Welcome as we celebrate Women’s History Month 2022 with a few very special events
On the calendar so far:
- March 2, 2022 – We are kicking off the Month in a big way in the Lady Got Chops Festival with the founder Kim Clarke at the coolest jazz venue Clements Place Jazz. Eventbrite Registration Required. Click for more info: https://www.jerseyindie.com/blog/kim-clarke-trio-at-jazz973-clements-place-jazz-for-2022-womens-history-month-and-lady-got-chops-festival
- March 4, 20202 – Sleep Out Montclair Community Edition – If you can join in the sleepout or donate to support the Junior League of Montclair Fund-Newark Fundraiser. Click to listen and support: Banding Together to Address Aging Out of Foster Care, Homelessness and Negative Mental Health
- March 4, 2022 -Ife Basim WHM2022 – Come enjoy a fabulous night of live music at the Cricket Club in Irvington at this fabulous venue with Joy Topping Man and Friends. Killer bad and awesome singing plus a community of friends that make for a beautiful night out. $10 at door. Bar and Food menu available. WHM2020 – Interview and Recapping Ife Basim’s Women’s History Month Celebrations
- March 13, 2020 Equinox – Come enjoy the wonderful art work of Christine Keeley and Maria Estrela while listening to the beautiful Latin Jazzy sounds of rising Latin Diva – Marilyn Castillo with Nedelka Soleto. Click to learn more – https://www.eventbrite.com/e/whm2022-art-exhibition-featuring-the-latin-jazzy-sounds-of-marilyn-castillo-tickets-288314084187
Stay tuned more to come…..
In its 20th year, the Lady Got Chop Festival presents some of the most notable women professionals playing Jazz in the industry. Since I love the concept of this festival, take a listen to our conversation between our fabulous interviewer Lynette Sheard with Bassist and Lady Got Chop Festival Founder Kim Clarke. Then we write about Kim Clarke and her fabulous trio joining us at Clements Place Jazz for Women’s History Month as Part of the Lady Got Chop Festival.
Lady Got Chops Festival 2022
The Lady Got Chops Women Month Jazz Festival, is an annual March Womens History Month Celebration which was conceived in 2003 by The Jazz Spot club owners Lillithe Meyers, Tiecha Merritt and female bassist Kim Clarke. It was created to give women performers and band leaders a chance to be recognized for their valuable contributions to the arts, to globally elevate Women’s History Month through the promotion of women’s outstanding contributions (aka Chops), artistic and otherwise, during the month of March.
For seven years the festival was hosted at the Legendary Jazz Spot in Brooklyn New York until The Jazz Spot closed its doors in 2009. The festival included a dance troupe in 2010 and had been renamed the LADY GOT CHOPS Women’s History Month Music and Arts Festival. The festival has continued every March under the leadership of Kim Clarke.
LADY GOT CHOPS – Women’s History Month Music & Arts Festival Inc.is a 501c3 nonprofit corporation. Check out the history and this years lineup at The Lady Got Chop Festival – http://ladygotchops.com and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/ladygotchopsfestival.
Jazz973 Presents Kim Clarke Trio at Clements Place Jazz
ForWHM2022 Kim Clarke is bringing with her some jazz industry heavyweights to perform at Newark Rutgers Institute of Jazz Studies – Clements Place Jazz Club.
- Kim Clarke- Bass
- Iyayo Ikawa – Piano
- Luciana Padmore – Drums
Jazz973 Presents Kim Clarke Trio at Clements Place
Kim Clarke on Bass
New York native, Kim A. Clarke, is a parent, bassist, composer, bandleader, website developer, educator and earring designer. She performs alternately on the Acoustic Bass, Electric Upright , four and five-stringed Electric Bass Guitar as the situation demands. Kim is a founding Member of the Lady Got Chop Festival.
As an acoustic bassist Kim traveled most notably with the late Joe Henderson Quartet (1986-7) throughout Europe. Internationally she is noted as “at home in the Ron Carter School of HardBop”, “a dynamic Woman in Jazz who supported the intense rhythm of the Henderson group with unsuspected vitality and melodic solo passages..” as electric bassist is noted in the bio of the famed bassist Larry Graham; a great early influence on her playing concept. As an electric bassist she has toured most extensively with Joseph Bowie’s Defunkt Downtown in the 80’s & Millennium Lineups
She has performed with : Art Blakey, Marylou Williams, Bertha Hope, Harold Ousley ,Jimmy Heath, Leon Thomas, Sun Ra, Sam Rivers, George Braith and Space Island, Rashied Ali, Junior Cooke, Ed Pazant, Clifford Jordan, Richard Williams, Tommy Turrentine, Steve Coleman and Five Elements, Andy Bey,, Lionel Hampton, Arturo O’Farrill, Dr. Billy Taylor, Olu Dara, Cindy Blackman, Marilyn Mazur,, Gracian Moncur, Philly Joe Jones, Geri Allen, Johnny O’Neal, and vocalists: Evelyn Blakey,Dakota Staton, Sarah Vaughn, Sheila Jordan, Antoinette Montague, Nikita White, Vanessa Rubin ,Cassandra Wilson, Adela Dalto: George Gee Big Band,Jean-Paul Bourelly the Ghetto Fighters (background vocalists with Jimi Hendrix), Victor Jones and Black Velvet she toured China, performing with Mark Zhu, Chuangye Liu, Ronnie Burrage and Wayne Esscofery @ the Dalian University of the Arts and the new Beijing Blue Note.
