Graham Haynes first traveled to Morocco in the 1990s after encountering the music of sintir player Hassan Hakmoun, whose 1988 album with Adam Rudolph, Gift of the Gnawa, entwined North African melodies with psychedelic reverb and jazz. To play on that album, Adam and Hassan brought in Don Cherry, a major influence on all these artists; their world-spanning, spiritually-inflected playing bears Don’s echo. In Morocco, Graham and Hassan eventually became direct collaborators, part of a nomadic, omnivorous circle that also included Adam. 

Gnawa grew out of the Islamic Gnawa sect, whose members were descendants of enslaved West Africans. Gnawa artists trace their roots to the Bilal, a freed slave believed to be chosen as the first muezzin to call people of the faith to prayer; Gnawa musicians express spirituality through their music, often using it to enter trance states. Hassan and his brother, Abdurrahim Hakmoun, learned Gnawa from their mother, a mystic healer known throughout Marrakech for her derdeba trance ceremonies. Since moving to the U.S. in 1987, Hassan’s music has absorbed elements from jazz to neoclassical contemporary Western music and cerebral pop. 

Chicago-born composer, improviser, bandleader, and percussionist Adam Rudolph discovered the hand drums in local streets, and soon became an apprentice to elders of Black improvised music. He then lived and studied in Ghana, where he first experienced trance ceremonies, and traveled extensively throughout Africa, Europe, Asia and the United States. Considered a master of many styles of percussion from across the globe, he has released over 25 recordings under his own name, toured extensively, and toured and recorded 15 albums with Dr. Yusef Lateef.

​Piotr Orlov is a veteran writer-editor-musicker, a Russian immigrant raised and based in New York City, and founder of Dada Strain, a project on rhythm, improvisation and community. 

Graham Haynes, the composer, bandleader, and musician currently based in Bahia, Brazil, expands and confounds what we understand as jazz and electronic music. Son of the drummer Roy Haynes, raised among the greatest figures in improvised music and art in New York, Graham’s work grows out of a keen sense of New York’s many histories of music and musical movements. His is a voyage of constant departure and return to his native city, enriched by lifelong immersion in global musical practices and emerging sonic forms. 

This event is part of Graham's residency at FourOneOne from March 12 - April 15, 2024. The project spans performances, listening parties, public conversations, and master classes with Robin D. G. Kelley; Adam Rudolph and Maalem Hassan Hakmoun; Vijay Iyer; Nublu Orchestra; Shakoor Hakeem and Lucie Vítková; Momenta Quartet, and others.

This performance is dedicated to the memory of Brahim Fribgane.