On March 5, 2009 David Burnett's online newsletter “The Collective” brought Jessica Valiente to the attention of AfriClassical. David wrote, in part: “Flutist, Jessica Valiente, has a loose association of performer & scholar colleagues who have an interest in turn-of-the-century music of the African Diaspora. Early this year they made a submission to give a concert/lecture at the William Grant Still conference in Natchez, Mississippi and they were accepted. They'll be doing some smaller works of Still and some American jazz works that he was associated with as either an arranger or performer.” The article adds: “Also, [Ms.] Valiente has an organization called El Salon Negro (The Ebony Salon), which began with her dissertation in Cuban music at the turn of the century.”
“Jessica holds a BA in music from Barnard College in conjunction with Manhattan School of Music, an MA in music performance from Queens College and is currently a candidate for the Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the CUNY Graduate Center.” “Ms. Valiente has also distinguished herself as a leader, both past and present; she has led various classical chamber groups and jazz combos, and continues to lead her flute, violin and cello trio, Non Sequitur, with which she has performed for over 25 years. She is currently the musical director of Los Más Valientes’, in existence since 1995, http://www.myspace.com/losmasvalientes2”
We have since corresponded with Jessica Valiente, who says her heritage is Dominican, Peruvian, African-American and Native American. She tells us: “I am so thrilled that you share our research interests. At the moment I don't have an email list for El Salon Negro/The Ebony Salon. We have a discussion group located at Yahoo Groups; I believe the category is culture and the arts, and we are listed as theebonysalon, all one word. There you and your group's members can sign up and feel free to post news of their activities, as long as it includes the work of black composers or Afrocentric music from the period roughly between 1875 and 1925.” Jessica Valiente's E-mail address is: jessicavalientenyc@hotmail.com
Jessica Valiente, FlutistDominican, Peruvian, African American & Native American
The Ebony Salon
Non Sequitur
Los Más Valientes’
Black Composers
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