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Pheeroan akLaff
Contact: aklaff1@gmail.com
917 561 5298
www.pheeroanaklaff.com

Pheeroan akLaff is a band leader, percussionist, improvisational musician, recording artist and teacher who has traveled all the continents, leading and accompanying ensembles with such musicians as Cecil Taylor, Anthony Braxton, Rashied Ali, Andrew Hill, Henry Threadgill, Oliver Lake, Ravi Coltrane and Geri Allen. He is a regular at leading international festivals and a dedicated teacher and workshop leader.

Teaching Experience
Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT
Private Lessons, 1993- present
Jazz Ensemble Tutorial, 2007-2008
Jazz Ensemble Director, 2006-2007
Latin Ensemble Director, 1996-1997

New School University, New York City
Tutorial Director, 1991- 1993
Private Lessons, 1991- 1993

International Teaching
Nagoya, Tokyo, Kyoto, Iida Japan
Rhythm section workshops; Rock,Jazz - 2007, 2008, 2011
Private lessons drums;  2011 - 2007


Education
Eastern Michigan University, 1972 - 1974
Speech and Drama major, 1972-1974
Travis Biggs Touring Ensemble, 1973 – 1974
Ars Nova Jazz Ensemble, 1974
Detroit Kettering High School, 1969 –1972, Class Treasurer, Tennis MVP
Private Lessons 1969 Richard (Pistol) Allen, Randall Hicks

Artistic Appointments and Mentoring
Artist in Residence, Tufts University, April 2010
Teaching Artist, Grady High School Caribbean Ensemble, Brooklyn, NY, 2008
Chorus Director, Little Red Elisabeth Irwin High School, New York City, 2004 – 2006
Rhythm Adaption Workshop, Harvard University History of Jazz Class, 2003
Summer Arts Program Director, Real Art Ways, Hartford, CT, 2003, 2002
Artist in Residence, Carver Cultural Center, San Antonio, TX.
with Production of Frederick Douglass Chronicles -1996
Music Therapist, Graham Windham Agency, Harlem, New York, 1986 - 1988

Publications
Lecture, August 2010, on "Jazz and Spirituality", Studium Zentrum press, Austria www.smc-info.at


Performance Highlights
Yosuke Yamashita New York Trio with strings  Japan Tour 2011
Don Byron New Gospel Quintet  - Bridgestone Festival Sao Paolo Brazil May 2010
Cecil Taylor Duo - The Blue Note, New York NY. 2009
Henry Brant Dormant Craters
Lincoln Center New York, Neely Bruce conductor, 2008
Wesleyan University 1998 Henry Brant conductor
Cecil Taylor Trio
Lincoln Center, NYC 2008
The Iridium 2008
The Artist Collective, Hartford, CT, 2008
Solo Concert Saikoji Temple Nagano, Japan 2005
Double Duo Ensemble – Rashied Ali, Ravi Coltrane, Mixashawn, Columbia University, 2003, 2002, 2001, 2000
“W” Can’t Win Pheeroan akLaff Solo Oratorio, The Jazz Gallery, 2003
Liu Sola Quartet (Wu Man, Fernando Sanders, Pheeroan akLaff) Beijing, Shanghai, China 2000
Andrew Hill Trio
Alice Tully Hall New York NY, 2000,
Queen Elizabeth Hall London U.K., 1999
Andrew Hill Quartet, Benny Maupin, Rufus Reid, Pheeroan akLaff -Sweet Basil New York NY. 1999
Summit Conference Ensemble (Andrew Hill, Sam Rivers, Reggie Workman Pheeroan akLaff) 1997-1999


Professional Affiliations and Activities
Assistant Curator - Kampo Bahal Gallery NYC/ Kyoto , 2007 – 2009
Co-Founder: Seed Artists Inc., Non Profit for Artists and Communities, 2006
Advisory Board member of Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn, 2005 – 2009
La Compagnia de Colombari 2007- present

Awards
New York Foundation for the Arts Music Composition Award – 2000

Manuscripts
A View from the Throne; a travel journal of Jazz in Japan – Submit date : September, 2012
Rhythm and Stasis; a drum-set method manual for musicians – Submit Date - May, 2012

