Upper Lake >> When Macy Blackman began his career as a professional musician, Eisenhower was president and Blackman was 12. And how does a 12-year-old become a professional? Same as everyone else — practice and payment for services rendered.
Blackman’s first paying gig came in the 7th grade when a local retirement center in his home city of Wilmington, Delaware hired his rock and roll band. Pretty soon other musicians were listening to Blackman play and by the time he hit 14 he’s been asked to join a member of a handful of different groups. Then at 18 he left Wilmington for the streets of New York, a move that shifted the course of his music.
Back in Delaware, Blackman had always been playing R&B, but it wasn’t until he met Charles “Hungry” Williams, a well-known studio drummer out of New Orleans, that he realized what he was playing was a music native to New Orleans. Williams introduced Blackman to John “Mac” Rebenneck, the primary singer of that style of music in the ‘50s, according to Blackman. And from that point on, it was about the Louisiana music and not much else.
“It’s a very consuming genre,” Blackman said.
For years he played up and down and across New York, seven days a week, 300 shows a year.
Then he ended up in rehab. He was there for 18 months and 10 days and though he didn’t play at all for two years, it was the best thing that could have happened for his music. “In the rehab I had the choir and that really tightened up my skills. I was no longer using any drugs, I had to go and do this music I’d never played before, sober,” he said. “My career really began then.”
It was 1997 and Blackman had just left rehab and moved back to the Bronx. There he met a woman from San Francisco and decided to move across the country to be with her. When he got to the California coast, he snagged a job with UC Berkeley’s Fine Arts department, where he worked for three years.
And come this evening, Blackman will be discussing much what he knows from his time as a music teacher at Upper Lake’s Tallman Hotel for a Concert with Conversation. He’ll be discussing music from the early 20th century and how that developed into New Orleans rhythm and blues.
Joining Blackman will be saxophonist Nancy Wright and Bing Nathan and together they make the Macy Blackman Trio. Wright described their sound as “New Orleans r&b chamber music.”
Wright and Blackman have been playing together for about 8 years after their meeting in a restaurant in San Francisco. It’s the longest Wright has ever played in a band. And much like Blackman, Wright is a fan of New Orleans r&b. In fact, on Monday she’s leaving to spend a month down south to immerse herself in the style. “Some of the best music in the world has come out of that place,” she said.
Blackman has been a huge musical influence on Wright. At tonight’s show, she’s looking forward to hearing him speak just as much as the audience probably is. “He digs up stuff you might not have heard before,” she said. “I haven’t heard him pontificate before. I’m looking forward to the parts where he’s just telling us about the music.”
Tonight’s Concert with Conversation begins at 7:30 p.m. at the Tallman Hotel Meeting House. Tickets are $25 plus tax and can be purchased by calling the hotel at 275-2244 ext. 0. Come prepared with questions, because the conversation portion of the evening is just as engaging as the music. “I think the part I like best is the questions that come out of the audience and the dialogue that gets going,” said Wright.
Jennifer Gruenke can be reached at 900-2019.
