Kimmel Center Presents Introduces The Blues: with Henry Butler and Corey Harris on the Mellon Jazz Up Close: The Roots of Jazz Series
November 7, 2006
Four-time W.C. Handy "Best Blues Instrumentalist –Piano" award nominee Henry Butler performs The Blues with American blues revivalist Corey Harris on the Kimmel Center Mellon Jazz Up-Close Series on Saturday, December 2 at 7:30pm. Since the 2000 collaboration with Corey Harris on the duo album, Vu-du Menz, New Orleans native Henry Butler and Corey Harris have spent the next several years touring together. A griot for modern times, Delta blues-influenced guitarist/vocalist Corey Harris is constantly touring the United States and abroad; his music bridges the traditions of the blues in the United States with Africa, including the sounds of an ancient, one-string fiddle, njarka, and West African calabash percussion.
An Artist Chat will take place in Perelman Theater during the intermission of the ticketed performance of The Blues. Henry Butler, Corey Harris, and Danilo Pérez, Artistic Advisor of Mellon Jazz Up Close will discuss the roots of The Blues.
This concert is the second performance in the Mellon Jazz Up-Close Series: The Roots of Jazz. The next concert in this series is Spirituals: with Brian Blade on Saturday, February 10, 2007 at 7:30pm.
Tickets for The Blues: With Henry Butler and Corey Harris are priced at $43 and $37, and can be purchased by calling 215-893-1999, online at www.kimmelcenter.org, or at the Kimmel Center box office, open daily from 10am to 6pm and later on performance evenings. (Additional fees may apply.) For group sales call 215-893-5883.
A limited number of $10 tickets are available for every Kimmel Center Presents performance at the Kimmel Center. Tickets go on sale the day of the event and can be purchased at the Kimmel Center box office beginning 2.5 hours prior to curtain time and 11:30am for matinees. Limit one ticket per person.
Henry Butler is a master of musical diversity, driven to evolve his musical interests regardless of any challenge. Blinded from birth by glaucoma, Butler has mastered the baritone horn, valve trombone and drums, in addition to the piano at the Louisiana State School for the Blind in Baton Rouge. He has been classically trained in jazz styling, yet elicits a unique sound all his own—full of Caribbean, classical, pop, blues and R&B harmonies, and percussive jazz piano influences. As a youngster, Butler began formal vocal training in the eleventh grade, and went on to sing German lieder, French and Italian art songs and operatic arias at Southern and Michigan State Universities, earning a Masters degree in oral music. He has taught music workshops throughout the country and initiated a number of different educational projects, including a residential jazz camp at Missouri State School for the Blind and a program for blind and visually impaired students at the University of New Orleans. Influential Jazz clarinetist and Michigan University teacher Alvin Batiste mentored Butler, and encouraged him to explore Brazilian, Afro-Cuban and other Caribbean music. With Batiste’s help, Butler successfully applied for National Endowment for the Arts grants to study with keyboard players George Duke, then with Cannonball Adderly’s Quintet, and the late Sir Roland Hanna.
While his early albums were jazz trio recordings featuring such top-notch instrumentalists as Charlie Haden and Billy Higgins, on Fivin’Around in 1986, Henry Butler became immersed in New Orleans music and the blues by 1990. His album Orleans Inspiration (1990), was followed by Blues And More (1992), among several others, including the eclectic blues rock album, The Game Has Just Begun (2002), and the recent R&B and blues influenced Homeland (2004).
Corey Harris pursued his love for blues music after studying anthropology at Bates College, and traveling to Cameroon in the early 1990s. In Cameroon, he explored the connection of language to social realities and music in a complex, post-colonial setting. Upon his return to the United States, Harris was determined to make it as a blues musician. In 1995, Harris shook up the blues scene with his debut release Between Midnight and Day. In Harris’s Rounder Records debut, Downhome Sophisticate (2002), he stretched his songwriter abilities, and merged blues, African pop, rock with electronica. In 2003, Harris was cast in the starring role of Martin Scorsese’s PBS series The Blues, which required travel to Mali and explored the link between African music and the blues. The series prompted Harris to produce his sixth album Mississippi to Mali in 2003; a project that elicited a return to Mali to work with the "king" of African blues, Ali Farka Touré. Harris is currently touring the United States.
As a Free in the Plaza event, regional tuba and euphonium players will perform holiday favorites at the Kimmel Center’s Commonwealth Plaza stage as part of the Tuba Christmas! holiday celebration on December 2, 2006 at the at 1:30pm. Musicians interested in participating are encouraged to bring their decorated instrument/s and folding stand/lyre to the auditorium of the Gershman Y located on 401 S. Broad Street for registration at 10:30am on December 2. Rehearsal will follow at 11:30am, followed by the performance on the Kimmel Center’s Commonwealth Plaza stage at 1:30pm. Tuba Christmas music will be available at registration and there will be a small registration fee. Enchantment Theater Company will also be performing on the Commonwealth Plaza stage on Saturday, December 2, 2006 at 11am, as part of the Free in the Plaza-PNC Grow Up Great initiative. The company performs selections from the inspiring classic tale Beauty and the Beast and uses a special blend of magic, mask, pantomime, puppetry and original music- all perfect for ages one to four. Both Free in the Plaza events are followed by the Vienna Choir Boys ticketed performance in Verizon Hall.
Kimmel Center Presents' 2006/2007 season is supported by: Mellon Financial Corporation, University of Pennsylvania Health System, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, ARC Wheeler, The William Penn Foundation, The Presser Foundation, Philadelphia Music Project and Dance Advance, Initiatives of The Pew Charitable Trust administered by The University of the Arts. American Airlines is the Official Airline of Kimmel Center Presents. Toyota is the Official Vehicle of Kimmel Center Presents Jazz and World Pop programming. NBC-10 is a Media Partner for Kimmel Center Presents. The Philadelphia Inquirer, the Philadelphia Daily News, and Philly.com are media sponsors for the Great Orchestras on Tour series.
KIMMEL CENTER PRESENTS
Saturday, December 2, 2006 | 7:30pm
Perelman Theater
The Blues
Henry Butler, piano
Corey Harris, guitar
*********
FREE AT THE KIMMEL
Saturday, December 2 | 11am
Commonwealth Plaza Stage | Free in the Plaza—PNC Grow Up Great
Enchantment Theater Company
Company performs selections from the inspiring classic tale Beauty and the Beast, using a special blend of magic, mask, pantomime, puppetry and original music. Prior to Vienna Choir Boys ticketed performance in Verizon Hall.
Saturday, December 2 | 1:30pm
Commonwealth Plaza Stage | Free in the Plaza
Tuba Christmas
The annual Tuba Christmas returns to the Kimmel Center and has grown exponentially each year since. All players should bring a folding stand/lyre and decorate your instruments! Registration takes place at 10:30am at the Gershman Y auditorium located at 401 S. Broad Street, followed by a rehearsal at 11:30am. There will be a small registration fee. For more information on Tuba Christmas, visit www.tubachristmas.com. Followed by the Vienna Choir Boys ticketed concert in Verizon Hall at 3pm.
> index of news releases
> For more information, and to request high resolution images for press use, please
send us a message online.