Irvin Mayfield
Encyclopedia
Irvin Mayfield, Jr. is an American
jazz
trumpeter and bandleader
. He has been serving as Cultural Ambassador of the City of New Orleans and State of Louisiana since 2003. He co-founded and has co-led the Afro-Cuban jazz
group Los Hombres Calientes
since 1998. Their debut album won Billboard
's 2000 Contemporary Latin Jazz Album of the Year. Mayfield has released ten albums since 1998, and has played at prominent Jazz Festivals during his career.
In 2002 he founded and became Artistic Director of The New Orleans Jazz Orchestra (NOJO). The orchestra made its debut in September 2003 and he performed at the Higher Ground Hurricane Relief Benefit Concert
. In July 2008 Mayfield was appointed Artistic Director of Jazz at Orchestra Hall, the jazz series of the Minnesota Orchestra
.
Irvin Mayfield, Jr., was born on December 23, 1977, in New Orleans, Louisiana
to Joyce Alsanders and the late Irvin Mayfield, Sr. His mother was a school teacher at a school in the Upper Ninth Ward. He is the youngest of five brothers and has three half-brothers and one half-sister from his mother's previous marriage. Growing up, he resided in several sections of New Orleans, including the Seventh Ward. His father, a military man, was once a drill sergeant in the United States Army
and also a boxer
.
He received his first trumpet
when he was in the fourth grade
, asking his father for one after seeing the success a friend of his was having with girls by playing the instrument. His father—who had played trumpet in high school—encouraged him to practice and improve as much as he could. The first song he learned to play on trumpet was "Just A Closer Walk With Thee"; he later performed this piece at the Higher Ground Hurricane Relief Benefit Concert
in 2005 and as part of a major work called ALL THE SAINTS commissioned by Christ Church (EPISCOPAL) Cathedral in New Orleans as a gift to the city and commemorating the historic parish's bicentennial. The standing room only premier on November 17, 2005 was hailed as the cultural re-opening of the city after Hurricane Katrina, and took place three days before Mayfield learned that his father had died in the flood after Hurricane Katrina
. Early in his public school education, Mayfield befriended fellow schoolmate Jason Marsalis
. Jason is the son of jazz pianist Ellis Marsalis
, of the famous Marsalis family.
Mayfield began his musical career during the latter half of the 1980s, playing with the Algiers Brass Band, a traditional New Orleans based street act. His early work with the band was educational for him. In the late 1990s he shared an apartment in New York City
with Wynton Marsalis for a brief period. Wynton was already an accomplished recording artist at the time.
As a young man he attended and graduated from NOCCA, acquiring a scholarship to the famous Juilliard School of Music based in New York City
. Instead of accepting the scholarship, at the behest of Ellis Marsalis
, he decided to attend University of New Orleans
instead (where Ellis ran the jazz studies department).
In 1998 Mayfield helped found Los Hombres Calientes
, a New Orleans jazz group that incorporates Afro-Cuban jazz
with rhythm & blues. Original members include Mayfield, Bill Summers
, Jason Marsalis
, Victor Atkins III, David Pulphus and Yvette-Bostic Summers. Shortly after forming, the band signed with Basin Street Records, a New Orleans-based jazz
record label
. His recording debut with Los Hombres Calientes was a success, and Mayfield gained national recognition as a result. Though the band has not released a studio album since 2005, they still remain active.
In the fall of 2002 Mayfield founded the Institute of Jazz Culture at Dillard University
, having been an artist-in-residence there since 1995. The mission of the Institute is to combine several educational approaches toward jazz music, offering courses which combine music with politics
and culture
. Affiliated with the Institute is Dr. Michael White, holder of the Keller Chair of the Humanities at nearby Xavier University (a fellow recording artist for the Basin Street Records label, also). Much of the inspiration for founding the Institute came from Mayfield's time spent living with Marsalis as Artistic Director of Jazz at Lincoln Center
in New York
, wondering why New Orleans did not have such a place.
In December 2002 Mayfield founded the sixteen-piece New Orleans Jazz Orchestra, of which he still serves as artistic director, a jazz ensemble listed as a 501(c)(3) dedicated to education in the performing arts. Proceeds from events related to the group help to fund organizational expenditures, and the ensemble originally worked out of the Institute of Jazz at Dillard University
.
