Aja monet is a Grammy-nominated Surrealist Blues Poet. She follows in the long legacy of poets assembling in social movements. Her poems are a work of gravity. At any given time you’ll hear the revolutionary spirit of Audre Lorde and the Last Poets, the feel of June Jordan, Amiri Baraka, Jayne Cortez and even the expressive ephemerality of a passing blue note. Organizing and activism manifest as part of her process toward liberation, with the poems, the music, and the art serving as a scribe of the time. Her first full collection of poems entitled, my mother was a freedom fighter is a testament to all mothers, women, and girls who struggle to live, love, and move freely in the world. Her debut poetry album, when the poems do what they do was nominated for a Grammy for Best Spoken Word Poetry Album. She explores migration, spirituality, and femininity while centering Black resistance, love and the inexhaustible quest for joy. The songs throughout are insistent and unrelenting, with some reminiscent of jazz club virtuosity and melee while others act as a healing balm in gilead, moving like that of the call to intercessory prayer. Tonight aja monet performs with Mariah Davenport, Malcolm Javier Santiago, Justin Brown, Logan Richardson, and Benjamin Williams.

Cited by Wynton Marsalis as the “future of the trumpet” and “one of the most sought after trumpeters in the world”, this St. Louis native and Mannes School of Music graduate is an eclectic trumpeter/music producer/arranger/songwriter who is known for pushing musical boundaries through his compositions and improvisational style. As a go-to trumpeter in the music industry having been featured on nearly 100 albums ranging from jazz, R&B, pop, gospel, blues and hip hop, Harrold has toured and recorded with or produced for some of the world’s best artists and ensembles. Such artists include Jay-Z, Beyoncé, Common, Erykah Badu, Lauryn Hill, Mary J Blige, Rihanna, Gregory Porter, Andre Crouch, David Sanborn, D’Angelo and the Vanguard, Billy Harper, Robert Glasper, 50 Cent, and LL Cool J, to name a few. In particular, he is an integral part of two-time Grammy-Award winning album “Black Summer’s Night” by R&B icon Maxwell with whom he has had a long collaboration having arranged, composed and produced various songs. He also has had numerous musical placements in film and TV including the upcoming Miles Davis Biopic “Miles Ahead” directed by Don Cheadle (film score by Robert Glasper) where he is featured as the trumpet sound of Don Cheadle playing Miles Davis. His next album will be released in early 2016.
 
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Camille Thurman, multi-talented saxophonist, flutist, vocalist, composer and educator is a young musician emerging on the horizon, acquiring an impressive list of accomplishments that extend well beyond her years. Her lush, velvety, rich & warm sound on the tenor saxophone has eluded others to compare her sound to the likeness of tenor greats Gene Ammons and Stanley Turrentine to name a few. Camille’s ability to sing 4 octaves and perform vocalese, has given her the capability to influence audiences with melodies reminiscent to the sounds of Minnie Riperton, Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan. Her gift of taking the sounds evocative of yesteryear’s legends and creatively pair them with the nuances, edge and freshness of today’s music, has not only expanded the possibilities of jazz in the upcoming generation but also gained her the respect of audiences in Israel, Peru, Switzerland and around the world.

An accomplished performer and composer in her own right, Camille has performed with Jazz and R&B greats Dr. Billy Taylor, Chaka Khan, Benny Golson, George Coleman, Dr. Lonnie Smith, Terri Lyne Carrington, Stephanie Mills, Russell Malone, Nicholas Payton, George Benson, Yolanda Adams, Bebe Winans, Charli Persip, Valery Ponomarev, Lew Tabackin, Alicia Keys, India Arie, Kenny Latimore, Dave Valentine , Anthony Hamilton, Eric Benet, Brandy, SWV, Ciara, Missy Elliot and many others. Camille leads her own quartet, which has performed at the Kennedy Center, the International Women in Jazz Festival, the Super Jazz Ashdod Israel Festival, The Jazz Gallery and many other prominent jazz venues and festivals around the world.
 

With a perfect ear for music, Camille was born and raised in Saint Albans, New York to two educators. She grew up singing and listening to the sounds of Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Sarah Vaughan, Chaka Khan and many others in her house. Inspired by her Jr. High School music teacher, Camille began playing the flute at twelve and soon afterward switched to the tenor saxophone at fourteen. She received a full scholarship to CPSM preparatory music school to study saxophone and flute. At fifteen, she received a scholarship to attend Jazz In July at the University of Massachusets at Amherst directed by the late Dr. Billy Taylor. She attended the prestigious Filorello H. LaGuardia High School of Performing arts (also known as the FAME School) and studied under Bob Stewart. After graduating from Binghamton University with a degree in Geological & Environmental Sciences she returned to New York City and began working with legendary trumpeter Valery Ponomarev, the legendary drummer Charli Persip, world saxophone quartet Baritone saxophonist Hamiet Bluiett, Gabriel Alegria & The Afro-Peruvian Sextet and many others.

Camille was a two-time award winning recipient of the ASCAP Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composers award (2012 & 2013). Her compositions were featured and performed by her quartet in the 2013 ASCAP/ Kennedy Center “Songwriters: The Next Generation” showcase.

Camille’s debut album ORIGINS, featuring Luis Perdomo (piano), Rudy Royston (Drums), Corcoran Holt (Bass), Enoch Smith Jr. (Piano), Brandee Younger (Harp) and Shirazette Tinnin (Drums & Cajon), will be released in 2013 on the Hot Tone Music label.