Tomeka Reid


Tomeka Reid is an American jazz cellist and composer.

Career

Reid grew up in Washington, D.C. and attended University of Maryland, College Park, earning a Bachelor of Music. Her schooling continued at DePaul University where she received a Master of Music. Reid taught middle and high school orchestra at the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools for seven years before beginning her Doctor of Music from University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign.

Performance ensembles

Reid is associated and has performed with a number of groups, including The Art Ensemble of Chicago, Dee Alexander, Mike Reed's Loose Assembly, Chicago Jazz Philharmonic, Nicole Mitchell's Black Earth Ensemble, and the Great Black Music Ensemble of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians. Reid also has led, co-led, and composed for the Tomeka Reid Quartet with :de:Jason Roebke, :de:Tomas Fujiwara and Mary Halvorson; Artifacts trio with Reed and Mitchell; and Hear in Now with Mazz Swift and :it:Silvia Bolognesi.

Administration, honors, and teaching

From 2009-2010 Reid was Secretary of AACM. From 2015 through at least 2019, Reid has run the annual Chicago Jazz String Summit concert festival, even after having herself moved from Chicago to New York City.
Reid was awarded a 2012-2013 residency at the University of Chicago's Washington Park Arts Incubator. She continues to teach cello, as of 2019. In June 2020, the New York Times consulted Tomeka Reid, along with artists including Yo-Yo Ma, John Williams, and others, to offer suggestions for cello recordings that could make newcomers to the instrument fall in love with its sounds; Reid recommended a composition by Abdul Wadud.

Discography

As leader

Artifacts trio, with Nicole Mitchell and Mike Reed
Hear In Now, with Mazz Swift and :it:Silvia Bolognesi
with others
with Anthony Braxton
with Taylor Ho Bynum
with Nicole Mitchell
with Mike Reed
with others