Piano, Organ, Vocals, Composer | b.1942

Born 21 March 1942 in Blackwell, Arkansas, Amina Claudine Myers is a pianist, organist, vocalist, composer, and educator who became one of the few female members in the first wave of the AACM, blending blues, gospel, and jazz into a unique body of work recognised with the 2024 NEA Jazz Masters Fellowship. Raised by her great-aunt Emma Thomas and great-uncle (a carpenter who played clarinet, piano, and flute), Myers started piano lessons at age six before moving to Dallas, Texas in 1949. The family returned to Blackwell in 1957, where Myers formed a gospel group whilst directing church choirs. She received a scholarship to Philander Smith College in Little Rock, majoring in music education, playing in the jazz band, becoming student director for the choir, and teaching herself organ.

After graduation she moved to Chicago in 1963, teaching music at elementary school for six years whilst attending Roosevelt University. She joined the AACM in 1966, performing at the organisation's second concert. In the late 1960s she added "Amina" to her name, and around 1970 began working with Gene Ammons for two and a half years. Myers moved to New York City in 1976, intensifying compositional work including Off-Broadway productions, and around 1978 began touring Europe with Lester Bowie's quintet. Her debut Poems for Piano appeared on Sweet Earth in 1979, followed by Song for Mother E with Pheeroan akLaff on Leo in 1980. She has recorded extensively on Leo Records, Black Saint, RCA Novus, and her own Amina C Records, working with Muhal Richard Abrams, Henry Threadgill, Archie Shepp, Charlie Haden, and Anthony Braxton. In 2024 she released Central Park's Mosaics with Wadada Leo Smith on Red Hook Records. Inducted into Arkansas Black Hall of Fame (2001) and Arkansas Jazz Hall of Fame (2010).