BO DIDDLEY: landmark 1955 Carnegie Hall show to be honored
The achievements of trailblazing African-American performers, including BO DIDDLEY, are to be honored at a major festival to be staged at New York's Carnegie Hall in March 2009.
As part of the celebrations, a concert titled "Honor! Blues, Jazz, Rhythm and Blues, Soul And Beyond", staged at the concert venue's Isaac Stern Auditorium on Wednesday March 4th 2009 at 8.00pm, will pay tribute to the great African-American popular music artists of the past, the brightest lights in blues, rhythm & blues, soul and jazz, as well as today’s daring innovators.
Each presentation at the concert will parallel an event in the bountiful history of performances by African-American artists at Carnegie Hall. The organisers will be marking Saturday October 29th 1955, the date when Lou Krefetz' "Top Ten Review of 1955" show was staged at the prestigious venue. In addition to headliner BO DIDDLEY, other performers on the review included Charlie & Ray, The Charms, The Clovers, The Five Keys, Gene & Eunice, Etta James, Joe Turner and Paul Williams & His Big Band. The show is now widely regarded as being the first full-length rhythm & blues/rock & roll concert to be staged at Carnegie Hall.
Curated by four-time Grammy Award-winning African-American opera singer Jessye Norman, major funding for "Honor! A Celebration of the African-American Cultural Legacy" has been provided by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, The Alice Tully Foundation, The Rockefeller Foundation's New York City Cultural Innovation Fund and the A.L. and Jennie L. Luria Foundation. "Honor!" is made possible, in part, by public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts.
Carnegie Hall is located at 881 Seventh Avenue in midtown Manhattan. Tel: 212-903-9629.
Carnegie Hall website: http://www.carnegiehall.org/
"Honor!" Festival webpage: http://www.carnegiehall.org/honor/index.html
