AsherMundo Nonet Featuring Hakim Bellamy

The AsherMundo Nonet is expanding from an earlier vision that guitarist John Maestas and bassist Asher Barreras had about “creating your scene” and drawing from the sound and personalities of each player.  Their material ranges from original compositions in the modern high-energy swing idiom to Latin Jazz with a new twist, to J Dilla hip hop beats arranged for the Nonet. Approaching the music “with our friends in mind,” the band’s composers seek to establish an honest personal sound while staying true to the tradition of swinging hard. The Nonet features Asher Barreras, bass; Claudio Tolousse, guitar; Paul Palmer III- drums; Camilo Quiñonez, percussion; Kanoa Kaluhiwa and Aaron Lovato, tenor saxophones; Paul Gonzales, trumpet; César Bauvallet, trombone; and John Funkhouser, piano.  Hakim Bellamy, who served as the Inaugural Poet Laureate for the City of Albuquerque (2012-2014), is an award-winning author, actor, musician public speaker, television host and educator. He has been widely published, has received many awards and has shared his poetry in five countries. A Kennedy Center Citizen Artist Fellow (2017) and a W. K. Kellogg Foundation Community Leadership Network Fellow (2014-2017), he is also the founding president of Beyond Poetry LLC and served as Deputy Director for the City of Albuquerque Department of Arts & Culture from 2018 to 2022.