Mayfield serves as bandleader
, and other members have included Evan Christopher
, among others. As of January 2006, the new home of the orchestra has been at Tulane University
. The orchestra also has a residency program at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center
(NJPAC) that includes educational workshops, performances and commissioned musical pieces for debut in Newark, New Jersey
. Currently the orchestra is performing New Orleans: Then and Now nationwide, featuring selections from the early years of jazz in New Orleans as well as some penned by Mayfield himself. Mayfield believes strongly that supporting the orchestra helps put the musicians of New Orleans back to work.
In July 2008, Mayfield received a one-year appointment as Artistic Director of Jazz at Orchestra Hall, the jazz series of the Minnesota Orchestra
. In this capacity, he will oversee a five-concert jazz series and participate in education programs.
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The idea for Mayfield's "Strange Fruit", a 90-minute opus based in 1920s Louisiana, came about on a visit to a photographic exhibit in Atlanta called Without Sanctuary: Lynching Photography In America in 2002. The exhibit features photographs from the book of the same name by Hilton Als and James Allen. With him was then president of Dillard University
and current head of the United Negro College Fund
Michael Lomax
. Lomax encouraged him to develop a way to express this American story through music.
Photographs from this exhibit can be viewed at withoutsanctuary.org. The piece was commissioned by Dillard University
, and Mayfield has brought it to a number of Historically black colleges and universities
. The music combines jazz elements with negro spirituals and classical music
. The show premiered at Dillard in 2003.
The composition follows the lives of three main characters named Charles, Mary Anne and LeRoi. Charles is a 25 year old white man from a family of bankers, just back from college and ready to start a family. LeRoi is a young black man in his early 20s from a well-to-do black family and son of a preacher, off for the summer and ready for college.
Mary Anne is a young white woman courted by Charles, but who falls in love with LeRoi. When Charles discovers what has happened while he was away at college, he beats Mary Anne and reports to the sherriff that LeRoi beat and raped her. The town forms a lynch mob and the governor is set to attend. Feeling some remorse for what he had brought about, Charles confesses to the sherriff that he had beaten Mary Anne and that she never had been raped. The sherriff, unwilling to cancel due to the visit of the governor, allowed the lynching to proceed anyway.
and a host of other musicians at the Higher Ground Hurricane Relief Benefit Concert
in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina
. New York Times jazz critic
Jon Pareles
wrote in an article on the event, "The concert's most touching moment was a performance by the New Orleans trumpeter Irvin Mayfield. His father, he said, is still among the missing. He played "Just a Closer Walk with Thee," the hymn that becomes both dirge and celebration at New Orleans funerals." Mayfield's father was found dead the next day in an area near Elysian Fields Avenue
(a victim of drowning). Three months later DNA
evidence officially confirmed the identity of the body.
Board of Directors and is a commissioner of the New Orleans Redevelopment authority, where he serves as the chairman of the marketing committee and a member of the executive committee. Mayfield is a board member of the New Orleans Police and Justice Foundation and the Vice Chairman of the First Responders fund.
Cultural Sub-Committee, New Orleans Public Library Board and The Hyatt New Orleans District Rebirth Advisory Board.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
trumpeter and bandleader
Bandleader
A bandleader is the leader of a band of musicians. The term is most commonly, though not exclusively, used with a group that plays popular music as a small combo or a big band, such as one which plays jazz, blues, rhythm and blues or rock and roll music....
. He has been serving as Cultural Ambassador of the City of New Orleans and State of Louisiana since 2003. He co-founded and has co-led the Afro-Cuban jazz
Afro-Cuban jazz
Afro-Cuban jazz is an early form of Latin jazz that mixes Afro-Cuban rhythms with harmonies and musical timbre typical of Bebop. It was developed in the early 1940s by both Cuban musicians and Jazz musicians, with Dizzy Gillespie, Mario Bauza, Machito and Stan Kenton among some of the most notable...
group Los Hombres Calientes
Los Hombres Calientes
Los Hombres Calientes is a New Orleans based jazz group. They are most associated with Latin jazz, especially Afro-Cuban jazz, and contemporary jazz...
since 1998. Their debut album won Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
's 2000 Contemporary Latin Jazz Album of the Year. Mayfield has released ten albums since 1998, and has played at prominent Jazz Festivals during his career.
