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Nasheet Waits

Nasheet Waits, drummer/music educator, is a New York native. His interest in playing the drums was encouraged by his father, legendary percussionist, Frederick Waits. Over the course of his career, Freddie Waits played with such legendary artists as Ella Fitzgerald, Sonny Rollins, Max Roach, McCoy Tyner, and countless others. Freddie Waits

Nasheet’s college education began at Morehouse in Atlanta, GA, where he majored in Psychology and History. Deciding that music would be his main focus, he continued his college studies in New York at Long Island University, where he graduated with honors, receiving his Bachelor of Arts in Music. While attending Long Island University, Waits studied privately with renowned percussionist, Michael Carvin. Carvin’s tutelage provided a vast foundation upon which Waits added influences from his father, as well as mentor Max Roach. It was Max that first gave Nasheet’s formidable talent international spotlight, hiring him as a member of the famed percussion ensemble M’BOOM. One highlight of Nasheet’s tenure with M’BOOM was the live concert performance of M’BOOM with special guests Tony Williams and Ginger Baker.

Nasheet’s talent came to the attention of reedman Antonio Hart, who asked Waits to originate the percussion chair of his first quintet. Waits remained a standing member of Antonio’s various ensembles, recording three albums and touring nationally and internationally in noted venues, jazz festivals, as well as live television and radio performances. Nasheet remained a member of Antonio’s group through 1998.

Nasheet with Billy Higgins

Most recently Nasheet has been a member of Andrew Hill’s various bands, Jason Moran’s Bandwagon, and Fred Hersch’s trio. As an originating member of pianist Jason Moran’s Bandwagon, Jason, bassist Tarus Mateen, and Nasheet have been deemed, “the most exciting rhythm section in jazz” by JazzTimes, The 2001 recording “Black Stars” with the Bandwagon, featuring Sam Rivers was named the “Best CD of 2001” in (Jazz Times, Jan 2002) and “The New York Times”.Nasheet’s recording and performing discography is a veritable who’s who in Jazz, boasting stints with jazz notables such as Geri Allen, Mario Bauza, Hamiett Bluiett, Abraham Burton, Ron Carter, Marc Cary, Steve Coleman, Stanley Cowell, Orrin Evans, Stefon Harris, Andrew Hill, Bill Lee, Jackie McLean, The Mingus Big Band, The New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, Greg Osby, Joshua Redman, Vanessa Rubin, Antoine Roney, Wallace Roney, Jacky Terrason, Bunky Green, Peter Brötzmann and Mark Turner. Waits has recorded and toured extensively in Africa, Europe, Japan, Canada, South America and the United States.

Andrew Hill Sextet Plus 10: A Beautiful Day, Revisited

Read "A Beautiful Day, Revisited" reviewed by Alberto Bazzurro

by Alberto Bazzurro
November 13, 2024

Registrato dal vivo al Birdland dal 24 al 26 gennaio 2002, il materiale di questo doppio CD (nonché doppio vinile) raggiunge oggi i quasi 83 minuti di durata, aggiungendo, rispetto all'edizione originaria uscita pochi mesi dopo il concerto, un'alternate take inedita del brano che intitola l'album e una versione ampliata di “11/8," riposizionando nel contempo i nove brani complessivi in quanto a “ordine di apparizione." Ne vien fuori un'opera che possiamo tranquillamente definire monumentale, anche proprio per la ...

Album Review

Andrew Hill Sextet Plus Ten: A Beautiful Day, Revisited

Read "A Beautiful Day, Revisited" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
October 21, 2024

The heyday of pianist Andrew Hill (1931-2007) happened during his hang with Blue Note Records, where he released ten albums between 1963 and 1970, including 1964's Black Fire, a splendid quartet session featuring saxophonist Joe Henderson; 1964's Point Of Departure), that featured a freewheeling sextet that included Henderson, multiple reedist Eric Dolphy and trumpeter Kenny Dorham; to Passing Ships (1969), with an exuberant multi-horn group that included trumpeter Woody Shaw, trombonist Julian Priester and flutist Joe Farrell. For those with ...

Album Review

Kenny Wollesen: LATRALA

Read "LATRALA" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
August 29, 2024

When a February 2022 gig at John Zorn's experimental showcase The Stone was unexpectedly canceled due to Covid protocol, Wollesen seized the lemon juicer and booked the band into Shahzad Ismaily's famed Figure 8 studio in Brooklyn for the following two days. The session was engineered by Lily Wen and produced by Will Shore, a composer who plays vibes alongside Wollesen in the utopian art-jazz group Užupis. Playing together for the first time, LATRALA recorded nearly the entire album and ...

Radio & Podcasts

Nasheet Waits, Jenny Scheinmann, Roberto Ottaviano, Lux Quartet & More

by Ludovico Granvassu
August 16, 2024

This time around we start with a rendition of “Portrait of Jennie" with strings, followed by a portrait by a string player named Jenny... a portrait of Ornette Coleman by violinist Jenny Scheinman to be precise. After that, the latest album by the Lux Quartet, as well as tributes to Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Steve Lacy and Hariprasad Chaurasia, as well as a love letter to NYC.Happy listening!Playlist Ben Allison “Mondo Jazz Theme (feat. Ted Nash ...

Album Review

Shabaka Hutchings: Perceive Its Beauty, Acknowledge Its Grace

Read "Perceive Its Beauty, Acknowledge Its Grace" reviewed by Chris May

by Chris May
April 24, 2024

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes ... Since signing with with Impulse! in 2018, Shabaka Hutchings has become best known for his incendiary work on tenor saxophone with Sons Of Kemet, The Comet Is Coming and Shabaka & The Ancestors. Perceive Its Beauty, Acknowledge Its Grace marks the start of a gentler, more instrospective phase in his music making. The trigger came during the pandemic, when Hutchings fell in love with the Japanese shakuhachi flute. The quietly spoken instrument first edged itself ...

Album Review

Michelle Lordi: Two Moons

Read "Two Moons" reviewed by Geno Thackara

by Geno Thackara
March 1, 2024

The art of the jazz diva does not shy away from the dark and mysterious. From putting a spell on somebody to helplessly falling under that old black magic, the tradition always seems to include some small touch of witchery, and Michelle Lordi, for her part, does not let a modern-day sound obscure those roots. The mood of Two Moons sits somewhere between a late-night set in a small jazz club and a round of spooky stories around the campfire. ...

Radio & Podcasts

Nasheet Waits, Ethan Iverson, Kenny Burrell & Jay McShann

by Joe Dimino
February 4, 2024

From a modern star in the jazz world, we begin the 840th Episode of Neon Jazz with Nasheet Waits and the tune Snake Hip Waltz from his impressive catalog of music. From there, we hear his father Freddie Waits teamed with Kenny Barron. We also get tasty new music from the likes of David Gibson, Ethan Iverson, Bennett Paster and Neal Caine. In between, we hear classics from Jay McShann, Tadd Dameron and Art Taylor. We bring it all to ...

Performance / Tour

'The Music Of Max Roach' Celebrates The Centennial Of The Legendary Jazz Drummer And Composer On Thursday, February 15, 2024

Source: Braithwaite & Katz Communications
January 30, 2024

New England Conservatory’s Jazz Studies Department marks the centennial of a great American jazz drummer and composer with The Music of Max Roach on Thursday, February 15, at 8 p.m. in NEC’s Burnes Hall. NEC faculty member and drummer Nasheet Waits, who performed with Roach in his historic percussion ensemble M’Boom, curates the event and joins NEC students in a program featuring a full performance of We Insist! The Freedom NowSuite and other music. A pioneer of bebop, Roach worked ...
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Award / Grant

New England Conservatory Faculty Members, Alums Receive 2021 Jazz Road Creative Residencies Grants

Source: Braithwaite & Katz Communications
November 14, 2021

New England Conservatory faculty members Mehmet Ali Sanlıkol, Jason Moran and Nasheet Waits and alumni Jamie Branch and Felipe Salles have each been awarded 2021 Jazz Road Creative Residencies Grants of up to $40,000 from South Arts. These grants are part of Jazz Road’s largest investment in the field to date as part of a national initiative supporting jazz artists. Through Jazz Road Creative Residencies, 52 artists are receiving grants of up to $40,000 each, allowing them the opportunity to ...
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Education

Renowned Drummer And Composer Nasheet Waits Joins New England Conservatory Jazz Studies Faculty

Source: Braithwaite & Katz Communications
August 30, 2020

New England Conservatory’s Jazz Studies Department has hired renowned drummer, composer and educator Nasheet Waits to join the jazz faculty beginning in the 2020-2021 academic year. In addition to his work as a leader, Waits is widely known for his performances and recordings with a jazz greats including Antonio Hart, Geri Allen, Marc Cary, Andrew Hill, Wallace Roney and many others. “I’m thrilled that Nasheet Waits has agreed to join the faculty at NEC. I’ve been a fan of his ...
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Recording

Michaël Attias Presents "Nerve Dance" Featuring Aruán Ortiz, John Hébert & Nasheet Waits

Source: Jason Byrne, Red Cat Publicity
January 20, 2017

Available March 10, 2017 on Clean Feed Records “Like a high-quality electronic product manufactured by the Panasonic Corporation, the career of alto saxophonist Michaël Attias has always involved being slightly ahead of his time...”—Ken Waxman, JazzWord Nerve Dance—saxophonist/composer/bandleader/conceptualist Michaël Attias’ sixth album (available on Clean Feed Records, March 10, 2017), which deals with the aesthetics of spontaneity, the theory of elasticity and the concept of equality in music, is an expansive, spirited debut from Michaël Attias’ new Quartet, featuring Aruán ...
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Recording

Motema Music To Release Gathering Light From Oran Etkin, Featuring Ben Allison, Nasheet Waits, Lionel Loueke & Curtis Fowlkes

Source: Jason Byrne, Red Cat Publicity
March 3, 2014

Motema Music To Release GATHERING LIGHT From ORAN ETKIN Featuring Ben Allison, Nasheet Waits, Lionel Loueke & Curtis Fowlkes To be released April 8, 2014 US & Europe CD Release tour including NYC CD Release Party at Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola at Jazz At Lincoln Center on May 12! Inspired by tours in Indonesia, China, Japan, Israel and Europe, Oran Etkin's brilliant new album, Gathering Light,to be released on Motema Music on April 8, 2014, and featuring Oran Etkin-bass clarinet, Ben ...
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Recording

Lisa Hilton "Getaway" Release With Larry Grenadier and Nasheet Waits

Source: Lisa Hilton
March 28, 2013

 Pianist/composer Lisa Hilton is one of the most distinctive and individualistic voices in jazz today. Her new album, Getaway (Ruby Slippers, #1016), is her fifteenth as a bandleader. Here she's joined in a powerful trio effort featuring her current all-star bandmates, bassist Larry Grenadier (Brad Mehldau, Chris Potter, Joshua Redman, Pat Metheny) and drummer Nasheet Waits (Jason Moran's Bandwagon, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Andrew Hill). This new album is a bold and exciting change of pace, Hilton bolstering her signature imagistic, lush, ...
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Event

Jason Moran, Tarus Mateen and Nasheet Waits in Worcester, MA on November 9th

Source: Music Worcester, Inc.
July 10, 2012

Worcester, MA: Blue Note recording artist and composer Jason Moran will perform in Worcester, MA on Friday, November 9, 2012. Jazz Pianist and Composer Jason Moran was named a MacArthur Fellow in 2010. The Fellowship is a $500,000, no-strings-attached grant for individuals who have shown exceptional creativity in their work and the promise to do more. Learn more at macfound.org/fellows. Jason Moran was named as the Kennedy Center's artistic adviser for jazz in November of 2011, only the second person ...
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Recording

Armen Nalbandian to release new trio album with Nasheet Waits and Eric Revis, and duet album with Han Bennink on August 23rd

Source: Blacksmith Brother
August 1, 2011

On August 23rd, pianist/composer Armen Nalbandian will release two new recordings via his label Blacksmith Brother Music. The first being a live recording with drummer Han Bennink from January 2008 entitled Coup de Grace. The second being a follow-up to his 2007 trio recording Manchester Born, features Nalbandian on the fender rhodes and in a trio setting featuring bassist Eric Revis and drummer Nasheet Waits. The album comprises of all original compositions by Nalbandian and is entitled “Quiet, as it's ...
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131

Recording

Komeda Project Returns with Scott Colley and Nasheet Waits For Requiem, a Contemporary Tribute to the Music of Renowned Polish Composer/Pianist Krzysztof Komeda 40 Years After His Death

Source: Braithwaite & Katz Communications
September 24, 2009

"…this is a jazz album, and what matters is how these musicians make Komeda's music their own. Russ Johnson's trumpet work is creative and diverse. Krzysztof Medyna is a powerful, hair-raising reed player. Pianist Andrzej Winnicki plays solos made of sudden shifts that all cohere…" — Thomas Conrad, Stereophile (review of group’s debut Crazy Girl)

“Andrzej's arrangements…are sophisticated and engaging, bringing to mind the warm vibe of such classic recordings as Kind of Blue…" — Michael Gallant, Keyboard

Plenty has ...
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Performance / Tour

Nasheet Waits Band - Those Fading Sounds of Jazz Downtown

Source: Michael Ricci
November 28, 2008

Nasheet Waitss band Abraham Burton, Eric McPherson and Mr. Waits performed on a bill with Jagged Sky.

It felt just a bit like old times at the Tap Bar in the Knitting Factory on Tuesday night. The crowd was robust and youngish, half noisy, half rapt, enthusiastic. The music was willfully dynamic, high impact and given to steep crescendos. One band, led by the drummer Nasheet Waits, approached its tunes through a cloud of tumultuous action; the other, led by ...
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