The Trace It Back Ensemble is dedicated to performing music that is at the intersection of African music, jazz and hip hop, looking at how so much of popular contemporary music is rooted in centuries-old African sounds. In the way that jazz was created in New Orleans at the end of the 19th century after finding its roots in African rhythms, many musical genres that emerged in the 20th and 21st centuries relied on similar rhythm, improvisation, call and response, and storytelling traditions that can be traced back to West African musicians and griots. Afro-descendants in the African diaspora continue to play a major role in shaping diasporic sounds, and new genres have emerged, including dancehall, soca, funk, techno, house music, and grime. Hip hop, which celebrated its 50th year in 2023, and Afrobeats rely on traditional African drum beats, whether instrumental or electronic. Understanding instrumentation via the evolution of the driving drum beat rhythm is key to understanding these musical movements, and students will be invited to play instruments, create beats and rhyme over them. Specifically, the ensemble will consist of students playing the saxophone, bass, piano, and drums, in a quartet format. They will interpret various sounds from 3 different periods of jazz (traditional, bebop, and free jazz) while collaborating with a DJ and rapper. The Trace It Back Ensemble will perform twice, including a performance at the Mannes Sounds Festival, on May 2nd, 2024. By audition, at the instructor's discretion.