Musicians For Musicians

MFM Public Musicians Forum #14
2021-06-22 19:00 - 21:00, 2021-07-22 19:00 - 21:00, 2021-08-22 19:00 - 21:00, 2021-09-22 19:00 - 21:00, 2021-10-22 19:00 - 21:00, 2021-11-22 19:00 - 21:00, 2021-12-22 19:00 - 21:00, 2022-01-22 19:00 - 21:00 (America/New_York) and 8 more dates | Wingspan Arts, Film Center Building, 630 9th Ave, Suite 602, New York, NY, 10036, United States
Run by Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi (President) and Billy Harper (BoD). This forum will feature topics on a variety of subjects of interest to our members and non members. Not only ALL musicians of ALL genres are invited to attend, but also music educators, DJ’s, Hip Hop artists, music advocates, Union people, etc. according to #UnityInTheMusicCommunity.
Date: Wednesday, May 22, 2019
Time: 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM
Venue: Wingspan Arts (Film Center Building, 630 9th Ave, between 44 & 45 St., Suite 602, NY, NY 10036)
Contact: 212-586-2330
Note: please sign in at the front desk. You must bring a government issued picture ID to be admitted into the building. Use code 1448# to unlock the door to the event space. And please come on time!
Agenda
a. Speakers: Sohrab Saadat ladjevardi (President), David Belmont (Vice President) and Rick Ulfik (MFM member).
MFM Fundraiser Event (w. music and speeches) Announcement in partnership with MFM member Rick Ulfik and his non-profit organization We, The World
b. Speaker: Roger Blanc (BoD)
He will briefly discuss how MFM presents a novel platform for artists from historically separate musical traditions to join forces in pooling information, resources and political clout during an era which presents daunting challenges to all forms of professional musical activity.
c. Speaker: Adam Reifsteck (MFM member)
While streaming services are now in the forefront and musicians are forced to chase fractions of pennies from their recorded music, there is tremendous opportunity when you ignore the music industry trends and apply 21st-century digital marketing strategies that successful businesses in other industries use to your music. Adam teaches electronic musicians how to adopt a musicprenuer mindset and shares what it really takes to succeed in the new music industry.
d. Speaker: Sohrab
Sohrab will report about MFM’s endorsement and support of the Hudson Valley Summit (August 9, 2019 in Kingston NY).
A full-day conference for ambitious, talented and innovative music industry professionals from the Northeast and beyond. Musicians, managers, agents, promoters, record labels, producers, publicists, and the media will share insights, strategies, and rich experiences on how to best create music and bring it to fans.
Recommended especially to our Kingston members! $100 for a day pass (46% discount).
Directions
Closest Train: A,C,E Trains to 42 St. (at 8 Av)
1,2,3 Trains to 42 St. Times Sq. (at Broadway, 7 Av)
N,Q,R,W, 7, S Shuttle Trains to 42 St. Times Sq. (at Broadway, 7 Av)
Closest Bus Stop: Take M11 Southbound (Downtown) on 9 Av
From Times Square: Take M42 Westbound, 1-2 long blocks to 9 Av Walk uptown on 9 Av about 2 1/2 blocks

MFM ZOOM Talk Event #6 with MFM Members Adam Reifsteck and Kevin Kuhn
2022-10-27 17:00 - 18:30 | ZOOM
Date: Thursday, October 27, 2022
Time: 5pm to 6:30pm (ET)
Venue: ZOOM
Ticket: free
Please register here: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZwvcu-qrjsoGNDygxiCJvh9Fy4woqxwB9Dx
Talk Description
Adam Reifsteck and Kevin Kuhn will discuss best practices for setting up a home studio as well as provide recommendations on the essential gear you need to get started on a limited budget.
This event is a follow up to Zoom Webinar #10: How to Set Up Your Home Studio held on July 8, 2022 with Adam Reifsteck and Jeffrey Green.

