Adegoke Steve Colson

Adegoke Steve Colson is an American jazz pianist, composer, and educator. A member of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) since the early 1970s, Colson has performed and recorded with musicians including Joseph Jarman, Reggie Workman, David Murray, Henry Threadgill, Malachi Favors, Kahil El’Zabar, among many others. His work incorporates themes of African American identity and social consciousness, and has been reviewed in publications such as The New York Times, JazzTimes, All About Jazz, and The New York City Jazz Record. Early life and education Colson was born in Newark, New Jersey, and raised in East Orange, where he graduated from East Orange High School. He studied piano at Northwestern University’s School of Music beginning in 1967 and also studied alto saxophone with Fred Hemke. He earned a Bachelor of Music Education (BME) in 1971. where he is referenced alongside his spouse, vocalist, composer and educator Iqua Colson, as part of the AACM’s second generation Career Colson’s early recordings were with The Unity Troupe, a group he founded in the 1970s. Their debut album, Triumph!, was released in 1979 and followed by No Reservation in 1980 on t