BLUES VESSEL
I
f you think blues and the church are two separate things, then you haven’ t heard Rev. Sekou belt out 12 bar notes with all the holiness of a charismatic minister and the righteous fire of an activist. Horns, harmonies, and hand waving form a backdrop for the musician’ s music, which practically drips with Delta grit and history. It’ s no surprise that the St. Louis born, Arkansas bred musician, author, activist, and minister labels his sound as“ sanctified blues.”
“ It’ s the lived space between late Saturday night at the juke joint and church Sunday morning,” he explained.“ My uncle ran a gambling house; my grandfather was a preacher. I spent eight
By Rosalind Cummings-Yeates
Rev. Sekou
days a week at the gambling house and six days in church. This music is the sonic landscape of my childhood between the gambling house and a small Pentecostal church.”
On Rev. Sekou’ s debut solo album, In Times Like These( Thirty Tigers) the church and the gambling house are on full display, with sprinklings of political activism, ' 60s soul and a healthy serving of pure blues. The album plays like a primer for revolution and salvation, with the opening track,“ Resist,” stomping down the house with blues and gospel vocals and lyrics that plainly lay out demands.“ Resist / when they try to tell you who is and who isn’ t your neighbor / resist / when they won’ t pay you and exploit your labor / we want freedom / and we want it now.”
Dedicated to the struggle for Native American rights in Standing Rock,“ Resist” sets the tone for the CD and Sekou’ s message of political activism and blues expression. The title track continues with scorching Hammond B3 organ solos by Rev. Charles Hodge( noted for his Al Green collabs) and Sekou’ s sinewy roars;“ in times like these / we need a hero / ain’ t nobody gon’ save us / we’ re the ones that we’ ve been waiting for.”
It’ s clear from the seamless, footstompin ' music,(“ we specialize in the stank,” he says), which was produced by Luther Dickinson of the North Mississippi Allstars that Sekou boasts many musical gifts, but it runs much deeper than that. The blues don’ t just run in his blood; it runs through the soil that nurtured him and a bevy of other seminal musicians.“ My grandfather played piano for Albert King, B. B. King and Louis Jordan, so I come by it naturally,” Sekou said.“ Rosetta Tharpe was from Cotton Plant, Arkansas, I’ m from Zent, Albert King was from a town 10 miles away. Louis Jordan lived 5 miles away. This is the little region that I’ m from.”
But he was lured away from his little region by the call of political activism. As an ordained minister, Sekou dedicated his life to social justice.” I’ m a child of SNCC( Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee),” he explained.“ Stokely Carmichael [ a. k. a.] Kwame Ture,( a prominent civil rights organizer) mentored me. I pastored some churches, but when Michael Brown was killed, I returned to St. Louis to help with organizing."
In Ferguson, he trained hundreds of protesters in nonviolent civil disobedience and was arrested twice during the organizing. Once for praying in front of riot police and again for co-leading a religious leaders group with theologian and activist, Dr. Cornel West on Moral Monday, the final day of the Ferguson protest.
“ After Ferguson, I had the blues, and I needed to sing,” said Sekou of his transition from political activist to musical activist. A classically trained vocalist who attended college on a vocalist scholarship, Sekou had planned on“ doing opera and musicals on Broadway” when he was younger. But in his experience, there’ s not a huge difference between activism and being a musician; he has done both for most of his life.“ I’ m doing theological work through the music, I’ m still doing activist work, it’ s what’ s in me,” he insists. Indeed, his Southern-fried covers of Bob Marley’ s“ Burnin’ and Lootin’’ was a tune that he sang during the Ferguson protests and the low down blues of“ The Devil Finds Work,”( complete with petal and steel guitar) is actually a lesser known James Baldwin work.
“ As a person who’ s lectured all over the world and organized during major crises, in all my experiences, it’ s something about the music that cuts through it. Once, we were surrounded by Nazis and AK-47’ s, and we’ d sing and bring the energy down. Something shifted. " Do you want to get free tonight?" is what I always ask the audience. I get free on stage- it’ s church without the B. S. There’ s a revival everytime I hit the stage. I’ m just blessed to be a vessel.”
Food for the Body, Music for the Soul SAT MAY 5 FRI MAY 11
SAT MAY 12
210 Green Bay Road, Highwood, Illinois 60040 847.433.0304 www. 210live. com
FriMay4 Rollover plus Brothers & Others
WedMay9 & WedMay23
Terrapin Flyer
SunMay13 Mother ' s Day A Gospel Brunch then European Cabaret Dinner
JAZZ at 210 LIVE
SunMay6 Bill Porter Orchestra
SunMay20 Judy Night & Luciano Antonio Quintet *
SunMay27 Raices Profundas
WedMay30 Michael Lerich *
(*) no cover charge
Cinco de Mayo Fiesta
Howard &
The White Boys plus Joe Filisko
& Eric Noden $ 4 Modelo ' s, $ 3 Tacos
WED MAY 16 FRI MAY 18 SAT MAY 19 SAT MAY 26 FRI JUNE 1
Luca Stricagnoli and Calum Graham
Heartache Tonight
American English
Deacon Blues plus Stephanie Aaron
Kashmir
FRI MAY 25
One Night Band
May 3 Albert Castiglia May 10 Kevin Purcell May 17 Skip Towne
& the Greyhounds
May 24 Lauren Mitchell
Dick Holliday
& Frankie B
Dave Herrero
Band with
Marty Sammon and SPECIAL GUESTS
14 illinoisentertainer. com may 2018