Tyshawn Sorey

“Dr. Tyshawn Sorey doesn’t like staying put. Not only is the revered composer, multi-instrumentalist and professor of contemporary music a highly prolific and dedicated composer – tirelessly committed to performing his work and challenging his listeners – but, conceptually speaking, he’s also disinclined to adhere to any single musical categorization, continually questioning the parameters of genre at every turn. His music boldly aggregates elements from a wide array of influences, disciplines, and musical traditions, and he is as versed in the complexities of composition as he is improvisation and indeed seeks to blur the distinction between the terms. Over the past couple of decades, Dr. Sorey has become a highly decorated figure in the jazz and classical communities, earning countless accolades for his innovative work and his iconoclastic approach.”

— BMI News

INSTAGRAM

YOUTUBE

TOURING CONFIGURATIONS

Trumpet, Tenor Sax, Piano, Bass & Drums

project descriptions

In a heart felt genuflection to the great master Max Roach, MacArthur Fellow , Pulitzer prize winning composer and multi instrumentalist Dr. Tyshawn Sorey reimagines a recording whose context is embedded in one of the most pivotal cultural periods of the 20th Century. The original 1968 album Members, Don’t Git Weary was created amidst the assassination of both Civil Rights icon Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and American President John F. Kennedy and the Vietnam War.
The project features each work on the original recording, performed in the same order as the original recording. Each arrangement winks at the original work, but also simultaneously captures the current moment threaded through the needle of the cycles of history.
For this expression of sincere gratitude for this snapshot of Roach’s work, Dr. Sorey has cast a band consisting of himself on drums, Adam O' Farrill, trumpet , Mark Shim, tenor saxophone , Lex Korten, piano and Tyrone Allen, bass.

TOUR DATES

ARTIST BIO

Composer and multi-instrumentalist Tyshawn Sorey has performed globally with his own ensembles, as well as alongside industry titans including John Zorn, Bill Frisell, Joe Lovano, Vijay Iyer, Jason Moran, King Britt, Claire Chase, Roscoe Mitchell, and Steve Lehman, among many others.

The bar is set high for Sorey’s continued evolution and success. He was named the 2024 Pulitzer Prize in Music winner for his composition Adagio (for Wadada Leo Smith), after being recognized as a 2023 Pulitzer Finalist for Monochromatic Light (Afterlife). Previously, Sorey roared onto the international landscape as a 2017 MacArthur Fellow and a 2018 United States Artists Fellow. Adding to his reputation as a multi-faceted talent, Downbeat Magazine recognized Sorey with its 2023 Critics Poll Award as a Rising Star Producer, while annually placing him near the top of its Composer and Drum Set performance lists. Other recent accolades include the Pew Fellowship, the Fromm Fellowship, the American Academy of Arts and Letters’ Goddard Lieberson Fellowship, and the Koussevitzsky Prize.

Sorey has composed works for the International Contemporary Ensemble, Talea Ensemble, soprano Julia Bullock, PRISM Quartet, JACK Quartet, TAK Ensemble, Brooklyn Rider, A Far Cry, cellists Seth Parker Woods and Matt Haimovitz, the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, bass-baritone Davóne Tines, Alarm Will Sound, pianist Awadagin Pratt and vocal group Roomful of Teeth, pianist Sarah Rothenberg, violinist Johnny Gandelsman, and tenor Lawrence Brownlee, as well as for countless others. His music has been performed in notable venues such as the Library of Congress, the Walt Disney Concert Hall, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the Hollywood Bowl, the 92nd Street Y, Park Avenue Armory, the Donaueschinger Musiktage, Lucerne Festival, and Lincoln Center. His compositions are published by Edition Peters.

Sorey joined the composition faculty of the University of Pennsylvania in the Fall of 2020, where he maintains a vigorous touring schedule in addition to his academic duties. He was selected as a Peabody Resident at Johns Hopkins University for Fall 2023, and has taught and lectured on composition and improvisation at an impressive assortment of institutions, including: Columbia University, Harvard University, Darmstadter Ferienkurse, Wesleyan University, The New England Conservatory, University of Michigan, The Banff Centre, Berklee College of Music, Mills College, University of Chicago, and The Danish Rhythmic Conservatory.

In spring 2023, Sorey debuted a musical collaboration with percussion ensemble Yarn/Wire titled “Be Holding,” a multimedia adaptation of the book-length poem by Ross Gay about the beauty and cultural significance of Julius Erving’s momentous sky hook dunk during the 1980 NBA Finals. The production included performances by professional wordsmiths Yolanda Wisher and David A. Gaines, along with students from Girard College, and was featured in the New York Times. Sorey’s trio (featuring pianist Aaron Diehl and bassist Harish Raghavan) is currently touring with Sandbox Percussion Ensemble, performing a newly commissioned piece in honor of the Max Roach Centennial titled Cogitations. In the future, Sorey plans to continue pushing boundaries, extending cultural norms, and reformulating public perceptions of modern Black/Afrodiasporic creative practice through the breadth and depth of his works.