JUNETEENTH JAZZ
Two-part show at Albuquerque Museum marks holiday
Two shows, same stage, same evening celebrate the holiday of Juneteenth. The holiday commemorates the announcement made on June 19, 1865, in Galveston, Texas, that the slaves were emancipated.
The two shows, under the heading of Juneteenth Under the Stars, are “African Roots of Jazz” and “Dangerous Creation: A Tribute to Johnny Otis.”
Sina Soul Queen is the lead vocalist and production director of “African Roots of Jazz.”
“The program has evolved since 1996, when I was at Brown University. But it has the same concepts — polyrhythm, integration of jazz standards or my original tunes with indigenous African rhythms and African dance,” she said. “This year, we’re integrating the concept of Kwanzaa.”
She and Hakim Bellamy, the show’s griot/poet and a former Albuquerque poet laureate, curated the program. Rujeko Dumbutshena choreographed the dances.
Zenobia and Tracey Whitney are the lead vocalists and co-curators of the second half of the show.
“Doing a tribute to Johnny Otis was a vision of mine. I tucked it away for a long time,” Zenobia said. “I was born in Los Angeles, as was Tracey and as was Johnny Otis.”
Otis was a rock ’n’ roll and R&B singer/musician, a bandleader, composer, producer, and DJ who died in 2012. Zenobia said she wanted to also honor Otis for his support and discovery of black artists such as Etta James, Jackie Wilson and Little Esther Phillips.
“He did all these wonderful things for people, these people whose background was church, who came out to sing and all the people who benefited from the experience (of knowing him),” she said.
The set, Zenobia said, opens with “Harlem Nocturne,” which was a hit for Otis’ big band, and it will close with Otis’ “Willie and the Hand Jive.”
“Hopefully, we’ll teach the audience how to do all the moves (to Hand Jive). And we’re looking to share his history.”