Tyshawn Sorey

Tyshawn Sorey (born July 8, 1980) is an American drummer and composer. His work has been reviewed in The Wire, The New York Times, The Village Voice, Modern Drummer and Down Beat.In August 2009, Sorey was given the opportunity to curate a month of performances at the Stone, a New York performance space owned by John Zorn.In 2012, he was selected as a composer for the Other Minds Festival. Sorey grew up in Newark, New Jersey and attended Newark Arts High School.He holds a B.Music in Jazz Studies and Performance from William Paterson University, an M.A. in Composition from Wesleyan University, and a Doctor of Musical Arts in Composition from Columbia University.In the fall of 2017, he joined the faculty at Wesleyan as Assistant Professor of Music.He was awarded a 2017 MacArthur "Genius" Grant. Sorey has released several albums as a leader, including That/Not (Firehouse 12 Records, 2007), Koan (482 Music, 2009), Oblique (Pi, 2011), Alloy (Pi, 2014), The Inner Spectrum of Variables (Pi, 2016), and Verisimilitude (Pi, 2017). He has recorded or performed with Wadada Leo Smith, Steve Coleman, Anthony Braxton, John Zorn, Steve Lehman, Joey Baron, Muhal Richard Abrams, Pete Robbins, Cory Smythe, Kris Davis, Vijay Iyer, Dave Douglas, Butch Morris, and Sylvie Courvoisier.