CONTEMPORARY BLUES

Shirazette Tinnin, leader, drums and percussion Pauline Jean, vocals Camille Thurman, saxophone Miki Hayama, piano Paula Green, percussion Mimi Jones, electric and acoustic bass

Shirazette Tinnin returns to Blues to Bop with a new group thanks to her success last year with “Project S”. She explains that, “In order to make music, you have to first create a passage, and then bring the right group of people together who are willing to receive their gifts and then share them with the world.”
This is the driving force behind Imani 7, the new musical brainchild of Shirazette Tinnin and is the personification of Tinnin’s belief that music is a gift from God. The group’s name is derived from the African word “Imani,” which means “faith” and an allusion to the bible, in which God completed his creation of man on the seventh day. Imani 7 is a sextet; leader Shirazette Tinnin on drums, Pauline Jean on vocals, Mimi Jones on bass, Miki Hayama on piano, Paula Green on percussion and Camille Thurman on saxophone, rounded out by its seventh member, LaToya Haynes, who represents the concept of completion.
This group is an attempt to bring to the stage what she and her colleagues experience through music, including blues and gospel. “Music can reach anybody. It doesn’t matter what language you speak, what color you are, music is the most universal language.” A musician who continues to push forward, finding new ways to express her love and respect for tradition, Shirazette helps us all to enjoy the rapidly changing world of the blues roots styles.