Curtis Nowosad - Immigration, art and Will Smith

The Working Artist Project

In this episode of The Working Artist Project, Darrian Douglas and Gregory Agid talk to Curtis Nowosad about his career, "jazz fame" and immigration.

100 years after the Harlem Renaissance shook the world, there’s a whole new cultural and spiritual awakening in that corner of the jazz world. A key player in galvanizing this fresh and dynamic sense of cultural awareness, drummer/composer Curtis Nowosad has been a major force in The Harlem Sessions, organized by renowned pianist Marc Cary.

Having made his home in Harlem since 2013, the Canadian native emerges as a powerful musical force for social justice on a groundbreaking self-titled jazz and blues-driven collection that illuminates past and present history while creating some profound history of its own. Co-produced with Cary, it is his first collection to feature the explosive and intuitive chemistry of his NY-based ensemble that has held court in NYC everywhere from Smalls to The Jazz Standard to The Blue Note and full week residencies at Dizzy’s Club at JALC.

Curtis laid the foundation for this current release with two previous critically acclaimed collections, his debut The Skeptic & the Cynic and the WCMA-winning and JUNO-nominated Dialectics, which made DownBeat Magazine’s “Best of 2015” list. A remix project, titled CNRMXD, will be released in late 2022.

Curtis has played in the bands of trumpeter Philip Harper, trombonist Craig Harris, saxophonist and vocalist Braxton Cook and Cary (who both make major contributions to the album) while headlining major jazz festivals in the U.S., Canada and Europe. He has also played with five NEA Jazz Masters: Candido Camero, Dave Liebman, Jimmy Owens, Ron Carter and Kenny Barron. He is an endorser of Canopus Drums.