Bruce Henry Uses Music To Build Community

The celebrated vocalist Bruce Henry is back in town to perform a concert on Saturday at the Dakota titled “Everyone Under the Sun: A Celebration of Unity and Love.” Henry connected with Sean McPherson to discuss how he and the band will use Martin Luther King Jr. as a point of departure to build community with the audience.

Check out a conversation between Bruce Henry and Jazz88’s Sean McPherson here:

This interview originally aired on The Afternoon Cruise on 1/13/25

FULL TRANSCRIPT:

Sean McPherson (Jazz88) 

It’s the Afternoon Cruise. I’m chatting with Bruce Henry. On Saturday, January 18 Henry is leading a concert at the Dakota titled everyone under the sun, a celebration of unity and love. Bruce, welcome back to jazz88 thank you for joining us.

 

Bruce Henry 

Thank you so much, Sean. Good to be back.

 

Sean McPherson (Jazz88) 

Now, Bruce, when you texted me the flyer for the show, you got Martin Luther King Jr on the flyer. Martin Luther King Jr, His birthday is a couple days prior, his holiday is a couple days after. Is this concert explicitly inspired by Martin Luther King Jr, or is that just kind of a point of departure for the concert in general?

 

Bruce Henry 

I say it’s a point of departure. We will definitely acknowledge the holiday and some of the themes of Martin Luther King, some of even some of his words, some of his spoken words, songs inspired by him. But that won’t be the entire theme of the concert.

 

Sean McPherson (Jazz88) 

Now, the theme of the concert is a celebration of unity and love. So when you’re working on a piece like this or on a concert like this, and you know, MLK Junior can be a point of departure, where else are you going to try to make sure that you’re celebrating unity and love in the way you want to?

 

Bruce Henry 

Well, I, you know, I’ve that’s always been a theme for me. You see, to use music. I mean, use music to build community, to bridge gaps, to unite people. Ever since I, you know, when I first the first band I ever led was called the African American culture center ensemble, and that was our thing was about inclusion diversity and using the power of music to unite and inspire people. So that’s always been my passion.

 

Sean McPherson (Jazz88) 

Now I want to ask a little bit about how a leader, and frankly, an amazing stylist like Martin Luther King Jr, might impact you or other players in the band. And I think the word stylist can sometimes sound negative, like you just go, “oh, he’s got no content.” I’m not going there with him. Okay, I’m just saying I know about drummers who would play along with his speeches because of how truly refined his sense of rhythm was and how compelling he was, even if he wasn’t given melodic shape, that it was just a truly amazing relationship to language and to phrasing. So I was wondering both for your journey as a vocalist, or perhaps just interpreting the way you’ve heard other musicians connect with his legacy on the style side, where do you connect with MLK Junior?

 

Bruce Henry 

Well, I definitely connect with MLK Jr. Has MLK Jr connects with very old black African American traditions. So when he speaks, he uses a sing song pattern and rhythms and improvisation and lyrics and those things are, they’re they’re part of my DNA. That’s how I grew up listening to countless preachers in the country in the city, who had similar patterns so that that sing songy is almost spoken, almost Sung, speech that that’s, yeah, that inspires me very much.

 

Sean McPherson (Jazz88) 

Well, it is. I appreciate what you’re saying, and I completely connect with that as well. And there’s so much to be learned obvious from the content of Martin Luther King, Jr, but definitely a lot to be learned from the style as well, and with a celebration of unity and love, which is happening on january 18 over at the Dakota it you know, Bruce, I don’t want to act like in 2015 we didn’t need a celebration of unity and love. Or in 1997 things were all good. But it seems like there’s always a need for this, a need to throw underliner on the value of love and unity. Do you ever get tired? Do you ever feel like I’ve been I’ve been pushing this message for a long time, and it’s still It seems to be need to be sung louder each and every year. Does your spirit get exhausted? Or do you come back with that enthusiasm to keep on sending this message out in your performance and in your life?

 

Bruce Henry 

Yeah, my spirit does get exhausted momentarily, and then I remember, what is the only the best tool I have for for for helping inspire and helping to change the world. The best two that I’ve been given is music. And so I always come back to that after we know what’s going to happen. What are we going to do? Now, you know, I come back to the one proven thing that I do know is, and people tell me this over the years, is that when I perform, it inspires them, it empowers them. They feel like even though, you know, I’m not necessarily singing about any from any religious background, but people say, Oh, that felt like a spiritual event. Those are the words that the people are performed for. And so, and that’s my intention. When I sing, my intention is to build and to empower. So I can’t allow my.self to be discouraged, and I’m not ignorant of history or politics or anything like that. But, you know, I gotta get these words out of me while I can. So anytime, any season, whoever’s in political power, whatever country, whatever audience, that my message remains the same.

 

Sean McPherson (Jazz88) 

Well, there’s always room for that message. And thank you for resting your soul and your spirit and ability to share some of that spirit you have with us, because what you hear from your listeners is what so many of us feel that you have a special gift to inspire when you’re up on stage. So thank you for using it for good. Bruce Henry is leading a concert called everyone under the sun, a celebration of unity and love on Saturday, January 18, Bruce Henry, safe travels to the Twin Cities. And thank you so much for chatting with Jazz88.

 

Bruce Henry 

Thanks so much. Look forward to coming back home.


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