A multimedia concert performance of Langston Hughes’ poem “Ask Your Mama: Twelve Moods for Jazz” by the Ron McCurdy Quartet on Thurs., Jan. 21, will highlight the University of Washington’s MLK Week, an event series created to honor the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
The performance by the Ron McCurdy Quartet will utilize jazz music, spoken word and videography to link the words and music of Hughes’ 12-part poem which was written as an homage to the struggle for artistic and social freedom at home and abroad at the beginning of the 1960s. It is scored with musical cues drawn from blues and Dixieland, gospel songs, boogie woogie, bebop, progressive jazz, Latin “cha cha,” Afro-Cuban mambo music, German lieder, Jewish liturgy, West Indian calypso and African drumming. It was a creative work left unperformed at Hughes’ death in 1967.
The concert will be held from 8-10 p.m. at the Samuel E. Kelly Ethnic Cultural Theatre, with doors opening at 7 p.m. UW students, faculty, staff and alumni, as well as the general public, are invited to attend this family-friendly event. Admission for UW students is free, however a ticket is required and can be picked up from the Kelly Ethnic Cultural Center. The evening will also include a performance by students from the UW spoken word ensemble, R.E.T.R.O. Revolutionary Poets. All other tickets ($5) can be purchased at Brown Paper Tickets.
UW’s MLK Week will take place Jan. 15-22 and is produced by the Kelly Ethnic Cultural Center, the Center for Communication, Difference & Equity and the Carlson Leadership & Public Service Center. Inspired by past campus MLK Day celebrations, this event series features multiple opportunities for the UW community to participate in service and activism, including an annual Day of Service, Jan. 18.
