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Courtesy photoRickie Byars, who became a popular vocalist in New York City's jazz world, will headline a Jazz Maui concert Saturday in Kihei.
Rickie Byars finds joy in making people feel good through the power of song. Passionate about singing from a young age, her career included time in New York City as a singer with the city's top jazz musicians, and later performing uplifting music for Archbishop Desmond Tutu and the Dalai Lama.
Headlining a show Saturday presented by Jazz Maui at Kihei's Altitude Deck, Byars will be joined by her daughter, Grammy-nominated musician Georgia Anne Muldrow, bassist and vocalist Rob McDonald, and drummer Raymond Johnson.
"It's devotional, inspirational and soulful," said Byars about her music. "What happens with the music is that people who have never heard the music before love it right away. I know how to get people singing. I know how to get them moving."
Growing up in Charlotte, North Carolina, she was invited at 3 years old to join a children's choir. That early experience left a lasting impression.
"We'd sing so loud, and the voices that we had was all that I needed on my journey because I came here to do music," said Byars. "I was born for it."
A pivotal moment happened when she was 6 years old and first heard Nina Simone sing "I Loves You Porgy."
"I just went into a corner and started crying because of the chords," Byars recalled. "What I didn't know then, but what was going to happen, was that those chords were part of my harmonic field. It was part of my template and it really touched me. It really made me cry, and now, when I play, people cry."
Moving to New York, she became a popular vocalist in the jazz world, performing with artists and ensembles including Grammy-winning saxophonist Pharoah Sanders, Roland Hanna and the New York Jazz Ensemble.
Byars had initially made the trip to New York to connect with Stevie Wonder. "I went there looking for Stevie Wonder to get my record deal," she explained. "I'd given him a cassette tape when he was in Atlanta, and I went to New York, and I didn't find Stevie."
But she did find a vibrant jazz scene.
"I met all these fantastic musicians," she said. "My first professional gig was at the Village Gate, and I opened with Dom Romão and Mongo Santamaria."
Moving to Los Angeles in the early 1980s, Byars discovered a musical mission that would define much of her career. She was invited by spiritual teacher Michael Bernard Beckwith to form a choir, the renowned Agape International Choir, whose fans included Oprah Winfrey. "I was a choir director for 30 years," Byars noted.
Becoming known as "the Queen of New Thought Music," Byars eventually left to pursue her own career. "I left a very prestigious center," she explained. "I left that whole scene. None of that spoke to me. What speaks to me is healing and making friends. I was in a session with His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and he said the most important thing we can do is make friends. So in my concert, we make friends."
Courtesy photoRickie Byars' daughter Georgia Anne Muldrow is a Grammy-nominated musician who will join her at the show Saturday in Kihei.
Byars is excited about her daughter joining her on Maui. Muldrow is a Los Angeles-based vocalist and multi-instrumentalist whose work blends soul, hip-hop and avant-garde jazz. She has been compared to Lauryn Hill, an early Roberta Flack and Erykah Badu. Jazz legend Alice Coltrane gave Muldrow the sacred name "Jyoti," which means light or flame in Sanskrit.
"Georgia is a genius," said Byars. "And I don't say that because she's my daughter. She's such a stellar talent and does what the spirit informs her. We all stand on some pretty powerful shoulders of people who are free enough to do something different and blessed enough to have people come and listen."
PopMatters praised Muldrow's latest album with the group Harriet Tubman, "Electrical Field of Love," as "a lava flow of the blues sensibility, a collage of funk, soul, and jazz … some of the year's most daring music."
Returning to Maui after presenting a TED Talk back in 2013, Byars said, "Something gets ignited and people want to move and dance" at her shows. "It's very soulful. I'm known for opening people's hearts with sound, and just the messages and the stories."
"A Night with the Queen – Celebrating Rickie Byars' 75th Birthday" will be presented at 6 p.m. Saturday at the Altitude Deck in Kihei. Sheryl Renee will open. Proceeds will benefit Arts Education for Children Group/Jazz Maui Music Education Programs. More information and tickets are available at JazzMaui.org.