ABOUT

Writer and music producer, Michael Ladd was born in Boston MA. He received an MA in poetry from Boston University. He has published in several literary magazines including “Long Shot Review” and “Bostonia”. His work is also featured in the book Swing Low, Black Men Writing and several anthologies, including, Aloud: Voices from the Nuyorican Poets Café, In Defense of Mumia , Bum Rush The Page, Pour La Victoire , Everything But the Burden , Chorus: A Literary Mixtape and Rip It Up, Essays on Black Rock in the U.S.. Michael is the writer and producer of fourteen albums, among them, Easy Listening For Armageddon (Scratchie/Mercury records),  Negrophilia: The Album (Thirsty Ear), Father Divine (ROIR) The Infesticons, Bedford Park (Big Dada) and GAIN with Tyshawn Sorey, Jeff Parker and High Priest(RogueArt). He has performed at venues throughout the world including, The Apollo, The Metropolitan Museum, Erving Plaza, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Shepherd’s Bush Empire, Le Théâtre de Châtelet and L’Olympia in Paris.

As a Fellow at the Institute for Arts and Civic Dialogue at Harvard University,  Mr. Ladd produced and directed Blood Black and Blue, an audio documentary/performance about Black police officers in the United States. He is currently revisiting this project in collaboration with Philadelphia Mural Arts. He also Directed and produced in collaboration with the Kitchen, Domestica, a crooked opera. At the Asia Society, Ladd worked with pianist Vijay Iyer on In What Language, a project about people of color in relation to globalization in the context of airports. Their following project, Still Life With Commentator had its New York premiere at Brooklyn Academy of Music. Harlem Stage presented Holding it Down a song cycle dedicated to US. Veterans and Iraqis coming to terms with the past 10 years of war by examining their dreams. The recording of Holding it Down has received several awards including best Jazz recording in 2014 from SESAC and the Charles Cros award in France. In 2015, with composer Antoine Berjeaut Ladd created Wasteland/Satchmokovich an improvised concert and projection of Ladd’s graphic novel about Black Americans in the Soviet Union.

An incessant collaborator in recent years, Mike Ladd can be heard frequently on French radio stations with numerous projects spanning everything from Jazz to Hip Hop, Afrobeat to Punk to Pop. Since teaching at Sciences Po. in Paris, Ladd continues to work extensively with youth in Parisian suburbs such as Nanterre, Aubervilliers, Pantin and Saint Denis.