In 2002 he founded and became Artistic Director of The New Orleans Jazz Orchestra (NOJO). The orchestra made its debut in September 2003 and he performed at the Higher Ground Hurricane Relief Benefit Concert
Higher Ground Hurricane Relief Benefit Concert (album)
Higher Ground Hurricane Relief Benefit Concert [LIVE] is an album with 77 minutes of highlights, from the roughly five-hour long Higher Ground Hurricane Relief Benefit Concert that took place in the Rose Hall Theatre at Jazz at Lincoln Center on September 17, 2005.All net profits from the sale of...
. In July 2008 Mayfield was appointed Artistic Director of Jazz at Orchestra Hall, the jazz series of the Minnesota Orchestra
Minnesota Orchestra
The Minnesota Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Minneapolis, Minnesota.Emil Oberhoffer founded the orchestra as the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra in 1903, and it gave its first performance on November 5 of that year. In 1968 the orchestra changed to its name to the Minnesota Orchestra...
.
Biography
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
to Joyce Alsanders and the late Irvin Mayfield, Sr. His mother was a school teacher at a school in the Upper Ninth Ward. He is the youngest of five brothers and has three half-brothers and one half-sister from his mother's previous marriage. Growing up, he resided in several sections of New Orleans, including the Seventh Ward. His father, a military man, was once a drill sergeant in the United States Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
and also a boxer
Boxing
Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...
.
He received his first trumpet
Trumpet
The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
when he was in the fourth grade
Fourth grade
Fourth grade is a year of education in the United States and many other nations. The fourth grade is the fourth school year after kindergarten. Students are usually 9 or 10 years old, depending on their birthday. It is a part of elementary school. In some parts of the United States, fourth grade...
, asking his father for one after seeing the success a friend of his was having with girls by playing the instrument. His father—who had played trumpet in high school—encouraged him to practice and improve as much as he could. The first song he learned to play on trumpet was "Just A Closer Walk With Thee"; he later performed this piece at the Higher Ground Hurricane Relief Benefit Concert
Higher Ground Hurricane Relief Benefit Concert (album)
Higher Ground Hurricane Relief Benefit Concert [LIVE] is an album with 77 minutes of highlights, from the roughly five-hour long Higher Ground Hurricane Relief Benefit Concert that took place in the Rose Hall Theatre at Jazz at Lincoln Center on September 17, 2005.All net profits from the sale of...
in 2005 and as part of a major work called ALL THE SAINTS commissioned by Christ Church (EPISCOPAL) Cathedral in New Orleans as a gift to the city and commemorating the historic parish's bicentennial. The standing room only premier on November 17, 2005 was hailed as the cultural re-opening of the city after Hurricane Katrina, and took place three days before Mayfield learned that his father had died in the flood after Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was a powerful Atlantic hurricane. It is the costliest natural disaster, as well as one of the five deadliest hurricanes, in the history of the United States. Among recorded Atlantic hurricanes, it was the sixth strongest overall...
. Early in his public school education, Mayfield befriended fellow schoolmate Jason Marsalis
Jason Marsalis
-External links:* from Basin Street Records* from Jazzweekly.com...
. Jason is the son of jazz pianist Ellis Marsalis
Ellis Marsalis, Jr.
Ellis Marsalis is an American musician. He can usually be seen performing on Fridays at Snug Harbor jazz bistro in New Orleans.- Life and career :...
, of the famous Marsalis family.
Mayfield began his musical career during the latter half of the 1980s, playing with the Algiers Brass Band, a traditional New Orleans based street act. His early work with the band was educational for him. In the late 1990s he shared an apartment in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
with Wynton Marsalis for a brief period. Wynton was already an accomplished recording artist at the time.
As a young man he attended and graduated from NOCCA, acquiring a scholarship to the famous Juilliard School of Music based in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. Instead of accepting the scholarship, at the behest of Ellis Marsalis
Ellis Marsalis, Jr.
Ellis Marsalis is an American musician. He can usually be seen performing on Fridays at Snug Harbor jazz bistro in New Orleans.- Life and career :...
, he decided to attend University of New Orleans
University of New Orleans
The University of New Orleans, often referred to locally as UNO, is a medium-sized public urban university located on the New Orleans Lakefront within New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. It is a member of the LSU System and the Urban 13 association. Currently UNO is without a proper chancellor...
instead (where Ellis ran the jazz studies department).
