NEWS
AVERY SHARP IN THE NEWS
A new recording will be released on JKNM Records by internationally renowned bassist/composer Avery Sharpe, “I Am My Neighbors Keeper” is schedule for release in June 2024. Sharpe has composed a new work which highlights our commitment to one another. Avery initiated the project as a response to the political and racial division that has grown over the past seven years in the country. “The U.S political climate has drastically changed in the past 40 plus years, especially during the last seven of those years. In this age of greed, which Sharpe refers to as “IGM,” I Got Mine, basic human compassion has been eroded. Racial, economic and social strides are being turned back.
Avery Sharpe, the acclaimed bassist and composer who got his start at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, is now on “Jazz à la Mode” as a program host alongside longtime host Tom Reney
The concert will feature the orchestra performing with many voices from the community, including the Springfield Symphony Chorus, the Avery Sharpe Quartet, and Springfield’s Extended Family Choir.
Hampden County sheriff Nick Cocchi greets jazz musician Avery Sharpe before a special concert at the Correctional Center in Ludlow on Friday, Apr. 21, 2023. (Hoang 'Leon' Nguyen / The Republican)
[Originally published in June, 2019] Sometimes in music, especially jazz, we call a particularly ambitious new album “a project,” especially when the music is something more, the perfect vehicle to deliver an impactful story. With 400: An African American Musical Portrait, bassist Avery Sharpe hasn’t just released a new album—he’s unveiled a serious project. To say that the whole of 400 is greater than the sum of its parts (which it is) is really saying something, since the component parts are extraordinary. The core group comprises a sextet of heavy-hitters: Philadelphia natives, and brothers, Duane and Kevin Eubanks (trumpet and guitar, respectively), Don Braden (tenor/soprano sax and flute), Ronnie Burrage (drums), and Zaccai Curtis (piano). Most of these guys have been like family to Sharpe for years. You know who else has been like family to Avery Sharpe? His actual family—and they’re on the record, er, project, too! Appearing on four tracks, the Extended Family Choir, constituted in part by Sharpe’s nieces, nephews, and sister, is directed by Sharpe’s brother, Kevin.
