Community Artists’ Collective, Community Music Center of Houston and Hogan Brown Gallery are proud to announce the Annual Legacy Project, a month-long celebration of Black Music Month. The Legacy Project honors local and national individuals' contributions to music.
“BLACK STEREO,” a collaboration between artist Tierney Malone, Community Artists’ Collective, and Community Music Center of Houston (CMCH), opens Sunday, June 9, 3:00 P.M. at Hogan Brown Gallery, 2310 Elgin. After the reception music of the Third Ward will be performed by H-Town Orchestra in the Eldorado Ballroom. June is Black Music Month, celebrating the contributions of African American musicians, composers, singers and songwriters in American culture.
The event celebrates the many musical artists, educators, and facilitators who have come from or have ties to Houston’s Third Ward. The Legacy Project celebrates musicians and music educators.
For more information on the Legacy Project and its honorees, please visit: https://cmchouston.org/legacyproject
Robert Hodge, curator at Hogan Brown Gallery, and Michelle Barnes, executive director of the Community Artists’ Collective, are co-curators of the exhibit, which will be open to the public through August 11.
About Tierney Malone and BLACK STEREO
Malone is a visual artist and modern-day storyteller who blends African American history and pop culture to create mixed media works that challenge contemporary culture and politics. He is the host of “Houston Jazz Spotlight,” a weekly program on Radio KPFT.
Malone describes Black music as the soundtrack to the struggle for self-determination and liberation of Black people in the New World.
“It is the musical history of our evolution in this country,” he explained.
“Black music has been key to shaping American culture. Africans stolen from their homeland were forced to give up their languages, rituals, names and the drum, yet they retained the essence of these things and created spirituals, gospel, blues, jazz, rhythm and blues, and hip hop, musical forms whose powerful influence is undeniable on the cultural fabric of this country and beyond. Black music is a connection to our past and a source of inspiration, a space-creating force that encourages and seeds dreams for the future.
“In 1968, when singer Archie Bell said, ‘Hi, everybody. I’m Archie Bell of the Drells of Houston, Texas,’ on the hit record ‘Tighten Up,’ he helped to put Houston’s music scene on the world map. The music for this song was created and performed by the TSU Toronadoes, a group formed by students from Texas Southern University in the heart of Third Ward, aka ‘The Tre.’
“In the exhibition, ‘BLACK STEREO,’ I am continuing my creative practice of telling the stories and connections that African American artists and institutions of the Third Ward have with the city and the country. The works presented take the form of concert posters, showbills, and album covers, infographics meant to highlight, educate and entertain like music. The message is in the music.”
An opening reception will be held Sunday, June 9, from 3 to 5:30 p.m., followed by a concert featuring H-Town Orchestra in the Eldorado Ballroom from 6 to 8 p.m. An artist talk and musical performance will be held Saturday, June 22, from 2 to 4 p.m. All events are free.