Pianist Alfie Politt at the Henry Box Brown Festival, Philadelphia

"The voice of the intelligence...is drowned out by the roar of fear. It is ignored by the voice of desire. It is contradicted by the voice of shame. It is biased by hate and extinguished by anger. Most of all, it is silenced by ignorance." --Dr. Karl Menninger "Birthing" by Stanley Squirewell The Henry Box Brown Festival, Phase Six Black Male Jazz and Classical Music Virtuosos, Ages 17 to 71: A Multigenerational "Knight" of Live Music in Celebration of Our Brother Of the Year E. Mitchell Swann May 31, 7:15 P.M. Please reserve your space today You are invited to join The Brothers' Network for an evening of fine jazz music and our annual honor for our Brother of the Year, E. Mitchell Swann, on the Avenue of the Arts on May 31. Our Henry Box Brown Festival program at the Philadelphia Theatre Company is an "out of the box" jazz concert featuring the stylings of Alfred "Alfie" Politt.   Pianist, composer, producer, arranger, and educator Alfred “Alfie” Politt penned his first song, “15th Street,” in 1958.  Over his career, Politt has written more than 500 songs. Born in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania in 1943, Politt started playing piano at the age of three. He is a versatile musician that performs jazz, Latin, R & B and other music genres. His music, composition, style and performance are influenced by John Coltrane, Horace Silver, Joe Loco, Bud Powell, McCoy Tyner, Sun Ra, Jimmy Smith, Elvin Jones, Cecil Taylor, Barry Harris, Bobby Timmons, Herbie Hancock, Jimmie Merritt, Mtume, Kashif, Leon Sylvers, Alfredo, Leon Huff, Stevie Wonder and Prince. During his music career, Alfie has performed with a long list of jazz greats. They include Slide Hampton, Carlos Garnett, Art Blakey, Philly Joe Jones, Gregory Herbert, Earl and Carl Grubbs, Sunny Murray, Bootsie Barnes, J.J. Johnson, Odean Pope, Rufus Harley, Sonny Fortune, Byard Lancaster, Archie Shepp, Lex Humphries, Edgar Bateman, Rashid Ali, Ron Everett, John Gilmore, Khan Jamal, Lee Morgan, Rashan Roland Kirk, Norman Connors, Johnny Hartman, Bobbie Humphries, Bill Barron, John Blake, Bob Pollitt, Harry “Sweets” Edison, Jimmy Garrison, Donald Byrd, Reggie Lucas, Bobby Durham and others. Politt has also worked with many of the R & B greats that made "The Sound of Philadelphia" famous, such as Barbara Mason, Billy Paul, The Blue Notes, Sister Sledge, The Tymes, The Majors, Stephanie Mills, and Lloyd Price’s Big Band. He was the keyboard player on Teddy Pendergrass’ platinum-selling album “Teddy Coast to Coast Live” as well as his album “This One’s for You.” In 1980, Alfie organized the R & B band OUCH, and he formed Alfie Pollitt and his All-Star Musical Friends in 1985. As an educator, Alfie teaches music and has conducted songwriting workshops in New Jersey and correctional facilities in Pennsylvania, including the Philadelphia House of Correction and Holmesburg and Graterford Prisons. In addition, both of his bands performed concerts at the correctional facilities. Alfie’s lifetime goal has been to maintain his positive message in music universally, in his own words, “by the Divine permission and help of the Almighty Creator.” The Brothers' Network is proud to partner with the Philadelphia Jazz Project to present Alfie Politt as part of the Henry Box Brown Festival.       Our evening of jazz will also feature Atamosi (French horn, above left) and Atamanu(viola, above right) Hagins, rising seniors at Julia Reynolds Masterman School who sit second and first chairs respectively in the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra. The Brothers' Network is pleased to present this intergenerational interplay of music and conversation juxtaposing classical music with classic jazz.   The Henry Box Brown Festival introduces more diverse audiences to the performing arts by creating a multidisciplinary festival that features black male choreographers, filmmakers, actors, writers and composers. The festival is inspired by the life of Henry “Box” Brown, an enslaved African who shipped himself to Philadelphia in a wooden box to gain his freedom in 1849. The wooden box serves as an artistic metaphor to explore the pedagogy of oppression and to examine the notions of liberation through symposia, dialogue and artistic interpretation. The Henry Box Brown Festival is funded by a Knight Arts Challenge grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. The Brothers' Network will also present our Brother of the Year Award in a post-concert ceremony. The musical selections are a tribute to E. Mitchell Swann (pictured above) and his love for music from the classics to jazz. Our Brother of the Year, E. Mitchell Swann - that's "E" as in "erudite": highly educated, knowledgeable, and worldly - has traveled around the globe: Spain, Switzerland, Brazil and beyond, taking with him the love of music he too acquired growing up in West Philadelphia. That love formed the foundation of a lifetime commitment to the arts that has nourished his soul on his journey through the engineering profession. Doors open at 7:15 p.m. at the Philadelphia Theatre Company, 480 South Broad Street (at Lombard), on the Avenue of the Arts in Philadelphia. Please reserve your space for this extraordinary evening of classical and jazz music and the celebration of outstanding brilliance using this link The Miami Foundation serves as the fiscal agent of The Brothers' Network.