She participated in the Black Girls Rock Orchestra of 2016. Prior to the Covid 19 pandemic Kim hosted the Jazz Foundation Jam session @ Local 802 for seven years. Post pandemic the Jazz Foundation and Steve Jordan hosted a tribute to Charlie Parker :”BIRD CALLS”, Highlights of 2019 musical collaborations include performing with Bertha Hope’s Elmo Hope Project for the 28th Annual Jazz Foundation of America Loft Party,
Her touring experiences include work with the Yusef Lateef Quartet, National Black Theatre, The Are and Be Ensemble, Teri Thornton Trio, Bertha Hope Trio, Robert Palmer ,Kit McClure Big Band, Rachel Z Trio, Bigfood, Wallace Roney and Cindy Blackman Quartet, Rhonda Ross-Kendrick, Oliver Lake and Jump Up, James Blood Ulmer Experience, Jack Mc Duff Quartet, Rodney Kendricks Quartet, Jazzberry Jam .
Recipient of Louis Armstrong Performing Arts Award – ElmCor Ivan Bartowski- mention on Jazz Family Tree.
Iyayo Ikawa – Piano
“Yayoi is a wonder that comes along very rarely in each generation. A big intellect, with a big emotional spectrum, and a totally unique sound… She can do anything she thinks or feels” – Gil Goldstein (arranger/pianist)
Born in Tokyo, Japan, but raised musically in New York, Yayoi is an experience in ingenuity and compassion. As an internationally acclaimed pianist, composer, arranger, and educator, Yayoi has worked in many countries. Being exposed to the diverse music scene in New York after moving from Japan, Yayoi quickly adopted herself in various styles of music such as Jazz, Gospel, R&B, Soul, Classical and World music. After completing her studies at New School where she received the Henry and Gill Block scholarship, Yayoi was a faculty member at the International Jazz and Dance Academy in Slovenia along with her mentor Reggie Workman in 2003 and 2004.
After recording a straight ahead jazz piano trio on Nippon Crown release “Angel Eyes” in 2004, she self produced “Color of Dreams” in 2005 displaying her original compositions. Yayoi has toured nationally as well as internationally with her groups, and appeared at International Jazz festivals in Japan, Italy, Haiti, France, Slovenia, and Costa Rica. In 2008, Yayoi started “The Bridge Project” to create musical dialogue between New York and Tokyo musicians in an experimental environment. In 2009, the project toured in Costa Rica through a sponsorship of the U.S. Embassy. While working towards her master degree at NYU, Yayoi’s orchestra work for the film premiered at Lincoln Center in 2007. As a composer and arranger, Yayoi received commissions from the Modern Music Society of Tokyo, the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company and Montreal based sculptor David Baumflek.
Yayoi has worked with such legendary artists as Reggie Workman, Michael Carvin, Howard Johnson, Michal Urbaniak, Butch Morris, Craig Harris, Lenny Pickett, Frank Lacy, Lonnie Plaxico, Fostina Dixon, Salim Washington, Emeline Michel, James Germain, Daniel Bernard Roumain, The Meditations, Kaissa, Blitz the Ambassador etc. Yayoi is a music director at First Baptist Church in Piscataway NJ, and a jazz piano instructor at City College of New York, Brooklyn College. She also holds a bachelor’s degree in International Studies from International Christian University in Tokyo, Japan.
Her musical activities can be seen on her website www.yayoiikawa.net.
Luciana Padmore – Drums
Bronx native, New York based drummer Lucianna Padmore has been praised by Modern Drummer magazine for “Deep grooves and serious fusion chops.” Lucianna’s versatile drumming is featured with artists in the Jazz, Hip-Hop, Funk, Rock, Pop and Fusion genres. An alumnus of LaGuardia High School for Music and the Performing Arts and the New School University, she has received awards from Jazz at Lincoln Center and BMI for her jazz improvisation.
As an educator, she is active in drum instruction and jazz outreach in the N.Y. Tri-State area and abroad. Lucianna’s current live performance projects include residencies in and around the Tri- state area with the John Smith Trio, A member of HotJazz Jumpers, Drummer for Singer Songwriter Alyson Murray, Bertha Hope’s Nu Trio and Quintet As well as leading her own Quartet.
Lucianna Is working on various compositions of her own. In which she has just independently released a single entitled Life Long Love Affair featuring the incredible saxophonist Mr.Gerald Albright on Alto saxophone. LIfe Long Love Affair is now available for purchase on all major digital platforms.
Lucianna is featured in the book “Sticks and Skins”, Endorses Soul-Tone Cymbals and plays her signature Scorpion 3A drumsticks.
You can learn more about this fabulous Drummer here at the official site of https://www.luciannapadmore.com
Closing thoughts
In closing, know that Jazz973 Presents Kim Clarke Trio at Clements Place Jazz at 15 Washington Street, Newark, 07102,US as part of the Lady Got Chop Festival, Prepare for a fabulous night of jazz.
Also know that the Lady Got Chops Festival runs for the entire month of March so go support and prepare to hear some fabulous Jazz all over the tri-state area. There is a full calendar of events with some fabulous music everyday.
Check it out right here.
The 20th Anniversary LADY GOT CHOPS Women’s History Month Music and Arts Festival Calendar of Events.
About the Author
Gregory Burrus books bands, produces, promotes, captures, and records live music events along with various other community and private activities.
I love writing about it all. My mission is to help community groups, live music bands, and local nonprofits, reach their goals and accomplish their missions while enjoying the day-to-day process of life.
https://www.jerseyindie.com/ji-blogger-gregory-burrus
https://patch.com/users/gregburrus
