A Blast From The Past (Don Redman Concert)

Don Redman (Credit to Rebecca Shannnon)

Harper's Ferry National Historic Park is known for John Brown's raid and also for the Civil war. What people do not really know though is that Harper's Ferry has a prominent history with African Americans. Harper's Ferry did have a multitude of slaves in the area during the Civil War. But after the Civil War, Baptist missionaries came to Harper's Ferry and asked the government if they could inhabit one of the abandoned buildings.

Anthony Hall (Credit to: Library of Congress)

The missionary then established a school called Storer College.  The schools purpose was to teach former slaves and any person no matter race or gender to read and write. The school would later become known as a teachers college. The building was located on Camp Hill in Harper's Ferry, one of the main buildings was Anthony Hall which is now Mather Training Center for park rangers. Sadly, Storer College was shut down in 1955 because of the Brown versus Board of Education case. But because of the result of this trial, all attendees of Storer College were able to attend any college of their choice.

One of the graduates from Storer College was Don Redman. Don Redman later became a prominent figure in the jazz world. Don Redman was a conductor as well as a performer. Louis Armstrong claimed that Don Redman was one of the best conductors he had ever performed with in his career. Every year, Harpers Ferry National Historic Park hosts the annual Don Redman concert in honor of Mr. Redman's amazing talent. The concert is held for the Don Redman award which is presented to , "jazz stalwarts based on contributions in jazz education and music, as well as individual musicianship, humanity and dignity that illuminate the spirit of Don Redman" (National Park Service ). With this presentation the concert commenced on June 25th. The event was also free to the public.

A week before the jazz concert, a jazz camp was held for a number of students. The students practiced for the concert, which was then preformed before the official Don Redman concert commenced. The night was full of music for a man who celebrated his passion.

Below this blog entry is a video performance of Don Redman and his orchestra in 1934. (Credit to TheDylabuz and Warner Brothers)