We will be taking the music series online!

The series celebrates the rich heritage of African American musicians with ties to Eastern North Carolina, with artist director, Carroll V. Dashiell, Jr., house band and a special monthly guest artist. The music series is part of the African American Music Trails of Eastern North Carolina, a project of the North Carolina Arts Council, an agency of the Department of Natural & Cultural Resources and the counties of Edgecombe, Greene, Jones, Lenoir, Nash, Pitt, Wayne, and Wilson. There is a guidebook and a website where you can learn more at, www.AfricanAmericanMusicNC.com.

Cost: Free

Location: Facebook Live at 7pm

Artistic Director: Carroll V. Dashiell, Jr.

Allyn Johnson with a Dr. Billy Taylor tribute will be featured on November 13th.
Dashiell Family Holiday Special will be featured on December 18th.

Check out our past performances here!

Donate to the music series

ABOUT Allyn Johnson Native Washingtonian, Allyn Johnson, is a multi-talented musician, composer, arranger and producer whose trademark sound gives brilliance and fortitude to the art of jazz improvisation. Allyn, a prodigy who began playing piano at the tender age of five, got his start playing piano for the youth choir in his uncle's church. There he honed his inner musical gift. While a student at the University of the District of Columbia, Allyn was mentored by the late great jazz legend Calvin Jones, a venerable figure in the international jazz community. At UDC, Allyn was the first recipient of the Felix. E Grant Scholarship Award in jazz performance. He graduated magna cum laude from UDC in 1997 with a Bachelor of Music Degree in Jazz Studies. Now Allyn has served for more than six years as an adjunct professor of music and assistant director of the Jazz Studies program before succeeding Jones as the director in 2005. In the Fall of 2018, Allyn was awarded the DC Mayor Arts Award for his work as a Distinguished Artist in the DC area. Allyn makes it his mantra to never rest on his laurels. He continues to push himself as a composer, arranger, artist, engineer and bandleader. Allyn has a growing library of works for ensembles of varying sizes and instrumentation. No matter what configuration Allyn may see or hear him in, you can best believe it will be just "good music for the soul".

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ABOUT CARROLL V. DASHIELL, JR. Artist Director The North Carolina Arts Council, Pitt County Arts Council, Greenville-Pitt Convention & Visitor's Bureau has named Carroll V. Dashiell, Jr. Artistic Director of a new series, The African American Music Series. Carroll Dashiell is a native of Washington, D.C. A graduate of Howard University, with citations in Who's Who in Music and DownBeat Magazine, Carroll has been recognized for excellence in the music industry as a bassist, musical director/conductor and also as a composer/arranger. Affectionately known as CVD, he has been involved in academia for more than three decades serving as professor of music at the Saint Mary's College of Maryland, University of the District of Columbia and East Carolina University in North Carolina. CVD is the producer and writer of A Tribute to Motown Records, (a stage show and concert that celebrates some of the African-American's cultural contributions to the music industry, staged in the tradition of the famous touring Motown Review) that is selling out theaters and venues nation-wide. In addition to composing, writing and arranging, CVD is continuing performances as a jazz bassist and is very humbled to be the Founder and Director of the Dr. Billy Taylor Jazz Festival, named in honor of his mentor.

A special thank you to our sponsors.