In 1998 Mayfield helped found Los Hombres Calientes
Los Hombres Calientes
Los Hombres Calientes is a New Orleans based jazz group. They are most associated with Latin jazz, especially Afro-Cuban jazz, and contemporary jazz...
, a New Orleans jazz group that incorporates Afro-Cuban jazz
Afro-Cuban jazz
Afro-Cuban jazz is an early form of Latin jazz that mixes Afro-Cuban rhythms with harmonies and musical timbre typical of Bebop. It was developed in the early 1940s by both Cuban musicians and Jazz musicians, with Dizzy Gillespie, Mario Bauza, Machito and Stan Kenton among some of the most notable...
with rhythm & blues. Original members include Mayfield, Bill Summers
Bill Summers (jazz)
Bill Summers is a New Orleans based Afro-Cuban jazz/Latin jazz percussionist, a multi-instrumentalist who plays primarily on conga drums. Summers is probably most well known due to his work with Los Hombres Calientes along with his friend and co-leader of the group, trumpeter Irvin Mayfield...
, Jason Marsalis
Jason Marsalis
-External links:* from Basin Street Records* from Jazzweekly.com...
, Victor Atkins III, David Pulphus and Yvette-Bostic Summers. Shortly after forming, the band signed with Basin Street Records, a New Orleans-based jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
record label
Record label
In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...
. His recording debut with Los Hombres Calientes was a success, and Mayfield gained national recognition as a result. Though the band has not released a studio album since 2005, they still remain active.
In the fall of 2002 Mayfield founded the Institute of Jazz Culture at Dillard University
Dillard University
Dillard University is a private, historically black liberal arts college in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded in 1930 incorporating earlier institutions that went back to 1869, it is affiliated with the United Church of Christ and the United Methodist Church....
, having been an artist-in-residence there since 1995. The mission of the Institute is to combine several educational approaches toward jazz music, offering courses which combine music with politics
Political science
Political Science is a social science discipline concerned with the study of the state, government and politics. Aristotle defined it as the study of the state. It deals extensively with the theory and practice of politics, and the analysis of political systems and political behavior...
and culture
Cultural studies
Cultural studies is an academic field grounded in critical theory and literary criticism. It generally concerns the political nature of contemporary culture, as well as its historical foundations, conflicts, and defining traits. It is, to this extent, largely distinguished from cultural...
. Affiliated with the Institute is Dr. Michael White, holder of the Keller Chair of the Humanities at nearby Xavier University (a fellow recording artist for the Basin Street Records label, also). Much of the inspiration for founding the Institute came from Mayfield's time spent living with Marsalis as Artistic Director of Jazz at Lincoln Center
Jazz at Lincoln Center
Jazz at Lincoln Center is part of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. JALC's performing arts complex, Frederick P. Rose Hall, is located at West 60th Street and Broadway in New York City, slightly south of the main Lincoln Center campus and directly adjacent to Columbus Circle. Frederick P....
in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, wondering why New Orleans did not have such a place.
In December 2002 Mayfield founded the sixteen-piece New Orleans Jazz Orchestra, of which he still serves as artistic director, a jazz ensemble listed as a 501(c)(3) dedicated to education in the performing arts. Proceeds from events related to the group help to fund organizational expenditures, and the ensemble originally worked out of the Institute of Jazz at Dillard University
Dillard University
Dillard University is a private, historically black liberal arts college in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded in 1930 incorporating earlier institutions that went back to 1869, it is affiliated with the United Church of Christ and the United Methodist Church....
.
Mayfield serves as bandleader
Bandleader
A bandleader is the leader of a band of musicians. The term is most commonly, though not exclusively, used with a group that plays popular music as a small combo or a big band, such as one which plays jazz, blues, rhythm and blues or rock and roll music....
, and other members have included Evan Christopher
Evan Christopher
Evan Christopher is an American clarinetist and composer based in New Orleans, Louisiana. Recognized mainly for a personal brand of "contemporary early-jazz,” he strives to extend the legacy of the unique clarinet style anchored in the musical vocabulary created by early New Orleans clarinetists...
, among others. As of January 2006, the new home of the orchestra has been at Tulane University
Tulane University
Tulane University is a private, nonsectarian research university located in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States...
