Acclaimed Bay Area Musician Previews Carnegie Hall Concert

By Shelah Moody

When you are  around Jacqueline Hairston, you feel a sense of inner peace. Hairston is a leading expert on Negro spirituals and also one of the most prolific musicians in the Bay Area. Hairston is an ASCAP award-winning composer, arranger, pianist, music educator, and vocal coach.

In 2009, Hairston received Congresswoman Barbara Lee’s Congressional Recognition Achievement Award. In 2007, Hairston was awarded the Jefferson Award for Public Service for her longtime efforts to preserve the legacy of spiritual music of the African Diaspora. Classically trained at the Juilliard School of Music, Howard University and Columbia University, Hairston’s arrangements have been performed and recorded by internationally acclaimed singers such as Kathleen Battle, Grace Bumbry, the late William Warfield, Chicago baritone Robert Sims and others as well as orchestras including the London Philharmonic, Portugal’s Lisbon Metropolitan, and the Oakland East Bay Symphony in California.

In the genre of popular music, Hairston has also coached R&B stars En Vogue and “America’s Got Talent” finalist Lawrence Beamen to name a few. Over the years, Hairston has consistently performed with AfroSolo. On September 25, the New Jacqueline Hairston Ensemble will present a preview of their February, 2011 concert at the legendary Carnegie Hall in New York City.

Born in Charlotte, NC, Hairston hails from a prestigious musical family. She is the cousin of Jester Hairston, (1901-2000) the legendary composer of many Negro spirituals including the ubiquitous praise song “Amen.” In 2008, Hairston lost her beloved brother, Dr. George Butler, (b. 1931), a prominent American jazz record producer, executive and A&R person who worked for various record labels and signed and launched the careers of a number of artists including Wynton Marsalis and Branford and Harry Connick Jr.

Presented by the AfroSolo Arts Festioval n Sept. 25, the Jacqueline Hairston Ensemble will perform parts of their Feb. 2012 concert at Carnegie Hall in New York, NY, at the African American Art and Culture Complex in San Francisco.

Q: How long have you been working with AfroSolo and how did you get involved with Thomas Robert Simpson? Tell me about some of your past AfroSolo experiences.

A: Thomas Simpson invited me to do a presentation during his 2006 AfroSolo Arts Festival “The Black Voice - A Healing Presence.”  As a performer/lecturer, I took the audience on a healing musical journey based on sound, breath, and movement, with Jeannine Anderson as my illustrator of singing spirituals. I also used authentic associations from ancient cultures combined with musical tones emanating from the African American heritage. These experiences for the audience had this intent: to positively enhance the well-being of the body, mind, and spirit.

In 2008, I served as accompanist for legendary 80ish Cantante Norteamericana singer, Hope Foye, in her special one-woman show at Yoshi's in San Francisco, where she sang songs reminiscent of her rich history of rare songs from her archival repertory.

Q: Tell us about your plans for your Carnegie Hall performance in Feb. 2012?

As an invited Guest Conductor for the premiere performances of her trademark choral Spirituals at New York’s Carnegie Hall, February 19, 2012, I will be joined by more than 300 choristers from around the country. The Bay Area singers include my group, The New Jacqueline Hairston Ensemble with singers from the East Bay Church of Religious Science,  Oakland Center for Spiritual Living, Unity Churches of Palo Alto & Marin, and independent ensemble, DOMINION. Other participating singers are also coming from Inner Light Ministries, in Soquel, CA, all performing en masse with the other select choral groups. A very special Music Premiere is: “Echoes of Jester Hairston” and “President’s Birthday Soliloquy (saluting Barak Obama), with original words from Pulitzer Prize Winning author Alice Walker's book of poetry: “Hard Times Require Furious Dancing.”

Q: How does your performance fit in with this year’s AfroSolo theme, UNITED IN PEACE II: Artists, Clergy, Legislators and Community?

A: Good music performed with excellent artistry is always a "good fit" on the topic of peace. This is also where spirituals fit in. African American scholar Henry Louis Gates once said: “There are two things black people did: pray to God and sing about it.” As far as the community is concerned, EVERYBODY likes to sing, regardless of training or experience, which explains the popularity of communal sing-alongs since time began.

Who: The Jacqueline Hairston Ensemble: The Carnegie Hall Preview Concert

When: Sunday, September 25, 4pm

Where: African American Art and Culture Complex, 762 Fulton Street, San Francisco

Ticket Info: www.brownpapertickets.com/event/193254

For more information, visit www.afrosolo.org.