ZOOM Talk Event #7 w. Banning Eyre and Sylvain Leroux
2022-11-18 17:00 - 18:30 | ZOOM
Musicians For Musicians (MFM) Presents: “Music Is Essential” ZOOM Talk Event #7 with MFM Members Banning Eyre and Sylvain Leroux Speaking on Sylvain’s Music Activism and about His Non-Profit Fula Flute Ecole (School) in Conakry, Guinea (Africa)
Date: Friday, November 18, 2022
Time: 5pm to 6:30pm (ET)
Venue: ZOOM
Ticket: free
Please register here: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZwucO2trzMqE9xEa3ATnmpqciGYurChJ1yp
Webinar description
The discussion will touch on the opportunities music education projects like this present: supporting the transfer of traditional culture and creating opportunities for musicians in Africa. We’ll also discuss the ethical issues involved. Expect a lively exchange and a brief live performance as well.
About Banning Eyre
Banning Eyre is an author, guitarist, photographer, and Senior Producer for the Peabody Award-winning public radio series Afropop Worldwide. His work has taken him to over 25 African countries to research local music. Eyre has produced over 180 Afropop episodes including in-depth coverage of Mali, Congo, Egypt, Ghana, Lebanon, Madagascar and Nigeria. He comments on world music for NPR’s All Things Considered. In May, 2015, Duke University Press published his fourth book, Lion Songs: Thomas Mapfumo and the Music That Made Zimbabwe, which won the 2016 Society for Ethnomusicology African Music Section Kwabena Nketia Book Prize. His previous books are Afropop! An Illustrated Guide, In Griot Time: An American Guitarist in Mali, and Guitar Atlas Africa, a book of introductory lessons in African guitar styles. He also co-produced the 2004 film Festival in the Desert: The Tent Sessions, filmed in location in Essakane, Mali. He edits and contributes to www.afropop.org, and hosts www.banningeyre.com, the home of his independent label Lion Songs Records.
About Sylvain Leroux
Sylvain Leroux is a notable player of the Fula flute who brought traditional West African music to Zankel Hall with his Fula Flute Ensemble and curated the Griot Summit series that featured 25 New York City area griots from five countries. He was noted in performances and recordings with, among others, Billy Martin, Emeline Michel, Adam Rudolph, Karl Berger, and Hassan Hakmoun as well as with many Guinean stars (Sekouba Kandia Kouyate, Mbady Kouyate, Lama Sidibe, Missia Saran Diabate, Abdoulaye Diabate…).
Maker and seller of flutes around the world, he invented and patented the “chromatic tambin” that brought the traditional instrument into full chromatic functionality. This led him to initiate l’Ecole Fula Flute, a music literacy project in Guinea, an effort that contributed to a revival of the instrument in Guinea and seveal excellent young artists have emerged from the program.
His 2002 cult record Fula Flute stimulated a worldwide interest in the instrument; and his 2012 album Quatuor Creole was hailed by critics as “a perfect contemporary music release.”

MFM ZOOM Webinar #12 with Ron Wasserman
2022-11-29 17:00 - 18:30 | ZOOM
Musicians For Musicians (MFM) Presents: “Music Is Essential” ZOOM Webinar #12 with MFM Member Ron Wasserman Speaking on: Transcribing Recorded Music for Live Performance with Dance
Date: Tuesday, November 29, 2022
Time: 4pm to 5:30pm (ET)
Venue: ZOOM
Ticket: free
Please register here: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZwkf-iopzwpGNErm21uOd-b-qZvgWdKWpXC
Webinar description
Ron will talk about and demonstrate the very specialized skill that is transcribing recorded music into notation to be used for dance performances. Music that was composed and recorded by ear, or course must be “reverse engineered” so it can be presented in traditional notation to players for live performances. Ron will discuss his unique process that utilizes a highly developed contrapuntal ear, several software tools, and usually a lot of trial and error. Furthermore, an added layer of complexity are considerations towards the needs of choreographers and dancers, and in being a bridge between them and the composer and conductor. Ron will use examples from several successful projects he has done with the music of Duke Ellington, Max Richter, Wayne Shorter, Solange Knowles and others.
About Ron Wasserman
Ron Wasserman, a fourth generation musician and lifelong New Yorker, has an unusually diverse track record of performing, composing, commissioning, and producing music. Since his first professional gig in 1979 at age 18, Ron has logged well over 6,000 performances in almost every performing arts genre imaginable, since 1988 the majority of them as the principal bassist of the New York City Ballet Orchestra.
Ron has premiered and/or commissioned works by a large array of composers, including Miho Hazama. Rufus Reid, Courtney Bryan, Stephanie Ann Boyd, and himself. In 2017 his New York Jazzharmonic partnered with The Ashley Bouder Project when they started accompanying professional dance concert performances. Together they undertook the process of commissioning composers AND choreographers, with an emphasis on women.
His own jazz and classical music fills now four CDs with several more in the works. One, with his full 17-piece band was recorded in 2019 with a 2023 release.
During the pandemic, Ron started filming dance videos, culminating in his “Curbside Nutcracker,” which garnered a viral half-million views, and his fully produced narrative movie filmed at the Bronx Zoo: “Backstage Pass: Carnival of the Animals.”
At the New York City Ballet, Ron has also arranged, transcribed, and/or conducted works by Wayne Shorter, Stravinsky, Piazzolla, and Solange Knowles’
Backstage Pass: bit.ly/bronxzoomovie
Curbside Nutcracker: https://youtu.be/pH0JLfSKv04

About MFM (https://www.MusiciansForMusicians.org)
MFM seeks to bring together musicians from all disciplines, styles, traditions and localities in the cause of their mutual self-betterment. Whether through education, networking or political action, MFM’s ultimate goal is to elevate the work of all musicians to the level of a true profession.

2022 MFM Annual Membership Meeting and Voting
2022-12-02 17:30 - 18:30 | ZOOM
Detailed info later.

MFM Board Meeting
2022-12-07 17:00 - 18:00 | ZOOM

MFM ZOOM Talk Event #8 with Arturo O’Farrill and Zack O’Farrill
2022-12-16 17:00 - 18:30 | ZOOM
Musicians For Musicians (MFM) Presents: “Music Is Essential” ZOOM Talk Event #8 with MFM Members Arturo O’Farrill and Zack O’Farrill Speaking on the founding, current work, and vision of the Afro Latin Jazz Alliance, Arturo’s activism, and the intertwined histories of latin music and jazz.
Date: Friday, December 16, 2022
Time: 5pm to 6:30pm (ET)
Venue: ZOOM
Ticket: free
Please register here: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIpdO-trzorHNSF2dK3NhLOBqcTVRYHmvKz
Webinar description:
The discussion will touch on the importance of musician-led organizations and the impact that artists can have on the world around them both by using their platform to call for justice and by creating employment opportunities for other artists. We’ll also discuss the shared history of “latin music” and “jazz,” exploring the idea that these labels hide the fact that they are both part of the same musical continuum. Finally, we’ll discuss the weight of legacy on our careers and our practice, and how the two are not one and the same.
About Arturo O’Farrill (www.arturoofarrill.com)
Arturo O’Farrill
ARTURO O’FARRILL, pianist, composer, and educator, was born in Mexico and grew up in New York City. Arturo’s professional career began with the Carla Bley Band and continued as a solo performer with a wide spectrum of artists including Dizzy Gillespie, Lester Bowie, Wynton Marsalis, and Harry Belafonte.
In 2007, he founded the Afro Latin Jazz Alliance as a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the performance, education, and preservation of Afro Latin music. Learn more about ALJA here: http://www.afrolatinjazz.org

About Zack O’Farrill (www.wackzilliam.com)
Zack O’Farrill is a multi-racial, multi-cultural, multi-musical artist who doesn’t believe in the walls that separate us. Growing up in a musical household, the son of classical pianist Alison Deane and jazz pianist, composer, bandleader Arturo O’Farrill, Zack and his brother, the trumpeter Adam O’Farrill, grew up playing and listening to a wide world of music. From the European-concert-music-influenced Afro-Cuban big band jazz of their grandfather, Chico O’Farrill, to the tongue-in-cheek free jazz of Carla Bley, to having a rotation of the Beatles, Steely Dan, Earth Wind and Fire, and Oscar Peterson in the car on summer road trips, growing up in the hip-hop generation, and extensive study of music in the new world derived from the African Diaspora, Zack has never viewed music with any particular regard to genre.

MFM BOARD MEETING
2023-03-08 17:00 - 18:00, 2023-06-07 17:00 - 18:00, 2023-09-06 17:00 - 18:00 | ZOOM

MFM ZOOM Webinar #13 w. Kora Musician David Gilden and Special Guest Sherif Sissoko
2023-03-21 17:00 - 18:30 | ZOOM
Musicians For Musicians (MFM) Presents: “Music Is Essential” ZOOM Webinar #13 with Kora Musician David Gilden and Special Guest Sherif Sissoko – A Musical Introduction to the Mandinka Kora
Date: Tuesday, March 21, 2023
Time: 5pm to 6:30pm (ET)
Venue: ZOOM
Ticket: $5 for non MFM members

Non-members register and pay here: https://musiciansformusicians.org/product/zoom-webinar-13/
MFM members register here: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZcpfu6urj0tGNGU5RBKGD59mTSC3hjhqmz4

