00:09

well I think a good place to start is to

00:13
talk about my relationship with Durham
00:14
it's a city that I've slowly fallen in
00:18
love with every trip that I've gotten to
00:21
come and visit over the past few years
00:25
first I was invited by Duke University
00:27
just to do a master class and play a
00:29
concert and you know I didn't really
00:33
know anything about it but I soon found
00:36
out that it's it's a really hip place of
00:38
a vibrant culture it's got a whole scene
00:40
of young musicians who were really
00:42
anxious about the music so it just
00:45
struck me as one of those special places
00:47
you keep hearing about all the great
00:49
musicians and artists who live here and
00:51
that there's there's a really special
00:53
thriving scene here and being asked to
00:59
do this piece by Duke has actually shown
01:04
me that there's a really rich musical
01:08
legacy here as well I got involved with
01:10
the project through Duke performances
01:13
I've had a relationship with with do
01:15
performances in Harran Greenwald for
01:17
well over a decade from my days with the
01:20
classical theatre of Harlem and he
01:22
reached out to me saying that he had
01:23
this this new piece exploring the
01:27
Piedmont blues and that he had
01:29
commissioned Gerald Clayton to develop
01:31
this this piece and would I be
01:33
interested in coming on board to to
01:36
direct it I think on the one hand this
01:38
this is a simply a concert a a
01:41
performance but on the other hand it's
01:44
it's it's a project that really points
01:47
to a musical history and a people that's
01:50
that's been arguably forgotten my
01:53
process has always been one of
01:57
collecting and gathering and soaking in
02:01
music and then the rest kind of takes
02:04
care of itself so the first thing that
02:07
really spoke to me as far as the
02:09
Piedmont tradition was
02:11
was listening to Elizabeth cotton and
02:14
recognizing a certain humility in her
02:17
expression that that literally brought
02:20
me to tears and moments like that are
02:24
sort of a light bulb let's say this is
02:26
this is what this project is about this
02:28
is what I'm trying to take and present
02:31
to people when I started doing research
02:34
on this project my understanding of the
02:37
Piedmont blues was like any other layman
02:40
you know it was kind of abstract it was
02:42
based on the narratives that surround
02:43
the music and it wasn't until I met Tim
02:47
Duffy at the music maker foundation that
02:51
I got a chance to actually meet the
02:53
elders who are left over from this
02:54
tradition to hang with John D Holman and
02:57
blue Hanks and iron board Sam and Al
03:01
Jame Hinton and to to laugh with them to
03:05
you know to to sit with them and just to
03:09
be in their presence and to see them
03:11
express themselves on their instruments
03:14
that was a it's a really profound
03:16
experience and I think it was a light
03:21
bulb it sort of showed me that this is
03:23
what this piece is about these are the
03:25
lives that were paying homage to and it
03:29
wouldn't feel right to leave them out of
03:31
the piece so the process thus far has
03:33
been spending time in Durham and so we
03:38
have done a handful of research trips
03:40
which have included spending time with
03:43
some of the elders of the tradition we
03:46
have basically listened as they've told
03:51
us their story through music
03:53
and we've been capturing all of this on
03:54
film which will become part of the
03:58
visual aspect of the project so we're
04:01
cutting together for lack of a better
04:04
term a series of music videos if you
04:07
will that will be projected during the
04:10
the performance I can see the evening
04:13
sort of breaking down into the narrative
04:16
breaking down into three main parts the
04:18
struggle the language of the people
04:22
and the flight of the Blues afterwards
04:26
and within that you know if you want to
04:30
say about two or three songs per section
04:33
that leaves us at about you know eight
04:36
to nine songs altogether Liz Wright is
04:39
an absolute angel and musician a
04:43
vocalist that I've admired for many
04:44
years and only had the chance to make
04:47
music with on a handful of occasions so
04:52
I'm really excited at the chance to
04:53
explore our connection further and we
04:58
got a chance to get together and sort of
05:00
look at all of the material that I've
05:02
been gathering and the research that
05:04
I've been doing on this project and I
05:08
could just see her light up you know she
05:09
I think this really speaks to her
05:12
because she's a native of the region and
05:16
she's doing her own research into the
05:18
the folklore into the music of North
05:21
Carolina so it seems like it's a match
05:24
made in heaven
05:25
the project is commissioned by Duke
05:27
performances with Coe commissioning
05:29
support from Strathmore the Savannah
05:32
Music Festival and the modeling Center
05:34
all amazing institutions who have been
05:38
incredibly supportive of the idea the
05:40
arm of the Blues is very far-reaching
05:42
you know that it's it's affected so many
05:46
art forms and it's a testament that the
05:51
Blues is not just a style of music but
05:53
an actual philosophy you know an
05:56
expression of an entire culture and its
06:00
relevance is sort of never-ending and
06:04
you know a lot of people have have put
06:08
in really hard work on preserving that
06:11
and and reminding people that that the
06:13
Blues is at the core of everything and I
06:15
think this is another chance for us to
06:17
point to a language that stemmed out of
06:19
that same expression as it relates to
06:22
this specific region I think it's it's
06:24
important work