed anyway.[13]
[edit] Hurricane Katrina
In 2005 he joined Wynton Marsalis and a host of other musicians at the Higher Ground Hurricane Relief Benefit Concert in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. New York Times jazz critic Jon Pareles wrote in an article on the event, "The concert's most touching moment was a performance by the New Orleans trumpeter Irvin Mayfield. His father, he said, is still among the missing. He played "Just a Closer Walk with Thee," the hymn that becomes both dirge and celebration at New Orleans funerals."[14] Mayfield's father was found dead the next day in an area near Elysian Fields Avenue (a victim of drowning). Three months later DNA evidence officially confirmed the identity of the body.
[edit] Venues
Jazz festivals Mayfield has performed at:
- Newport Jazz Festival
- Atlanta Jazz Festival
- Clifford Brown Jazz Festival
- French Quarter Festival
- New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival
- New Orleans Mardi Gras celebrations[15]
- On June 26, 2006, in commemoration of Black Music Month, Mayfield held a performance at the White House in Washington, D.C. with fellow musician Ronald Markham.[16]
[edit] Other endeavors
In addition to his role as Cultural Ambassador, Mayfield also holds positions both at the New Orleans Chamber of Commerce and the Champions Group of the New Orleans Museum of Art. He is also Artistic Director for the Chandler Jazz Festival in Arizona. Mayfield also serves as Chairman of the Board of the New Orleans Public Library Board of Directors.
[edit] Cultural Ambassador
| The only thing that could make New Orleans moreso of a cultural Mecca, is if the constitution was written there. But the music, the constitution of the music, was created...that's where jazz was born. Jazz is the music of America, and really jazz is the manifestation of democracy in the music. Irvin Mayfield NPR Morning Edition (September 2, 2005) |
Mayfield was made a Cultural Ambassador of the City of New Orleans by state and local governments in September of 2003.[17] Some of the committees and boards focused on New Orleans which Mayfield is or has been a member of are The Louisiana Rebirth Advisory Board, The Bring New Orleans Back Commission Cultural Sub-Committee, New Orleans Public Library Board and The Hyatt New Orleans District Rebirth Advisory Board.
According to Mayfield, there are not as many musicians at Mardi Gras as there once were in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. People are still relocating back to the area and moving back in town, but the sense of loss is still felt very much by musicians and residents like Mayfield. Whole portions of the town that once held their own celebrations during the festival no longer exist, and the community seems fractured still.[18]
[edit] National Jazz Center
Mayfield supports plans for a 20 acre "National Jazz Center" to be built in New Orleans, a complex that would use both public and private money for funding (Hyatt being one funder). The proposition has stirred debate among musicians and residents of New Orleans, and the price has raised some eyebrows. The idea is to create something similar to Millennium Park in Chicago. The plan is attracting entrepreneurial interests that reside outside of the area, which gives some local residents cause for concern.[19]
As of June 16, 2007, plans have all but halted concerning the proposed plan. The only company still involved in the project is Strategic Hotels & Resorts of Chicago, despite publicity events a year ago for the proposed center by Hyatt Regency, mayor Ray Nagin, and Governor Kathleen Blanco. Laurence Geller, the president and CEO of Strategic Hotels & Resorts of Chicago, says he has heard nothing from either the mayor or governor concerning the project in eight months, and states he personally believes they have not advocated for the project as promised.
There are new plans in the making formulated by Geller and the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra, though they are not nearly as ambitous as was first announced by the other initial players. However, even these plans remain a question mark to the people of New Orleans. Right now, the Hyatt only plans to do some repairs to its existing building. Their involvement in the project, outside of their public promotion of it in May of 2006, has been muted since and leaves others involved in the project wondering if it was all done just for publicity.[20]
[edit] Discography
[edit] Irvin Mayfield albums
| Year | Album | Notes | Label |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | "Irvin Mayfield" | debut as leader | Basin Street Records |
| 1999 | "Live at the Blue Note" | Irvin Mayfield Sextet | Half Note Records (Blue Note Records sub-label) |
| 2001 | "How Passion Falls" | - | Basin Street Records |
| 2003 | "Half Past Autumn Suite" | Tribute to Gordon Parks | Basin Street Records |
| 2005 | "Strange Fruit" | Irvin Mayfield & The Orleans Jazz Orchestra from the original 2003 performance. | Basin Street Records |
[edit] Los Hombres Calientes
| Year | Album | Notes | Label |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1998-06-30 | "Los Hombres Calientes, Vol. 1" |
|
Basin Street Records |
| 1999-11-09 | "Los Hombres Calientes, Vol. 2" |
|
Basin Street Records |
| 2001-04-17 | "Los Hombres Calientes, Vol. 3: New Congo Square" |
|
Basin Street Records |
| 2003-03-25 | "Los Hombres Calientes, Vol. 4: Vodou Dance" |
|
Basin Street Records |
| 2005-03-15 | "Los Hombres Calientes, Vol. 5: Carnival" |
|
Basin Street Records |
[edit] Awards
- 2005 - Downbeat Critic's Poll Winner
- 2003 - Made a Cultural Ambassador of The City of New Orleans by the U.S. Government.
- 2000 - Billboard Contemporary Latin Jazz Album of the Year for the debut album Los Hombres Calientes.
[edit] References
- ^ Yanow, Scott (2001). Trumpet Kings: The Players Who Shaped the Sound of Jazz Trumpet. Backbeat Books, 250. ISBN 0879306084.
- ^ "Ibid"; Berry, Jason
- ^ Berry, Jason. Irvin Mayfield Interview. Retrieved on 2007-05-27.
- ^ "Ibid"; Berry, Jason
- ^ "Ibid", Berry, Jason
- ^ Yanow, Scott (2000). Afro-Cuban Jazz. Backbeat Books, 65. ISBN 087930619X.
- ^ Hombres featured at last ‘Jazz Notables’ concert. Retrieved on 2007-05-27.
- ^ "Ibid"; Basin Street Records Bio
- ^ Hamilton, Kendra. Dillard university and all that jazz: New Orleans-based HBCU seeks to set itself apart with creation of new jazz institute, orchestra - Faculty Club - Institute of Jazz Culture. Retrieved on 2007-05-27.
- ^ a b New Orleans:Then and Now. Retrieved on 2007-06-20.
- ^ Basin Street Records Bio. Irvin Mayfield at Basin Street Records. Retrieved on 2007-05-28.
- ^ "Ibid"; Hamilton, Kendra
- ^ a b c Smiley, Tavis. Irvin Mayfield's 'Strange Fruit' Opus. Retrieved on 2007-05-28.
- ^ Pareles, Jon. Marsalis Leads a Charge for the Cradle of Jazz. Retrieved on 2005-05-27.
- ^ "Ibid"; Basin Street Records
- ^ President Bush Celebrates Black Music Month. Retrieved on 2007-05-27.
- ^ Irvin Mayfield at allaboutjazz.com. Retrieved on 2007-05-27.
- ^ Fresh Air. New Orleans Trumpeter Irvin Mayfield on Mardi Gras. Retrieved on 2007-05-28.
- ^ Troeh, Eve. [http:http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6270841 Plans for New Orleans Jazz Center Stir Debate]. Retrieved on 2007-05-28.
- ^ Thomas, Greg. [http:http://blog.nola.com/times-picayune/2007/06/grand_visions_for_new_city_hal.html Grand visions for new city hall, jazz park have faded]. Retrieved on 2007-06-18.
[edit] Notes
Discography section used allmusicguide.com as a source.
