Up from the Roots: An African-American music retrospective

​Soprano Randye Jones and saxophonist Damani Phillips and other Iowa area musicians will present, "Up from the Roots: An African-American Music Retrospective" at 7 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 12, 2016, at The African American Museum of Iowa, 55 12th Ave. SE, Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

The program focuses on the African American influence on music from the end of the American Civil War through the Civil Rights’ Movement to the present.

"We are taking a different approach to the impact African Americans have had on the history and culture of the United States," Jones said. "We want to look at the role they played in shaping the musical development of this country by touching briefly on the roots--the Negro Spiritual--and some of its many branches, namely Gospel music, Blues, Jazz, Rhythm and Blues, and even how African Americans influence the world of Western Classical music and musical theater."

Randye Jones

Jones, media collections coordinator for the Grinnell College libraries, holds her bachelor’s in music education from Bennett College in her hometown of Greensboro, North Carolina, and her master’s in vocal performance from the Florida State University, Tallahassee. She is currently a doctoral student in vocal literature at the University of Iowa in Iowa City.

Jones has gained recognition for her research of and published writings on African-American vocalists and composers and as a performer and lecturer through her projects, The Art of the Negro Spiritual, Afrocentric Voices in “Classical” Music, and the recently published The Spirituals Database. She regularly presents lecture-recitals and concerts and has served as a panelist at events such as the Research, Education, Activism, and Performance (REAP) National Conference on Spirituals; African American Art Song Alliance Conference; the National Association of Negro Musicians conference; and the Phenomenon of Singing International Symposium VIII in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada.

Damani Phillips

Phillips is a native of Pontiac, Mich., where he began playing at the age of 10. Formerly on the music faculty at Grinnell College, he currently serves as assistant professor of Jazz Studies and African-American Studies at the University of Iowa. He has earned bachelor and master of music degrees from DePaul University (Chicago) and The University of Kentucky in classical saxophone, and a second master of music degree in jazz studies from Wayne State University (Detroit). Phillips completed a doctorate in jazz studies at the University of Colorado at Boulder in 2009. An active performer, pedagogue, and composer, Phillips has taught and performed throughout the United States, England, and Japan and is actively sought as a guest artist, clinician, and adjudicator.

As a performer, Phillips has performed with artists and groups such as Lewis Nash, Christian McBride, Terrence Blanchard, Wycliffe Gordon, Dianne Reeves, Marcus Belgrave, Terrell Stafford, Maceo Parker, Pat Bianchi, The Temptations, Red Holloway, Greg Gisbert, the touring Dave Matthews cover band “Crush,” and many others. As a recording artist, Phillips released his debut CD Yaktown Nights in 2004, The String Theory in November of 2010 and The Reckoning in December of 2013. His most recent recording project Duality, a double album featuring a unique synergy between straight-ahead jazz and hip hop music, was released in August of 2015.