CURATION
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from this page:
by Matrix
Network Node
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Name:
Thana Alexa
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City/Place:
New York City
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Country:
United States
Current News
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What's Up?
“Thana isn’t afraid to take risks. Her vocal performances are powerful, vulnerable, joyful, spiritual and genuine. Her use of rhythm, textures and intricate harmonies is unique and at times, complex. Sometimes you think you know where she is going, then she SURPRISES you.”
— Regina Carter / violinist, recipient of the MacArthur “Genius” and Doris Duke Awards
“Thana Alexa’s ONA is an exquisite work embodying boundless creativity and genre that stretches to every corner of the Earth, and the imagination. ONA is a story of strength, authenticity, and the deeply grounding nature of the divine feminine”
— Becca Stevens / Grammy nominated Singer and composer
“...a jazz singer with a global perspective...”
— The New York Times
Life & Work
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Bio:
Alexa's family narrative unfolds like a captivating international saga, featuring a diverse cast of spies, military officers, politicians, lawyers, and philanthropists, all against the backdrop of a prestigious European jazz club. Born in New York City to an American-Croatian mother and a father hailing from Croatia, both of Alexa's parents' families sought refuge from communism in Yugoslavia, eventually immigrating to the U.S. after World War II.
Her maternal grandfather, Marquis Frano de Bona, a descendant of Dubrovnik's ancient noble lineage, served as a Lt. Commander in the Royal Yugoslav Navy before becoming a double agent for British Intelligence. Awarded the Order of the British Empire for his pivotal role in the D-Day invasion, he, along with his two partners, inspired Ian Fleming's creation of James Bond. On the paternal side, one great-grandfather was a Colonel in the Royal Yugoslav Army Special Forces, while the other played a key role in uniting Croats, Serbs, and Slovenes to form Yugoslavia in 1918. Her paternal grandfather, a distinguished professor of medicine at NYU Medical School and a skilled plastic surgeon, was also a talented classical violinist—the same instrument Alexa plays today. Her paternal grandmother, now in her 100th year, lived through World War II and witnessed the founding of Croatia.
Displaying an entrepreneurial spirit from a young age, Alexa embarked on a career as a haute couture designer in Zagreb and New York, eventually overseeing a large company. Her U.S.-educated parents achieved success in their respective fields, with her father establishing a Manhattan law firm after graduating from Harvard, and her mother becoming a prominent figure in American banking before presiding over a foundation supporting the arts.
Alexa's musical journey began early, with her playing the violin at the age of 4 and earning the first chair in the Stamford Youth Symphony by 12. Initially aspiring to be a classical violinist, she shifted gears at 13 when her family moved to Croatia. There, she discovered her voice, delving into jazz, blues, and soul under the guidance of a vocal teacher. Discovered at 16 by world-class jazz vibraphonist Bosko Petrovic, she found mentorship in him until returning to the U.S. for college.
Graduating with dual bachelor's degrees in jazz and contemporary music, as well as psychology, from the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music and Eugene Lang College, Alexa's transformative experiences included mentorship from legendary drummer Bernard "Pretty" Purdie. Encouraged to explore composition and arrangement, she broke new ground as one of the first vocalists to join the New School's instrumental ensembles. Her professors supported her mission, guiding her to perceive her voice and music as an instrumentalist, not merely a vocalist—an approach that influenced her debut album.
Reflecting on her artistic journey, Alexa expressed a profound belief in the power of musicians to impact change through art. "As musicians, we have an incredible ability to reach people through art," she remarked. "If you're making art, it has to say something. Every turning point in the history of the world has involved art and artists connected to the movements of change. I want to be part of that."
Clips (more may be added)
We use the mathematics of the small world phenomenon to transform the creative universe into a creative village wherein all are connected by short pathways to all... (Wolfram explains how above)
This Integrated Global Creative Economy uncoils from a sprawling Indigenous, African, Sephardic and then Ashkenazic, Arabic, European, Asian cultural matrix...
Great culture is great power. From Brazil.
"Thanks, this is a brilliant idea!!"
—Alicia Svigals (NEW YORK CITY): Apotheosis of klezmer violinists
"Dear Sparrow: I am thrilled to receive your email! Thank you for including me in this wonderful matrix."
—Susan Rogers (BOSTON): Director of the Berklee Music Perception and Cognition Laboratory ... Former personal recording engineer for Prince; "Purple Rain", "Sign o' the Times", "Around the World in a Day"
"Dear Sparrow, Many thanks for this – I am touched!"
—Julian Lloyd Webber (LONDON): Premier cellist in UK; brother of Andrew (Evita, Jesus Christ Superstar, Cats, Phantom of the Opera...)
"This is super impressive work ! Congratulations ! Thanks for including me :)))"
—Clarice Assad (RIO DE JANEIRO/CHICAGO): Pianist and composer with works performed by Yo Yo Ma and orchestras around the world
"We appreciate you including Kamasi in the matrix, Sparrow."
