The five path breaking musicians of the Grammy-nominated Imani Winds have successfully created a fusion between classical chamber music, jazz, and Afro-Latin traditional music. In the decade since its formation in 1997, the group has set about changing the perception of the wind quintet, bringing new sounds and textures to the flute, bassoon, oboe, clarinet and horn combination. The Washington Post said of the ensemble (whose name means “faith” in Swahili), ”Imani Winds represents nothing less than the future of the once-quaint notion of the wind quintet.” They come to the Ford directly from the Santa Fe Music Festival, where they are playing a newly commissioned collaborative work and a world music program. Earlier in the summer they performed at jazz festivals in France, Germany, Norway and the Netherlands.

Their program under the stars at the Ford Amphitheatre on Friday, August 1 at 8:30 p.m. travels from South America to Africa and back to the United States. The opening piece, “Afro Blue” stands as one of Cuban conguero Mongo Santamaria’s greatest works. Imani’s flutist/composer Valerie Coleman has arranged the jazz standard to echo the African call and response ritual, continuing Santamaria’s celebratory tradition. Also in the Cuban tradition is Paquito D’Rivera’s “Kites Over Havana.” Written specifically for Imani Winds, “Kites” was inspired by an anonymous poem about flight and freedom that is spoken throughout the piece. Brazilian instrumental music inspired Julio Medaglia’s suite, “Belle Epoque in Sud-Amerika,” originally composed for the Berlin Philharmonic Wind Quintet. Ugandan composer Justinian Tamasuza contributes to the program with “Abaafa Luli” (“They Who Died Then” in the Luganda language), written in tribute to twenty-two 19th century Ugandan Christian converts who were slaughtered when they refused to renounce their faith. “Homage to Duke,” composed by Imani’s hornist Jeff Scott, is inspired by Duke Ellington’s gospel hymn “Come Sunday.” The evening’s finale is “Libertango,” a classic of the Argentinian tango music master, Astor Piazzolla, that becomes an explosive tour de force for wind quintet in an arrangement by Jeff Scott.

In addition to Coleman and Scott, members of the Imani Winds include Toyin Spellman Diaz on oboe, Mariam Adam on clarinet and Monica Ellis on bassoon. The group has three releases on Koch International Classics, including their 2006 Grammy Award-nominated recording entitled The Classical Underground. They have been featured on NPR's All Things Considered, MPR's Saint Paul Sunday, NPR's Performance Today and News and Notes with Ed Gordon, the Bob Edwards Show on XM Satellite Radio, BBC The World, as well as frequent coverage in major music magazines and newspapers.