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Bow Down to Bowman...Long after I’ve burned out on blogging and quit, you should remember one name: Dean Bowman. Dean Bowman. Dean Bowman. He is a great vocal talent... and yet, one of America’s best-kept secrets. I have pointed to Bowman’s work with the funk-rock band Screaming Headless Torsos. But he has recorded with a worldwide array of eclectic artists jazz players, hip-hop producers, alternative-rock songwriters. Bowman has chops to suit any task. He can scat like a bebopper. He can render a Negro spiritual like a concert performer. His signature trick a deep-throated warble fits wherever he wants it to fit. And he can tell a story in song. ..." Click here for more... “... Go see him. If he doesn’t fill you with joy and make you want to cry at the same time, then your soul must be a sad place...” www.missrepresentation.com/archives/2004/08/deaniac.html Dean Bowman (updated bio 2007/08) Without a doubt, a major contributor to the NYC downtown jazz, rock, and avant-garde scenes, Dean Bowman is an accomplished, "massively talented" vocalist and performance / recording artist. In 2007 and 2008 he brings his considerable skills to Europe, recording and performing with Armin Alic in Germany, Marie Afonso Fremaux in the south of France, and forming groups in Munich, Marseille, and Amsterdam, recording and performing the music of legendary funkstress (and Miles’ former wife) Betty Davis with Mikaele Pelligrini in Rome, and the music of Albert Ayler with Laurent Bardainne in Paris. In May 2008 Dean returns to Mexico for blues band tour. July and August 2008 he will tour with Don Byron the music of Junior Walker. Based in Mount Vernon, New York, he has been heralded by the LONDON GUARDIAN as "soulful, charismatic, and technically brilliant... a star." Dean Bowman is renowned internationally for his "rumbling baritone and heart-peeling falsetto... a showstopper" (VILLAGE VOICE). He has been described alternately as a "vocal-mentalist," "tone poet," "avant-garde gospel singer," and a "jazz singer with the soul of a rocker." Dean has been praised most recently for his work with Don Byron, “Do The Boomerang”, the music of Junior Walker (BLUE NOTE/EMI), as well as touring the music of Ray Charles with John Scofield. Bowman has recorded with Lester Bowie (Brass Fantasy*, When The Spirit Returns*, The Odyssey of Funk and Popular Music*), Jane Bunnett (Ritmo + Soul), Don Byron (Do The Boomerang, Existential Dred, Bug Music), Uri Caine (Primal Light, Goldberg Variations), David Fiuczynski (Screaming Headless Torsos*, Live*, and 2005*), Jane Bunnett, Stanley Cowell, and Dewey Redman (Spirituals and Dedications*), and Elliott Sharp (Blues For Next*), among others. He has toured with Kelvyn Bell, Steve Coleman, Charlie Hunter, D.D. Jackson, MeShell Ndegeocello, Scofield, Screaming Headless Torsos, and Reggie Workman, and his own groups. Dean Bowman was a featured voice of two characters for the Sony PlayStation game "Parrappa The Rappa." He was also a featured vocalist for Québécité, an opera composed by D.D. Jackson, with libretto by Canadian-born poet-laureate George Elliot Clarke. Schooled in the traditional Black spirituals and gospel by his mentors John Paxton and Dr. James Mumford, Bowman developed his jazz vocabulary under the wings of David Baker and Barry Harris. In 1989, he joined the Black Rock Coalition and established relationships with Don Byron and David Fiuczynski, with whom he later recorded. An accomplished songwriter and lyricist, Dean has penned scores of works for his various groups, and for Lester Bowie, Stanley Cowell, Neanderthal Alien*, Nexus*, Screaming Headless Torsos, Elliott Sharp, the Stone Brothers*, and Jack Walrath* among many. *denotes original compositions Dean Bowman is a singer, vocalist, voice-over artist, and educator, offering masterclasses and workshops in vocal music training, history, and vocal techniques, as well as spellbinding solo recitals. Bowman is a protean vocalist and recording artist, and a skilled and engaging teacher of vocal music. Specializing in traditional Black spirituals, Bowman performs solo and with various ensembles throughout the US and Europe. Also as an educator, he uses the spirituals (traditional and contemporary) to teach improvisational vocal techniques, choral singing, singing with a band (or for the band, playing with singers), even overcoming stage fright. Dean Bowman is available for private lessons in voice techniques, warm-ups, and vocal improvisation, with special emphasis on phrasing, breathing, and rhythm. Dean Bowman is also available for public workshops and masterclasses for audiences and participants of all skill levels in the areas of vocal techniques, vocal warm-ups, vocal improvisation, as well as historical application (and discussion), with special emphasis on the music of traditional Black spirituals, early gospel, and blues. back to top |
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