Blues at Centrum is led by new artistic director Corey Harris.
Corey burst onto the scene in 1995 with his debut recording, Between Midnight and Day, an exploration of rural blues styles. At the time, however, few really grasped the scope and range of Harris' musical persona.
After street-busking and taking small gigs near his home outside New Orleans, it quickly became clear that he couldn’t be pigeonholed as exclusively a blues musician. He'd grown up listening to gospel, funk, Motown, jazz, reggae and R&B, and by the time he moved to New Orleans, he was well on his way to becoming a connoisseur of African music, as well.
The blues have always played a major part in his music, however. “To me, the blues is the blueprint,” Corey says. “You can go from that blueprint and build whatever house you want. That’s something that we as black Americans have given to the world: the concept of the blues. But at the same time, I'm of a different generation. I didn't ever have to go to the back of a bus. If I was out on the road, I wouldn't have to camp in my car because they wouldn't let black people in the hotel. So I'm trying to represent what my tradition is, and then represent my individual self in the contemporary moment."
His recordings include Between Midnight and Day, Fish Ain't Bitin', Greens from the Garden, Vu-Du Menz, Downhome Sophisticate, Mississippi to Mali, Daily Bread, and his most recent release, 2007’s Zion Crossroads.
He was featured on the PBS television mini-series “The Blues” in an episode directed by Martin Scorsese. In 2007, Corey was named a 2007 MacArthur Genius fellow.
Centrum Artistic Directors select the faculty for Centrum programs and set the tone for each gathering. Harris joins Dirk Powell (Fiddle Tunes at Centrum), Cristina Garcia (Centrum Writers Exchange) and John Clayton (Jazz at Centrum).
