The California Arts Council in partnership with the Attorney General's Office is delighted to support a collaboration between Cultural Odyssey and musician Idris Ackamoor, to present FREE public concerts in San Francisco and throughout California. These activities are supported, in part, with funds provided by the California Arts Council and the California Department of Justice's 2003 antitrust settlement with major music-distribution companies and national retail chains. This prestigious award will allow Mr. Ackamoor and his special guest, musician Frederick Harris, to present "ARTISTIC BEING", a concert combining jazz, world music, new age, and tap dance to geographically-diverse regions of California.

"ARTISTIC BEING" will feature Idris Ackamoor, (alto sax, flutes, mbiras, tap dance, percussions, invented instruments) and special guest Fred Harris (electric & acoustic piano, drums). The tour will focus on rural counties away from the major population centers; however, certain inner city communities located in the counties with large urban centers will also be serviced.

" . . . a living legend of modern jazz." - Tom Sekowski - Nemesis web review

The performance repertoire will be original compositions of Ackamoor and Harris as well as the new age sounds of flutes, mbiras, bells, invented instruments, and other meditative and spiritual jazz sounds inspired and influence by Pharaoh Sanders, Alice Coltrane and John Coltrane. In addition the repertoire will include the compositions of jazz masters like John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, Charlie Parker, and others.

"His compositions incorporated intercontinental and cosmic sources, opening passages into boundless periods and locales, each one seemingly unearthed from futuristic sarcophagi." - Sam Ada, Fader Magazine

The presentation is designed to be portable and self contained (sound system reinforcement provided) and accessible to a variety of rural and inner-city audiences. One of the intentions of the presentations will be to break down the traditional barriers that separate the audience and performer. This will include performing in unconventional locals including parks, street corners, street fairs, coffee houses, schools, galleries, and in some instances private homes.

"Ackamoor's name might now be spoken with the same hushed reverence afforded such other cosmic travelers as Alice Coltrane, Don Cherry & Pharaoh Sanders." - Jefre Cantu - Ledesma, The Urim and Thumim Web review

The performances will be offered free for any venue on a first-come, first-served basis and there will be free attendance at all events. Presenters only need to go to www.culturalodyssey.org/artisticbeing and book a performance for the period from January - April 15, 2010. Once the performance is booked Cultural Odyssey will send out all necessary marketing materials to insure that the presenter's audience is aware of the concert. There will be an extensive pre-marketing campaign to alert presenters to this exciting opportunity to offer free performances to their perspective audiences.