Ravinia 2021 - Issue 4

MAR. CLENN2N (BLAC. 9I2LIN) -IM HERRING72N (BLIND B2<S) PAVILION 7:30 PM SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2021 BLIND BOYS OF ALABAMA –Intermission– BLACK VIOLIN † † Ravinia debut HEAVY lifting to us. Leave the Wintrust chair & table RENTAL RESERVE LAWN chairs and tables when you order tickets by clicking “ADD-ON.” SCAN ME! to see examples of how you can set up rental items inside each size of reserved space on the South Lawn. Wintrust Chair and Table Rental, managed by the Ravinia Women’s BRDUG, EHQHɽWV RDYLQLD DQG LWV Reach Teach Play programs. BLACK VIOLIN Black Violin is led by classically trained string musicians Wil B. (viola) and Kev Marcus (vi- olin), who first became acquainted in summer music camps and at Dillard High School of the Performing Arts in Florida. While attend- ing universities separately on music schol- arships, they maintained their performance connection and established both a produc- tion company, Di-Versatile Music, and their identity as a duo, borrowing the moniker “Black Violin” from the name of an album by jazz violinist Stuff Smith. After their nation- al exposure backing Alicia Keys at the 2004 Billboard Awards, the duo gave a string of au- dience-favorite performances on Showtime at the Apollo ’s amateur night competitions and won the show’s top prize in 2005. In the midst of tour spots alongside the likes of Wu-Tang Clan, Fort Minor (Mike Shinoda of Linkin Park), and Kanye West—as well as perform- ing in an episode of CSI: NY in 2006—Black Violin was also working on a debut album, releasing the eponymous disc in 2008 with their Di-Versatile Music label. Additional collaborations with the likes of Wyclef Jean, Tom Petty, Lupe Fiasco, and Aerosmith fol- lowed, and after releasing their second al- bum, Classically Trained , in 2012, the duo was invited to play at an inaugural ball for the second term of the Obama presidency. Black Violin signed with Universal Music Classics and released the critically acclaimed album Stereotypes in 2015. The collection landed the duo not only at the top of Billboard ’s classi- cal crossover chart but also at number four on the R&B albums chart. The following year, Black Violin began work on original music for the Fox television series Pitch , and the duo became the official artist of the 2016 and 2017 Heisman Trophy Award ceremonies on ESPN as well as the 2017 US Open tournament for tennis. The duo also began working with the Turnaround Arts program of the Kennedy Center in 2017, partnering with schools in their home state to return arts education to classrooms. Black Violin released its latest studio album, Take the Stairs , on Di-Versa- tile Music in 2019, again topping the classical charts as well as scoring top-10 marks on the R&B chart, and also added a holiday album, Give Thanks , in 2020. Black Violin is making its Ravinia debut BLIND BOYS OF ALABAMA The Blind Boys of Alabama are recognized around the world as both living legends and modern-day innovators: the group helped define gospel music traditions in 20th cen- tury and almost single-handedly created a new sound for the 21st. Since the original members first sang together as kids at the Al- abama Institute for the Negro Blind in the late 1930s—including Jimmy Carter, who leads the group today—the band has persevered through seven decades to become one of the most decorated roots music groups, celebrat- ed by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Grammys with lifetime achievements awards in addition to winning five Grammy Awards for Best Traditional Gospel Album between 2002 and 2009 and being inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 2003. Touring throughout the South during the Jim Crow era, the Blind Boys flourished thanks to their unique sound, blending close harmo- nies with fervent improvisations. In the early 1960s the band was part of the soundtrack to the civil rights movement, then connected to a new generation in the 1980s starting with a starring role in the Obie Award–winning musical The Gospel at Colonus . Entering the 2000s, the Blind Boys made another splash with the release of their first Grammy-win- ning album, Spirit of the Century , in 2001 on Peter Gabriel’s Real World label. The group subsequently joined him on a world tour as well as his album Up , then enjoyed an even bigger break when the first season of the sem- inal HBO series The Wire adopted their cover of Tom Waits’s “Way Down the Hole” as its theme music. The Blind Boys’ other Gram- my-winning albums— Higher Ground (2002), Go Tell It on the Mountain (2003), There Will Be a Light (2004), and Down in New Orleans (2008)—saw them collaborating with the likes of Ben Harper, Robert Randolph, Aar- on Neville, Mavis Staples, the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Allen Toussaint, and Willie Nelson. The group reunited with Marc Cohn on their latest album, Work to Do (2019), and recently released a single with Béla Fleck, “I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free.” The Blind Boys of Alabama first played Ra- vinia in 1992 and tonight make their sixth appearance at the festival, their first return since 2008. RAVINIA MAGAZINE • SEPTEMBER 7 – SEPTEMBER 24, 2021 52