Tomeka Reid (born 1977)
Tomeka Reid grew up outside of Washington D.C. and started playing cello in the 4th grade. She earned a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Maryland in 2000, received a Master of Music at DePaul University in Chicago, and a doctorate in jazz studies from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign in 2017.
Tomeka Reid’s website identifies her as “Cellist, Composer, Educator.” She was introduced to jazz while an undergraduate, and later discovered the rich jazz scene in Chicago. That is the world in which she has made her greatest musical impact. She has played on some 30 jazz albums along with artists such as Anthony Braxton and Roscoe Mitchell, and in 2015 she founded the Tomeka Reid Quartet, which combines her cello with drums, bass, and guitar.
In an interview she has said
I still love classical music. When I go back to it, it’s easier to play. Maybe because jazz relaxes you, makes you more loose. I encourage people to improvise. When we strive for perfection constantly, it can make us so tense.
As might be expected of a cellist, Tomeka Reid has an affinity for composing for the strings. She wrote her 2016 string quartet “Prospective Dwellers” for the Spektral Quartet as part of a project involving interviews with residents in the Dorchester Projects on Chicago’s South Side. The piece begins with creepy rhythmic pizzicato and violin harmonics. As texture gets denser, it never becomes quite jazz, but it certainly does swing:
Here is a more recent performance by members of the Kaleidoscope Chamber Orchestra:
Her first work for solo piano is Lamenting G.F., A.A., B.T., T.M. from 2020, which she composed for Bang on a Can’s Vicky Chow. The initials refer to George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and Tony McDade, and the first letters of their names were used to generate some of the musical material. This is one of four performances of Lamenting by Vicky Chow available on YouTube:
Lamenting was described in a concert program note like this:
This work requires the pianist’s mastery of varied techniques, including pummeling and plucking the strings inside the instrument. Lamenting segues into a mad, virtuosic swing on the keyboard, and concludes with a stately, classical dirge. In just a few minutes, it is a powerful invocation and tribute to the senseless police killing of Black lives.