Join us this Sunday night, from 10-11pm on Live Constructions, Billy Martin and Cyro Baptista, two dynamic and versatile musicians, both early members one of New York’s epicenters for jazz and world music, the Creative Music Studio (CMS). Billy Martin (aka illy B) is the current chief executive of CMS and draws on wide-ranging roots to pursue diverse styles. He emerged in the downtown scene with the trio, Medeski Martin Wood, bridging jazz, free improv, and the groove of classic R&B and funk, and has collaborated with John Schofield, John Zorn, iggy Pop, Natalie Merchant, and more. Much of his work and production series are available his self-run label, Amulet Records.
Percussionist and multi-instrumentalist, Cyro Baptista, began to shake the New York music scene since he arrived from Brazil in 1980 and has continued to collaborate with diverse musicians, from Yo Yo Ma to Jay Z to Herbie Hancock, Milton Nascimento, Brian Eno, Ryuichi Sakamoto, and Paul Simon. His own project, a percussion and dance ensemble, ‘Beat the Donkey’ on Zorn’s Tzadik label, is versed in instruments from surdo, to tamborim machine, to triangles and refrigerator. Baptista also composes music for the children’s TV series, Nickelodeon.
Martin and Baptista will be collaborating, interviewing, and sharing music and tunes from the early days of Creative Music Studios tonight on WKCR FM (wkcr.org).
