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All Music Guide:
A stirring and adventurous pianist with a sound of her own, Michele Rosewoman came from a very musical northern California family. She started playing piano at age six, and as a teenager studied with pianist Ed Kelly. After working extensively locally, Rosewoman moved to New York in 1977. She went on to play and record with many advanced players, including Oliver Lake, Billy Bang, Greg Osby, and the members of M-Base, among many others. Most important have been her own projects. Well-trained in Cuban percussion and African music, Rosewoman has led the versatile big band New Yor-Uba (unfortunately unrecorded) on an occasional basis since the mid-'80s, as well as her quintet Quintessence. Michele Rosewoman led stimulating sessions for Soul Note, Enja, Evidence, and Blue Note. She developed into one of the unsung leaders of the jazz avant-garde of the 1990s while remaining connected to the tradition.
Wikipedia:
Michele Rosewoman is an American jazz pianist born in Oakland, CA. She is most notable for her work and recordings with her Quintessence ensemble as well as for several trio and quartet recordings, and for her New Yor-Uba ensemble featuring Orlando 'Puntilla' Rios (although unrecorded), an Afro-Cuban jazz big band since the early 1980s. Rosewoman is also known for her work as sidewoman on the recordings of such artists as Greg Osby, M-Base and Ralph Peterson. Before a move to New York from California in 1978, Rosewoman, who was deeply influenced by Oakland-based pianist/organist Ed Kelly, led several jazz groups in the Oakland area and also performed with Baikida Carroll, Julius Hemphill and Julian Priester. In New York she played with post-avant-garde musicians Oliver Lake and Billy Bang as well as with jazz masters Freddie Waits, Rufus Reid, Billy Hart, Reggie Workman and Latin music greats such as Celia Cruz, Chocalate, Nicky Marrero, Paquito D'Rivera, Daniel Ponce among others.
