Cl)e Cljarlotte
THURSDAY, August 22, 1996
1 BIARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
“The Gathering of Spirits”
Arican Hornbiil
By Winfred B. Cross
THE CHARLOTTE POST
You owe it to yourself to
check out the Afro-American
Cultural Center’s terrific
“Evidence of a Culture:
Breaking the Silence” art
exhibit which ends this week
end.
Really, you should.
The exhibit is a semi-annual
event the Center started in ‘94
to give the state’s artists a
chance to make their work
known. That year the Center
sent out invitations for slides.
About 25 artists responded
and 15 were picked for the
show.
“This year Vanessa Thaxton,
the associate curator at the
Hampton University Museum
in Hampton, Va., servered as
juror,” said Harry Harrison,
program director for the cen
ter. “We sent out about 400
invitations and got about 35
responses. They brought in
their work and 19 made the
cut.”
The show’s diversity is as
amazing as some of the work.
Paintings dominate the 30
pieces on display, but most are
mixed media. All are interest
ing. One of the most interest
ing is Quentin Currie’s “In My
Father’s Name,” a depiction of
an old-tme baptism. The
image of the preacher is huge
and imposing, taking up most
of the canvas. The candidate
for baptism is held by the
preacher. Both are faceless,
but you feel the emotion of the
event.
“The work seen here records
my investigation - both of
process and aesthetics,” Currie
says in the exhibit’s brochure.
“It represents what is essen
tially a lifelong journey of self-
expressive creativity. This
journey’s emphasis centers
around the search for visual
language that allows one to
speak with the prity and hon
esty of earlier enlightened
artists.”
As impressive is Carl E.
Kami-Bain’s “The Gathering
of the Spirits.” The faces are
mask-like, Karni-Bain’s
favorite type of face. It’s impos
ing as well, but in a different
way. It overpowers the senses,
serenely.
“Everyone wears a mask,”
Karni-Bain said. “I enjoy
painting the mask because of
the emotional stages it
reflects, whether it be the
artist’s or the viewer’s. The
mask’s outer expression con
ceals, exposes, protects and
attacks.”
Other paintings to be seen
are Pauline Dove’s “Mixed
Metaphor,” Willie Bigelow’s
“Blues Trumpeter,” and
Dwayne McKinnon’s
“Indignation,” made entirely of
leather.
Photographs also make up a
large part of the exhibit. Walt
Davis’ “Father and Son” is one
of the largest, measuring 11
inches by 14 inches. He took it
in West Aftrica, a place he
holds in high esteem.
“African culture has been
suppressed tremendously in
America, and often mis-repre-
sented in the media,” Davis
said. “I felt it was time that
some one should see the other
side of an untapped cultural
rich world of West Africa. Let
it be truth. Let it be clear evi
dence that there is a culture in
place. A picture may be worth
a thousand words, thus the
visual silence is broken.”
Adams, Brown add spice to Ovens
Oleta Adams
By Winfred B. Cross
THE CHARLOTTE POST
P atrons looking for
power, grace and
unadulturated smooth
ness need to go no further, than
Ovens Auditorium this weekend.
That’s where Oleta Adams and
Norman Brown will be.
Adams is headlining the 8 p.m.
Saturday concert. Brown is her
special guest.
Special may not accurately
describe how good this concert
will probably be.
Adams voice came known to
the music world when she was
guest vocalist on Tears For Fears
album Sowing the Seeds of
Love. Her sultry rich alto made
that album spectacular.
Soon afterwards Adams offered
her first solo effort Circle of
One (☆☆☆☆ out of five), a
breath of fresh air amongst a
pelthora of mediocre works
released the same year. Included
on the release was “Get Here,” a
stiJMttng tune of overwhelming
lor^Hg and committment. It
was a breakthrough hit that
climbed slowly to the Top 10 on
both pop and r&b charts. It was
the single that established her
as a force in music.
Adams progressed to the
highly underrated Evolution,
(☆☆☆ 1/2 out of five) a melan
choly tribute to torch singing.
The tone was somber, almost
brooding. It featured a heart
felt rendering of Billy Joel’s “A
New York^^ate of Mind.”
Adams’s vtMe shimmered as
she delivered Joel’s lyrics. She
sang it as if she wrote it.
Adams latest release Moving
On (☆☆☆ 1/2) takes her to dif
ferent ground - happy music.
Well, happy compared to
Evolution or any other Adams
album for that matter. It has a
decidedly more pop flavor but
it’s still clearly Adams. The
first single, “Never Knew
Love,” produced by Vassel
Benford, is a bouncy, nearly
giddy song that dances along
on an almost hip-hop beat.