. The orchestra also has a residency program at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center
New Jersey Performing Arts Center
The New Jersey Performing Arts Center , in downtown Newark, New Jersey, United States, is the sixth largest performing arts center in the United States...
(NJPAC) that includes educational workshops, performances and commissioned musical pieces for debut in Newark, New Jersey
Newark, New Jersey
Newark is the largest city in the American state of New Jersey, and the seat of Essex County. As of the 2010 United States Census, Newark had a population of 277,140, maintaining its status as the largest municipality in New Jersey. It is the 68th largest city in the U.S...
. Currently the orchestra is performing New Orleans: Then and Now nationwide, featuring selections from the early years of jazz in New Orleans as well as some penned by Mayfield himself. Mayfield believes strongly that supporting the orchestra helps put the musicians of New Orleans back to work.
In July 2008, Mayfield received a one-year appointment as Artistic Director of Jazz at Orchestra Hall, the jazz series of the Minnesota Orchestra
Minnesota Orchestra
The Minnesota Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Minneapolis, Minnesota.Emil Oberhoffer founded the orchestra as the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra in 1903, and it gave its first performance on November 5 of that year. In 1968 the orchestra changed to its name to the Minnesota Orchestra...
. In this capacity, he will oversee a five-concert jazz series and participate in education programs.
Strange Fruit
Dillard University
Dillard University is a private, historically black liberal arts college in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded in 1930 incorporating earlier institutions that went back to 1869, it is affiliated with the United Church of Christ and the United Methodist Church....
and current head of the United Negro College Fund
United Negro College Fund
The United Negro College Fund is an American philanthropic organization that fundraises college tuition money for black students and general scholarship funds for 39 private historically black colleges and universities. The UNCF was incorporated on April 25, 1944 by Frederick D. Patterson , Mary...
Michael Lomax
Michael Lomax
Dr. Michael Lucius Lomax is, since 2004, the president and chief executive officer of the United Negro College Fund of the United States. Lomax is the son of Lucius W. Lomax, Jr...
. Lomax encouraged him to develop a way to express this American story through music.
Photographs from this exhibit can be viewed at withoutsanctuary.org. The piece was commissioned by Dillard University
Dillard University
Dillard University is a private, historically black liberal arts college in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded in 1930 incorporating earlier institutions that went back to 1869, it is affiliated with the United Church of Christ and the United Methodist Church....
, and Mayfield has brought it to a number of Historically black colleges and universities
Historically Black Colleges and Universities
Historically black colleges and universities are institutions of higher education in the United States that were established before 1964 with the intention of serving the black community....
. The music combines jazz elements with negro spirituals and classical music
Classical music
Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...
. The show premiered at Dillard in 2003.
The composition follows the lives of three main characters named Charles, Mary Anne and LeRoi. Charles is a 25 year old white man from a family of bankers, just back from college and ready to start a family. LeRoi is a young black man in his early 20s from a well-to-do black family and son of a preacher, off for the summer and ready for college.
Mary Anne is a young white woman courted by Charles, but who falls in love with LeRoi. When Charles discovers what has happened while he was away at college, he beats Mary Anne and reports to the sherriff that LeRoi beat and raped her. The town forms a lynch mob and the governor is set to attend. Feeling some remorse for what he had brought about, Charles confesses to the sherriff that he had beaten Mary Anne and that she never had been raped. The sherriff, unwilling to cancel due to the visit of the governor, allowed the lynching to proceed anyway.
Hurricane Katrina
In 2005 he joined Wynton MarsalisWynton Marsalis
Wynton Learson Marsalis is a trumpeter, composer, bandleader, music educator, and Artistic Director of Jazz at Lincoln Center. Marsalis has promoted the appreciation of classical and jazz music often to young audiences...
and a host of other musicians at the Higher Ground Hurricane Relief Benefit Concert
Higher Ground Hurricane Relief Benefit Concert (album)
Higher Ground Hurricane Relief Benefit Concert [LIVE] is an album with 77 minutes of highlights, from the roughly five-hour long Higher Ground Hurricane Relief Benefit Concert that took place in the Rose Hall Theatre at Jazz at Lincoln Center on September 17, 2005.All net profits from the sale of...
in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was a powerful Atlantic hurricane. It is the costliest natural disaster, as well as one of the five deadliest hurricanes, in the history of the United States. Among recorded Atlantic hurricanes, it was the sixth strongest overall...
