Sunday, March 14, 2021 - Ras Moshe Burnett (via Zoom)

Ras Moshe Burnett is a Brooklyn-born saxophonist/composer/educator, hailing from a musical family.

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His paternal grandfather Theodore Burnett I ("Ted Barnett" professionally) played in the orchestras of Don Redman, Earl Bostic, Chick Webb, Henri Woode, Louis Armstrong and Lucky Millinder, among others. In the 70's and 80's he became band leader and composer in Brooklyn's New Canaan Baptist Church. Theodore Burnett II (Yaakov Burnett) played locally in Brooklyn and participated in the free jazz loft activities of the 1970's.

Ras commenced performing with his own units in 1987 and played in roots reggae bands parallel with his own jazz ensembles. He is the founder of the "Music Now" series, a monthly presentation of new music and free jazz that began in 1999 at The Brecht Forum and is currently continuing at Scholes Street Studio and The Brooklyn Commons. In 2018 he began a series of panel discussions and classes entitled "Jazz and Self Determination", ongoing at The People's Forum in NYC. In the spring of the same year, as a returning student, he acquired a BA in music studies from SUNY/Empire State College.

His music can be heard on the new CD "Star Charts" by The Zodiac Saxophone Quartet, "SunSum" and "Politics" with Bill Cole's Untempered Ensemble,"Solidarity" by Matt Lavelle's 12 Houses and  "Helix" by Michael Moss' Accidental Orchestra. He has performed in the ensembles of Bill Cole, Althea SullyCole, Matt Lavelle, William Hooker, Charles Waters, William Parker, Butch Morris, Karen Borca and many others.

Ras has written a new anti war jazz suite entitled "Peace Be With You" which premiered at The Sanctuary For Independent Media, Troy NY in December 2018.