Newman Taylor Baker’s Washboard XT

Washboard XT in Performance & Discussion. Suggested minimum donation is $5. Donations go towards funding artist fees. Arts for Art’s On_Line Salon series features live streaming FreeJazz performances and conversations every Tuesday and Thursday.

In 2010 Newman Taylor Baker met the washboard, and it changed his life. With the washboard, Baker created Washboard XT in order to share the washboard experience with as many people as possible. Beginning in New York City with Andrea Wolper’s Why Not Jazz series, Washboard XT has appeared in Szczecin, Warszawa, Zielona Góra, Poznań, Wrocław, Osaka, Nagoya, and Tokyo. And the journey continues.

Thursday March 25, 2021, 8PM ET

Video is available to view through Monday March 29, 6PM ET

Newman Taylor Baker – washboard

Trashina Conner – dance

Stomu Takeishi – bass

Matthew Shipp – piano

Master Percussionist, Composer, Vocalist and Educator, Newman Taylor Baker is originally from Petersburg, VA born to a family of scholars. His paternal grandfather was the only former slave to receive a PH.D from Yale University.

At 2 years old, Newman received his first drum on Christmas Day and never looked back. Newman grew up on the campus of Virginia State College where his parents taught and was mentored by the percussion staff on campus and visiting. His passion for the drum and washboard would take him all around the world sharing his knowledge, experience, and innovation through his solo drumset project, Singin’ Drums and washboard explorations with The Ebony Hillbillies and beyond – with his Washboard XT project.

He is truly a master of the drums working internationally with truly the best of the best – a diverse array of jazz masters including Joe Henderson, McCoy Tyner, Henry Grimes, Kenny Barron, Henry Threadgill, Billy Bang, Leroy Jenkins, Diedre Murray, Ahmad Jamal, Lou Donaldson, Kevin Eubanks, Billy Harper, Sam Rivers, Charlie Rouse, and so many more….

In May 2020, Arts for Art introduced the On_Line Salon series to provide performance opportunities for our artists who lost all in-person gigs due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Since then, we’ve presented over 45 performances featuring 100 artists. Performances stream every Tuesday and Thursday. See the full schedule at https://www.artsforart.org/onlinesalon.

Arts for Art is dedicated to the exceptional creativity that originated in the African American multi-arts jazz culture that utilizes improvisation to express a larger, more positive dream of inclusion and freedom.