Pat “Mother Blues” Cohen teaching a workshop for Girls Rock NC, Durham, NC

Music Maker’s Next Generation program connects younger musicians with our elder partner artists to ensure that our musical traditions are passed on. For years our Next Generation Program has partnered artists like the Carolina Chocolate Drops and Lakota John with artists like John Dee Holeman, Boo Hanks, and Algia Mae Hinton, providing a relationship that promotes the passing of traditions.

Yahyah Corbett, Shaquim Muldrow and Bubba Norwood, Hillsborough, NC| photo by: Timothy Duffy

Recently, North Carolina Central University Jazz Studies student Shaquim Muldrow has been backing up Music Maker’s partner artists at the Bullpen and beyond on the saxophone. Here’s what he had to say about our mission and playing with Music Maker’s partner artists:

“Playing with legends like Bubba Norwood, Harvey Dalton Arnold and Pat “Mother Blues” Cohen is amazing and it exposes you to a different set of skills. As a younger musician, the older generation helps you put your ego aside allowing real musical growth. When I learned about how much Music Maker does for the artists I was really floored. It makes it so that they can still get work.”

“These traditions educate us on where everything came from, and if you’re not really solid in the blues you can’t really do much as a musician. As a black person, knowing this history and being able to play music with these elders helps me build upon these great traditions”.
Music Maker partner artist Bubba Norwood, 76, appreciates playing with the younger musicians on several levels and has this to say about the Next Generation Program:

“I think it’s great, it’s an awesome experience for them and I had the same kind of experience coming up when I played with Ike and Tina Turner, learning from my elders. For these young folks to play the blues and give respect to the blues as a genre is crucial, a lot of players don’t do that anymore. You’ve got to respect the older stuff and dig on the past and understand where it comes from so that you can pass it on.”