Black Diamond

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Ricardo Adame

Black Diamond: Hunter Diamond (left) and Artie Black.

Black Diamond: Hunter Diamond (left) and Artie Black.

media release: Artie Black - tenor saxophone, clarinets, shruti box, percussion; Hunter Diamond - tenor saxophone, flute, clarinet, percussion

Black Diamond thrives on the chemistry and compositions of saxophonists Artie Black and Hunter Diamond. They met while studying under David Baker and Tom Walsh at Indiana University.  A mutual admiration for the collaborative recordings of saxophonists Lee Konitz and Warne Marsh led them to experiment with their own two-tenor palette, and it quickly became apparent that the variance in their tonal and artistic approaches created a captivating sense of balance. In Chicago, the band has been featured in residency at Andy's Jazz Club, The Drake Hotel, and The Whistler. Other performances include the 2018 Chicago Jazz Festival, and associations with the Jazz Institute of Chicago, Sounds of the City Workshop, the Anagram Series at Elastic Arts Foundation, and the Chicago Jazz Composers Collective. The band has been on three U.S. tours and will make their EU debut at the 2024 We Jazz festival in Helsinki, Finland.

"Mandala" was listed as an editor's pick in Downbeat magazine in August 2017. Black Diamond's second album, “Chant” (Shifting Paradigm), was recorded live at The Whistler in Chicago and released in March 2019.  

In praise of "Chant," the Chicago Reader describes Black Diamond's ability "...to affirm the importance of discovering the commonalities between mediums that are bound by creativity and growth."

Jazz Journal UK wrote that "Black and Diamond’s augmenting of their in-the-moment work stops short of straightforward overdubbing and has the effect of deepening their spontaneity and the acute degree to which they are a meeting of musical minds."

This event is BYOB.

Presented by BlueStem Jazz and Audio for the Arts.