A 4-day musical celebration, part of Duke’s commemoration of 50 years of black students, began with a jazz/spoken word poetry night at Beyu Caffe last Thursday. The Main Street Durham venue is owned by Duke alum Dorian Bolden.
Friday night's event was held at Motorco and featured Grammy-award winning DJ and Durham native 9th Wonder, who has taught at Duke and is currently on leave at Harvard this semester.
Jazz musician Terence Blanchard was joined by The John Brown Big Band and opening act, the jazz duo Kate McGarry and Keith Ganz on Saturday evening at the Carolina Theatre for an evening of jazz.
The festival concluded on Sunday afternoon at Duke Chapel with gospel artist Luther Barnes. The 9-month commemoration, which has highlighted the black experience of students, faculty, alumni and staff at Duke, will culminate the weekend of Oct. 4-6 with many events free and open to the public.
For more information, visit http://dukealumni.com/50th-commemoration-schedule.
Photo by Les Todd/Duke University Photography