Arts and Culture
Paramount New Year’s Eve Soul Jam Evokes the 1970s with The Stylistics, Delfonics and Chi-Lites
The Paramount will be fully lit for a New Year’s Eve celebration with the 70’s Soul Jam, featuring The Stylistics, Chi-Lites featuring Marshall Thompson, William Hart’s Delfonics and Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes.
According to the event’s promoter, Lionel Bea, the concert will be an experience to remember with the best of R&B from “back in the day”. “In the Bay Area, we are accustomed to great music and entertainment and this year we wanted to do something different. We are celebrating the best in R&B, as well as ringing in the new year,” said Bea.
The concert’s headliner, The Stylistics, are looking forward to the celebration. Originally patterned after the Temptations in the late 60’s, the five-member group went from the streets of Philadelphia to booking world tours. From their greatest hits like, “Bet You By Golly Wow”, “Break Up to Make Up” and “You’re a Big Girl Now”, The Stylistics boast nearly five decades in the business and have created music for several generations.
Currently touring in Japan, lead vocalist, Airrion Love, took time out to discuss their legendary sound and success.
“Recording great music has been our key to longevity,” he said. “We were lucky to have recorded great songs produced by Thom Bell. I believe that’s the reason our music is still so popular.”
While Love has had a whirlwind life travelling the world, sharing music, he is very aware of the healing power of music and its impact in good and bad times.
“Unfortunately, our political climate has separated us across all lines, and in most cases, the love of music is the only thing that brings us together.”
Love says that he sees the emotions of audience members while performing and depending on the space they are in emotionally, the music often brings them to a specific moment in time.
“When we perform, I see the tears and laughter in people’s eyes, even singing the same songs. At some point, in those people’s lives, our music made them laugh and made some even cry.”
Whether laughing or crying, Love says their music brings people together.
“Regardless of the response, during our concerts the music brings about unity. I had someone tell me they went to our show with their ex-husband and sitting there together, listening to our songs, made them realize how much they cared about each other at that time. And they ended up re-marrying. I think that says something about the power of music.”
Love says they have a project in the works and to look out for new music in 2019.
The 70’s Soul Jam at the Paramount featuring The Stylistics, Chi-Lite, The Delfonics, and Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes begins at 7:30 pm on December 31. Purchase tickets at the Paramount Theater or Ticketmaster.
Arts and Culture
Kedrick Armstrong: New Music Director for the Oakland Symphony
The Oakland Symphony Announced Kedrick Armstrong as its Next Music Director. In addition to conducting the orchestra’s public concerts, Armstrong will also actively participate in the Oakland Symphony’s many education and community engagement programs, designed to inspire a love of music in people of all ages.
By Post Staff
The Oakland Symphony Announced Kedrick Armstrong as its Next Music Director.
In addition to conducting the orchestra’s public concerts, Armstrong will also actively participate in the Oakland Symphony’s many education and community engagement programs, designed to inspire a love of music in people of all ages.
Armstrong is the successor to previous music director and Conductor Michael Morgan, who passed away in 2021 after a 30-year tenure at the Symphony.
Armstrong will open the Oakland Symphony 2024-2025 season on October 18.
Armstrong, who is 29 and hails from Georgetown, South Carolina, is currently the creative partner and principal conductor of the Knox-Galesburg Symphony.
The Chicago Tribune has praised Armstrong for his ability to “simply let the score speak for itself.” He enjoys a wide range of repertoire, spanning early music to premiering new works, using his joy and curiosity for all music to cultivate understanding and collaboration within diverse communities.
“I am deeply honored and grateful for the opportunity to serve as the new music director of the Oakland Symphony,” Armstrong said. “As a Black conductor, I find it humbling to stand on the shoulders of both Michael Morgan and Calvin Simmons,” the most recent and the first African American music directors of the Symphony, respectively.
Armstrong led three programs at the Symphony between 2022 and early 2024, which showcased his broad knowledge of the classical repertoire and enthusiasm for spotlighting diverse voices.
On his Oakland Symphony subscription debut on Feb. 16, Armstrong led the world premiere of “Here I Stand: Paul Robeson,” an oratorio by Carlos Simon on a libretto by Dan Harder, commissioned by the Oakland Symphony.
Armstrong was selected unanimously by the Oakland Symphony’s board of directors and musicians after an extensive two-year search. “The search committee was overwhelmed by Kedrick’s scholarship and curiosity about all kinds of music, from classical and jazz to gospel and hip-hop,” said. Dr. Mieko Hatano, executive director of the Oakland Symphony. “We are thrilled to have him join us at the Oakland Symphony.”
Arts and Culture
Faces Around the Bay Dr. Carl Blake, Pianist
Born in Liberty, Missouri, Carl Blake, a virtuoso and respected pianist, made his most recent migration to the East Bay in 1999. One might have seen him performing recently at Noontime Concerts in San Francisco, or at the Piedmont Center for the Arts in Oakland. He is Director of Music at The Church for the Fellowship of All Peoples in San Francisco. He was also co-organizer and collaborative pianist at Herbst Theater for The Majesty of the Spirituals concert in 2022 and has held several church positions in the Bay Area.
By Barbara Fluhrer
Born in Liberty, Missouri, Carl Blake, a virtuoso and respected pianist, made his most recent migration to the East Bay in 1999.
One might have seen him performing recently at Noontime Concerts in San Francisco, or at the Piedmont Center for the Arts in Oakland. He is Director of Music at The Church for the Fellowship of All Peoples in San Francisco. He was also co-organizer and collaborative pianist at Herbst Theater for The Majesty of the Spirituals concert in 2022 and has held several church positions in the Bay Area.
Blake obtained a Bachelor of Music from Boston University and continued post-baccalaureate studies in Jamaica before earning a Master of Arts in Music at San Jose State University. He was the recipient of two Fulbright residencies in Honduras and completed a third residency at the University of St. Petersburg in Russia. He has a Doctor of Musical Arts from Cornell University.
At age 19, Blake, then an undergraduate piano major at Boston University, was “discovered” by Impresario Dr. W. Hazaiah Williams, who is the Founder and Director of Today’s Artists/Four Seasons Arts.
Williams honored Blake by awarding him the first Marian Anderson Young Artist Award. Anderson personally presented the award at the Masonic Auditorium in S.F. Subsequently, Blake was presented by Dr. Williams in his San Francisco debut at The Herbst Theatre. Williams subsidized a year of study abroad for Blake at the Paris Conservatory of Music. Additionally, Williams sponsored Blake’s New York Weill Hall debut, where he has performed twice since. Blake performed several times at the Yachats Music Festival in Oregon.
Blake continues to perform nationally and abroad. His hobbies are reading, baking and travel. He says, “I’m still pumping ivories, as Belgian pianist Jeanne Stark described the disciplined practice of concert piano.”
Arts and Culture
Oakland Jazz Great Offers Master Class as City Declares “John Handy Day”
World-renowned jazz master saxophonist John Handy, a McClymond’s High School graduate, was presented with a Mayor of Oakland Proclamation declaring Feb. 12, as John Handy Day in the city. Handy is most notably known as the featured saxophonist for Charles Mingus on “Goodbye Pork Pie Hat” from the album “Mingus Ah Um” (1959) and on “Hard Work” from his own album “Hard Work” (1976).
By Conway Jones
World-renowned jazz master saxophonist John Handy, a McClymond’s High School graduate, was presented with a Mayor of Oakland Proclamation declaring Feb. 12, as John Handy Day in the city.
Handy is most notably known as the featured saxophonist for Charles Mingus on “Goodbye Pork Pie Hat” from the album “Mingus Ah Um” (1959) and on “Hard Work” from his own album “Hard Work” (1976).
“John Handy is a jazz icon and an inspiration to musicians everywhere,” said Ayo Brame, a 16-year-old Oakland tenor saxophone player who is enrolled at the Oakland School for the Arts.
In celebration of this day, the reception in downtown Oakland at Geoffrey’s Inner Circle was a gathering of artists, young and old, coming together in his honor and celebrating his 91st birthday.
Handy presented a Saxophone Colossus free masterclass for musicians. This class afforded a rare opportunity to learn about the saxophone from an aficionado. The class was free and open to all – saxophonists, vocalists, aficionados, students, and casual listeners.
“As a longtime friend for over 60 years, and fellow musician who has had numerous opportunities to share the stage with John, it has always been a pleasure performing with him and hearing his creative interpretations of the music and his gift of ease inspiring the next generation of jazz musicians,” said Roger Glenn, a multi-instrumentalist.
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