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Tri-C Features Acclaimed Musician Avery Sharpe at 36th Annual Dr. King Celebration
Cuyahoga Community College will host the 36th annual birthday observance of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at 3 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 20, 2013 in the Metropolitan Campus Auditorium at 2900 Community College Ave. The free event features Avery Sharpe, a musician, composer and music producer.
The Tri-C celebration is the longest-running MLK event hosted in Cleveland. The event will include the presentation of the 2013 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Scholarship Fund recipients and a performance by the Cleveland Philharmonic Orchestra.
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Sharpe’s first instrument was the piano. “I started playing when I was 8 years old,” the Valdosta, Ga., native recalled. “My mother was a piano player in the Church of God in Christ, and she gave lessons to everybody in the family. I’m the sixth of eight children, but it didn’t stick until it got to me.” He moved on to accordion and then switched to electric bass in high school.
While enrolled at the University of Massachusetts, where he studied economics and played electric bass in gospel, funk and rock groups, he was encouraged to learn the acoustic bass. Sharpe adapted quickly and began performing with notables such as Archie Shepp and Art Blakey. His credits also include stints with other jazz greats, including Dizzy Gillespie and Pat Metheny.
His 12 albums have been released on his own label, JKNM Records. His latest recording, “Autumn Moonlight,” released in April 2009, features the Avery Sharpe Trio with Winard Harper and Onaje Allan Gumbs. His sound recordings all feature original compositions, which draw from the full range of his musical background. “The most important thing is depth,” he says. “You have to seek out what was happening before and try to understand it. In my music, I do things that are a little older as well as things that are contemporary.”
To reserve tickets, or to find more information, please call 216-987-4805 or visit mlkcelebration.tri-c.edu
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