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T. J. Wheeler and the Smokers to close King Speaker Series

T.J. Wheeler

T. J. Wheeler and the Smokers, a blues/jazz ensemble, will perform April 7, at 7:30 p.m. in Hart Chapel as the closing program in Clarion University’s 2007-08 Martin Luther King Jr. Speaker Series. The program sponsored by The Martin Luther King Jr. Committee and Minority Student Services is free and open to the public.

T. J. Wheeler is a blues and jazz guitarist, vocalist, educator, and musical activist. As a soloist or with his band, he takes his audience from Delta Blues to New Orleans second line jazz to his contemporary blues and jazz original compositions.

His workshop/concert tour, Hope, Heroes and the Blues, has been performed for over 250,000 students throughout the country and won accolades from such diverse sources as the Blues Revue magazine, Teaching Tolerance magazine, and the Boston Globe.

Wheeler has performed at major jazz, folk, and blues festivals throughout the U.S., Europe, Canada, and Brazil. He is a 1993 recipient of the WC Handy "Keeping the Blues Alive Award" in education and received a 1996 Artist Fellowship from the State Arts Council. He was the resident blues scholar on the Magic Bus seen on C-Span in the fall of 1997.

In January 2000, Wheeler won the Music in the School award from the National Music Foundation. In 2002, he and longtime blues partner Hatrack Gallagher, won CD of the year presented by New England Jam Magazine.

He was chosen by PBS Television and The Experience Music Project Museum to write the blues music curriculum to accompany the 2003 PBS films series on the blues. In celebration of the U.S. Congressional resolution making 2003 the Year of the Blues, he offered a special multi-media presentation of his award winning "Hope, Heroes and Blues" internationally through the 2003-2004 school year. He won the Paul Robeson Award in 2004 and the Granite State Award in 2006.

The Martin Luther King Jr. Committee maintains that the breadth of Dr. King’s heritage as an American leader is a mainly untapped resource. Consequently, this year’s committee seeks to focus on the theme “The Dream: 40 Years Later.” Some areas of Dr. King’s active involvement to further social justice include all levels of schooling, human violence, intolerance, gender issues, and the structure of job opportunities. Programs in these and other domains developed through various academic disciplines seem appropriate for the committee to cooperatively develop this year.

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