Ensemble Leader Recordings
Global Mantras, 1997 - Modern Masters, Recorded by Jon Rosenberg
Sonogram –1989  - Mu, -  Recorded by Bob Musso
Fits Like A Glove –1983 - Gramavision Recorded by Ron St. Germain
Solo Recordings
Drumßet Variations / Hanshin Lament, 2010,  Modern Masters, Recorded by Ni
Drum- set Variations - a primer of drum-set patterns  -  2002 (Recorded by Robert Musso
Duo Recordings
Brooklyn Waters, 1999, with Michael Cain Recorded by Michael Brorby
Revolutionary Quill, 2003, with Anthony Braxton, Recorded by Jon Rosenberg
House of Spirit; Mirth –1981 -  Passin’ Thru; Re-released in 2011 by Souljazz

Music Supervision and Film Scoring
Hewitt Collection of African American Art, documentary by Charles Martin, 2008
Hats by Bunn, documentary by Charles Martin, 2007
Ed Clark: A Brush With Success, documentary by Charles Martin 2006
Sweet Samoa by Tomas Casas 2003


Computer skills; Macintosh. Word, Photoshop

Interests: Music and Cognition, Theater, Japanese Culture, Sacred Architecture



Print Articles
Slagwerk Magazine by Hugo Pinksterboer January 2012
Jazz Magazine (Spain) interview with Jorge Lopez Gereñu  Autumn 2010
Hot House Magazine cover article April 2004
Coda Magazine cover article July/August 1997
Signature Magazine Japan, Dr. Tekemura interview April 1996
The Sydney Morning Herald, Peter Jordan interview, January 1996
The Villager, interview New York, N.Y. February 1996
Modern Drummer, Noah Howard interview 12/95,
Drums Magazine Japan, Interview 1991
Marie Claire Japan, CD review 1990,Jazz Podium, Germany 1989
Musician Magazine Ted Drozdowski interview June 1989
RYTMI Magazine Finland #9-10 interview November1987
Modern Drummer, Chip Stern interview May 1984
Midday Times Bombay, India interview January 1984
Coda Magazine Canada#186 interview January 1982
Ivoire Dimanche Magazine Ivory Coast#537 J.S. Bakiono interview June 1981
Ophelia Magazine Nigeria Volume 2 Frank Fairfax interview January 1981
 

Pheeroan akLaff believes that the arts are a way to give thanks and to work for change. He is a musician who has kept New York vibrant with live music and emerging performance art for over thirty years. His personal style of drumming with adventuresome composers has been voluminously documented in several areas of Creative Music. As a young artist Pheeroan akLaff toured countries of Africa Asia and Europe. His associations with Wadada Leo Smith, Oliver Lake, Anthony Davis, Henry Threadgill, Sonny Sharrock, and eventually Yamashita Yosuke, Liu Sola Henry Brant, and Andrew Hill presented him with challenging expansions of musical systems.

He utilized his versatility, with a wave of Funk and Reggae influenced performances and recordings in he early 1980’s. He lived and worked in Abidjan, Cote D”Ivoire with Marie Rose Guiraud’s dance troupe. He met Fela Anikulapo Kuti, Sonny Okosun, and Steve Rhodes while visiting Frank T. Fairfax the 3rd in Lagos Nigeria. U.S. State Department touring of nine African nations, the Near East, and India, in 1982 and 1985 were to follow.

Pheeroan akLaff featured his writing for quintet, quartet, and trio as a headliner at the Willisau festival of Switzerland, the Sju festival of the Netherlands, the Montsalvat festival of Australia, the Moers, and the Nurnberg festivals of Germany. He led the Double Duo ensemble dedicated to the spiritual music of John Coltrane using the sound of two saxophonists; Mixashawn and Ravi Coltrane, and two drummers; akLaff and his mentor Rashied Ali.

His Solo performances have occured in Japanene temples, and on theater stages. He wrote and performed Frederick Douglass Chronicles using the published letters of the 19th Century statesman. Since 1991, Mr.akLaff has taught drums to University students. He began at New School University in New York and is presently at Wesleyan University in Connecticut. He has been at the forefront of musical expression and cultural enrichment through his approach to the drum-set. He has taught students in Asia, Europe, and the Americas.