Harriet Tubman and Jazz:
A Lecture/Demonstration by Marcus Shelby
with guest moderator Orbert Davis
Monday, April 9
5:30-7:30 P.M.
Jane Addams Hull-House Museum
Residents Dining Hall
800 S. Halsted St.
Event is free, but seating is limited. For reservations, call 312.413.5353.
If you have a disability and need additional accomodations to attend this event, please inform us at the time of reservation.
Join us at the Jane Addams Hull-House Museum for a performance by renowned jazz musician Marcus Shelby of his new work on the life of Harriet Tubman. This performance will consist of segments from an original secular oratorio for jazz orchestra and chorus composed and written by Marcus Shelby during a 2006 residency at Stanford University through the Committee on Black Performing Arts.
Marcus Shelby further developed the oratorio and added a curriculum to the project of which “Harriet Tubman and Jazz” is a component. The intent of the curriculum is to use an innovative approach to teaching the history of jazz by engaging Harriet Tubman's heroic story as a metaphor for the development of the music's form. Her unique relationship to music empowered her to fight for freedom, justice, and equal rights for all--the true essence of democracy. “Harriet Tubman and Jazz” includes an historical perspective on Harriet Tubman, her relationship to the history of jazz, and a live presentation of the oratorio reduced for jazz quartet and one vocalist.
The oratorio tells the compelling story of Harriet Tubman, a genuine American hero, a woman who rose out of humble beginnings, escaped slavery, and dedicated her life to challenging the grave injustices in her day. Working on the Underground Railroad, Tubman personally led 70 slaves out of bondage at great risk to her own life, and helped dozens more to freedom. During the Civil War, she led raids for the Union and served as a nurse. After Emancipation, Tubman turned her great energy toward the woman's suffrage movement, again helping to push our nation to live up to its responsibility to stand for true civil rights for all. Throughout her life, this courageous woman worked to unite American women and men of all colors and classes in a common struggle for liberty.
Shelby's oratorio is a composition for orchestra and voice and will feature the MSJO and several Bay Area vocalists. Yerba Buena Arts & Events along with The Museum of the African Diaspora will partner with Shelby in the development and presentation of this work currently set to premiere at the Yerba Buena Gardens Festival in Spring 2007—but you can see this sneak-preview at the Hull-House Museum on April 9th at 5:30 in the Residents' Dining Hall!
Orbert Davis, renowned jazz trumpeter, composer and associate professor of performing arts at UIC will moderate the conversation after the performance.
Click here for more information regarding the Creative Work Fund , Yerba Buena Gardens Festival and M.o.A.D. (Museum of the African Diaspora). Click here to get more information about the Fellowship with the Committee on Black Performing?Arts , Stanford University and the Harriet Tubman curriculum .