Avery Sharpe

Avery Sharpe, longtime bassist with the McCoy Tyner Trio, Williams faculty member, and a distinguished leader and recording artist, released his latest work in 2019 – 400: An African American Musical Portrait. The album marks 400 years, starting in 1619 with the arrival of the first enslaved Africans to Point Comfort, or what is now Fort Monroe in Hampton, Virginia, to the present. The music tells a harrowing yet inspiring tale, century by century. Avery Sharpe’s work draws throughout on plantation music, blues, ragtime, gospel, classical, New Orleans second line, and other deeply rooted historical styles, all refracted through the prism of modern jazz. The cycle concludes with 500, a riveting and adventurous piece that points the way toward the future. Co-sponsored by Africana Studies, Mr. Sharpe gathers together his collaborators for this live performance of a monumental and inspiring work.