Date/Time
Date(s) - 12/20/2014
7:30 PM - 10:00 PM
Location
Miner Auditorium, SFJAZZ Center
Category(ies)
Add This Event to Your Calendar
– Buy Tickets Online –
“The fusion of the Blind Boys’ Deep South gospel with New Orleans funk, R&B and jazz creates a super-weapon of roots-music uplift… will raise goose bumps even on the tatted-up arms of resolutely futurist hipsters.” — Rolling Stone
“Seeing the Blind Boys of Alabama in concert is part living history, part concert, all uplifting experience…” — The Washington Post
- Jimmy Carter — vocals
- Ben Moore — vocals
- Eric “Ricky” McKinnie — vocals
- Joey Williams — vocals, guitar
- Peter Levin — organ, keys
- Tracy Pierce — bass
- Austin Moore — drums
More than a gospel institution, the Blind Boys of Alabama are a cultural force that has swept up musicians from every stylistic precinct, including Prince, Willie Nelson, Lou Reed, Bob Dylan and Ben Harper. With five GRAMMY Awards (including one for lifetime achievement) and a sumptuous repertoire of soaring anthems, the group is a gospel standard bearer that has crossed over without adopting secular songs. Formed by a group of elementary students at the Alabama Institute for the Negro Blind in the late 1930s, the quintet made a series of fine recordings in the post-war years that assured their place in the gospel pantheon. Refusing to jump on the soul and R&B bandwagons, the group broke through to non-gospel audiences in the early 1980s through their crucial role in the hugely successful Obie Award-winning musical, The Gospel at Colonus. The Blind Boys have become known worldwide with a procession of inspiring albums, and return to SFJAZZ to celebrate their new Christmas-themed release recorded with blues giant Taj Mahal, Talkin’ Christmas . The Blind Boys have performed often for SFJAZZ and we can promise an evening of truly sanctified spirit!