. New York Times jazz critic
Critic
A critic is anyone who expresses a value judgement. Informally, criticism is a common aspect of all human expression and need not necessarily imply skilled or accurate expressions of judgement. Critical judgements, good or bad, may be positive , negative , or balanced...
Jon Pareles
Jon Pareles
Jon Pareles is an American journalist who is the chief popular music critic in the arts section of the New York Times. He played jazz flute and piano, and graduated from Yale University with a degree in music. In the 1970s he was an associate editor of Crawdaddy!, and in the 1980s an associate...
wrote in an article on the event, "The concert's most touching moment was a performance by the New Orleans trumpeter Irvin Mayfield. His father, he said, is still among the missing. He played "Just a Closer Walk with Thee," the hymn that becomes both dirge and celebration at New Orleans funerals." Mayfield's father was found dead the next day in an area near Elysian Fields Avenue
Elysian Fields Avenue
Elysian Fields Avenue is a broad, straight avenue in New Orleans named after the Avenue des Champs-Élysées in Paris. It courses south to north from the Lower Mississippi River to Lake Pontchartrain, a distance of approximately . The avenue intersects with Interstate 610, Interstate 10, and U.S....
(a victim of drowning). Three months later DNA
DNA
Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...
evidence officially confirmed the identity of the body.
Venues
Jazz festivals Mayfield has performed at:- Newport Jazz FestivalNewport Jazz FestivalThe Newport Jazz Festival is a music festival held every summer in Newport, Rhode Island, USA. It was established in 1954 by socialite Elaine Lorillard, who, together with husband Louis Lorillard, financed the festival for many years. The couple hired jazz impresario George Wein to organize the...
- Atlanta Jazz Festival
- Clifford Brown Jazz FestivalClifford Brown Jazz FestivalThe Clifford Brown Jazz Festival is a free jazz music festival held annually in June at Rodney Square in Wilmington, Delaware. The first festival was held in 1989 on the open lawn in the center of the city, and has grown into the largest free jazz festival on the East Coast...
- French Quarter Festival
- New Orleans Jazz & Heritage FestivalNew Orleans Jazz & Heritage FestivalThe New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, often known as Jazz Fest, is an annual celebration of the music and culture of New Orleans and Louisiana...
- New Orleans Mardi Gras celebrations
- On June 26, 2006, in commemoration of Black Music Month, Mayfield held a performance at the White HouseWhite HouseThe White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
in Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
with fellow musician Ronald Markham.
Other endeavors
In addition to his role as Cultural Ambassador,Mayfield is the founder and director of the New Orleans Jazz Institute at the University of New Orleans, where he is also a professor. Mayfield also holds positions both at the New Orleans Chamber of Commerce and the Champions Group of the New Orleans Museum of Art. He is artist in residence at Christ Church Cathedral. He is also the artistic director of jazz for the Minnesota Orchestra. Mayfield also serves as Chairman of the Board of the New Orleans Public LibraryNew Orleans Public Library
The New Orleans Public Library is the public library service of the city of New Orleans, Louisiana, United States.-History:The system began in 1896 as the Fisk Free and Public Library in a building on Lafayette Square...
Board of Directors and is a commissioner of the New Orleans Redevelopment authority, where he serves as the chairman of the marketing committee and a member of the executive committee. Mayfield is a board member of the New Orleans Police and Justice Foundation and the Vice Chairman of the First Responders fund.
Cultural Ambassador
Mayfield was made a Cultural Ambassador of the City of New Orleans by state and local governments in September 2003. Some of the committees and boards focused on New Orleans which Mayfield is or has been a member of are The Louisiana Rebirth Advisory Board, The Bring New Orleans Back CommissionBring New Orleans Back Commission
The Bring New Orleans Back Commission was established by Mayor Ray Nagin of New Orleans, Louisiana, after the flooding caused by a major civil engineering failure in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Aside from one Hispanic, the membership of the commission is half black and half white...
Cultural Sub-Committee, New Orleans Public Library Board and The Hyatt New Orleans District Rebirth Advisory Board.
