Master Musician Bill Cole to Perform at 214 Community Art Center April 26

April 18, 2007 -- Bill Cole, founder and leader of the Untempered Ensemble, will play the Australian didjeridu, the double reeds, Korean piri, South Indian nagaswarm, North Indian shehnai and the Ghanaian atenteben (wooden flute) in concert on Thursday, April 26 at 7:30 p.m. in the 214 Community Art Center, the coffeehouse space formerly occupied by The Prism, at 214 Rugby Road. Sponsored by the University of Virginia McIntire Department of Art’s class in arts administration, the performance will include the world premiere of a new composition. Admission is $5 for both students and the general public.

A composer, teacher and musician, Cole has performed with Ornette Coleman, Jayne Cortez, Julius Hemphill, Sam Rivers, James Blood Ulmer, Warren Smith, William Parker and Fred Ho, among many others.

The author of two books about jazz great Miles Davis — "Miles Davis: A Musical Biography (W. Morrow Publishers, 1974) and "Miles Davis: The Early Years" (Da Capo Press, 1994) — Cole is also the author of "John Coltrane" (Da Capo Press, 2001).

In addition, Cole is working on biographies of three musicians: Fela Sowande, a Nigerian musician, composer and folklorist and Cole's mentor; Julius Hemphill, jazz composer and leader of the World Saxophone Quartet; and Warren Smith, percussionist and composer with whom Cole has played since 1974.

His vast knowledge of music originates from youthful days with the traditional piano and violin, and his college years where he earned a bachelor's degree in music history and composition, a master's degree in musicology and a doctorate in ethnomusicology from Wesleyan University.
Cole served as professor of music at Amherst College from 1972 until 1974 and at Dartmouth College from 1974 until his retirement in the early 1990s. He currently teaches in the African American Studies department at Syracuse University, where he teaches "Introduction to African American Music," "Survey of African Music" and "Jazz from 1940 to the Present."

For more information contact George Sampson, project director, at (434) 924-7303 or gws6n@virginia.edu

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