Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram
    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram YouTube
    Fox Valley Magazine
    • About
    • Issues
    • Contact
    • Justa Coupla Guys
    • News
    • Events
    • A&E
    • Dining
    • House & Home
    • Health & Beauty
    • Travel
    • Justa Coupla Guys
    Fox Valley Magazine
    Home » Saturday, February 25 | The Langston Hughes Project Performs “Ask Your Mama”
    A&E

    Saturday, February 25 | The Langston Hughes Project Performs “Ask Your Mama”

    Fox Valley MagazineBy Fox Valley MagazineFebruary 23, 2023No Comments2 Mins Read
    Share
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Email


    Dr. Ron McCurdy will narrate Langston Hughes’s epic jazz poem suite “Ask Your Mama” this Saturday at Wentz Hall in Naperville at 8PM. Tickets are $40 and $35 dollars.

    The Langston Hughes Project is a multimedia concert performance of Langston Hughes’s kaleidoscopic jazz poem suite, “Ask Your Mama” – Hughes’s homage in verse and music to the struggle for artistic and social freedom at home and abroad at the beginning of the 1960s. “Ask Your Mama” is a twelve-part epic poem which Hughes scored with musical cues drawn from blues and Dixieland, gospel songs, boogie woogie, bebop and progressive jazz, Latin “cha cha” and Afro-Cuban mambo music, German lieder, Jewish liturgy, West Indian calypso, and African drumming – a creative masterwork left unperformed at his death.

    A joyous celebration of music, spoken word and visuals, The Langston Hughes Project is performed by the impressively versatile Dr. Ron McCurdy (as narrator and on trumpet) and his talented group of musicians (on piano, bass and drums) who make heads bob, fingers snap and feet tap throughout. Together the words, sounds, and images recreate a magical moment in our cultural history, which bridges the Harlem Renaissance, the post World War II Beat writers’ coffeehouse jazz poetry world, and the looming Black Arts performance explosion of the 1960s.

    The creator of the entire piece, Dr. McCurdy, is a Professor of Music in the Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California, where he served as chair of the jazz department for 6 years. Dr. McCurdy is a consultant to the Grammy Foundation educational programs including serving as director of the National Grammy Vocal Jazz Ensemble.

    Venue: Wentz Concert Hall, 171 E. Chicago Avenue in Naperville.

    Tickets: $40, $35, available here.



    Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr WhatsApp Email
    Previous ArticleFox Valley De-Ices; Power Out For Tens Of Thousands
    Next Article Saturday, February 25 | Batavia Indoor Farmers Market
    Advertisements

    Related Posts

    Friday, October 20 – Sunday, November 5 | Naperville’s Brightside Theatre Stages “A Little Night Music”

    September 26, 2023

    Out & About | Cheap Trick Founder Rick Nielsen At Rookie’s Rochaus In West Dundee

    September 21, 2023

    Justa Coupla Guys Podcast Chats With Rick Nielsen, Founder of Cheap Trick

    September 19, 2023

    Saturday, September 23 | Santana Tribute Comes To Arcada In St. Charles

    September 18, 2023

    Comments are closed.

    © Fox Valley Magazine 2023. All Rights Reserved. Site by SDTECHNOLOGIES

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.

    Go to mobile version