New York-based cornetist and composer Graham Haynes majored in music at Queens College. Graham has been known for his work in nu jazz, fusing jazz with elements of hip hop and electronic music. In the mid 80’s Haynes helped conceive the M-Base collective in New York. With the release of the album, What Time It Be?, Haynes spent the 1980s studying a wide range of African, Arabic, and South Asian music. After a move to Paris in 1990, Haynes produced and recorded the two CDs, Nocturne Parisian and Griot’s Footsteps. Haynes returned to New York City in 1993 to take advantage of the flourishing hip hop and break beat scene. Haynes is a member of the Vijay Iyer Sextet. Since 2010, his chamber works, “String Quartet no.1,” “prelude and Fugue for 5 Flutes,” and “Killing Time Carving Space” were premiered. Haynes, who with several colleagues, is a keeper of Conduction after Butch Morris’s passing in 2013. Haynes has led Conductions since 2013.
He has been an invited presenter at Columbia University (lecture on composition, 2013); Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, Alberta, Canada (master classes and workshops, 2013 and 2018); University of Bahia, Brazil (lecture, 2014), Città Studi Biella, Italia (workshop and concerts, 2013); the School of Jazz and Contemporary Music at The New School (master class, 2009; adjunct professor, 2010); and New York University.