Matana Roberts

The vibrant black music community in Chicago still delivers new personalities. One of them is the alto saxophonist and composer Matana Roberts (39) who for several years has emerged as one of the most unique voices in contemporary jazz. Among the numerous musicians from different genres she has worked with Roscoe Mitcell, Tortoise, Meshell Ndegeocello, and the Black Rock Coalition. As is apparent from these examples, Matana Roberts is a boundless musician. In 2015 she was awarded the Doris Duke Artist Award.

Matana Roberts represents a youthful political conscious and sensational jazz scene, emerged from a jazz and rebellious community in Chicago, and in New York where she lives. When she performs, she complements her saxophone game with passage of texts, with recorded soundtracks, field recordings and visual elements. The content of her musical message is retrieved in African American history from old to modern, or as the Art Ensemble of Chicago put it: "Great Black Music - from the Ancient to the Future." Roberts has written a major piece of work she calls Coin Coin, which consists of 12 pieces. In Molde she wants to present 3.

The music is conducted from Matana Roberts' own perspective, as she expresses as follows: - I'm coming from an instinctual mode of surgery based on my feeling of what it's like to be black and female in America.

Matana Roberts; alto saxophone, vocal, composition 

STORYVILLE THURSDAY 19 JULY 4 pm

Bomb Magazine about Matana Roberts.