67-year-old percussionist Bill Summers visited Russia as a member of The Headhunters band. Before his performance at the international festival "Jazz Province" in Kursk, the legendary musician met with talented youth and told about his grandiose City of Art Project in the USA.
photo - jazzpeople.ru
Give Us a Piece of Advice, Bill!
Bill Summers, an outstanding musician, percussionist and ethnic music expert was on stage and made recordings with Joe Zawinul, Diana Reeves, Anita Baker, Stevie Wonder and George Benson. He also ran many solo projects. He is well-known as an outstanding ethnic instruments player. The Afro-American legacy of Summers was especially brightly manifested when he collaborated with composer Quincy Jones when they created soundtracks for television miniseries Roots and The Colour Purple, a film directed by Steven Spielberg. In 1998, Bill organized Los Hombres Calientes band with which he released three albums, toured across many countries and was nominated for a Grammy Award.
Summers spent only two days in Kursk. He arrived slightly earlier than other members of The Headhunters to meet with young musicians. "Each city I visit is not like the previous one but sightseeings for me are running second," Bill remarked. "The most important thing, while I'm here, to visit this college. I wanted that meeting with the students."
In his homeland New Orleans, Summers conducts school classes for children from poor families 3-4 times a week. "I take much additional equipment to each class to record tracks," the musician says. "Because as I teach music I explain how they can make their living. I think that in the very beginning children need a tutor like me. I recollect when I was five my parents sent me from New Orleans to Detroit to learn to play the piano. I hated music then and felt bitter about my parents. But as the years passed I understood how right they had been when I hadn't been catered to and that they'd given me that push. Lesson learnt – don't oppose what grown-ups advise."
The Bottle Nocturne
Bill proved it in the college that it was possible to play anything even the bottle. In front of everyone he drank a bit of a sparkling drink from the bottle and played a popular tune. He brought only one instrument with him from the USA. He made it himself. "It is an African instrument, the ancestor of the modern drum," musician explains. "It is made of a special pumpkin species that is dried right on the ground and only then it is harvested."
When Summers joined The Headhunters back in 1973 the band's style was enriched with ethnic melodies. "The western African music influenced me most," he notes. "I learnt a large scope of folk instruments: various types of drums, metal bells, wooden beads and maracas..."
In his native New Orleans the musician founded Summers Multi Ethnic Institute of Art. This is a step toward fulfilment of his dream. "I've been working around 30 years to build "City of Art" where cultures of all continents will be represented," Bill shares his plans with us. "A circle with an area of 50,000 acres, a size of Manhattan, will be the place free of wars, where all the world's nations will be together creating the new art – music, dances, theatre... I approach the goal step by step. Though the plan is long-term and ambitious, everything is possible. Somebody built pyramids, why should I fail?"
The Russian culture will occupy one of the most important places in the "Summers' Circle". The American with the classic academy background grew with the music of Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff and Glinka. How the Russian nook will look like the musician couldn't answer. He hopes it will become clear for him here in Russia.