Webinar description
In this presentation David Gilden will go into detail about the Mandinka Kora from a musician’s perspective (performing pieces of Kora music) and share his experiences traveling in West Africa to study the Kora. His guest Sherif Sissoko a skilled Kora player will also play some music and provide additional background on the history and origin of the Kora.
About David Gilden (https://www.facebook.com/koraDave and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjQJ1nn63Oc&t=2s)
David discovered the Kora back in 1978 at a concert with Malian kora player Batourou Sekou Kouyaté at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. It was this performance that inspired David to play and research the kora.
In 1989 David traveled to The Gambia to study the Kora with his first teachers Malamini Jobarteh and Dembo Konte. Later in1995 David traveled to Bamako to visit Kora virtuoso Toumani Diabate and Batourou Sekou Kouyaté.OM
During this trip to Bamako, David met Sherif who is the younger brother of acclaimed kora musician Ballake Sissoko. Today Sherif lives in Hartford Connecticut where he continues to play the Kora.

MFM Presents “Music Is Essential” ZOOM Webinar #14: Richard Miller and Stephen Johnson Speaking on ‘Bossa and Beyond,’ The Rhythmic and Harmonic Development of Brazilian Music, Bossa Nova, and Beyond
2023-09-21 17:00 - 18:30 | ZOOM
Join Richard and Stephen for another dynamic tour of the Brazilian / American musicology and evolution; how ‘Jazz’ found ‘Samba’ and how the two became the wonderful exotic lovers that inspired the world in the Sixties and beyond. Richard’s study of Brazilian music will provide the insights to the foundation structures leading into Stephen’s applied song writing and furthering the push into post Bossa Nova exploration.
Free for members.
Non-members register and pay $5.00 here: https://musiciansformusicians.org/webinar

MFM ZOOM Talk Event #8 with Film Composer Christopher North and Special Guests
2023-11-02 18:00 - 19:30
Musicians For Musicians (MFM) Presents: “Music Is Essential” ZOOM Talk Event #9 with Christopher North Speaking about his Score for Max Roach: The Drum Also Waltzes with Special Guests Cole Davis, Lawrence Fields and Andy Blanco.
Date: Thursday, November 2nd, 2023
Time: 6pm to 7:30pm (ET)
Venue: ZOOM
Host: Adam Reifsteck
Ticket: $5 for non MFM members. Register and pay here: https://mfmassociation.thrivecart.com/talk-event/
Webinar description
Christopher North shares about composing and producing the score to Max Roach: The Drum Also Waltzes. Directed by Sam Pollard & Ben Shapiro. Special Guests include Bassist / Contractor Cole Davis, Pianist Lawrence Fields, and Percussionist Andy Blanco.
Experience the groundbreaking sounds of bebop pioneer, virtuoso percussionist and bandleader Max Roach on PBS American Masters
World Premiered at SXSW 2023, NYC Premiered at Rooftop Films & Broadcast / Streaming on American Masters PBS Premiere 10/6/2023. Glowing Reviews In!
Score performed by stellar quintet featuring bassist (& former student) Cole Davis, Aaron M. Johnson on Alto / Tenor Sax, Anthony Hervey on Trumpet, Lawrence Fields on Piano, Michael Ode on Drums, recorded at The Bunker Studio, as well as M’Boom inspired Percussion Cues multi-tracked by the Andy Blanco. (Add’l contributions including a “jam in the sand” Cue from Rex Benincasa and Kate Amrine on Trumpet). Assisted by Landon Knoblock, Mixed by Erdem Helvacioglu.
About Christopher North www.christophernorth.com www.imdb.me/christophernorth
Christopher North is a composer (Film, Theater and Dance), singer/songwriter (eclectic albums, songs for children’s TV and for Films), multi-instrumentalist (Carnegie Hall, Newport Folk Festival, CBGBs, Grammy award-winning recordings) and conductor (Hollywood Chamber Orchestra, Symphony Space). A Texan in NYC since 1997, he’s thriving in Brooklyn, having released 20 genre crossing albums, composed scores to over 60 films (inc. distributed, award-winning and Grammy Nominated) and a growing opus of arts songs, chamber music and symphonic works. A Sundance Institute Lab Fellow, collaborating brings out his best, for which VARIETY says he’s a “notable asset” to work “well served by a fine soundtrack.” Also a sideman, he has played bass for Quincy Jones, with The Chicks and Rosanne Cash, in orchestras and on Broadway. He’s been heard as a singer (in choirs with NY Phil and on Grammy Award Winning Recordings), whistler (for Disney) and multi-instrumentalist on countless scores, albums, video games and commercials. A 2019 Composing in the Wilderness Fellow, he kayaked in Alaska, inspiring chamber work “Nellie Juan’s Scratchiti” that premiered at Federal Hall, NYC. His favorite creation is teenager Koi and his hobbies include photography, painting, biking and walking in cemeteries.
Max Roach: The Drum Also Waltzes is North’s 3rd collaboration with Lifetime Peabody & Multiple Emmy Award Winning, Multiple Grammy Nominated, and Oscar Nominated Sam Pollard, and our 2nd music doc, following the Grammy Nominated Best Music Film Blues/Civil Rights Doc Two Trains Runnin‘.
About MFM (https://www.MusiciansForMusicians.org)
MFM seeks to bring together musicians from all disciplines, styles, traditions and localities in the cause of their mutual self-betterment. Whether through education, networking or political action, MFM’s ultimate goal is to elevate the work of all musicians to the level of a true profession.

