Angel Bat Dawid

Angel Bat Dawid (born 1979) is an Black American composer, clarinetist, pianist, vocalist, producer, educator & DJ. Her critically-acclaimed album, The Oracle, has been featured in Pitchfork, BBC, Rolling Stone, The Guardian, The Washington Post, The New York Times, and The Chicago Sun Times.

Angel Bat Dawid

Life and career

Dawid was born in Atlanta, GA on October 17, 1979. Her father attended Morehouse College. After marrying Dawid's mother, the family moved to her father's hometown of Louisville, KY. In 1986, the family moved to Kenya where Dawid's parents were Southern Baptist missionaries.[1] They spent four years living in the city of Machakos, Kenya, after which they moved back to Louisville when Dawid was 12.[2] When Dawid was in her teens they relocated to Chicago, IL, as her parents pursued more ministry opportunities.[2] Dawid's parents identify as Black Hebrew Israelites.[2]

Dawid studied classical music at Moody Bible institute as a clarinet performance major and Music Education at Roosevelt University. After experiencing a medical crisis, she took a job in retail to pay medical bills.[2] After a number of years working she cashed out her 401K to pursue music full-time in 2014.[2] Dawid joined a jam session with multi-instrumentalist Chicago composer David Boykin, and met with members of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians. Dawid later co-founded the Chicago-based creative music collective The Participatory Music Coalition.[2]

Dawid tours internationally solo and with her septet "Tha Brothahood" releasing their album "LIVE" making NPR’s best of 2020 list. She leads the all-woman ensemble Sistazz of the Nitty Gritty (named by Lonnie Holley). To great acclaim Sistazz of the Nitty Gritty opened for Sun Ra Arkestra at New York Central Park Summerstage.[1]

As half of the duo group DAOUI, Dawid and sound artist Oui Ennui produced, mixed and self-released the album “Message from the DAOUI," which was featured at Tusk Festival 2020. She is a clarinetist in Damon Lock's Black Monument Ensemble as well as DJ. Dawid hosts a monthly music show on NTS Radio.

Dawid's collaborators include Marshall Allen of the Sun Ra Arkestra.[3]

Teaching

Dawid is committed to education and plans to open a music school.[2] As an educator Angel has taught her “Great Black Music” course at Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center through Old Town School of Folk in Chicago.[2]

Recognition

Dawid was one of the commissioned composers for the 2019 Hyde Park Jazz Festival where she premiered her original work “Requiem for Jazz." She premiered her work “Peace: A Suite for Skylanding” in 2020, which was commissioned by the Art Institute of Chicago for Yoko Ono’s outdoor Skylanding Installation.

Dawid was recently honored as 2021 "Chicagoan of the Year in Jazz" by the Chicago Tribune. She is on Pitchfork’s Next 25 list of emerging artists to look out for, and was also New York Winter Jazz Festival 2022 Artist in Residence premiering her latest composition "Afro Town Topics: An Afrofuturist Mythological Musical Revue.[4][2][1][5]

Albums
  • The Oracle (International Anthem, 2019)[6]
  • Angel Bat Dawid / Tha Brothahood, LIVE (2020)
  • Hush Harbor Mixtape No. 1: Doxology (2021)[3]
  • Requiem for Jazz (2023)

References
  1. Sun-Times, Selena Fragassi-For the (2022-01-18). "Angel Bat Dawid working to change the music landscape for Black musicians". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved 2022-01-30.
  2. "'When you're black, being alive is a success': Angel Bat Dawid, 2019's brightest new jazz star". TheGuardian.com. 12 November 2019.
  3. Edgar, Hannah. "Chicagoan of the Year for Jazz: Angel Bat Dawid honors memory through music". chicagotribune.com. Retrieved 2022-01-02.
  4. "Play It Forward: Angel Bat Dawid Knows How to Deliver Emotion Through Song". NPR.org.
  5. Russonello, Giovanni (2022-01-25). "Watch 5 Standout Performances From Winter Jazzfest". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-01-30.
  6. "Angel Bat Dawid: The Oracle". Pitchfork.
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