Jazz Pianist Amina Figurova US tour

August 7- 16, 2010

August 7 Marblehead summer Jazzseries, MA
August 8 Newport Jazzfestival, RI
August 9 Dizzys, Jazz at Lincoln center, New York, NY
August 10 Yoshi's, Oakland, CA
August 12 Kwuumbwa, Santa Cruz, CA
August 15 San José Jazzfestival, San José, CA
August 16 Jazzalley, Seattle, WA

Jazz on Lincoln Center: Dizzy's
33 West 60th Street, Fl. 11
New York, NY 10023
Monday August 9 at 7:30pm & 9:30pm
Cover: $20
Students: $10 w/valid student ID

Tour support: Nederlands Fonds voor Podium Kunsten

“… Figarova is among the most important composers to come into jazz in the new millennium..."
Thomas Conrad, Jazz Times

"...Amina Figarova boasts a graceful and erudite piano style, but her second instrument is her band….A first rate jazz pianist, Amina Figarova is staking out her ground as a top level composer-arranger...”
Dan McClenaghan, All About Jazz

Amina Figarova, piano; Bart Platteau, flutes; Ernie Hammes, trumpet; Marc Mommaas, tenor saxophone; Jeroen Vierdag, bass; Chris "Buckshot" Strik, drums

Born in Baku, capitol of Azerbijan, to a high-achieving, musically appreciative family, Amina as a child enjoyed her parents' records of Oscar Peterson, Ella Fitzgerald and Joe Pass. She was drawn to the piano at age two and commenced "special school" musical studies, which emphasized late 19th century European composition, at age six. She has recorded repertoire of Rachmaninoff and Scriabin.
Initially writing in commercial pop formats, Amina attended Baku Conservatory and concertized professionally while still a student. Spurred by her growing interest in improvisation, she attended the Moscow Jazz Festival in 1988. Weeks later she accepted an invitation to study classical piano and composition in the Netherlands, then went to the Berklee College of Music."
At Berklee in Boston Amina foresaw her unfolding path. After recording Attraction (Bart her husband, is co-billed with her; it's their quintet) Amina was accepted into the Thelonious Monk Jazz Colony in Aspen, Colorado in 1998. Soon after, the couple began their routine of steady touring and frequent recording. They've played all over the world.

On Sketches, as on her previous albums Above the Clouds (2008), Come Escape With Me (2005), Amina and company revel in a rich and varied program. The album concentrates, though, on the central aspect of her stylistic grasp, which extends from avant-garde experiments (as in September Suite, her shocked and sad response to terrorists attacks on American soil) to multi-keyboard fusion-oriented funk (on Another Me).