Mississippi Valley State University’s Dr. Alphonso Sanders will perform in Los Angeles at the Grammy Museum on Feb. 9.
Sanders, who plays the saxophone and trumpet, said this will be his first time to play at the original Grammy Museum.
He will be performing with Greenville recording artist Steve Azar and the Kings Men, former members of late bluesman B.B. King’s band.
In April 2016, Azar and the Kings Men became the first recording artists to record a full-length studio album at the legendary Mississippi landmark, Club Ebony in Indianola. That recording event has now been turned into a full-length documentary film.
“I think the project is worthy,” said Sanders, who is the chair of MVSU’s Fine Arts Department and director of its B.B. King Recording Studio. “The identification of Mississippi musicians is a needed platform, especially for the Delta. And one of the things we’re trying to do is rebuild the musical image that Mississippi merits.”
Sanders said that Charley Pride is supposed to play at the event as well.
The event is the eighth annual Mississippi Night at the Grammys, honoring Mississippians nominated for the prestigious music award.
Four Mississippians are nominated for Grammys for work completed in 2016. Bobby Rush, Luther Dickin-son and Vasti Jackson are nominated for Best Tradition-al Blues Album, and comedian Tig Notaro is nominated for Best Comedy Album.
Country legend Jimmie Rodgers of Meridian will be recognized posthumously with a Lifetime Achievement Award this year.
Pride, of Sledge, will also receive a Lifetime Achieve-ment Award. Pride is one of only three African-Americans inducted into the Grand Ole Opry and is a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame.
This year’s Grammy awards mark Mississippi as home to the most nominations per capita of any state. Its special role in music history has also been recognized with the opening in Cleveland, Mississippi, last year of a second Grammy Museum.
Rush, 82, is nominated for his album “Porcupine Meat,” released in September 2016 on Rounder Records.
Jackson, a native of McComb who lives in Hattiesburg, is nominated for “The Soul of Jimmie Rodgers.” He played the role of Rodgers on stage at Meridian’s Little Theater and was inspired to record Rodgers’ songs that he came to love and admire. The album was self-released.
Dickinson, a member of the North Mississippi All Stars and a resident of Hernando, is nominated for “Blues & Ballads (A Folksinger’s Songbook: Volumes I & II).”
Notaro, whose Amazon TV series “One Mississippi” received glowing reviews in 2016 and was renewed for another year, is nominated for her comedy album “Boyish Girl Interrupted.”
She is a native of Bay St. Louis and received a Governor’s Award from Mississippi in 2016.
The winners will be announced during a Feb. 19 ceremony at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. It will be broadcast live on CBS.
•Contact Kathryn Eastburn at 581-7235 or keastburn@gwcommonwealth.com.
