In the Strauss Black Box Theatre at the Kirkwood Performing Arts Center
Jazz artists, Dwayne Bosman and Dwight Bosman will delight the evening with the sounds of great jazz artists. Think jazz, think Bosman Twins. Enjoy Earl “Fatha” Hines, Count Basie, Duke Ellington and Lloyd Smith in an intimate arts experience in the Strauss Studio Series.
Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Dwayne’s and Dwight’s passion for jazz started at an early age. They grew up listening to the sounds of great jazz artists such as Earl “Fatha” Hines, Count Basie, Duke Ellington and Lloyd Smith, who was a well-known businessman and a side man in Basie’s and Ellington’s orchestras. Paula V. Smith, the twins’ mother and the first African American Administrator of the Wage and Hour Division for the U.S. Department of Labor under the Regan Administration, was also an avid jazz lover. Influenced by famous musicians, like family friends, Louis Armstrong, John Coltrane and Charlie Parker, by age 14 the twins were performing professionally as The Bosman Twins. Over the years, The Bosman Twins have shared their love of music and the stage with entertainment legends Freddie Cole, Branford Marsalis, Fontella Bass, Roy Ayers, David Peaston and the late trumpeter, Lester Bowie. Whether performing with their own band or accompanying other notable jazz professionals, their unique style and renditions of jazz, rhythm and blues, funk and gospel have earned them national and international acclaim.
In April of 2015, The “Legendary” Bosman Twins released their first album of original music, entitled When Lions Roar and from the album “Many Moons,” a cinematic jazz video was released. During their inaugural CD release weekend, The Bosman Twins sold out all 4 shows at The Ferring Jazz Bistro, inside the Harold and Dorothy Steward Center for Jazz.
The Bosman Twins are extremely proud and grateful for awards and recognitions received and opportunities provided to share their music with the rest of the world. Most recently, they received three distinguished awards. In January 2016. The Bosman Twins received the prestigious Excellence in the Arts from the St. Louis Arts and Education Council, and in November of 2015, they were inducted into the St. Louis Jazz Hall of Fame and received the George Smith Diversity Award from the Musicians’ Association of St. Louis Local 2-187. In 2009 The Bosman Twins received the Legend Award from the St. Louis Argus Foundation and were recognized by the St. Louis City Chapter of the NAACP as being among the “100 Most Inspiring St. Louisians”. In May of 2010, The Bosman Twins traveled to Stuggart, Germany with City of St. Louis Mayor, Francis Slay and delegation, where they opened The American Days Festival at the U.S. Consulate General performing for DPO Doria Rosen and other illustrious guests. These distinguished gentlemen of jazz are composers, arrangers, recording and performing artists who share in the legacy and tradition of great jazz through education, creativity and innovation. The Bosman Twins are true ambassadors of music.
