Maya Cunningham is a "triple threat" - a jazz vocalist, a visual artist and a scholar. As a vocal artist, she in the lineage of Billie Holiday, Abbey Lincoln, Sarah Vaughan, Carmen McRae, Etta Jones, and Lorez Alexandria. She is a master storyteller through song, a virtuoso improvisor and has a shimmering five octave range. Her approach draws on the emotional delivery of the Holiday lineage and the improvisational spontaneity of Vaughan. She is also a composer and fuses her music with visual arts works in collage/montage, fused glass, paint, monoprint and mixed media. As an ethnomusicologist, her research focus is on African American cultural identity and traditional African and African American musics. Read more...
The Grandmother Project is a revolutionary presentation of jazz, gospel, fusion and soul that gives honor to the African – American female vocalists who were the architects in building African – American music |
Maya Cunningham's All Africa Band draws from songs about and from the Continent, that are inspired by African history, and many songs collected by Cunningham through her ethnomusicological field work in Africa. |
Ethnomusicology In Action uses music, video, radio broadcasts and more to share stories about the people of Africa, African America and the Diaspora. |