NIKARA presents Black Wall Street - The Queen of Kings County (2024) [Hi-Res]

Vibraphonist, composer, arranger, and educator Nikara Warren is a true Brooklynite, born and raised. Granddaughter of world-renowned jazz pianist Kenny Barron, daughter of a half Trinidadian soca/dancehall lover father and a classic 90s “Brooklyn ’Round the Way” girl mother, Warren is taking vibes to the people with her infectious compositional sense, her post-modern patchwork of influences and cultural signposts, and her fearless musicality. Her bold quest comes from being well-versed in the vibraphone lineage, but seeking to adventure beyond it. Music critic Kira Grunenberg writes that NIKARA presents Black Wall Street “doesn’t project its versatility and creative range through scholarly jazz arrangements or covers chasing perfectionism. Instead, it offers original music converged around a stylistically fluid foundation.”

Warren’s debut album, Black Wall Street, represented a convergence of Nikara’s personal, cultural, familial, and musical journeys. On it, she explored abstract sound-collage, hip-hop, jazz, neo-soul, Afro-Latino and Afro-Caribbean rhythms, and more – an eclectic but cohesive study of how people’s identities are a product of their varied heritage and associations.

NIKARA presents Black Wall Street will be releasing their sophomore album ‘The Queen of Kings County’ via Switch Hit Records on October 18th, 2024. The album, which was made with support from a prestigious grant by the NYFA Women’s Fund for Music, is a deeply personal homage to Warren’s hometown of Brooklyn. “This album emerges from the complex realities of Brooklyn, says Warren, “a place where dreams are pursued relentlessly against a backdrop of gentrification: affluence mixed with social struggle. Through my compositions and arrangements, I explore the rich tapestry of Black American Music including Brooklyn’s rich Caribbean heritage, blending feel-good melodies, improvisation, rap, and electronic elements to create a sound that is both reflective and revolutionary.”