Gerald Clayton's Piedmont Blues: A Search For Salvation at Harlem Stage at The Gatehouse

Harlem Stage is proud to present six-time GRAMMY-nominated pianist and composer Gerald Clayton and his multidisciplinary project, Piedmont Blues: A Search for Salvation. A live concert presentation directed by Christopher McElroen, Classical Theatre of Harlem co-founder and director of Sekou Sundiata’s Harlem Stage co-commissioned 51st (dream) State, Piedmont Blues explores the essence and impact of the Piedmont blues musical style, defined by ragtime rhythms, fingerpicking guitar, and understated vocals twinned with searing lyrics, made famous by artists including Blind Boy Fuller, Reverend Gary Davis, Elizabeth Cotten, and Etta Baker. This music served as a salve for the suffering that African Americans endured throughout the Southeast during Jim Crow. ...

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Harlem Stage is proud to present six-time GRAMMY-nominated pianist and composer Gerald Clayton and his multidisciplinary project, Piedmont Blues: A Search for Salvation. A live concert presentation directed by Christopher McElroen, Classical Theatre of Harlem co-founder and director of Sekou Sundiata’s Harlem Stage co-commissioned 51st (dream) State, Piedmont Blues explores the essence and impact of the Piedmont blues musical style, defined by ragtime rhythms, fingerpicking guitar, and understated vocals twinned with searing lyrics, made famous by artists including Blind Boy Fuller, Reverend Gary Davis, Elizabeth Cotten, and Etta Baker. This music served as a salve for the suffering that African Americans endured throughout the Southeast during Jim Crow.

Piedmont Blues features Clayton’s nine-piece jazz ensemble, The Assembly, featuring GRAMMY-nominated vocalist René Marie and tap dancer Maurice Chestnut. Entwined throughout the live concert is an assemblage of projected film, new and archival photography, and folklore underscoring the verdant cultural landscape of the Piedmont region. The performance features footage of recently departed Piedmont blues elders with whom Clayton spent time as he created the project, including John Dee Holeman, Algia Mae Hinton, and Boo Hanks.

Performing as a bandleader for the first time at Harlem Stage, Clayton and his urgent artistic statement are not to be missed.

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