From The Window: Brian Horton Trio

Enjoy live music when the Brian Horton Trio performs live jazz From The Window of the Carolina Theatre of Durham’s Connie Moses Ballroom on Friday, October 23 during the venue’s takeout concessions hours and prior to the evening screening of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.” The artist will perform above and away from the concessions pick-up area and any guests.

No tickets will be sold or admission charged to this performance. The artist will perform while guests arrive at the venue to pick up concessions orders, and for anyone else walking through downtown Durham during Downtown Durham Inc’s The Streetery hours (5-9:30 p.m.). This live performance starts at 5 p.m.

About The Artist

Brian Horton is a composer, saxophonist, and educator from Kinston, North Carolina. His latest record “Brand New Day” is a musical testament to hope and encouragement for the spirit, fueled by a swingin’ jazz quartet deeply rooted in the blues. Horton’s velvety tone elicits a soulful warmth shaped by harmonically complex ideas, disguised in the thoughtful craft of lyrical melodies. He has studied with Dr. Ira Wiggins, Todd Williams, Michael Philip Mossman, Sir Roland Hanna, and Richard DeRosa. A long time sideman and arranger to jazz drummer Winard Harper (Harper Brothers, Dr. Billy Taylor, Betty Carter) led to group performances with jazz greats Clark Terry, Wycleff Gordon, Carrie Smith, George Cables, Frank Wess, and a host of others.

Horton is the recipient of the 2019 North Carolina Arts Council Fellowship for music composition. He has composed and arranged for Delfeayo Marsalis, Nneena Freelon, and the Ellis Marsalis Center for Music Silverbook Project, Vol. II. He also has worked with producer Just Blaze (Snoop Dogg, Memphis Bleek), American banjo folklorist Dom Flemons (Prospect Hill, Music Maker Relief Foundation), and Kelvin Sholar (Esoterica). His music is featured on independent documentaries for Columbia and Stanford Universities, ESPN, Foot Locker, the Durham Symphony, writer and cultural theorist Scott Heath (Callaloo Journal, Head Theory), author Adam Mansbach (Kodiak Brinks-Stand For Nothing, Fall For Anything), choreographer Amy Chavasse (Low Winter Light), director Spike Lee (Jackie Robinson Tribute, Weiden+Kennedy), and visual artist Torkwase Dyson for the National Alliance of African and African American Support Groups. Brian Horton’s Trios and Quartets have toured through several European and Middle Eastern countries including Turkey, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan through the auspices of Jazz At Lincoln Center’s Rhythm Road: American Music Abroad Tours.

He has earned degrees in music from North Carolina Central University (BA, BM), Queens College (MA), and the University of North Texas (DMA). Dr. Horton’s recent work in jazz arranging was accompanied by the completion of his dissertation, Black Magic: Tone Parallels in Music for Film: The Compositional Works of Terence Blanchard in the Diegetic Universe––which examined composing for an orchestra that combined jazz and classical idioms, inspired by culturally programmatic themes written for a studio orchestra. He currently teaches at his alma mater, North Carolina Central University.

Guest Safety Information

Guests and staff are required to follow the public health guidelines currently in place: wear face coverings, maintain a physical distance of six feet from other guests and staff and use hand sanitizer to avoid any potential contamination. If someone doesn’t feel well, they should stay home.

Guests must follow all North Carolina Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission (NC ABC) laws regarding alcohol. No alcohol can be consumed on the Carolina Theatre’s grounds.

Carolina Theatre staff will monitor the guests in regard to compliance with existing public health recommendations. Anyone not following these recommendations will be asked to leave. If the area doesn’t seem safe, the performances will stop.

To support the programming and the staging of From The Window performances, guests and fans are encouraged to become a member of, or donate to, Carolina Theatre of Durham, Inc., the nonprofit that operates the city-owned historic venue.