Amina Claudine Myers
b. 21 March 1942, Blackwell, Arkansas, USA. As a young woman, Myers played piano and sang in church. In the mid-60s she moved to Chicago, became a member of the AACM and over the next 10 years or so worked frequently with fellow-members such as Kalaparush Maurice McIntyre ( HUMILITY IN THE LIGHT OF THE CREATOR), Muhal Richard Abrams, Henry Threadgill and Lester Bowie( AFRICAN CHILDREN, THE 5TH POWER). In the early '70s she also played with Gene Ammons, Sonny Stitt and Little Miltonas well as leading her own trio. She moved to New York in the mid-70s and spent some time in Europe in the early '80s, recording there with Frank Lowe ( EXOTIC HEARTBREAK) and with Martha and Fontella Bassand David Peaston on the highly-praised gospel set, FROM THE ROOT TO THE SOURCE. Her first recording as leader, for London's Leo Records featured her on piano, organ and vocals, and were powerful, even stark, evocations of her blues and gospel roots. Inexplicably, later recordings—particularly an ill-judged couple of fusion-based albums for Novus—largely failed to capture the outstanding talents that have won her a high standing among her peers. From the mid-80s she has been playing with Charlie Haden’s Liberation Music Orchestra, recording with them on DREAM KEEPER.