Irvin Mayfield albums
| Year | Album | Notes | Label |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | Irvin Mayfield Irvin Mayfield (album) Irvin Mayfield is the 1998 debut album by Irvin Mayfield as bandleader, much in the vein of post-bop.- Track listing :#The Great M.D. 9:03#Right Here, Right Now 5:59#Body and Soul 6:31#Immaculate Conception 6:55#Midnight Theme 9:06... |
debut as leader | Basin Street Records |
| 1999 | Live at the Blue Note | Irvin Mayfield Sextet | Half Note Records (Blue Note Records Blue Note Records Blue Note Records is a jazz record label, established in 1939 by Alfred Lion and Max Margulis. Francis Wolff became involved shortly afterwards. It derives its name from the characteristic "blue notes" of jazz and the blues. At the end of the 1950s, and in the early 1960s, Blue Note headquarters... sub-label) |
| 2001 | How Passion Falls How Passion Falls How Passion Falls is a 2000 jazz recording, released in 2001, by Irvin Mayfield. Despite the romantic theme, this is not smooth jazz and at times the personnel involved swing hard.- Track listing :#The Illusion 8:33#Adam and Eve 6:49#The Obsession 6:46... |
- | Basin Street Records |
| 2003 | Half Past Autumn Suite Half Past Autumn Suite Half Past Autumn Suite is a 2001 jazz recording, released in 2003, by Irvin Mayfield. The work is a tribute to the late photographer and self-taught pianist Gordon Parks, who duets with Mayfield on track 9 .- Track listing :#Moonscape 7:58... |
Tribute to Gordon Parks Gordon Parks Gordon Roger Alexander Buchanan Parks was a groundbreaking American photographer, musician, poet, novelist, journalist, activist and film director... |
Basin Street Records |
| 2005 | Strange Fruit | Irvin Mayfield & The Orleans Jazz Orchestra from the original 2003 performance. | Basin Street Records |
Los Hombres Calientes
| Year | Album | Notes | Label |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1998-06-30 | "Los Hombres Calientes, Vol. 1 Los Hombres Calientes, Vol. 1 Los Hombres Calientes is the self-titled debut album by the New Orleans-based Afro-Cuban jazz group, co-led by trumpeter Irvin Mayfield and percussionist Bill Summers... " |
Basin Street Records | |
| 1999-11-09 | "Los Hombres Calientes, Vol. 2" | Basin Street Records | |
| 2001-04-17 | "Los Hombres Calientes, Vol. 3: New Congo Square Los Hombres Calientes, Vol. 3: New Congo Square New Congo Square is the third studio album released by the New Orleans-based Afro-Cuban jazz group Los Hombres Calientes, co-led by trumpeter Irvin Mayfield and Bill Summers. This marks the band's first album without drummer Jason Marsalis.- Track listing :... " |
Basin Street Records | |
| 2003-03-25 | "Los Hombres Calientes, Vol. 4: Vodou Dance" | Basin Street Records | |
| 2005-03-15 | "Los Hombres Calientes, Vol. 5: Carnival" | Basin Street Records | |
Awards
- 2000 - BillboardBillboard (magazine)Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
Contemporary Latin Jazz Album of the Year for the debut album Los Hombres Calientes. - 2003 - Made a Cultural Ambassador of The City of New Orleans by the U.S. Government
- 2003 - Nominated for a Grammy Award for the album Los Hombres Calientes Vol. 3 New Congo Square
- 2005 - Appeared on Down BeatDown BeatDown Beat is an American magazine devoted to "jazz, blues and beyond" to indicate its expansion beyond the jazz realm which it covered exclusively in previous years. The publication was established in 1934 in Chicago, Illinois...
Critic's Poll List - 2007 - named Director of the N. O. Jazz Institute/Professor of Professional Practice (University of New Orleans)
- 2008 - Elysian Trumpet designated a national treasure by the President of the United States
- 2008 - Nominated by President George W. Bush to the National Endowment of the arts
- 2009 - Grammy Award for New Orleans Jazz Orchestra C.D. Book One (Mayfield's original compositions)
- 2009 - Appointed to the National Endowment of the Arts by President Barack Obama
- 2010 - Chancellor's Award (highest ranking award given to a professor) University of New Orleans
- 2011 - Doctor of Humane Letters (doctorate diploma) Dillard University