Jazz Poetry Month enters its final week with the Dyer Rosenbloom Kitamura Trio. They share the stage with acclaimed poets Sumita Chakraborty, Rosebud Ben-Oni, and Poet Laureate of Allegheny County, Doralee Brooks.
Melanie Dyer (viola) is the leader of the ensemble WeFreeStrings. She has performed with Sun Ra Arkestra under Marshall Allen, William Parker, James Brandon Lewis, Gwen Laster’s New Muse 4tet, Henry Grimes, Tulivu Donna Cumberbatch, Nona Hendryx, Joe Bonner, Reggie Workman, Howard Johnson, David Haney, and many other notable musicians in Europe, South Africa, and the U.S.
Mara Rosenbloom (piano) leads both The Mara Rosenbloom Trio (feat: Sean Conly & Chad Taylor) and Flyways, a trio featuring Anais Mavïel & Rashaan Carter. In 2020, The Mara Rosenbloom Trio received The Chamber Music America Performance Plus Grant, with support from The New York Community Trust & The Doris Duke Foundation. Mara is also a member of William Hooker’s Quartet MOON, The Katie Bull Project, and Dawn Drake’s global funk ensemble ZapOte, and continues to perform with a variety of musicians across genres, including William Parker, Cooper-Moore, Sam Newsome, Ras Moshe Burnett, and many others. Her mentors at the piano include the incomparable Cooper-Moore and the late improvising pianist and life force Connie Crothers.
Kyoko Kitamura (voice) is a vocal improviser, bandleader, composer, and educator based in Brooklyn. She leads her ensemble Tidepool Fauna (featuring saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock, bassist Ken Filiano and drummer Dayeon Seok), co-leads Geometry (with Taylor Ho Bynum, Joe Morris, Tomeka Reid) and is an active side person with recent appearances on albums by William Parker, Cory Smythe, and Russ Lossing for which she has garnered stellar reviews. Kyoko is also known for her decade-long association with legendary musician, composer, and thinker Anthony Braxton and is featured on many of his releases including GTM (Syntax) 2017, the 12-hour recording of his vocal works performed by the Tri-Centric Vocal Ensemble which she directed and co-produced.