Bowerbird is pleased to present Maria Grand with Shakoor Hakeem at The Perch.
Sample of their work:
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
María Grand is a saxophonist, composer, educator, and vocalist. She has performed with her ensembles all over Europe and North America; she has also played and/or recorded with creative music luminaries such as Joel Ross, Mary Halvorson, Antoine Roney, Nicole Mitchell, and more. Her debut EP “TetraWind” was picked as “one of the 2017’s best debuts” by the NYC Jazz Record and her full-length albums Magdalena, Reciprocity, and Anohin were praised by major publications such as the New York Times, Downbeat, JazzTimes, Billboard, JazzIz, and others. The New York Times calls her “an engrossing young tenor saxophonist with a zesty attack and a solid tonal range”, while Vijay Iyer says she is “a fantastic young saxophonist, virtuosic, conceptually daring, with a lush tone, a powerful vision, and a deepening emotional resonance.”
María is a recipient of the 2017 Jazz Gallery Residency Commission, the 2018 Roulette Jerome Foundation Commission, the 2019 Roulette Residency, and the 2020 Jazz Coalition Commission Award, and the 2024 Pulse Foundation Award. She was nominated for the Jazz Journalist’s Association Up-And-Coming Musician of the Year 2018 and named the 2018 Newcomer Musician for the El Intruso 11th Annual Internation Critics Poll, as well as Best New Artist in the 2018 JazzTimes Reader’s Poll.
In 2022, María was commissioned by the Metropolitan Orchestra to write a chamber piece; she composed a piece mixing elements of healing somatic practices with music titled “your very own sun”. The same year, she also was a Women In Jazz Organization mentor, working with a young musician to transmit her knowledge and study ways of overcoming hurdles specific to young women in the music industry.
In 2024, Maria also had her debut as conductor, directing Roscoe Mitchell’s piece Cards in Mantova, in the presence of the composer; she also began touring as a sideman with Joel Ross’ Good Vibes. She released an album in December 2024 titled Altered Visions, a collaborative effort with musicians Marta Sanchez, Camila Nebbia, Kanoa Mendenhall, and Iago Fernandez, on the recently formed label Lilaila Records, and is set to release her fourth full-length album, Both Sides, in April 2026.
In 2025, she was nominated as Best European Musician by the French Académie du Jazz and voted one of the rising tenor saxophone stars by Downbeat. She is a certified relationship consultant from the ETC school of self-development, based in Quebec. She has a teaching studio where she teaches Music and Self Knowledge, and recently premiered an Emotional Deep Dive where musicians and audience created a communal moment to sonically mirror and transform emotions.
Fearless percussionist Shakoor Hakeem, a prolific up-and-coming talent, has a gift for making experimental, Afro-diasporan, rhythmic improvisational music immediately enjoyable. Hakeem’s unique old soul has him adhering to the cultural traditions of mysticism and folklore, within which are contained the secrets of his elders. The mythical experience of his stage presence evokes feelings that you are witness to a ceremonial gathering, of an ancient rhythmic history. In building this, he has long supported many of the most forward-thinking legendary improvisers, including Graham Haynes, Immanual Wilkins, Joel Ross, Adam Rudolph, Bobby Zankel and Wallace Roney. Performing live with these great artists, he refrains from overplaying and prefers minimalism, playing with the musical and compositional contexts of colors and texture, delivering limited solos, all while occupying the eye of the hurricane.