Donovan's garage

NEW Winter Location 
​Christian Science Church of Christ Scientist 
2715 Hurd Ave N. Evanston
Donovan's Garage is a performance laboratory in which artists collaborate live on stage to execute spontaneous 
improvisations of known and original compositions. As a result, the audience is allowed to peek behind the curtain of the creative process in which musicians engage .
Chicago Tribune
Evanston Roundtable

December 12, 2023  7pm

November 14, 2023                            D.J.A.M. WORLD QUARTET

It will be an evening of improvisational music.
The group title, D.J.A.M. World Music Quartet, comes from the initials of the group member names: guitarist & recent AACM member, ​Donovan Mixon, long-time AACM member, Saxophonist/percussionist, Fred Jackson Jr, Cellist, Ismael Ali and Darbuka & Multiple percussionist, Ryan Mayer.
​
Donovan's Garage is performance laboratory in which artists collaborate live on stage to execute spontaneous 
improvisations of known and original compositions. As a result, the audience is allowed to peek behind the curtain 
of the creative process in which musicians engage.

NEW Winter Location: Christian Science Church of Christ Scientist 
2715 Hurd Ave N. Evanston
The tune in the video is Contemplation by McCoy Tyner.
Donovan Mixon's World Jazz Quintet 

I intend for my music to defy genre, to take listeners on a journey each time, to surprise them.

Great art always shows reality in its starkest form as a seamless oneness of opposites. Deeply this is why we seek it out.

One example of this is that I want to blend the ensemble with soloists, scored ideas with free playing, the rough and smooth, 
the expected with having to adjust to a novel cadence, the 'here' with 'over there' and vice versa.

As the great educational philosopher Eli Siegel said,
"In reality opposites are one; art shows this". ​
​AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE HERE:   BANDCAMP.COM
           
                This recording could not have been possible without the remarkable talents of vocalist Sarah Marie Young, pianist Leandro Lopez Varady, bassist Joshua Ramos and drummer percussionist Ernie Adams who in particular, besides playing his a** off,  poured his heart into post production to assure the best possible result. 
               Thank you, Ernie for your special attention to the details. 

​             Special Thanks to Video Editor, George Patay and Photographer Todd Anderson
for their loving attention to this project.  
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​AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE HERE:   BANDCAMP.COM

About the song, It's Been Good

...A song initially inspired by a conversation between myself and my son's terminally ill mother as she implored me to be sure and take care of our boy after her death. 

The release follows the conclusion of a months long GoFundMe for NCMEC, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.

I will be forever grateful to this organization for their help with finding my son who, after the passing of his mother, was kidnapped and held by his Turkish family for four years. 

 It’s Been Good is a musical meditation and celebration of our reunion. 
Great Black Music Ensemble 
With
Wadada Leo Smith
at Logan Center
June 2019
HYBRID PROJECT - Chicago 
One State Arts Festival Concert
Northwestern University
L-R: Donovan Mixon, Willie Pickens, James Perkins,
Cory Biggerstaff, Jeremy Cunninghan

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Video: Hybrid Project Chicago
2015 Artists of the Wall Festival
World traveler, performer and N.E.A. recipient Donovan Mixon performs his exotic improvised compositions domestically and internationally in small clubs to international festivals

In various formats he has performed in the Israeli World & Jazz Festival, Chicago Jazz Festival, Umbria Jazz, Istanbul Jazz Festival, Ankara Jazz,     Monticello  Jazz,   Jazz In It, Bodrum Jazz festival.

Video:   Donovan Mixon's
'Finding Center'
​
 2015 Israeli World & Jazz Festival  
 Chicago
                                                                                                                               
Donovan Mixon's Hybrid Project at Jazzology 
Chris Green, Laura Hoffman, Cory Biggerstaff, Alfonzo Jones

"Versatile guitarist, Donovan Mixon has an ongoing
​love affair with world harmonies"​
​
– Hrayr Attarian: Jazz Critic,  chicagojazz.com
​
"Mixon's sliding rapid picking is
​reminiscent of fellow
Chicago world music traveler
​Fareed Haque. 
Culmination is a highly engaging release from a guitarist/composer with a distinct style who I hope to hear much
more from in the future."
​
- Brad Walseth: Jazz Critic, Jazzchicago.net




​
PictureEnsemble 'Twenty Two'


"Expand Your Imagination", a derivation of an audience member's comment after a recent concert, simultaneously encapsulates the effect of the powerful quintet Hybrid Project Chicago and yet the delicacy of  Twenty-Two, a string quartet with acoustic guitar. Either way, this boundary breaking music will leave you with the feeling of having heard something fresh.


“He recorded with the likes of Lee Konitz, George Garzone and Eddie Henderson, and distilled his experiences into a personal style of relaxed elegance, where notes are carefully placed in an uncluttered, transparent texture.”
​
- Francesco Martinelli: Jazz Critic, Musica Jazz


“It’s not ambient fare at all, but jazz with the proviso that you never know what’s coming next and it will definitely not hurt you. It’s billed as “global jazz” but it’s not world music in the current sense -- it’s Mixon’s personal take on his own jazz journeys and how they’ve shaped him.”

- Alexandra Ivanoff: Music Journalist, Time Out Istanbul


More...
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Performance Ear Training 
Advance Music - includes two audio CDs

              



“I’m am pleased to endorse this book. Here is a method that approaches improvisation from an ear training perspective. It integrates the classical movable ‘Do’ system into a clearly defined concept for jazz improvisational study...

Greg Badolato, Chair Ear Training Department      
                           Berklee College of Music          
​                                                                                                                                                      
  “Donovan Mixon’s Performance Ear Training is a welcome publication for instructors of ear training. Mixon’s unique combination of the “Movable Do” system, the “Sing Then Play” concept, and the “Inner Hearing” idea allows students to internalize these skills and  hone them throughout their careers.”
 Guthrie P. Ramsey, Jr. (Prof. of Music  Tufts University )

More praise for Performance Ear Training

Booking  
 music for your private event, a concert of original works or a Performance Ear Training clinic at your high school, private music school or university music department.
​

Performance Ear Training Clinic 
​
​Donovan Mixon has conducted music clinics worldwide based upon the study concepts of his text Performance Ear Training: - Singapore School of the Arts, Central European University - Budapest, Shanghai American School - China, D.A.M.S Bologna, Istanbul Bilgi University, Bahce Sehir University - Istanbul, Vandercook College, Roosevelt University, Columbia College - Chicago, Mohawk College - Toronto 
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Study Concepts:
Movable DO, Harmonic Basslines, Inner Hearing, Tendency Tones, Cycle 4 Intervals

Donovan Mixon Solo Guitar
  • Cocktail hour
  • Corporate receptions
  • Private parties


Donovan Mixon Trio/Quartet


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Hybrid Project Chicago









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CONTACT: 847 217-5044          
jazzplaystudio@gmail.com
Twenty-Two 

An ensemble featuring acoustic guitar with a String Quartet 










LINKS: donovanmixonwriter.com
              performanceeartraining.com
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