Drummer Daniel Ray left Beaufort at age 16 to pursue his dream of playing music, and in many ways he has returned as a man on a mission.
“I came back after 54 years, and the same thing that I left is still here," said Ray, who goes by the nickname Big Black, adding sadly that three girls in his neighborhood, one of them only 12, have had babies. “I see a lot of the things happening then still happening now, which means that a lot of these kids have not progressed. I'm going through a culture shock. I haven't gotten over it yet, and something really needs to be done. My whole outlook is to do something to make it better."
After traveling the world for decades and performing with some of the biggest names in the history of jazz, the 71-year-old Ray, or Black as his friends call him, came back home at age 70 after living for many years in Los Angeles, where he raised his children.
Black said that he wants to build a free child care center for “babies having babies," but he also is confronting his culture shock through his art. Since Sept. 29, Black has been teaching basic hand drumming to local youth as well as adults at Artworks, the new home of the Arts Council of Beaufort County. An eighth-grade dropout, Black sees art and music as a way to inspire and save children, much like it did for him after he left Shanklin High School and hit the road as a drummer. He also has instructed people on the university level.
“I came back after 54 years, and the same thing that I left is still here," said Ray, who goes by the nickname Big Black, adding sadly that three girls in his neighborhood, one of them only 12, have had babies. “I see a lot of the things happening then still happening now, which means that a lot of these kids have not progressed. I'm going through a culture shock. I haven't gotten over it yet, and something really needs to be done. My whole outlook is to do something to make it better."
After traveling the world for decades and performing with some of the biggest names in the history of jazz, the 71-year-old Ray, or Black as his friends call him, came back home at age 70 after living for many years in Los Angeles, where he raised his children.
Black said that he wants to build a free child care center for “babies having babies," but he also is confronting his culture shock through his art. Since Sept. 29, Black has been teaching basic hand drumming to local youth as well as adults at Artworks, the new home of the Arts Council of Beaufort County. An eighth-grade dropout, Black sees art and music as a way to inspire and save children, much like it did for him after he left Shanklin High School and hit the road as a drummer. He also has instructed people on the university level.
For more information contact All About Jazz.
