KCH's PASSING THE TORCH
featuring master Bassist Marion hayden
and up-and-coming saxophonist kaleigh wilder
Sunday, November 21st @ 7:30 PM
The Passing the Torch series is
made possible with support from the
Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation.
Kerrytown Concert House continues its community mentorship project connecting area master musicians with young, promising artists for a series of performances, mentorship conversations, and educational outreach. In this edition of Passing the Torch, master bassist, and U-M professor, Marion Hayden will perform with the incredible, young saxophonist, Kaleigh Wilder. A crucible of jazz, Marion Hayden is one of the nation’s finest proponents of the acoustic bass. Mentored herself by master trumpeter Marcus Belgrave, Hayden began performing jazz at age 15, and has since performed with diverse luminaries including: Bobby McFerrin, Nancy Wilson, Geri Allen, Regina Carter, Mulgrew Miller, Hank Jones, and more. Hayden is an active member of the community and has been widely recognized as a standard bearer of culture and artistic history. Kaleigh Wilder is a recent graduate of the University of Michigan. She performs regularly with Gnostikos and Wilder/Reid Duo (who recently debuted at Kerrytown Concert House’s Edgefest 2020). Hayden and Wilder will perform original compositions, collective improvisations, shed light on their respective careers, and discuss the deep significance of intergenerational relationships in music.
COVID-19 Safety Policy for Indoor Concerts
- Moving forward, all patrons and artists who wish to attend or present performances indoors at KCH must provide a valid, complete COVID-19 vaccination card OR proof of a negative COVID-19 test performed within the previous 72 hours prior to entry. Such proof must be presented at concert check-in, may be displayed on a smartphone OR presented as a physical copy, and must also be accompanied by a matching, valid ID for verification.**
- Additionally, according to current CDC recommendations, masks are required for audiences inside the House and can only be removed when seated with a beverage (when available). When performing, artists may wear a mask, or not, at their own discretion.
**Proof of vaccination exceptions will be made for children under 12 and people with a medical condition or closely held religious beliefs that prevent vaccination. These guests must provide proof of a negative COVID-19 test taken within the previous 72 hours prior to entry.
Marion Hayden is part of the great Detroit Jazz bass legacy. As a young protégé of trumpeter Marcus Belgrave, she learned improvisation, ensemble performance, repertoire and a deep appreciation for jazz and its creators. Marion combines these influences in a unique jazz perspective, creating a swinging sound with the bass which is both authentic and fresh. Her music embodies the spirit of tradition and adventure in jazz. Marion has been involved in countless ensembles throughout her career, including Straight Ahead and the all-female group Venus, as well as performing and recording with jazz legends while releasing her own work, including her solo album Visions.
Kaleigh Wilder is a baritone saxophone improviser and sound sculptor based in Detroit, MI. Originally from Northwest Indiana, she moved to Michigan for graduate school where she then found refuge in Detroit’s music community. It is hard to place her music into a cut and dried genre, so Wilder likes to play from what she knows in her body—what her hands, ears, and inner child remember. Using timbral extremes that shift between raw and polished, abrasive and sensitive, discomfort and catharsis, Wilder channels her lived experiences into sound to communicate viscerally. She hopes to amplify in the listener their own understanding of music and Self.
Wilder had an affinity for music at a very young age. Her early musical explorations started through song and improvisation, but eventually Wilder began playing alto saxophone at 10 years old. She quickly realized saxophone was her authentic voice and the instrument in which she would pursue her career.
Wilder’s trajectory was mostly classical, but she played jazz throughout middle and high school. When she started at Ball State University in 2013, she planned on pursuing master and doctoral degrees in music to be eligible to teach saxophone at the college level. She was involved in both classical and jazz ensembles to diversify her education and eventually her employability. But when Wilder was a senior, her path of mostly classical training shifted.
Wilder ultimately attended the University of Michigan for graduate school where she received her masters degree in improvisation, which was within the Jazz & Contemporary Improvisation Department. It was during these two short years that Wilder returned to her childhood roots of improvisation and reimagined her voice to perform fully on baritone saxophone. While she seldom performed classical music during this time, she channeled all of her classical training on saxophone to let her voice flow effortlessly. She also had a once in a lifetime opportunity to travel to Ghana to do ethnographic fieldwork at the Dagara Music Center and with the AFRIMUDA Foundation. During her one month in Ghana, Wilder studied gyil, djembe, Ewe drums, and dance. The embodiment of Ghanaian music and dance still impacts her work today.
Following graduate school, Wilder moved to Detroit, MI where she has worked for two nonprofit organizations and performs as a freelance musician. She is currently a member of Gnostikos, a quartet whose music ranges from strictly notated material to free improvisation, and utilizes techniques such as graphic notation, divination, and systems composition. Gnostikos uses a variety of tools to create a far reaching and open ended sound. Wilder also formed a baritone saxophone and drum duo that had their debut performance on Kerrytown Concert House’s 2020 Edgefest. Wilder is actively composing works for this new duet.
Wilder has shared the stage with notable musicians Marion Hayden, Ingrid Jensen, Ellen Rowe, and Allison Miller. She has performed throughout the United States and in Poland, Czech Republic, Switzerland, France, Costa Rica and Ghana at notable venues and festivals such as the Montreux Jazz Festival (Switzerland), Vertigo Jazz Club (Poland), the Karol Lipiński Academy of Music (Poland), Kerrytown Concert House (US), Detroit Symphony Orchestra Cube (US), and Detroit Symphony Orchestra Hall (US).
Michael Malis is a composer, pianist, and music educator based in Detroit, Michigan. A multi-faceted musical artist, he works across genres in improvisational, concert music, and interdisciplinary settings. His March 2020 release, Three Pieces for Piano, was praised by the Southeast Michigan Jazz Association as “thrilling music, with shifting harmonic and rhythmic qualities that require prodigious precise technique and the kind of generic versatility that few pianists achieve.” His duo project with saxophonist Marcus Elliot, Balance, has been praised as “contemporary jazz of the highest order, a benchmark for where the genre can go” (Detroit Metro Times.)
As a composer, Malis has been commissioned by Detroit Chamber Winds and Strings, Chamber Music Society of Detroit, Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival, Detroit Composers’ Project, Virago, Hole in the Floor, and others. As a pianist, he has shared the stage with such luminaries as Marcus Belgrave, Gerald Cleaver, Jaribu Shahid, John Lindberg, William Hooker, A. Spencer Barefield, Tyshawn Sorey, Ken Filiano, J.D. Allen, Andrew Bishop, Dennis Coffey, and Marion Hayden.
Everett Reid (also known as Nova Zaii) is a drummer, electronic producer, and inventor originally from the south side of Chicago. After completing two degrees in Performing Arts Technology and Jazz Studies at the University of Michigan, he moved to the city of Detroit to connect deeper with the city’s historic electronic music scene and to engage its vibrant jazz legacy. From 2016 to the present, he’s been a core member of the electronic-jazz group, The JuJu Exchange, which released its debut album “Exchange” in 2017 that quickly rose to the number one Jazz Album streaming position on Apple Music. When not making music as Nova Zaii, or with his band The JuJu Exchange, he continuously explores new domains of music especially on local levels, with like-minded forward thinking artists in Detroit and Chicago.
