PUTNEY — In celebration of Black History Month, Next Stage Arts Project presents a concert with Samirah Evans and Evelyn Harris on Saturday, Feb. 13, at 7:30 p.m.
This tribute to iconic jazz and blues artists Nina Simone and Etta James will feature acclaimed selections from both celebrated artists. Evens and Harris will also sing compositions that resonate with them.
They will be accompanied by pianist Miro Sprague, bassist Dave Picchi, and drummer Jon Fisher.
“For mashing politics with music, Nina Simone has no equal and I heard her passion in every note,” said Harris in a news release. “And Etta James was a full-on badass and I felt her passion in every note. Those passionate songstresses influence me to this very day.”
“Songs of Nina and Etta have been staples in my repertoire throughout my career and have served me well,” said Evans. “However, the bond between Evelyn and I that unfolds on stage when sharing selections like Nina's For Women and Etta's Somethings Got a Hold on Me has been extremely moving and exhilarating for me and I believe the audiences alike.”
As the director of VOICES of New Africa House at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Harris has taken the baton of the late Dr. Horace Boyer and begun a new chapter in that choir's storied history.
She has dedicated her voice to giving depth and meaning to an extensive array of musical styles, creating interpretations of traditional and contemporary African-American material, freedom songs from around the world, jazz, pop, rock 'n' roll, gospel, and blues.
Harris recorded and co-produced 10 albums during her 18-year tenure with the internationally acclaimed Black women's a cappella ensemble, Sweet Honey in The Rock, and received a Grammy nomination in 1988 for her composition, State of Emergency.
She relocated to the Pioneer Valley in 2002 and currently directs The Ku'umba Women's Chorus at the Northampton Community Music Center and uses singing as cognitive therapy with dementia and Alzheimer's patients in several nursing homes in the area. During the summer, she is a vocal instructor at the Jane Hanson Vocal Music Academy and the Institute for the Musical Arts Rock 'n' Roll Girls Camp.
Evans was a fixture on the New Orleans music scene for more than 15 years before relocating to Brattleboro in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. She formed Samirah Evans & Her Handsome Devils in 2007 and has performed at clubs, concert halls, and music festivals throughout the Northeast.
In 2011, Evans released Hot Club: Live at the Vermont Jazz Center (Misha Records), her third CD and her first one recorded outside of Louisiana. She has shared stages with James Brown, B.B. King, Irma Thomas, Sheila Jordan, Terence Blanchard, and Donald Harrison Jr., and has toured Europe, Asia, and South America as a headliner.
Evans is also a vocal instructor at Williams College and Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts.