WILMINGTON — Renowned vocalists Samirah Evans and Evelyn Harris bring their celebrated tribute to Nina Simone and Etta James to Historic Memorial Hall in Wilmington on Saturday, Oct. 21.
Evans and Harris debuted the show last year to a sold-out audience at Next Stage in Putney - followed by another standing-room-only performance in Holyoke, Mass. The same band, composed of Miro Sprague (piano), David Picchi (bass), and Jon Fisher (drums), returns as their accompanists.
The program includes solo performances and duets of iconic songs by Simone and James, as well as compositions that personally resonate with the two presenters. Evans says many of the songs that have been staples of her repertoire take on new dimensions when she performs with Harris.
“The bond between Evelyn and I that unfolds on stage when sharing selections like Nina's 'Four Women,' and Etta's 'Something's Got a Hold on Me' has been extremely moving,” says Evans, adding that it has been nearly a year since the show was last performed. “I can't wait to get back on stage,” she says. “This show gets better every time we do it.”
Harris says the admiration the two artists have for Simone and James extends to their cultural impact, some of which Harris and Evans will share during the concert.
“For mashing politics with music, Nina Simone has no equal. Etta James was a full-on badass. I feel their passion in every note and these songstresses influence me to this very day,” Harris says.
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.
Harris has dedicated her voice to giving depth and meaning to an extensive array of musical styles, creating stirring interpretations of traditional and contemporary African-American material, freedom songs from around the world, jazz, pop, rock 'n' roll, gospel, and blues.
She 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.”
Harris relocated to the Pioneer Valley in 2002. She 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. 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 after 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 first recorded outside of Louisiana.
She has shared stages with legendary artists 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 also is a vocal instructor at Williams College and Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts.