Arts and Culture

Musicians and Entertainers Struggling During COVID-19 Pandemic – Part One

Published

4 years ago

June 17, 2020

Clifford L. Williams

Neicey “Living Single” Robinson, Bay Area vocalist, and entertainer. Photo courtesy of Neicey “Living Single” Robinson.

“I haven’t had a gig since early March of this year and things are looking even direr,” said Paul Tillman Smith, a Bay Area drummer and bandleader and executive director of the Bay Area Jazz Society (BAJAZZS).

Gig is slang for a musical engagement in which musicians are hired. Originally coined in the 1920s by jazz musicians the term, short for the word “engagement,” now refers to any aspect of performing from private parties to major festivals.

Smith and his fellow musicians have spent many years perfecting their crafts, and in most cases, their engagements in night clubs, corporate parties and music festivals represent their main source of income.

Even after California’s shelter-in-place is lifted, it will still be some time before musicians can once again get full-time work. It’s a fact that musicians are mostly hired to play for large gatherings, and because they don’t know how long social distancing will last, they are most likely to be last on the list in terms of resuming their normal workload.

Bay Area vocalist and entertainer Neicey “Living Single” Robinson noted that “the virus has gripped the Bay Area along with the rest of the nation, and there are limited opportunities to bring musical comfort, to help soothe the pain of what is happening in our communities during this difficult time.”

“Because of this pandemic, sadly, there is no guarantee when music employment will open back up in the Bay Area,” said Robinson. “However, I will say that musicians are creatively finding social media apps such as ZOOM and Facebook Live to communicate, keeping a connection with audiences.”

Smith said that the current environment of navigating through the COVID-19 crisis has made it difficult for Bay Area musicians to be confident about future work.

“Musicians who normally perform full time don’t pay into Social Security or have a pension plan,” said Smith. “It is very difficult to establish any savings unless you are in the 25% group who perform steadily with high-paying, well-established bands.

“This is why it is important for all of us who love music to help our beloved musicians survive through these trying times,” added Smith. “Consequently the BAJAZZS has created a beautiful album called the “Higher Power Project,” where 100% of the proceeds will go into a fund to help out Bay Area musicians.”

“I’ve decided to give the rights to this music to the BAJAZZS to help my fellow musicians and other artists, young and old, who find themselves unmercifully struggling in today’s economic climate.”

“It is ironic that this nonprofit project was in development before the arrival of the novel coronavirus,” said Jim Collins, BAJAZZS treasurer. “Because of the pandemic, it is even more important that we all support the BAJAZZS’s efforts to create a special fund to help our fellow musicians and their families who are not more than ever struggling in today’s economic and medical climate.”

Next week, Part Two of the Higher Power Project will focus on the musicians who helped to develop the CD and what it hopes to achieve. For more information, contact Paul Tillman Smith at 510-689-3332.

Clifford L. Williams

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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.

Published

2 days ago

April 17, 2024

Oakland Post

Dr. Carl Blake

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.”

Oakland Post

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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).

Published

2 months ago

February 24, 2024

Oakland Post

(L-R) Del Handy, John Handy, Roger Glenn, and Joe Warner celebrate John Handy Day at Geoffrey’s Inner Circle, Oakland. Photo by Lady Bianca.

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.

Oakland Post

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Arts and Culture

Musical Chronicling Life of Betty Reid Soskin Set for Bay Area Debut

Betty Reid Soskin’s storied 102 years includes time spent as a WWII defense worker, activist, business owner, songwriter, National Park Service park ranger and so much more. Now the Richmond icon is the subject of a musical based on her incredible life.

Published

2 months ago

February 24, 2024

Oakland Post

Betty Reid Soskin. Photo courtesy of Rosie the Riveter/WWII Home Front National Historical Park in Richmond.

The Richmond Standard

“Sign My Name to Freedom,” a San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Company (SFBATCO) production which will focus on the life, music and writing of Ms. Soskin, will premiere at San Francisco’s Z Space Friday, March 29 and continue through Saturday, April 13. Tickets range from $15–$65 and can be purchased online at https://www.sfbatco.org/smntf

The musical is directed by Elizabeth Carter, while playwright Michael Gene Sullivan integrates Ms. Soskin’s own music throughout dialogue between what SFBATCO calls “The Four Bettys” as they progress through a century of experiences of this awe-inspiring American woman.

The cast of “Sign My Name to Freedom” features Tierra Allen as Little Betty, Aidaa Peerzada as Married Betty, Lucca Troutman as Revolutionary Betty and Cathleen Riddley as Present Betty Reid Soskin, according to Artistic Director Rodney Earl Jackson Jr. and Managing Director Adam Maggio. Other casting will be announced in the future.

Jackson said that having Soskin’s blessing to steward her life’s story is an honor and career highlight for him and that her journey stands as “a beacon for Black Americans, women and people of color all across the world [and] is a testament to the strength of the human spirit.”