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Event
Evelyn Harris at TreeCat Cafe
Evelyn Harris performs at the new youth-run TreeCat Café on Thursday, October 15, 2015 at 6:30 pm at the Treehouse Community at Easthampton Meadows, 1 Treehouse Circle Easthampton, MA. Harris is accompanied by pianist Paul Arslanian.
The TreeCat Café is a new monthly cafe and performance venue run by youth at the Treehouse Community, a unique inter-generational community designed to support families who are fostering and adopting children from the foster care system. The TreeCat Café provides high school and college-aged youth at Treehouse with work experience and training in business skills. Youth take on and manage every aspect of the café: marketing, accounting, cooking and hosting the Cafe. Local business owners and elders of the Treehouse Community offer their expertise and mentor youth in entrepreneurial skills.
Evelyn Harris is a Grammy Award-winning vocalist, Grammy-nominated composer, and former member of the internationally acclaimed African American women's a capella ensemble group, Sweet Honey in the Rock. Harris hails from Richmond, Virginia, where she grew up in the church the place where she began singing. "You started in church," Harris remarks. Her musical style and later ensemble collaborations reflect these gospel roots. Harris attended Howard University in Washington, D.C., a historically black Institution, where she studied music, majoring in voice. After graduation, she joined the newly-formed, Sweet Honey in the Rock, performing with them for the first time in 1974. Over the course of her eighteen-year stint with Sweet Honey in the Rock, Harris grew not only as a vocalist, but also as a composer and arranger. She co-produced nine of the ensemble's albums. In 1988, one of Harris' original compositions, State of Emergency, from the group's album Live at Carnegie Hall, was nominated for a Grammy Award.
Since her retirement from Sweet Honey in the Rock, Harris has had a successful solo career both locally and nationally, performing in a range of musical styles, including jazz, R&B, gospel, blues, rock, and folk. Harris devotes much of her time to coaching and teaching. She directs the Ku'umba Women's Choir in Northampton and VOICES of New Africa House at University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Harris has taught courses on African American music in schools throughout the area, including the Pioneer Valley Performing Arts High School, MacDuffie School, Stoneleigh-Burnham School, Smith College, Mt. Holyoke College and Westfield State College. She is currently teaching a course at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst called SONGBIRDS: Blueswomen and Soulwomen.
Harris has shared the stage with Hip-Hop performance poet Lenelle Moise, singer-songwriter Pamela Means, pianists Miro Sprague and Paul Arslanian, as well as saxophonist Charles Neville among others. She has collaborated with a diverse spectrum of artists including Odetta, Holly Near, Glory Van Scott, Alice Walker, Maya Angelou, June Jordan, Sonia Sanchez, Horace Boyer, Art Steele, Jane Sapp, Zap Mama and Take 6.
Paul Arslanian has been working as a pianist, composer, and dance accompanist since 1971. In the San Francisco Bay Area he lead several Latin and Jazz ensembles, co-founded the ground breaking Jazz Tap Ensemble in 1979 and played with such notable musicians as Freddie Hubbard, Pharaoh Sanders and Terri Gibbs and tap dancers Honi Coles, the Nicholas Brothers, Eddie Brown and many others. Paul's musical compositions have been recorded by George Coleman, Roy Hargrove, John Hicks and Renee Roznes. Most recently Paul has taught at the Jacob's Pillow Summer Dance Intensive, performs and directs music for many tap dance events throughout the northeast and continues to work as a freelance jazz pianist. Paul has been a lecturer in dance and accompanist for the UM dance department since 1999 and has served as pianist and coordinator for the weekly Northampton Jazz Workshop series since 2010.
Admission is a suggested donation of $20 for general public and $5 for Treehouse community members. Donations will help to fund the TreeCat Café and other youth programs at Treehouse. Food will be served. Reservation is required. Seating is limited. Email: thetreecatcafe@gmail.com to reserve your seat or for more info. Purchase tickets: http://treecatcafe.brownpapertickets.com. Facebook page: www.facebook.com/thetreecatcafe. Treehouse website: http://www.refca.net. 857-919-4045.
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LocationTreeCat Cafe at Treehouse Community (View)
1 Treehouse Circle
Easthampton, MA 01027
United States
Categories
| Kid Friendly: Yes! |
| Dog Friendly: No |
| Non-Smoking: Yes! |
| Wheelchair Accessible: Yes! |
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