But it’s her mastery of bal
lads that makes her fans
happy. The title song is one of
those big and meaty ballads,
on which Adams sinks her
voice into euid makes her own.
She does the same with “I
Knew You When,” a haunting
song that she sings with unbri
dled passion.
“This album is a real attempt
to step outside myself and try
some new Ibings.” Adams
said. “'The encouragement I’ve
received to take more respon
sibility uii myseif has led to an
album that not only sees me
take control over complete
songs for the first time, but
one which, I think, re-empha
sizes my r&b heritage.”
Adams even co-produced two
of the work’s best songs, “New
Star” and “You Need To Be
Loved.”
Adams will be complimented
by Brown, a supremely gifted
guitarist. Brown’s first CD
Just Between Us, was the first
to be released on Motown’s
new label MoJazz. It included
such Motown luminaries as
Boyz II Men and Stevie
Wonder. The three combined ^
for a remake of Wonder’s “Too
High.”
Brown’s second release After
The Storm, made him a
household name among a lot of
contemporary jazz fans. It
included a expertly done
remake of Luther Vandross’
“Any Love.” Brown’s nimble
fingering brought a new mean
ing to the song, not' an easy
task to achieve on a Vandross
song. Brown also tackled
Janet Jackson’s “That’s The
Way Love Goes.” Again, his
angelic tone made the song
fresh and breezy.
After The Storm has logged
more than 115 weeks on
Billboard’s Contemporary Jazz
Chart, a huge accomplishment
for a still-new artist. It also
won awards from the Gavin
Report and Soul Train.
Brown’s latest Better Days
Ahead, may hold just that for
him. It is a superb follow up to
his near-gold sophomore set. It
contains the same kind of
warm and friendly music-the
kind you listen to as you sit by
the fire and reflect.
“It’s just been an evolution
ary process,” Brown said. “All
of those three areas, the writ
ing, the producing and the
pla5dng have all evolved and
grown, which sets up a basis
for my career.”
Brown includes another
remake, this time borrowing
from sex balladeer R. Kelly.
Brown takes “Your Body’s
Calling” and makes it into a
good listening experience.
Brown started playing the
guitar at 8 in his Kansas City
I hometown. He’s the only musi-
^cian in his family, but his
father loved jazz while his
mother listened to gospel and
blues. His brother and sister
listened to r&b, thus giving
Brown a well- rounded musi
cal palete.
George Benson is one of
Brown’s greatest influences.
He’s been compared to Benson
on many occasions but doesn’t
take offense.
“Benson was a specialist,” he
said. “He popularized jazz gui
tar in contemporary pop
music. The combination of
sounds intrigued me so much
that I had to explore it further.
“But the only real similarity
is that I play a Benson-
designed guitar so the physical
See JAZZ Page 2B
Cover
Cover
By Jeri Young
THE CHARLOTTE POST
“The truth is that I walked away from Laurens and Division
streets that night with only one ambition,” writes Kweisi
Mfiime. “To turn my life around.”
In what will surely be controversial new autobiography “No
Free Ride: From the Mean Streets to the Mainstream,”
NAACP President and CEO, Kweisi Mfume shares his life
story and offers a glimmer of hope for even the most “lost
brother.”
Mfume shares his struggles, his triumphs and tragedies and
in the process becomes even more human and more accessible.
But Mfume’s struggle is more than just a black man’s con
quering of the American Dream. It is a journey from rural
Maryland to inner city Baltimore and finally to Capital Hill,
through the eyes of yet another African American statistic.
In No Free Ride, Mfume, with the aid of journalist and
author Ron Stodghill, II, Mfiime does more than just capture
one man’s odessey he that the iiyustices indigenious to the
American landscape.
Bom Frizell Gray on October 24, 1948, to Baltimore native
Mary Elizabeth Willis, Mfume has lived a varied and extror-
dinary life. Hated by his father and adored by his mother,
Mfume grew up insecure. His mother’s death when he was 16
left Mfume hopeless and plunged
him headfirst into the rough and
tumble world of inner city
Baltimore. Mfume went from
being a good student to being a
“gang banger,” a gun toting tough
guy, using brawn rather than
brain to get his point across.
Father of five by the time he
was 22, Mfume decided to change
his life. He enrolled in a GED
program, the Community
College of Baltimore and finally
Morgan State University, eventu
ally earning his bachelor’s
degree.
There were many stops in
between for Mfume, including a
‘
Mfume
See Book page 2B
Norman Brown
vX'V