NATCHITOCHES – Drummer, composer and educator Tina Raymond will be featured with the Northwestern State University Jazz Orchestra on Monday, April 7 at 7:30 p.m. in Magale Recital Hall. Admission is free and open to the public. A live stream of the concert will be available at nsula.edu/capa/capalivestream. Associate Professor of Music Galindo Rodriguez will conduct the orchestra.  

Raymond is based in Los Angeles. A unique voice in the contemporary improvised music scene, Raymond blends traditional jazz vocabulary with African polyrhythm and classical percussion technique. Brian Zimmerman of DownBeat Magazine writes, “Raymond displays ferocious chops and a remarkable sense of balance.” She has toured the U.S., Europe, and Asia as a leader and sideman. 

Raymond’s 2023 acclaimed release, “Divinations,” showcases the first-call Los Angeles drummer in a groove-centric, melody-drenched context that may surprise admirers of the more abstract tonal personality she’s documented with SoCal avant luminaries like Eric Revis, Bobby Bradford, Vinny Golia and Dan Rosenboom, or, for that matter, on two recent albums by the acclaimed eclectic Esthesis Quartet. The album comprises six original songs, all composed during the summer of 2022.  

Other recent releases as a side person also include Rachel Eckroth’s “Live at Sam First” (Sam First Records 2023), “Boom Sessions Volume III” with Dan Rosenboom, Gary Fukushima and Eric Revis (Orenda 2022), Kuba Stankiewicz’ “Music of Roman Statkowski” (Warner Music Poland 2021) and Bobby Bradford’s “Stealin’Home” (NoBusiness Records 2021).  

In her debut album, “Left, Right, Left,” (Orenda 2017), Raymond explores America’s polarized politics through a set of patriotic hymns, folk songs, protest anthems and music by Woody Guthrie, Joni Mitchell and Joan Baez. Her thesis is that concepts of left and right are integral to understanding both drumming technique and American political discourse. ‘

Raymond is the director of Jazz Studies at California State University Northridge. She received a DownBeat Educator Achievement Award (2020) and is president-elect of California Alliance for Jazz. 

Her appearance at NSU was made possible by the Friends of the Jazz Orchestra and Remo, Inc. 

The program will include “Sambandrea Swing” by Don Menza with Rafael Melgar on drumset, Daniel Scott on tenor saxophone and Wolfgang A. Otero on trumpet, “Serenade for Bass Trombone” by Larry McVay featuring Francisco Riego on bass trombone and “US” by Thad Jones featuring Layton Zeringue on guitar, Neil Higginbotham on trombone, Juan Arrieta on trumpet, Tim Purcell, on tenor saxphone, Jarrett Thomisee on baritone sax and Jonathan Chaparro on bass. 

Raymond will be featured on “Cyan Thread” by Jessika Smith with Mario Orellana on piano and Colin Stevens on alto saxophone, “You go to My Head” by J. Fred Coots and Haven Gillespie and arranged by Bill Hollman with Arrieta, Stevens and Scott, “Jolly Beach” by Annie Booth along with Ever Naum Galeas on trumpet and Josue Bustillo on piano and “Wyrgly” by Maria Schneider with Scott, Stevens and Zeringue.