Musical power couple Iqua Colson (vocalist, composer and educator) and Adegoke Steve Colson (pianist, composer and educator) are celebrating 50 years of marriage, their latest release GLOW: Music for Trio…add Voice as well as an upcoming event at Town Hall in NYC.
Steve met Iqua while both were studying music at Northwestern University in Chicago.
"I went in as a piano major. I was actually on a projectory to become a classical pianist. Northwestern was a feeder school to the Chicago Symphony. At the time, the Chicago Symphony was considered the number one in the world. I'm thinking I'm lined up to be with the Chicago Symphony. But my interest was always jazz as opposed to classical. I did transfer into an educational track and I think that was the best thing for me."
Born in Newark and raised in East Orange, Steve Colson listened to his parents’ records by Ellington, Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald. Colson started piano lessons at 9-years-old with his teacher, Henry Smith, a rehearsal pianist with the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. A year later, Colson started using his allowance to purchase newer hard bop jazz albums by Art Blakey and Horace Silver.
The Colsons were married on May 31, 1975. It was an African-based ceremony with the couple wearing African robes. Iqua remembers that special day as a bonding experience.
"Our mothers became fast friends. They traveled together which as great. The idea was we are marrying two families. It worked. My mother did take control over what I was wearing (laugh). It was beautiful. Our parents spoke. They went in with apprehensions and they came out and toasted it for years."
The Colsons both worked with NJPAC from its beginnings and Iqua served as the arts specialist on the team who designed and built Cicely Tyson School of Performing and Fine Arts. They are acclaimed jazz artists and their work spans ensembles, interdisciplinary collaborations, and a deep commitment to improvisation as a creative force.
Their latest release GLOW also features drummer Andrew Cyrille and bassist Mark Helias.
WBGO's Doug Doyle spoke with the couple this week to find out more about their life together, their latest recording and a special event on Friday, March 27.
The Colsons will be guests at the Town Hall's Dr. Charlotte Frank Patron Lounge in NYC as Composers Now holds its 23rd edition of "Dialogues", the organization's signature performance and conversation series hosted by Founding Artistic Director and Pulitzer Prize winner Tania León.
You can SEE Doug Doyle's entire interview with the Colsons below:
