Gifts of Art presents free jazz livestream concert

Gifts of Art is offering free livestream concerts for all faculty, staff, patients and visitors.

The final of the three-part series features vibraphonist Cecilia Smith and pianist Lafayette Harris, Jr., who will play arrangements that made vibes popular from the swing big band era of the 1930s through bebop and jazz fusion in the 1970s.

Smith is a leading vibraphonist as well as a composer, arranger and teaching artist, and has performed throughout the world. She has received numerous commissions, A Joyce Award for teaching people with disabilities in hospitals, and a Masters in Jazz Award for her work at new England Conservatory and the Kennedy Center in Washington DC.

Harris’ ninth and newest release, You Can’t Lose with The Blues (Savant), went to No. 1 on the Jazzweek Jazz charts in February 2020. It was the third most played album in all of jazz radio that year.

He has performed with the Duke Ellington Legacy Orchestra, Houston Person, Max Roach, Ernestine Anderson and many others. Harris conducted and played in the smash hit Bring In ‘Da Noise, Bring In ‘Da Funk (1995-1999), among several other Broadway shows, including The Color Purple (2005-2008).

What: Gifts of Art free concert

When: Noon – 1 p.m., Friday, Oct. 15

Live stream on Michigan Medicine YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64-aNlPQ7M4  

Watch again (for 4 weeks after) on Gifts of Art featured concerts playlist on Michigan Medicine YouTube channel: https://michmed.org/q4w9Y

This concert series is presented as a thank you to celebrate the COVID-19 response of staff, individuals served, and families of Michigan Medicine, Centra Health Community Health, Lynchburg General Hospital, Virginia Baptist Hospital, Central Virginia Alliance for Community Living, and Virginia Commonwealth University Health. This series is possible through a Digital Residency grant by Amherst Glebe Arts Response, organized in partnership with musicians Cecilia Smith and Lafayette Harris, Jr. to help bring stress reduction and musical joy, from Chamber Music America through its Residency Endowment Fund.