Archives for 2023

Weds., March 8, 2023,
7 – 8:30 pm,

Frederick P. Rose Auditorium,
41 Cooper Square (on Third Ave. bet. 6 & 7th Sts.),
New York, NY (see directions).
FREE. Must register.

Vienna Carroll and The Folk — whose soulful Afro-Future Roots music presents African American spirituals, work songs, and the blues through a modern lens — perform a special program honoring ordinary and extraordinary women, such as Harriet Tubman, Clara Lemlich, Big Mama Thornton, and Audre Lorde, in celebration of International Women’s Day.

Visitors must register and show security proof of (1) vaccination, or (2) a negative PCR test by a third party (no home tests) within three days of their visit to campus, or (3) a negative rapid test result taken by a third party (not home test).

A griot who mixes song, storytelling, and history, Carroll’s sound takes you back to her roots in the Black church. At the same time, her message examines American history and questions from whose perspective that history is told. Her stirring and powerful performances invite audiences to sing along in the African call-and-response tradition, adding emotional resonance to the stories shared.

Her band, The Folk, features Stanley Banks (George Benson, Esther Phillips) on bass; Washboard XT/Newman Taylor Baker (Matthew Shipp, Ebony Hillbillies, Henry Grimes) on washboard; and Keith Johnston (Jon Hendricks, Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam) on guitar. Their latest album, Harlem: Afro-Future Roots, is a special collection of spirituals that honor 31 shackled-and-chained enslaved ancestors who in 1826, on a boat from Baltimore to deep south death, threw their captors overboard and escaped to freedom.

Carroll formalized her musical studies at Yale University with a B.A. in African American Studies and served as an artist-in-residence at the Hudson River Museum. She also received an Audience Favorite Award from the NY International Fringe Festival for Singin Wid A Sword In Ma Han, a musical docudrama she wrote and starred in, about a family escaping slavery. She conceived of and produced the First Annual NYC Underground Railroad Festival Juneteenth Celebration with the Plymouth Church of the Pilgrim, a nationally certified Underground Railroad site and the Brooklyn Historical Society, which WBGO broadcasted, NYC’s premiere jazz station.

This performance is presented by The Cooper Union Black Student Union, Student Affairs, and Public Programs.

Release Date: February 10, 2023.

By: Vienna Carroll & The Folk – Stanley Banks, bass. Newman Taylor Baker/Washboard XT, washboard. Keith Johnston, guitar. and Me! 🎼❤️

In honor of 31 enslaved Africans headed from Baltimore to certain Deep South death in 1826 who overthrew their captors and escaped to freedom.

Review

Jazz Lives
Jan. 27, 2023,
Reprinted from https://jazzlives.wordpress.com…

The late Sam Parkins used to say of certain powerfully emotional music, “Gets you right in the gizzard, doesn’t it?” We all have our personal collections of Gizzard Music. To them, I would like to add SWING LOW, SWEET CHARIOT, as performed by singer Vienna Carroll and the Folk.

A friend sent me this recording and I was enthralled. So many recordings are over-produced, tinkered with, and electronically fussed-over, that their essence is obliterated. Not this utterance — deep, unaltered, aimed directly at the listener.

“Swing Low Sweet Chariot” is Vienna Carroll & The Folk’s new single from their upcoming CD, Harlem: Afro Future Roots, a special collection of Spirituals honoring 31 enslaved Africans headed from Baltimore to certain Deep South death in 1826. Instead, they took their future into their own hands, threw their captors overboard, and escaped to freedom.

Vienna is joined by her “groovetastic” band, The Folk: Stanley Banks (George Benson) on bass; Washboard XT/Newman Taylor Baker (Matthew Shipp, Ebony Hillbillies, Henry Grimes) on washboard; and Keith Johnston (Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam, Jon Hendricks) on guitar.

“We freed ourselves from slavery. We are the center of our own freedom stories. The Spirituals are our liberation songs,” says Carroll.

Now, hear the music: haunting, compelling here.

Keith and Vienna created this passionate sound during the award-winning run of Singin Wid A Sword In Ma Han, Vienna’s musical docudrama about a family escaping slavery. This was followed by Vienna’s first album of the same name, a reprise of Spirituals from the play, in collaboration with Washboard XT. The CD Harlem Field Recordings, recorded with the Folk and released in 2020, celebrates early Black music and its influence on the music of today.

“Swing Low Sweet Chariot,” to be released on Friday, February 10, 2023, will be available on viennacarrollmusic.com, Spotify, Bandcamp, and Apple Music.

For more information visit www.viennacarrollmusic.com & https://viennacarroll.bandcamp.com/track/swing-low-sweet-chariot-2.

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Vienna Carroll and the Folk will be at the Metropolitan Museum of Art NYC, to celebrate the Met’s Seneca Village exhibit with their Afro-Future Roots music on February 24 and 25th, 6-8:30 pm, Petrie Court Cafe. Read more on The Met’s website.