KQED: African American Composers Initiative a Local Musical Gem [Annual Benefit Concert January 27 and 28, 2018]

KQED

By Rachael Myrow

January 3, 2018

The African American Composers Initiative presents its annual benefit concert Jan. 27 and 28 at the Performing Arts Center of Eastside College Preparatory School in East Palo Alto. The program is called “Out of the Blues: The Gift of Song.”

There are works old, there are works new, and there are works new inspired by the old: spirituals by Roland Hayes, Hall Johnson, and Harry Burleigh, instrumental music by William Grant Still, songs and instrumentals by Chicago-based composer Regina Baiocchi, new works by John Robinson and Valerie Capers, as well as songs by Florence Price, Roxanna Wright, Andre Myers, Charles Brown, and Charles Lloyd, Jr.

Below is an excerpt from last year’s concert, from the ensemble performing Zenobia Powell Perry’s “I Gotta Move When the Spirit Say Move”:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BT-AhNXBlac

Published on May 9, 2017

Zenobia Powell Perry's I Gotta Move When the Spirit Say Move, based on Spirituals from her opera Tawawa House, was performed by the company on Saturday, January 28, and Sunday, January 29, 2017 during the concert “Let the Knowing Speak“ which took place at the Eastside College Preparatory School, Performing Arts Center in East Palo Alto, California, USA.

The concert included music by:

Margaret Bonds, Valerie Capers, Dizzy Gillespie, Jacqueline Hairston, Joshua McGhee, John H. Robinson III, Zenobia Powell Perry, Florence Price, Bobby Timmons, and Dolores White.