Two short films produced decades ago by an acclaimed jazz musician, one about African American history on St. Simons Island, will make their Coastal Georgia premieres this week in Glynn County.
The Coastal Georgia Historical Society will present “The Soul of St. Simons Island and Tony Williams in Africa” at 5 p.m. on Feb. 22 at the A.W. Jones Heritage Center and at 5 p.m. on Feb. 23 at College of Coastal Georgia’s Stembler Theater.
You can register for a screening online at CoastalGeorgiaHistory.org.
The films were produced by jazz musician Willie Ruff, who was a professor at the Yale University School of Music and founder of the Duke Ellington Fellowship at Yale.
Local resident Bently Long, an undergraduate at Yale, learned of the films during a screening on campus. Watching the films prompted him to write a paper on Bessie Jones and the Georgia Sea Island Singers. See more here.
