Jazz Night in America x Jamaaladeen Tacuma
A little over 150 miles east of Charlotte, N.C., is the city of Whiteville. With a population of around 5,000, it is a relatively quiet, picturesque southern farm town with winding dirt roads. Those dirt roads left a strong impression on bassist, composer, and fashion icon Jamaaladeen Tacuma, who spent the summers of his youth in Whiteville — his family's hometown.
Archival Research
Researching Jamaaladeen’s deep connections to Jazz and fashion in the geographic and cultural context of North Philadelphia left me feeling so full. His musical and poetic collaborations with Amiri Baraka and Jayne Cortez expanded my auditory fields of vision.
“Tacuma, who was raised and remains in Philadelphia, has built his career on the principles of soulful groove, colorful presentation and a sense of artistic freedom — the latter something he learned on the road with saxophonist Ornette Coleman's harmolodic group Prime Time."That was a revelation," says Tacuma about his time with Coleman, "in terms of the instrument being freed to just completely move outside of ... confinement." That principle has made Tacuma an instantly recognizable figure on the scene, musically and sartorially.”
Jamaaladeen Tacuma Photographed by Rahima Tacuma