Damen Tolbert was on the entertainment bill of the Arts and Science Center for Southeast Arkansas' 2023 kickoff for their monthly first Friday musical event.
Tolbert was on ASC's Live@5 lineup for the December installment and returned in February by popular demand.
Due to a play rehearsal in the Catherine M. Bellamy Theatre of the main ASC building, Live@5 convened for the first time in its 20-year history in the Kline Family Foundation Event Gallery on the ground floor of The ARTSpace on Main.
The evening saw approximately 30 folks in attendance. After having been cooped up from the ice storm, members of the crowd smiled, laughed and applauded at every opportunity, genuinely enjoying the mixed bag of jazz, R&B, funk, rock and hip-hop instrumental covers that wafted from Tolbert's alto sax. In addition to two hours of soulful solos, Tolbert occasionally mixed in his original poetry.
Leading into Fleetwood Mac's song "Dreams," Tolbert entertained listeners with his sense of humor saying, "This is my jam! One of the coolest things about playing saxophone is I get to play songs I love and get paid for it. Imagine if you got paid for shower singing."
Introducing an original composition to be released on his upcoming album, he said, "This song is called 'So Much Love.' If you know the title, you already know all the lyrics. I'm playing it for you here tonight in its entirety for the first time anywhere."
Near the end of his program he reiterated his feelings about music.
"I feel good about the music, so my mission is to pass that good feeling along to you," Tolbert said.
A Chicago native, Tolbert studied at the University of Arkansas Pine Bluff where he earned his bachelor of arts degree in music sound recording in 2012. He returned home to Illinois after graduation to pursue a master's in music education at Vandercook College of Music.
He began teaching as an instructor of music sound recording at UAPB beginning in 2016.
"I have now moved from UAPB to Brandon House Cultural Performing Arts Center in Little Rock teaching multimedia production to Park View High School students," he said. "I also conduct an afterschool program called, 'I HUSTLE,' where I teach kids all about still photography, video, sound, lighting and everything it takes to produce a self-promotion commercial for themselves. I'm also doing production work for Brandon House."
The 31-year-old concluded saying, "I'm currently recording a new six song album of smooth contemporary jazz that will drop in April and getting married in May."
His fiance, Donnelle, is a college friend turned girlfriend.
Damen Tolbert returned to the Arts and Science Center for Southeast Arkansas Feb. 3 to launch the 2023 Live@5 monthly musical event. (Special to The Commercial/Richard Ledbetter)
Damen Tolbert (left) and Kenny Fisher catch up with each other for the first time in 2023. (Special to The Commercial/Richard Ledbetter)