SEGUES
Yacouba Sissoko
master kora player from Mali
Taína Asili
singer/songwriter fusing Afro-Latin influences
Jerry Dugger
Harlem journeyman blues musician singer-songwriter
accompanied by multi-genre guitarist
Gaetano Vaccaro
Happy New Year!
Please enjoy SEGUES, our thank-you gift of music and friendship recorded live last spring at 22 Pawn in Essex, NY.
This magical evening was the pinnacle of a residency that brought master kora player Yacouba Sissoko, singer-songwriter Taína Asili, Blues musician Jerry Dugger, and guitarist Gaetano Vaccaro together under one roof in the Adirondacks for five days.
A “segue” is a smooth musical transition, whether it be genre, tempo, or key. From Africa to the Caribbean, to America, the Blues is derivative of all of them, and a seque is the bridge that connects us musically .
—Jerry Dugger
Staying in a cottage in Keene Valley, they came to know one another as people and connect musically as artists, then went out into the world, sharing their gifts and talents in two community performances and delighting over five-hundred K-12 students in Tupper Lake, Boquet Valley, and Keene schools.
We are exceedingly grateful to them for trusting in the spontaneity inherent in this project and giving it their all.
We are also indebted to Eric and Thomas Sherman, Eric Teed, and Gaetano Vaccaro for going above and beyond to produce this film and immortalize the music made at 22 Pawn and the friendships forged during the residency.
Thanks go as well to Naj Wikoff for hosting a welcome dinner in his home the night Yacouba, Taína, Jerry and Gaetano arrived.
We hope that SEGUES will help you ease into 2025 and gear up for the told and untold challenges ahead.
Enjoy!
SEGUES was made possible with a grant to John Brown Lives! from The Audience Building Project, a program of the Lake Placid Center for the Arts and the New York State Council on the Arts with support from the Governor and New York State Legislature.
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