Pianist Lafayette Gilchrist Presents 'Dark Matter,' Sept. 18
September 10, 2015
Contact: University Relations
Phone: 410.837.5739
Jazz pianist and composer Lafayette Gilchrist will present a special performance, entitled Dark Matter, as part of the University of Baltimore's Spotlight UB series on Friday, Sept. 18 at 7:30 p.m. in the Wright Theater in the UB Student Center, 21 W. Mt. Royal Ave. The concert will be recorded live. It is open to the public; ticket information is listed below.
Gilchrist, who was born in Washington, D.C. and moved to Baltimore when he enrolled at UMBC, is a self-taught pianist whose unique style of jazz is deeply tied to regional music dialects of funk, hip-hop and go-go. According to a Washington Post profile of the artist, Gilchrist doesn't feel the temptation to move to jazz magnet cities such as New York "because he believes that staying here has allowed him to avoid Manhattan's herd mentality and retain a distinctive sound."
Gilchrest has become well known for his ability to pay homage to jazz greats of the past while progressing the genre by injecting it with his specialty recipe of musical fusion and, in his own words, "breaking the music up in the middle and re-gathering the pieces." This, he says, is a trait specific to Baltimore musicians.
While Gilchrist has long collaborated and toured with other musicians like David Murray, and formed his own bands including The New Volcanoes (with whom he recorded a concert, It Came From Baltimore: Live at the Windup Space, last year), his upcoming University of Baltimore appearance is billed as a solo performance.
Gilchrist has previously appeared in Spotlight UB productions including 2009's The Wasteland, a dramatic performance of the T.S. Eliot poem followed by a piano concert; in 2011 as part of the University's African-American Arts Festival; and most recently for a concert in 2013.
Tickets are $10 for the general public and $5 for student guests; they are available online at etix.com and in the Wright Theater lobby one hour prior to the show.
For more information about Spotlight UB, visit www.ubalt.edu/spotlightub or http://www.facebook.com/SpotlightUB, or send an e-mail to spotlightub@ubalt.edu.
The University of Baltimore is a member of the University System of Maryland and comprises the School of Law, the Yale Gordon College of Arts and Sciences, the College of Public Affairs and the Merrick School of Business.