Semenya McCord at the Redstone Room -- February 22.
Sunday, February 22, 5 p.m.
The Redstone Room, 129 Main Street, Davenport IA
A jazz great with significant ties to the area makes a return appearance at Davenport's Redstone Room on February 22, with chanteuse, composer, and music educator Semenya McCord performing The Spiritual Face of Jazz in Polyrhythms' Third Sunday Jazz Workshop & Matinée Series, the concert event celebrating the positive and encouraging words and music of creative musicians throughout the genre's history.
McCord earned her bacherlor's degree in Music Education from Galesburg's Knox College, and her master's degree in Music at Northern Illinois University in 2006. She performed throughout New England for more than 25 years, presenting programs and residencies featuring spirituals, blues, traditional, and contemporary jazz for audiences of all ages through Young Audiences of Massachusetts, Inc., the Massachusetts Cultural Council, and the New England Foundation for the Arts, and has directed numerous community events that celebrate cultural diversity through the arts. Since 1982, McCord has directed annual tributes to the life and dream of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the music of Billie Holiday and Duke Ellington, and in 1988, she was cited “Outstanding Jazz Vocalist” by the Boston Music Awards, also receiving the 1990 Martin Luther King Jr. Award for Musical Excellence. McCord currently serves Allen Chapel A.M.E. Church as a steward and church secretary, as well as a certified “Evangelist” in the AME denomination, speaking and singing in ministry as well as participating with the Galesburg Area Ministerial Association.
A native of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Wilkins moved to Boston in the early 1970s, where he became known as a consummate music director and pianist, eventually earning a citation of merit from The Artists' Foundation in Boston, the Berklee College of Music's Composition Fellowship, and The Hank Jones Jazz Masters Award. Wilkins has also shared stages with talents including Angela Bofill, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Kevin Eubanks, and Archie Shepp, and his lauded career has found him playing the Newport Jazz Festival, Montreux Jazz Festival, and North Sea Jazz Festival, as well as making concert appearances in West Africa, Italy, Holland, Germany, Switzerland, and Mexico.
Polyrhythms' February 22 The Spiritual Face of Jazz concert with Semenya McCord will feature Manny Lopez on drums, Ron Wilson on bass, and Cory Kendrick on piano, and the 5 p.m. event will be preceded by a 3 p.m. “Jazz Demystifying” workshop. Admission is $20-30, and more information and tickets are available by calling (309)373-0790 or visiting Polyrhythms.org.
