in their words
THE AUTHO R WA S N AME D TH E B E ST
S E RIOUS CO LUMNIST OF 2 0 1 1 B Y T H E
N ORTH CA RO L INA
P RE S S AS S O C IAT IO N. HE IS THE CO -
P RODUCE R O F “ G O D
OF THE OPP RE SSE D,” AN UP COMING
DOCUME NTA RY F IL M
ON BLACK L IB E RAT IO N THE OLOGY A ND IS T H E
AUTHOR O F “ P RE AC H A’
MAN “ AN D T H E SE QUE L
Listen Here
“BACK S LID E .” H E H A S
LE D CON G RE G AT IO NS IN MIS S OURI A ND
N ORTH CA RO L INA .
M
B Y CA RL W. K E NNEY II
Y LOVE AFFAIR WITH DURHAM MUSICIANS began when I was in middle school. The song “Naughty Number Nine” was my favorite on “Schoolhouse Rock!,” the animated Saturday morning educational program on ABC. The song features Grady Tate. In addition to being a great singer, Grady played drums for Quincy Jones, Simon & Garfunkel, Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Stan Getz, Wes Montgomery and others interested in the man who mastered the “on top of the beat” timing. He was the drummer on “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson” for six years. I discovered Grady grew up in Durham when I attended the jazz festival now named in his honor at North Carolina Central University. Since then, I’ve learned much about NCCU’s impact on the music industry. Donald Byrd, a bebop jazz trumpeter who fused funk and soul sounds in his music, put NCCU on the jazz map as a member of the faculty. Donald formed a band with students and faculty called 125th Street, N.Y.C. The band recorded an album produced by Isaac Hayes, the legendary musician who won an Academy Award for Best Original Song for the “Theme from Shaft.”
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