SAVANNAH:MUSIC TO MY EARS (PART 3)

       Emma Kelly was born on Dec. 17, 1918  in Statesboro, Georgia. Under her mother’s tutelage she started playing the piano at age four. As a young mother of several children she started playing for money in nightclubs even though she was a tea toting Baptist. She became known as the "Lady of 6,000 Songs" after Johnny Mercer, who, after challenging her to play numerous songs, estimated she knew 6,000 songs from memory. She was made famous by the book "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" authored by John Berendt. He devoted an entire chapter to the singer and pianist. Later when a movie of the Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil was made the director Clint Eastwood asked her to play herself in the movie. This recognition made her Savannah nightclub act a must-see for tourists. She played weekly at Ben Tucker’s Hard Hearted Hannahs.  Ben Tucker, who performed with Kelly for years, called her "The Library of Congress" because she knew so many tunes.
Emma Kelly at Georgia Music Hall of Fame: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vAiCv_CcOA

        Berendt writes of her notoriety "Most of the highway patrolmen knew Emma's car, and when it zoomed past them late at night doing 80 or 90, they generally let it go," Berendt writes. "Emma had the greatest compassion for the occasional rookie cop who would unknowingly pull her over, siren blaring, blue lights flashing. She would roll down the window and say softly, 'You must be new.' "In 1998 she was   inducted in the Georgia Music Hall Of Fame along with the Allman Brothers Band. Today a theater in Statesboro is named after her. She died on Jan. 17, 2001
At her funeral reception at a country club a celebration of Emma's life was held. Ben Tucker thumped the strings of his bass in a up-tempo tribute to Emma Kelly. Talking over the music, one guest said she was impressed that she lost her composure only once during the service.  Lucile Lansing caught the red-eye flight from Seattle when she heard of her friend's death."I felt I could tell her anything," Lansing said. "When you were around her, you knew she loved you. ... Music poured out of every pore in her body. I'd like to leave one-hundredth of the legacy she lived." ('The Lady of 6,000 Songs' dies by Gene Downs Savannah Morning News).
      To bring Savannah’s story closer to contemporary times we have been home to two well-known rappers.  Camoflauge (i.e, Jason Johnson) was born December 9, 1981 in Savannah’s Hitch Village a low income government housing. Camoflauge probably misspelt his stage name to avoid confusion with the notorious New Orleans rapper Mac the Camouflage Assassin. His first album Crime Pays sold 20,000 copies. This was an album he released with the hip-hop group Crime Affiliates. His first solo album When I Represent, sold over 50,000 copies. He was offered a major deal with Universal Music Group after these successes. But because he was arrested for drug possession they took the offer back. The charges were later dropped. During his career he opened for rap acts such as Master P, Ice-T, Pastor Troy, Birdman, Trick Daddy, and Ludacris.  His life served as inspiration for his art. He had a police record that included drug violations and a murder charge. He was held for three months in the Chatham County Jail in 2000 in connection with the shooting of Kenneth "Boo" Capers, but he was not indicted. During that period he wrote most of his first major release album, Strictly 4 da Streets: Drugs Sex and Violence, Vol. 1. He said of this album: "This is really from my heart to the pen. I was trying to write all about my life, all about me, all about the streets. Everything I know about the streets and everything I've been through." (http://www.last.fm/music/Camoflauge/+wiki).His last album, Keepin It Real, was released in August 2002. After being shot he moved to the surburbs in Bryan County to escape the environs of Savannah and raise his children. He was gunned down outside of Pure Pain Recording Studio (a studio in Savannah) in May 2003 while walking his toddler son. He was twenty-one years old. The police have never found his murderer\s.
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Camoflauge's Music Video: ​https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ef1r4pxRQjc

            Big Boi (i.e,Antwan André Patton) was born on February 1, 1975 in Savannah where spent his childhood. He attended Jenkins High School here in Savannah. He moved to Atlanta where he was to become an American rapper, songwriter, record producer and actor. He is one of the two parts of of American hip hop duo Outkast alongside André 3000Patton. He met André "3000" Benjamin while attending Tri Cities High School a visual and arts magnet in the early-1990s. OutKast  has released six studio-albums and won six Grammy Awards. They have won Grammys for hit songs “Hey Ya!” and “Ms. Jackson”. After fifteen years the groups broke up in 2007.
          Since the breakup of OutKast Big Boi has been involved in artistic and entrepreneurial activities such as the following: a collaboration on a new show with the Atlanta Ballet. The show, entitled big, premiered at the Fox Theater in Atlanta, April 10–13, 2008 and in 2010, Big Boi launched a Chuck Taylor sneaker with Converse with such features as the title of his solo album debut: "Sir Lucious Left Foot" on the left, and "Son of Chico Dusty" on the right and also included was a Big Boi logo on the tongue of the shoe.
        In 2006, Big Boi founded the Big Kidz Foundation a nonprofit organization to help youth started in Atlanta The organization’s mission is to support youth developmental projects and encourage cultural, musical, and literary expression.  In January 2010, Big Boi launched the Big Kidz Foundation in Savannah, Georgia.

OutKast Music Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JfEJq56IwI

        Savannah Music Festival will have its 27th season this year. According to the festival’s website ‘it is Georgia’s largest musical arts event and one of the most distinctive cross-genre music festivals in the world. As a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization dedicated to inspiring and growing audiences of all ages through engagement with the musical arts, we advance our vision through an array of musical performances that include dance, film, and narrative programs.’ Gramophone Magazine‘s has said it is one of the “Best Events Worldwide” in March 2010. Travel and Leisure has said ‘……..Programs showcase the world’s best performers, some making American debuts, at intimate venues throughout the city’s historic district. You won’t feel closer to the music-making than in Savannah.” The festival not only brings new and old accomplished performers alike to Savannah it has three of the world’s respected musicians as Associate Artistic Director Daniel Hope, Associate Artistic Director of Jazz Music Marcus Roberts and Acoustic Music Seminar Director Mike Marshall. It is appropriate that the Savannah Music Festival is acting as a synergetic place for artists and original works as Savannah’s history of music is broad and wide.

Savannah Music Festival Radio Show: http://www.savannahmusicfestival.org/category/radio/
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       With these last examples I conclude a look at our wonderful heritage of music. Of course Savannah’s history of music is broader and deeper than I have gone into here. For instance I have not mentioned the Voice Festival led by world famous baritone Sherrill Milnes and Maria Zouves, Stopover Music Festival, and the Savannah Philharmonic to name three. But hey that is a story for another day.