Composer, pianist, vocalist, filmmaker, and multidisciplinary artist Samora Pinderhughes will take his acclaimed performances to select cities across the U.S., including a date at New York’s Winter Jazzfest on January 12. The multidisciplinary artist will also kick off the 2024 lineup at UCLA’s Center for the Art of Performance, bringing a combination of new and old music to Royce Hall in Los Angeles on February 1. Paired with film and appearances by special guests, the performances on his tour amplify the testimonials of those affected by incarceration, policing, violence and detention.
SAMORA PINDERHUGHES LIVE
January 12—New York, NY—Le Poisson Rouge/Winter Jazzfest
February 1—Los Angeles, CA—Royce Hall
February 4—San Francisco, CA—The Independent
February 27—March 3—Abu Dhabi UAE—NYU Abu Dhabi Residency/ Barzakh Festival
March 21—Houston, TX—University of Houston, El Dorado Theater
March 23—Knoxville, TN—Big Ears Festival
Samora Pinderhughes and Friends
The run of select performances add to what have been a landmark few years for Pinderhughes, who has collaborated on several albums that are nominated at the upcoming 66th Annual Grammy Awards, including Aja Monet’s when the poems do what they do—of which Pinderhughes wrote and played on the entirety of the record—and Meshell Ndegeocello’s The Omnichord Real Book featuring Pinderhughes’ original song “Gatsby.” He has also received IDA and Cinema Eye Honors nominations for Best Music Score for his work as the composer, pianist and vocalist on Michéle Stephenson and Joe Brewster’s documentary, Going to Mars: the Nikki Giovanni Project, which earned a place on the Oscars shortlist. The documentary soundtrack is set for release on February 2.
Samora Pinderhughes and Friends
Samora Pinderhughes is a composer, pianist, vocalist, filmmaker, and multidisciplinary artist known for striking intimacy and carefully crafted, radically honest lyrics alongside high-level musicianship. He is also known for using his music to examine sociopolitical issues and fight for change and works in the tradition of the Black surrealists, those who bend word, sound, and image towards the causes of revolution. Pinderhughes is a prison abolitionist and an advocate for process over product. His music is renowned for its emotionality, its honesty about difficult and vulnerable topics, and its careful details in word and sound.
Samora Pinderhughes
Born and raised in the Bay Area, Pinderhughes began playing music at two years old and went on to study music at Juilliard where he met his primary artistic mentor, MacArthur-winning playwright Anna Deavere Smith. Pinderhughes has collaborated and performed with a number of artists including Common, Robert Glasper, Karriem Riggins, Kyle Abraham, Sara Bareilles, Daveed Diggs and Herbie Hancock, and his works have been commissioned by institutions including Carnegie Hall, the Sundance Film Festival, The Kitchen, Yerba Buena Center for The Arts, and the Kennedy Center.
THE HEALING PROJECT
Pinderhughes’ work encompasses over 10 years of conversations with more than 100 people of color across 15 states about their experiences with incarceration, structural violence and healing in the United States. The Healing Project aims to shine light on the untold stories of those whose lives have been affected by the prison industrial complex, and create a community where artists from inside & outside the prison walls collaborate and build healing strategies together. In 2022, Pinderhughes released several integral elements of The Healing Project, including his debut exhibition at The Yerba Buena Center for The Arts in San Francisco, and his amazing album GRIEF. In 2023, Pinderhughes began transforming The Healing Project into a full-fledged arts organization, using art to create community healing spaces around the country.