The event I cannot attend this week, but you should, is the Thursday Night Concert Series presents: Ray Charles Tribute Band with Roger Hines.
The concert is part of the MAC's Black History Month celebration. Other events (past and to come) include: Art Off the Square's drumming circle with Freda Abbott-Ayodele and Yvonne Mumin before the Get Reel Film @ the MAC presented the documentary Give Me The Banjo last Sunday, and tonight at 7:30pm Worthington Kibourne High School Jazz Ensemble and Thomas Worthington High School Jazz Band, and the Grace Polaris Jazz Ensemble all perform different songs from big band, swing, and bebop jazz genres.
But this Thursday a band whose mission is to bring the joy of Ray Charles live performances is playing at the MAC.
If you click here, you'll be taken to a short article that highlights Hines's relationship with Ray Charles and why he felt compelled to form the tribute band. Many variations of Hines's fateful call from Ray Charles's road manager asking him to join their tour can be found on the internet, so I'm not going to talk about that. Instead I'll provide a list of reasons why I'd like to be there.
Reasons Why I Want To Go:
1. The Musicians Are Talented
Again, Hines you can google and will find lists of musicians he's played with, places he's taveled, festivals he's performed at, the whole shebang. The other musicians take a little more digging, but from what Youtube's told me, they're stellar and they've dedicated most of their life to their instruments and jazz music.
2. They Love What They Do
This might sound like a given or something you can say about every musician--and you're right. But for me, their passion for jazz and specifically Ray Charles's music, is a musical love I haven't experienced before. I've spent a few hours each week googling jazz music and musicians for Black History Month jazz themed tweets on the MAC's twitter and based on my findings jazz is distilled emotion. When a musician plays, the listener might as well be taking straight shots of emotion. There is something raw in their playing even when it isn't improvised because what the music makes everyone feel is of upmost importance. I expect this spirit and energy in their music Thursday.
3. Ray Charles Performance Legacy
Spirit and energy are what Ray Charles was known for during live performances. Heel kicking, key-slapping, head thrown back JOY is his thing. During songs his audience would absorb his excitement and joy causing a positive feedback loop where their excitement would make him even more energetic and visibly excited, in turn making their hearts warm and sun-shiny until they supernova-ed and set the stage on fire (basically). Ray Charles wanted everyone to feel as good as he felt while he played. The Ray Charles Tribute band isn't just about skilled performances of well written songs, it's about sharing Ray Charles energy and performance style with anyone who's loved it or is open to hearing it.
4. "The Genius"
I've known of Ray Charles and his music since I was fourteen when I saw a trailer for Ray. I'm sure many of his songs have been used in a number of TV shows or movies I've watched. But before this month, that was about it. If you don't know much about him besides what I've just told you, look him up! Man is cool. Did you know he basically created Soul music?! That he's written music in almost every American genre! (jazz, soul, country, blues, bluegrass, gospel, rhythm and blues, etc) And probably fused it with some other genre. He was an incredibly prolific songwriter and insanely good.
An opportunity to not only listen to his music, but performed live, by musicians who love this music and the man who wrote it, is something worth getting excited about.
Click the link on "Ray Charles Tribute Band with Roger Hines" for more information on the event and a link to buy pre-show tickets.
Have a good winter-weather week guys!
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