Amina Claudine Myers (b. 1942 in Blackwell, Arkansas) is the 2020 Arts for Art / Vision Festival Lifetime Achievement Award honoree. Myers is an American jazz pianist, organist, vocalist, composer, and arranger. Her career in music began in her preteens with directing church choirs, singing, and playing gospel and rhythm & blues. Myers majored in music education at Philander Smith College in Little Rock, Arkansas. After graduation, she moved to Chicago in 1963, where she taught music at an elementary school, became a member of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), and began composing for voice and instruments. (Myers performed at the AACM's second concert.) She also attended classes at Roosevelt University and worked with musicians such as Sonny Stitt and Gene Ammons. In 1976 Myers relocated to New York City, where she intensified her compositional work and expanded it into the realm of Off-Broadway productions. She also continued performing and recording as a pianist and organist. Around 1978 she began touring in Europe with the Lester Bowie Quintet and his New York Organ Ensemble.
She first recorded with the saxophonist Kalaparusha Maurice McIntyre, and developed a rapport performing and recording with fellow AACM members including Muhal Richard Abrams, Lester Bowie, and Henry Threadgill. She has also performed with Archie Shepp, Charlie Haden’s Liberation Orchestra, James Blood Ulmer, Sonny Stitt, Anthony Braxton, Henry Threadgill, Rahsaan Roland Kirk and other well known artists.
Eleven albums have been recorded under her leadership featuring players like Jerome Harris, Reggie Nicholson, Pheeroan akLaff. Her recording career combines her gospel and blues inspirations with an improviser's freedom and includes classic albums like The Circle of Time, Amina Claudine Myers Salutes Bessie Smith, and solo piano and voice effort, Sama Rou (Songs From My Soul).
Relocating to New York City in 1976, Myer's further developed her work involving voice choirs, voice and instrumental ensemble, and a robust exploration of the pipe organ. Her compositions include large-scale works for orchestra and choir, and collaborations with writer Ntozake Shange and choreographer Dianne McIntyre.
She first recorded with the saxophonist Kalaparusha Maurice McIntyre, and developed a rapport performing and recording with fellow AACM members including Muhal Richard Abrams, Lester Bowie, and Henry Threadgill. She has also performed with Archie Shepp, Charlie Haden’s Liberation Orchestra, James Blood Ulmer, Sonny Stitt, Anthony Braxton, Henry Threadgill, Rahsaan Roland Kirk and other well known artists.
Eleven albums have been recorded under her leadership featuring players like Jerome Harris, Reggie Nicholson, Pheeroan akLaff. Her recording career combines her gospel and blues inspirations with an improviser's freedom and includes classic albums like The Circle of Time, Amina Claudine Myers Salutes Bessie Smith, and solo piano and voice effort, Sama Rou (Songs From My Soul).
Relocating to New York City in 1976, Myer's further developed her work involving voice choirs, voice and instrumental ensemble, and a robust exploration of the pipe organ. Her compositions include large-scale works for orchestra and choir, and collaborations with writer Ntozake Shange and choreographer Dianne McIntyre.
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