—Banch Abegaze (LOS ANGELES): manager, Kamasi Washington
"Thanks! It looks great!....I didn't write 'Cantaloupe Island' though...Herbie Hancock did! Great Page though, well done! best, Randy"
Our Matrix was conceived under a Spiritus Mundi ranging from the quilombos and senzalas of Cachoeira and Santo Amaro to Havana and the provinces of Cuba to the wards of New Orleans to the South Side of Chicago to the sidewalks of Harlem to the townships of South Africa to the villages of Ireland to the Roma camps of France and Belgium to the Vienna of Beethoven to the shtetls of Eastern Europe...*
Sodré
*...in conversation with Raymundo Sodré, who summed up the irony in this sequence by opining for the ages: "Where there's misery, there's music!" Hence A Massa, anthem for the trod-upon folk of Brazil, which blasted from every radio between the Amazon and Brazil's industrial south until...
And hence a platform whereupon all creators tend to accessible proximity to all other creators, irrespective of degree of fame, location, or the censor.
Matrix Ground Zero is the Recôncavo, bewitching and bewitched, contouring the resplendent Bay of All Saints (end of clip below, before credits), absolute center of terrestrial gravity for the disembarkation of enslaved human beings (and for the sublimity these people created), the bay presided over by Brazil's ineffable Black Rome (where Bule Bule is seated below, around the corner from where we built this matrix as an extension of our record shop).
Assis Valente's (of Santo Amaro, Bahia) "Brasil Pandeiro" filmed by Betão Aguiar
Betão Aguiar
("Black Rome" is an appellation per Caetano, via Mãe Aninha of Ilê Axé Opô Afonjá.)
Replete with Brazilian greatness, but we listened to Miles Davis and Jimmy Cliff in there too; visitors are David Dye & Kim Junod for NPR/WXPN
I opened the shop in Salvador, Bahia in 2005 in order to create an outlet to the wider world for magnificent Brazilian musicians.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar found us (he's a huge jazz fan), David Byrne, Oscar Castro-Neves... Spike Lee walked past the place while I was sitting on the stoop across the street drinking beer and listening to samba from the speaker in the window...
But we weren't exactly easy for the world-at-large to get to. So in order to extend the place's ethos I transformed the site associated with it into a network wherein Brazilian musicians I knew would recommend other Brazilian musicians, who would recommend others...
And as I anticipated, the chalky hand of God-as-mathematician intervened: In human society — per the small-world phenomenon — most of the billions of us on earth are within some 6 or fewer degrees of each other. Likewise, within a network of interlinked artists as I've described above, most of these artists will in the same manner be at most a handful of steps away from each other.
So then, all that's necessary to put the Brazilians within possible purview of the wide wide world is to include them among a wide wide range of artists around that world.
If, for example, Quincy Jones is inside the matrix, then anybody on his page — whether they be accessing from a campus in L.A., a pub in Dublin, a shebeen in Cape Town, a tent in Mongolia — will be close, transitable steps away from Raymundo Sodré, even if they know nothing of Brazil and are unaware that Sodré sings/dances upon this planet. Sodré, having been knocked from the perch of fame and ground into anonymity by Brazil's dictatorship, has now the alternative of access to the world-at-large via recourse to the vast potential of network theory.
...to the degree that other artists et al — writers, researchers, filmmakers, painters, choreographers...everywhere — do also. Artificial intelligence not required. Real intelligence, yes.
The deep roots of this project are in Manhattan, where Allen Klein (managed the Beatles and The Rolling Stones) called me about royalties for the estate of Sam Cooke... where Jerry Ragovoy (co-wrote Time is On My Side, sung by the Stones; Piece of My Heart, Janis Joplin of course; and Pata Pata, sung by the great Miriam Makeba) called me looking for unpaid royalties... where I did contract and licensing for Carlinhos Brown's participation on Bahia Black with Wayne Shorter and Herbie Hancock...
...where I rescued unpaid royalties for Aretha Franklin (from Atlantic Records), Barbra Streisand (from CBS Records), Led Zeppelin, Mongo Santamaria, Gilberto Gil, Astrud Gilberto, Airto Moreira, Jim Hall, Wah Wah Watson (Melvin Ragin), Ray Barretto, Philip Glass, Clement "Sir Coxsone" Dodd for his interest in Bob Marley compositions, Cat Stevens/Yusuf Islam and others...
...where I worked with Earl "Speedo" Carroll of the Cadillacs (who went from doo-wopping as a kid on Harlem streetcorners to top of the charts to working as a janitor at P.S. 87 in Manhattan without ever losing what it was that made him special in the first place), and with Jake and Zeke Carey of The Flamingos (I Only Have Eyes for You)... stuff like that.
Yeah this is Bob's first record contract, made with Clement "Sir Coxsone" Dodd of Studio One and co-signed by his aunt because he was under 21. I took it to Black Rock to argue with CBS' lawyers about the royalties they didn't want to pay (they paid).
Matrix founding creators are behind "one of 10 of the best (radios) around the world", per The Guardian.
Salvador is our base. If you plan to visit Bahia, there are some things you should probably know and you should first visit:
www.salvadorbahiabrazil.comAcross the creative universe... For another list, reload page.
This list is random, and incomplete. Reload the page for another list.
Wolfram MathWorld
Ex Terra Brasilis
Alicia Svigals
Susan Rogers
Julian Lloyd Webber
Clarice Assad
Kamasi Washington
Randy Brecker
Roberto Mendes
Luciano Calazans
Gustavo Caribé
J Velloso
Lázaro Ramos
Fernando Guerreiro
Maria Marighella
Russell Okung
Bule Bule
Caetano Veloso
RÁDIO MATRIX