Courtney Bryan, piano
Brandee Younger, harp
Dezron Douglas, bass
Kassa Overall, drums
Special guest: Tyrone Birkett, saxophone
Courtney Bryan, a native of New Orleans, La, is “a pianist and composer of panoramic interests” (New York Times). Her music ranges from solo works to large ensembles in the new music and jazz idioms, film scores, and collaborations with dancers, visual artists, writers, and actors, and is in conversation with various musical genres, including jazz and other types of experimental music, as well as traditional gospel, spirituals, and hymns.
Focusing on bridging the sacred and the secular, Bryan's recent compositions explore human emotions through sound, confronting the challenge of notating the feeling of improvisation. She performs around the New York area, and is the Director of the Institute of Sacred Music at Bethany Baptist Church of Newark, NJ. Dr.
Bryan has academic degrees from Oberlin Conservatory (BM), Rutgers University (MM), and Columbia University (DMA) with advisor George Lewis. Bryan is currently a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Department of African American Studies at Princeton University and will begin her position as Assistant Professor of Music at Tulane University's Newcomb Department of Music beginning in Fall 2016. She is currently researching the devotional music of Alice Coltrane.
