Reginald Tobias Barnes, son of former Salisbury resident Mary Massie Barnes, will be performing with renowned jazz trumpeter Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra for “A Celebration of America,” an event to commemorate the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and to celebrate the presidential inauguration of Barack Obama, the country’s first African-American president.
This is a private affair for special invited guests, including various celebrities. It will be held at the Kennedy Center’s Eisenhower Theater in Washington, D.C., today, and will air live on CNN beginning at 7 p.m.
Barnes is a former all-American scholar-athlete and graduate of North Rowan High School. He received his bachelor of arts degree in mass communication from N.C. State University and his master of education degree from St. John’s University.
He is director of multicultural affairs for all three New York campuses of St. John’s University.
Barnes appears weekly on inspirational TV and online with the Greater Allen AME Cathedral as one of their praise and worship leaders. Since being in New York, he has performed with such gospel artists as Donnie McClurkin, Karen Clarke-Sheard, Donald Lawrence, Marvin Sapp, Alvin Slaughter and others.
This will be Barnes’ second time performing with Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra. In April 2008, he was one of several singers asked to perform with the choir of Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem, New York state’s oldest African-American congregation and the country’s first mega-church, on the occasion of their 200th anniversary.
For the celebration, Wynton wrote “Abyssinian 200: A Celebration,” a 19-part mass based on the liturgy found in many African-American Baptist churches. This jazz-inspired production was performed four nights at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s historic Rose Theater and twice at Abyssinian.
Barnes lives in Roosevelt, N.Y., with his wife and son.
“A Celebration of America” was inspired by an conversation about jazz and democracy that took place between Marsalis and Rockefeller Foundation board member retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor at a recent dinner. Marsalis and O’Connor believe passionately that the basic tenets of American democracy and America’s music are one and the same.