Michele Rosewoman is an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

 pianist

Pianist

A pianist is a musician who plays the piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers, solo instrumentalists, or other performers.-Choice of genres:...

 born in Oakland, CA. She is most notable for her work and recordings with her Quintessence ensemble as well as for several trio and quartet recordings, and for her New Yor-Uba ensemble featuring Orlando 'Puntilla' Rios (although unrecorded), an Afro-Cuban jazz

Afro-Cuban jazz

Afro-Cuban jazz is an early form of Latin jazz that mixes Afro-Cuban rhythms with harmonies and musical timbre typical of Bebop. It was developed in the early 1940s by both Cuban musicians and Jazz musicians, with Dizzy Gillespie, Mario Bauza, Machito and Stan Kenton among some of the most notable...

 big band

Big band

A big band is a type of musical ensemble associated with jazz and the Swing Era typically consisting of rhythm, brass, and woodwind instruments totaling approximately twelve to twenty-five musicians...

 since the early 1980s. Rosewoman is also known for her work as sidewoman on the recordings of such artists as Greg Osby

Greg Osby

Greg Osby is an American jazz saxophonist who plays mainly in the free jazz, free funk and M-Base idioms.-Biography:Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Osby studied at Howard University, where he majored in Jazz Studies, and then at the Berklee College of Music, with Andy McGhee...

, M-Base

M-Base

The term "M-Base" is used in several ways. In the 1980s, a loose collective of young African-American musicians including Steve Coleman, Graham Haynes, Cassandra Wilson, Geri Allen, Robin Eubanks, and Greg Osby emerged in Brooklyn with a new sound and specific ideas about creative expression...

 and Ralph Peterson. Before a move to New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

 from California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

 in 1978, Rosewoman, who was deeply influenced by Oakland-based pianist/organist Ed Kelly, led several jazz groups in the Oakland area and also performed with Baikida Carroll, Julius Hemphill and Julian Priester. In New York she played with post-avant-garde

Avant-garde jazz

Avant-garde jazz is a style of music and improvisation that combines avant-garde art music and composition with jazz. Avant-jazz often sounds very similar to free jazz, but differs in that, despite its distinct departure from traditional harmony, it has a predetermined structure over which ...

 musicians Oliver Lake

Oliver Lake

Oliver Lake is an American jazz saxophonist, flutist, composer and poet. He is known mainly on alto saxophone but also performs on soprano saxophone and flute....

 and Billy Bang

Billy Bang

Billy Bang was an American free jazz violinist and composer.-Biography:...

 as well as with jazz masters Freddie Waits, Rufus Reid, Billy Hart, Reggie Workman and Latin music greats such as Celia Cruz, Chocalate, Nicky Marrero, Paquito D'Rivera, Daniel Ponce among others.

Discography

• Spirit (1996; Blue Note Records
  Blue Note Records
  Blue Note Records is a jazz record label, established in 1939 by Alfred Lion and Max Margulis. Francis Wolff became involved shortly afterwards. It derives its name from the characteristic "blue notes" of jazz and the blues. At the end of the 1950s, and in the early 1960s, Blue Note headquarters...
  
  )
• Occasion to Rise (1993; Evidence Records)
• The Source (1984; Soul Note Records)

As Quintessence:

• The In Side Out (2006; Advance Dance Disques)
• Guardians of the Light (2000; Enja Records)
• Harvest (1993; Enja Records
  Enja Records
  Enja Records is a German jazz record label based in Munich, Germany. It was founded by jazz enthusiasts Matthias Winckelmann and Horst Weber in 1971....
  
  )
• Contrast High (1988; Enja Records)
• Quintessence (1987; Enja Records)

With Billy Bang

Billy Bang

Billy Bang was an American free jazz violinist and composer.-Biography:...

• Rainbow Gladiator
  Rainbow Gladiator
  Rainbow Gladiator is an album by the American jazz violinist Billy Bang recorded in 1981 and released on the Italian Soul Note label.-Reception:...
  
  (Soul Note, 1981)

External links

• http://www.michelerosewoman.com Official Homepage
• http://www.reverbnation.com/michelerosewoman
• http://www.myspace.com/michelerosewoman

Sources

• Carr, Ian; Fairweather, Digby; Priestley, Brian. Jazz: The Rough Guide, 1995, The Rough Guides, ISBN 1-85828-137-7.
• Cook, Richard, Jazz Encyclopedia. Penguin 2005, ISBN 978-0-141-02646-6