MFM ZOOM Talk Event #9 with Bassists Jerome Harris and Ron Wasserman
2023-11-14 17:00 - 18:30 | ZOOM
Musicians For Musicians (MFM) Presents: Music Is Essential ZOOM Talk Event #9 with Bassists Jerome Harris and Ron Wasserman Speaking on “Bass: The Joys of The Bottom Line”
Date: Tuesday, November 14th, 2023
Time: 5pm to 6:30pm (ET)
Venue: ZOOM
ZOOM Host: Adam ReifsteckOOM
Ticket: $5 for non MFM members

Non-members register and pay here:

Webinar description:
While the attention of many listeners is drawn to melodies, what happens in the lower registers can be critically important for music to sound enjoyable and fulfilling. Join bass guitarist Jerome Harris and double bassist Ron Wasserman as they bring broad perspective and diverse experience to a discussion of handling music’s foundations artfully. There’s a lot to savor and appreciate down below!
About Jerome Harris
Jerome Harris’s first major professional performing experience came as bass guitarist with the iconic jazz saxophonist Sonny Rollins in 1978. Harris has performed on six continents, working with Jack DeJohnette, David Krakauer, Bill Frisell, Paul Motian, Leni Stern, Martha Redbone, Ray Anderson, Julius Hemphill, Amina Claudine Myers, Ned Rothenberg, Oliver Lake, and many others in jazz and jazz-adjacent genres.
Jerome Harris appears on over seventy recordings. He has taught at Hampshire College, William Paterson University, Lehman College (City University of New York), and the Alternative Guitar Summit Camp. Harris’s published essays include “Considering Jaki Byard” (in Sound American SA22; New York: Anthology of Recorded Music, Inc., 2019), and “Jazz on the Global Stage” (in The African Diaspora: A Musical Perspective; edited by Ingrid Monson; New York: Routledge/Taylor & Francis, 2000). He studied at Harvard College (A.B. 1973) and New England Conservatory of Music (B.M. with honors, 1977).
About Ron Wasserman
Ron Wasserman, a fourth-generation musician and lifelong New Yorker, has an unusually diverse track record of performing, composing, commissioning, and producing music. Since his first professional gig in 1979 at age 18, Ron has logged well over 6,000 performances in almost every performing arts genre imaginable, since 1988 the majority of them as the principal bassist of the New York City Ballet Orchestra.
Ron has premiered and/or commissioned works by a large array of composers, including Miho Hazama. Rufus Reid, Courtney Bryan, Stephanie Ann Boyd, and himself. In 2017 his New York Jazzharmonic partnered with The Ashley Bouder Project when they started accompanying professional dance concert performances. Together they undertook the process of commissioning composers AND choreographers, with an emphasis on women.
His own jazz and classical music fills now four CDs with several more in the works. One, with his full 17-piece band was recorded in 2019 with a 2023 release.
During the pandemic, Ron started filming dance videos, culminating in his “Curbside Nutcracker,” which garnered a viral half-million views, and his fully produced narrative movie filmed at the Bronx Zoo: “Backstage Pass: Carnival of the Animals.”
At the New York City Ballet, Ron has also arranged, transcribed, and/or conducted works by Wayne Shorter, Stravinsky, Piazzolla, and Solange Knowles’
Backstage Pass: https://youtu.be/Oo8A5UprCI4
Curbside Nutcracker: https://youtu.be/pH0JLfSKv04
About MFM (https://www.MusiciansForMusicians.org)
MFM seeks to bring together musicians from all disciplines, styles, traditions and localities in the cause of their mutual self-betterment. Whether through education, networking or political action, MFM’s ultimate goal is to elevate the work of all musicians to the level of a true profession.

2023 MFM ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING
2023-12-07 19:00 - 20:00 | ZOOM
All due paying members are invited to attend this important meeting and participating in voting on the Board.
