Brian Blade and his father, Pastor Brady Blade, Sr., have telling voices. The former speaks calmly and with a smooth tone, interjecting the occasional jazz musician’s “man.” The elder Blade’s voice reveals years in the ministry, and even treating me to a “Praise God!” in our conversation.
But what connects them, beyond their obvious kinship, is music.
“He grew up listening to my music and my singing, and it made a great impression on him,” the pastor said of the younger Blade.
On Saturday and Sunday, over two performances and one service, father and son will come together in Durham in a project commissioned by Duke Performances called The Hallelujah Train.
Conceived by Brian, the project celebrates his father’s nearly 50-year history as the pastor of the Zion Baptist Church in Shreveport, La. Brian took the drummer’s chair at the congregation when he was 13 (his older brother, Brady Blade, Jr.—also coming for the performance—had just left for college). He grew up surrounded by his father’s music and said some iteration of the project has always been on his mind.
But the younger Blade, now 39, went off and built a career as one of the most successful drummers in music, working with Bill Frisell, Joni Mitchell, producer Daniel Lanois (also playing this weekend) and his own Fellowship Band. It’s now coming back to the beginning. Blade said the project is all about his father, his ministry and his “God-given talent” to preach through song.
“My dad—when he gets going, it’s great and just inspiring to me to see someone with conviction, with the goods to back it up, come and deliver something from deep inside,” Brian said.
The Hallelujah Train is more than a son admiring his father, though. Named after a show the pastor hosted in the late ’70s and early ’80s in which choirs and bands from Ark-La-Tex would play, the two performances will be recorded for a live album.
“It brings back not what’s been lost in memory, but what’s been lost in terms of documents. It’s a bit of a revival of sorts,” Brian said. “I don’t want to have the regret that I didn’t do my part to try and document what I’ve been blessed with.”
Director of Duke Performances Aaron Greenwald added that it’s very unusual for universities or promoters to commission live albums.
“Generally, what folks at universities or big presenting institutions want to commission are marquee pieces,” he said. “But I felt like this was a unique opportunity that fit well with...the kind of music and culture we ought to be celebrating.”
Indeed, The Hallelujah Train is the ultimate manifestation of Duke Performances’ current season, which is exploring modernism through the African diaspora.
Greenwald said that his interest in the project stems from the connection between religion, gospel music especially, and jazz, a link that too often goes unnoticed and unexplored. It’s a thread that’s clear to the elder Blade.
“[Music] calls for participation on the part of the people,” the pastor said. “When worship becomes a spectator thing, it loses its meaning and worth.”
And this is an appreciation Brian has clearly inherited from his father.
“It teaches you so many fundamental things without you necessarily even being conscious of it,” Brian said. “I think it just gave me the bedrock necessary to ground me in every other situation I would be a part of: how to listen, how to serve the song, how to submit yourself to the moment and be able to improvise and shift as the spirit moves.”
Even more than this, The Hallelujah Train will serve as a testament to the importance of gospel music, an art that has never achieved much commercial acclaim. Although a set list hasn’t been finalized, there will be some compositions from Lanois and Fellowship Band member John Cowherd. But The Hallelujah Train will primarily include classic gospel songs presented in a fresh context.
“There’s this essential thread through [the music]—even if it’s new, it makes it seem like it’s always existed,” Brian said. “It’s just manifesting itself differently now. We’re going to try and have our version of our life experience come through in some of these old songs.”
To boot, all of this will happen at the Hayti Heritage Center, a deconsecrated African Methodist Episocal Church.
“I just couldn’t imagine doing true gospel projects in Reynolds,” Greenwald said. “In a sense, having access to Hayti was a reason to do the project.”
Joining the pastor for his Sunday worship will be Shreveport’s choir. In addition, over 100 people are expected to come up from Blade’s congregation for the performance, a testament to how the community values its pastor.
At its core, The Hallelujah Train is about a father endowing his son with a sense of a deep musical tradition, one that is of great importance in America.
“You really have to go beneath the carpet and look deeper into the ground,” Blade said of gospel. “But once you find it you realize, boy, it’s the roots of American music.”
The Hallelujah Train will be performed Saturday, Oct. 10 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, Oct. 11 at 5 p.m. with shuttles running from West Campus. Pastor Blade will preach Sunday morning at 10 a.m. All events are at the Hayti Heritage Center, 804 Old Fayetteville St. For ticketing information, visit dukeperformances.duke.edu. The Sunday morning service is free.
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