Imani Winds

The Imani Winds quintet has earned broad acclaim through forward-thinking programs that blend newly commissioned pieces incorporating African American and Latin American influences with longstanding wind ensemble works. Jazz artists and classical composers alike have joined the ensemble in collaborative projects.

Formed in 1997 by flutist Valerie Coleman, oboist Toyin Spellman-Diaz, clarinetist Mariam Adam, hornist Jeff Scott, and bassoonist Monica Ellis, the group reached the mid-2020s with flutist Brandon Patrick George, Spellman-Diaz, clarinetist Mark Dover, hornist Kevin Newton, and Ellis still performing together. “Imani” translates as faith in Swahili. Early momentum carried the quintet to Carnegie Hall in New York following its Artists International Annual Prize victory, with subsequent engagements at the Kennedy Center in Washington, the Ravinia Festival in suburban Chicago, and Walt Disney Hall in Los Angeles, among other prominent stages. National exposure followed through appearances on National Public Radio’s Performance Today, CBS Television’s The Bob Edwards Show, and additional major broadcasts. The ensemble’s first recording, Umoja, appeared in 2002.

International touring has taken the Imani Winds across Australia and New Zealand, Brazil, Asia, and Europe. A wide array of composers reflecting varied cultural backgrounds have either worked directly with the quintet or received commissions from it, among them jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, and composer Paquito D’Rivera, composer Mohammed Fairouz, and baritone saxophonist, composer, and bandleader Fred Ho. The move to Koch International yielded The Classical Underground, an album spotlighting works by D’Rivera, Coleman, Astor Piazzolla, Lalo Schifrin, and additional writers. Several further Koch releases, including a Christmas collection, preceded the 2010 shift to E1. That same year the group inaugurated the Imani Winds Chamber Music Festival, which incorporates educational initiatives. A wind arrangement of Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring was issued by EMI in 2013; the ensemble later returned to E1 for the 2016 release Startin’ Sumthin’.

In 2019 the musicians established the Imani Winds Foundation, which “will attempt to steer the national conversation on instrumental music by commissioning composers of new music, training and mentoring the next generations of musicians, and implementing projects that highlight and strengthen the rich diversity of chamber music.” Recent studio activity includes the 2021 album Bruits on the Bright Shiny Things label and 2023’s Passion for Bach and Coltrane on the group’s own Imani Winds imprint. Induction into the classical music section of the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C., stands among the Imani Winds’ distinctions and is regarded by the ensemble as its highest honor.