Megan Denman (piano), Theresa May (trumpet), and Ian Wenz (flute) performs works of underrepresented composers.

Linking Legacies honors local African-American Composers with performances by Christopher Jenkins (viola), Dianna White-Gould (piano), John McLaughlin Williams (violin), Cornelius Johnson (tenor) and Theresa May (trumpet).

Fresh from tour, M[A]B shares the stage with Namejai and Trash TV.

Doors 7:30 p.m. | Show 8:30 p.m.
All Ages
$15 advance / $20 day of show
+$3 at the door if under 21

This is a block-wide, multi-venue festival in downtown Akron’s Historic Arts District! We’re teaming up with our friends at Musica, Blu jazz, High Street Hop House, Baxter’s Speakeasy, and The Circle of 5ths to provide you a great FREE night of music and art.

ESSENTIAL TREMORS is a celebration of artists navigating the boundless nature of sound, highlighting the challenging, the esoteric and the bold. Initially conceived by Angus Andrew [Liars] the festival originated at Phoenix Central Park in Sydney, 2022 with an all-Australian line-up. Since then, the concept has grown with iterations taking place in Canberra, Beijing, NYC, and Tokyo fostering an international community of creatives, providing emerging and left-field arists of diverse traditions and cultural backgrounds the opportunity to perform on a global stage.

5:00PM Doors Open
6:00PM Eaters @ BLU Jazz+
6:30PM Free Black! @ Musica
7:00PM DÿkeNÿte @ Baxter's Speakeasy
7:30PM Gold Dime @ BLU Jazz+
8:00PM Fia Fell @ Musica
8:30PM Fatboi Sharif @ Baxter's Speakeasy
9:00PM babybaby_explores @ BLU Jazz+
9:30PM Otay:onii @ Musica
10:00PM Fej @ Baxter's Speakeasy
10:30PM Mourning [A] BLKStar @ BLU Jazz+
11:00PM Lisa Bella Donna @ Musica

Theresa speaks to Hawken students about her craft, experiences, and musical influences!

Mourning [A] BLKstar warms up the stage for Imarhan.

Tuareg quintet Imarhan announce their third studio album, Aboogi, out January 28th, 2022 on City Slang. The diversity, beauty, and struggles of life in Imarhan’s home city of Tamanrasset in Southern Algeria are reflected in the songs on Aboogi, the first album the band recorded on their native soil in a studio they built themselves. It features Sudanese singer Sulafa Elyas and Super Furry Animals’ Gruff Rhys, plus Tinariwen’s Abdallah Ag Alhousseyni and the poet Mohamed Ag Itlale (also known as Japonais) from the Tamanrasset artistic community. Following the exhilarating Temet (2018, City Slang), this new album is as serene and open as the desert it emerged from.

Theresa May is a champion of new music written for trumpet and has a passion for pushing musical boundaries in a way that is palatable and enjoyable. Eris DeJarnett, Jonathan Posthuma, and Shanyse Strickland are the three living composers featured in this program for trumpet and media. From the intriguing and calming fixed media aspects of DeJarnett’s piece, to the classic modernistic energy of Posthuma’s newly commissioned work, to the haunting and energetic melodies of Strickland’s piece, there is sure to be something for everyone in this performance.

Zeerak Ahmed / SLOWSPIN is a US-based Pakistani artist. She explores notions of identity, memory and longing. Ahmed produces sound sculptures, installations, and uniquely fragile sound collages that hold Eastern Classical vocals and ambient soundscapes. For CUSP '23, she will be presenting a three-channel sound installation that echoes folk-music traditions from the women of South Asia. Apnay Mahal Ma composes the immaterial space where sonic memories and oral histories reconstitute a home, and a sense of belonging.

Lonnie Holley will headline a benefit concert for the American Folk Art Museum. The event will include special guests and will highlight Holley’s visual and musical talents as he performs with Mourning [A] BLKstar, a collective dedicated to Black culture, storytelling, and song.

Explore the realms of Afrofuturism with Theresa May as she presents her project Afrofuturism : Black Lives Will Exist in the Future.The film and accompanying photo exhibit will include the intriguing photography of Emanuel Wallace with the musical stylings of artist and trumpeter, Theresa May.

Along with performing at Big Ears Festival, Mourning [A] BLKstar will also serve as Lonnie Holley’s backing band for his Big Ears set.

Full festival dates: March 30 - April 2, 2023

Theresa May will be a guest in Alex Lenhart’s Recital, held at the Woodward Theater in Cincinnati.

We are a multi-generational, gender and genre non-conforming amalgam of Black Culture dedicated to servicing the stories and songs of the apocalyptic diaspora. Founded in Cleveland, Ohio.

Featuring:
James Longs - vocals
LaToya Kent - vocals
Dante Foley - drums
Theresa May - trumpet
Pete Saudek - Guitar/keys
William Washington - trombone
RA Washington - samplers/bass

Join Theresa and Shanyse as they perform (including a new collaborative piece) and discuss Afrofuturism. This event also includes a screening of short film "Afrofuturism: Black Lives will Exist in the Future.

Come down to Blu Jazz for an evening with the Sam Blakeslee Large Group for a special fundraising concert for his long-awaited upcoming studio big band album to be recorded in Spring 2023. To help raise funds to make it all happen, Sam will be traveling back to Blu Jazz, the original home base of the Large Group where he held a monthly residency from 2015-2017 before his departure to NYC. Since then, Sam has honed his skills both as a composer in the vibrant NYC big band scene and the moment has finally come to record 2 albums worth of material with some of NYC's most dynamic and creative musicians. Joining Sam will be the Northeast Ohio musicians who had an indelible effect on his writing during his time in Ohio, as well as some members of the NYC iteration of the ensemble; tenor saxophonist Johnathan Lowery and Ohio native and trumpeter John Lake. 

Featuring:
Sam Blakeslee - compositions/arrangements
Bobby Selvaggio, Nathan-Paul Davis, Chris Coles, Johnathan Lowery, Bettyjeane Quimby - woodwinds
Scott McKee, Garrett Folger, Theresa May, John Lake - trumpets
Sam Blakeslee, Chris Anderson, Reggie Watkins, Amber Forrer - trombones
Dan Bruce - guitar
Ben Tweedt - piano
Matt Wiles - bass
Dustin May - drums

Afrofuturism, by Shanyse Strickland (1991), is a piece Theresa May commissioned in 2021 and is written for solo trumpet with pedal effects and piano accompaniment. From the beginning of the piece which calls upon the ancestors with unaccompanied trumpet, to the middle section which dances in a groove to the beat of the African Diaspora, to the finale which ends in the spoken words “Black lives will exist in the future”, Afrofuturism elicits stories of Blackness and embodies May's personal style, creativity and aesthetic while highlighting Black women.

The event opens at 6:30pm with a live performance at 7:00pm, followed by a music video showing afterwards!