Onyx Collective is an American experimental

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

group, founded by saxophonist Isaiah Barr and drummer Austin Williamson. Since forming in 2014, the group has released 7 albums and featured a rotating cast of dozens of members and guest musicians.

History

Both

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

natives, Barr and Williamson met while still in high school, and were mentored by saxophonist

Roy Nathanson Roy Jay Nathanson (born May 17, 1951) is an American saxophonist, composer, bandleader, and teacher. He became the leader and principal composer of the Jazz Passengers, a six piece group that he founded with Curtis Fowlkes in 1987. They have tou ...

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. In October 2014, they began hosting a show on KNOW-WAVE Radio, bringing in guests to jam live on-air, which led to collaborations with station regulars like

Dev Hynes Devonté Hynes (born David Joseph Michael Hynes, 23 December 1985), also known as Blood Orange and formerly Lightspeed Champion, is an English singer, songwriter, record producer, composer and director based in New York City. From 2004 to 2006, ...

and

Wiki A wiki ( ) is a form of hypertext publication on the internet which is collaboratively edited and managed by its audience directly through a web browser. A typical wiki contains multiple pages that can either be edited by the public or l ...

. Barr and Williamson have spoken extensively in interviews about their ties to the

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

neighborhoods of the East Village and

Lower East Side The Lower East Side, sometimes abbreviated as LES, is a historic neighborhood in the southeastern part of Manhattan in New York City. It is located roughly between the Bowery and the East River from Canal to Houston streets. Historically, it w ...

. A number of titles of compositions featured on Onyx Collective's ''Lower East Suite Part One'' (2017)'', Lower East Suite Part Two'' (2017)'','' and ''Lower East Suite Part Three'' (2018) contain references to downtown Manhattan landmarks, including "2 AM At Veselka," "Rumble in

Chatham Square Chatham Square is a major intersection in Chinatown, Manhattan, New York City. The square lies at the confluence of eight streets: the Bowery, Doyers Street, East Broadway, St. James Place, Mott Street, Oliver Street, Worth Street and Park ...

," "Don't Get Caught Under The

Manhattan Bridge The Manhattan Bridge is a suspension bridge that crosses the East River in New York City, connecting Lower Manhattan at Canal Street with Downtown Brooklyn at the Flatbush Avenue Extension. Designed by Leon Moisseiff, the bridge has a tota ...

," and "97 Allen," a reference to the headquarters of clothing brand The Good Company. From 2014 until 2020, Onyx Collective became known for their guerrilla approach to public performance, presenting improvised music in non-traditional pop-up venues in Lower Manhattan, including clothing stores, barber shops, and gallery spaces. In 2016, they hosted NYXO, a three-month residency at 225 West Broadway in Tribeca, which featured musicians as varied as

Show Me The Body Show Me the Body (commonly abbreviated as SMTB) is an American post-hardcore band from New York City, formed in 2009. They have released three full-length albums, each drawing influence from genres such as hip hop, noise music and sludge metal. ...

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, and Puerto-Rican jazz legend John Benitez. Onyx Collective recordings and performances have featured vocalists like Dev Hynes, Kelsey Lu,

Nick Hakim Nicolas Hakim is an American musician based in Queens, New York, United States. His first EP, ''Where Will We Go Part 1 & 2'', was self-released in 2014. He released three albums with ATO: ''Green Twins'' (2017), '' Will This Make Me Good'' (202 ...

Princess Nokia Destiny Nicole Frasqueri (born June 14, 1992), known professionally as Princess Nokia, is an American rapper and songwriter. She released her debut studio album, ''Metallic Butterfly'', in 2014, followed by the 2015 mixtape ''Honeysuckle''. As P ...

, duendita,

Okay Kaya Kaya Wilkins (born August 14, 1990), better known as Okay Kaya, is a Norwegian-American musician born in New Jersey. Biography Wilkins was born in New Jersey and raised in Nesoddtangen, four miles outside of Oslo. Raised by her mother along wit ...

, Julian Soto, and Ian Isiah; pianists

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, Isaac Sleator, Mike Swoop, and Josh Benitez; bassists Felix Pastorius,

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, Walter Stinson, Daryl Johns, and Dean Torrey; drummers

Yussef Dayes Yussef Dayes (born 12 December 1992) is an English jazz drummer, composer, and record producer. He is known for his work with keyboardist Kamaal Williams, releasing the 2016 album '' Black Focus'' as the duo Yussef Kamaal and with English singe ...

and David Frazier, Jr., and guitarist Jack Gulielmetti. They have appeared on albums by Nick Hakim, Ian Isiah, Princess Nokia, and

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, and toured as the backing band for

A$AP Rocky Rakim Athelaston Mayers (born October 3, 1988), known professionally as ASAP Rocky ( ; stylized as A$AP Rocky), is an American rapper. Born and raised in Harlem, he embarked on his musical career as a member of the hip hop collective ASAP Mo ...

. In 2021, Onyx Collective collaborated with funk band

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on "Baby". The band has had a longtime association with the New York City visual art scene, specifically artists

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, Brian Bellott, Adam Zhu, and Maxwell Dieter; in a formal exhibition setting, they've contributed to Jason Moran's ''Jazz On A High Floor in the Afternoon'' at The Whitney, as well as Agathe Snow's ''Stamina'' at

The Guggenheim The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, often referred to as The Guggenheim, is an art museum at 1071 Fifth Avenue between 88th and 89th Street (Manhattan), 89th Streets on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City. It hosts a permanent coll ...

. Individually, Williamson has recorded as a drummer with

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, Standing On The Corner,

Miho Hatori is a Japanese singer, songwriter, and musician. She is best known as a solo artist, co-founder of New York City band Cibo Matto, and as the first person to provide the voice of Noodle in the virtual band Gorillaz, as well as for her work with ...

, and Pretty Sick, while Barr has been featured as a composer and saxophonist on recordings by

Bakar Bakar may refer to: *Bakar, Croatia Bakar is a town in the Primorje-Gorski Kotar County in western Croatia. The population of the town was 8,279 according to the 2011 Croatian census, including 1,473 in the titular settlement. Ninety percent of th ...

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, and Ratking.

Discography

* ''2nd Avenue Rundown'' (2016, Supreme / Know Wave) * ''Lower East Suite Part 1'' (2017,

Big Dada Big Dada is a British Record label#Imprint, independent record label imprint distributed by Ninja Tune. It was started by reputed hip hop journalist Will Ashon in 1997. It is best known for marketing of prominent British hip hop artist Roots Man ...

) * ''Lower East Suite Part 2'' (2017, Big Dada) * ''Lower East Suite Part 3'' (2018, Big Dada) * ''World of Possibility'' (2019, Big Love Records) * ''Trad Jazz'' (2020, NYXO / Braindead) * ''Manhattan Special'' (2020, tmwrk /

Concord Concord may refer to: Meaning "agreement" * Harmony, in music * Agreement (linguistics), a change in the form of a word depending on grammatical features of other words Arts and media * ''Concord'' (video game), a defunct 2024 first-person sh ...

)

References

{{reflist Jazz musicians from New York City