The feature documentary, Evolutionary Blues...West Oakland's Music Legacy will debut at the 8th Annual Awareness Film Festival Los Angeles at 7 p.m., on Saturday, Oct. 7, at Regal LA LIVE.
A filmmaker Q&A will follow.
The Southern California premiere of the definitive West Oakland music culture is told in the new documentary film, “Evolutionary Blues…West Oakland’s Music Legacy.” Directed and produced by Cheryl Fabio, featuring Pulitzer Prize-winning author and historian, Isabel Wilkerson (The Warmth of Other Suns). Commissioned by the City of Oakland and produced by KTOP-TV, Evolutionary Blues is a musical showcase with testimonials and tributes from progenitors to aficionados.
Long celebrated for a unique sound emanating from acclaimed performers of yesterday and today--West Oakland is a dynamic music Mecca whose history is untold, in full measure, until now.
LINK: https://vimeo.com/233023984
Fabio, a 30-year authority on the African American film experience, has put forth a stunning, accessible and illuminating 90-minute documentary. It is a veritable walk through historical terrain revealing how postwar development impacted African Americans and their musical heritage. Filmmakers and select talent are available for interviews; key biographies and jpeg images are available.
Synopsis:
The Blues is an earthy, soul-stirring mélange of roots music and personal narratives that became the defining soundtrack of Black America. Wherever Black people settled that soundtrack took on a local flavor. In Northern California, the influences came from the musicianship of Alabama, Louisiana, Texas, and Oklahoma. Seventh Street in West Oakland supported and bolstered Blacks who escaped the harsh South and answered the call of the war effort in the late 1940’s. Entrepreneurship created a fully contained community that provided work, homes and all the necessities of life including a fully developed music scene--more than 30 local musicians share their inspiration and describe the trajectory of the Oakland Blues--how it evolved and what it has become.
Evolutionary Blues … West Oakland’s Music Legacy is co-produced by Sarah Webster Fabio Center for Social Justice.
Additional information:
Isabel Wilkerson, a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and author of The Warmth of Other Suns, Robert O. Self, author of American Babylon: The Struggle for Post War Oakland, and Rickey Vincent, author of Funk and Party Music, provide background giving these musical stories a historical context. The film incudes a catapulting soundtrack, amazing period images - newly digitized negatives from EF Joseph’s Collection, film clips from Marlon Riggs’ and Peter Webster’s film Long Train Running, others from private collections, even the Library of Congress. Listen to entertaining interviews from Blues Legends like Sugar Pie DeSanto, Sonny Rhodes, Bob Geddins, Jr., Marvin Holmes, Faye Carol, Larry Vann, Paul Tillman Smith, Lenny Williams, Ronnie Stewart, John Turk, Leon Williams, Alabama Mike, Ron Wells, Fantastic Negrito, The Hartfield Brothers, Freddie Hughes, Wylie Trass, Jesse James, Lady Bianca, Tom Bowden, and D’Wayne Wiggins. Then Lee Hildebrand, a music journalist and James C. Moore, Sr., record producer and talent manager, share their perspectives. We have incorporated legends such as Charles Sullivan, T-Bone Walker, Lowell Fulson, Jimmy McCracklin, Big Mama Thornton, and Omar Sharriff through the writings of T. Watts. Bob Geddins, Sr. and Johnny Talbot and De Thangs, and Larry Graham are included through the stories the musicians tell.
The Dynamic Miss Faye Carol has a unique style and gift of connecting with her audience that is astonishing. This Bay Area living legend is a recipient of countless awards and honors inducing 2014 Bay Area Jazz Hero Award, 2016 City of Berkeley Lifetime Achievement Award, and four Cabaret Gold Awards, in addition to her 2015 induction into the Oakland Blues Walk of Fame.
Ronnie Stewart has been a musician for over 49 years. Along with Cool Papa Sadler, they created the Bay Area Blues Society in 1986 to perpetuate blues, jazz and gospel as an art form indigenous to America. In 2014 the Blues Society reorganized and expanded to a more regional organization, the West Coast Blues Society. Programming includes the recognition of Bay Area Blues Legends at first West Coast Blues Hall of Fame & Awards Show in 1987. The first year inductees included Jimmy Witherspoon, Don Barksdale, Sugar Pie De Santo, Albert Collins, John Lee Hooker, Jimmy McCracklin, Ruth Brown, Bobby Blue Bland and Hank Ballard.
Cheryl Fabio, JD - received a BA from Fisk University in Sociology, a MA from Stanford University in Communications and her JD from John F. Kennedy School of Law. Cheryl has managed PEG television channels for the City of Oakland and City College of San Francisco. She was the Program Director for Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame, Inc. and she has worked in independent film community for many years.
Tickets are $12-$15.
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