Eli Fountain’s Percussion Discussion
Thursday, November 1, 2018
6 to 8pm
![[Image Description: Musician Eli Fountain holds three percussive mallets while playing the xylophone. He wears a black shirt and eyeglasses, has short brown hair, and his facial expression reads that he is concentrating.]](http://static1.squarespace.com/static/5bb3c259e666696f13768624/5bc49702448c8ab4960b318c/5bc49705448c8ab4960b3207/1539610373533/7c3d7bcb6f6771c2e2a62199631c777a.jpg?format=original)
[Image Description: Musician Eli Fountain holds three percussive mallets while playing the xylophone. He wears a black shirt and eyeglasses, has short brown hair, and his facial expression reads that he is concentrating.]
Musician Eli Fountain led members of the Percussion Discussion, playing a variety of percussive instruments from all over the world. Fountain is a member of the influential jazz group M’Boom, which inspired artist Michael Kelly Williams’ sculpture of the same name included in our current exhibition Sedimentations: Assemblage as Social Repair.
To view footage of the performance from November 1st, please click here and here. And for more information on Eli Fountain’s Percussion Discussion, please click here.
Bios
Eli Fountain’s Percussion Discussion is an all-star ensemble composed of some of the world’s most accomplished musicians. The group maneuvers through the instruments and music of the world’s percussion diaspora. Steel drums, congas, djembes, xylophones, marimbas, tympani, chimes, drum set, vibraphone, and many more instruments color the landscape of their symphonic safaris. The ensemble has performed in New York’s top venues and festivals including Lincoln Center, Symphony Space, NYC Parks Dept., Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), Jazzmobile, Boston University, and more. Masterpiece is the name of the group’s latest album. It includes original compositions by Fountain, Max Roach, and Tony Williams. The present ensemble is staffed by Fountain, Jay Hoggard, Warren Smith, Bobby Sanabria, Bryan Carrott, Reggie Nicholson, and Lyndon Achee. Special guests have included Patience Higgins, Bobby Watson, Kenny Garrett, and Joe Ford on alto and soprano saxes.
Eli Fountain, Detroit native, is the son of legendary MOTOWN saxophonist Eli Fountain. He has recorded with Max Roach, Geri Allen, James Carter, Sam Rivers, Lena Horne, Butch Morris, and Aretha Franklin and performed with The Temptations, Whitney Houston, Peabo Bryson, Bob Hope, Glen Campbell, Freda Payne, Oleta Adams, and Shirley Ceasar, amongst others.
His theater work includes Jelly’s Last Jam with Gregory Hines and being the Music Director for the Yale Repertory Theater’s Production of King Lear, The Denver Center Theater’s Production of Pork Pie, and for numerous shows with tap sensation Savion Glover. His classical performances are inclusive of The Cincinnati Symphony, Chamber & Opera Orchestras, The Brooklyn Philharmonic Orchestra, and Carnegie Hall Jazz Orchestra.
His ballet Play is performed by The Complexions Dance Company, choreographed by Dwight Rhoden. His ballet (SIC) is performed by Daniel Squire’s Dance Company. His latest ballet is choreographed by Dianne McIntyre and performed by the Dance Theater of Harlem. It is titled Change. Fountain is a long time instructor and clinician at schools such as The University of Massachusetts, Jazzmobile, Jazz at Lincoln Center. He is also the leader of Percussion Discussion and The Organizers as well as a member of Max Roach’s M’Boom and endorses Sabian Cymbals.