 Hello everyone, welcome to Sister Power. I'm Sharon Thomas Yarbrough. February marks Black History Month, a tribute to African American men and women who have made significant contributions to American and the rest of the world in the fields of science, politics, law, sports, the arts, entertainment, and many other fields. Join us as we discuss art and jazz. Sister Power's guest today, John Henry Nichols, Hawaii Artist of the Year. The artist John Nichols is noted for his watercolors, acrylics, woodblock, and etchings of famous iconic musicians and beautiful flowers of its adopted home, Hawaii. His interpretations are organic, earthy, and in a word brilliant. It captures the essence of the free-flowing style of the elements of music from the jazz genre. This afternoon, we will be discussing Grammy Award winner Miles Davis. Davis was a major force in the jazz world as both a trumpet player and a band leader. Instrumental in the development of jazz, Miles Davis is considered one of the top musicians of his era. Welcome, John Aloha. Hello Sharon, nice to see you. Nice to see you. Welcome to Sister Power. Thank you. Thank you. This is such an honor. I've known you for so many years and when I first met you, we did an art show together at Roy's. We did that. You remember that? I remember that. A lot of fun. We must do that again. Okay. So John, tell us a little bit about your background. I'm a graduate from Cambridge, Massachusetts. When I was in high school, I audited many courses at MIT and Harvard, which was phenomenal back in the late 50s, early 60s, and started seeing how to intersect disciplines and how Harvard was known for that. Consequently, when I graduated from high school, I went to Syracuse. And my first two roommates were, I was studying to be a physician. My first two roommates were artists from New York City. And I think that I probably made a better artist than I would a physician. You're an excellent artist. So loved being able to travel a lot. But consequently, as a result of going to Syracuse and having two roommates who were artists, I ended up getting a graduate degree in clinical psychology and attending a historical black university, Fiske University. And my Harry Medical College is about 185 years old. And I came out to Honolulu in 1977, I believe it was. And I have a passion for sailing boats. And I was a racing skipper while I taught at Harvard back in the mid-70s. I didn't know that. Yeah, I did, actually. I taught sailing. And I kind of worked at the yacht club and that sort of thing. So I have a passion for the ocean. And consequently, wanted to look at the lifestyle of art and the lifestyle of living as well. Wow, that's how interesting. So did your upbringing prompt a specific reference point within your work? Well, I grew up, as I say, my two roommates from New York City, they were on the high school all-star team with Karim Abdul, who was Louis Alcindor, and Dr. Jay. So when I would go to New York City, I would often be around a lot of people who were into sports. We worked out all the time. We stayed in shape constantly. And they were phenomenal artists also. And so I think that influence gave me the ability to travel to museums, in New York. And one of my roommates was actually smarter enough to work foundations, and he discovered how every summer he would go to a different part of the world. And I was really impressed with that, the whole non-profit energy. Good. Let's talk about your art. Okay. That's what is so interesting. And what I'm excited about, you and I both sit on the African-American Film Festival committee. And for this month is so exciting. From February, what is that to date? From February 16th to the 24th. And so what's so interesting about that is Miles Davis, opening night reception, Miles Davis' birth of the soul will be showing. Of the cool. Yes, right. Good. Mr. So will be showing later. We'll talk about that later. But Miles Davis' birth of the cool was so interesting about that. And your artwork will be displayed on opening night. Correct. That you painted of Miles Davis. It's an etching that I had done of Miles, right? So the backstory about that was so interesting is you met Miles Davis. I did. I think it was when I discovered that he was coming to town. I asked the manager if I could do a backstage show and I was granted the space. But the manager said, look, you know, Miles doesn't like to talk to anybody. So hang your work and then just kind of take off, which I did. I had my younger brother Glenn with me at the time. And so I hung some paintings up. And his manager came up and said, listen, he insisted that I bring these paintings for Miles to see them because Miles. Oh, there you are. Miles. Oh, yeah, there it is. I have that painting. You gifted that to me. I love that. Yeah, Miles must. He had to see the Kalahari woman. That was the Kalahari woman was the influence that he really needed to be exposed to. And he actually wanted to invite me to do a show in Berlin with him. He said, Hey, man, I'm doing the show next month. And I'd like to help you out. And I said, wow, Miles, that's amazing, you know, and he said, but you've got to go to Europe first. You've got to go to Europe. And if you don't go to Europe, I'm going to come back here. And I'm going to, you know, I'm not going to really, he swore at me. Oh, go you won't. Yeah, when they're here, a lot of that, right, when they come and see the movie, Miles Davis, Birth of a Soul. I had no idea who's a painter. He had a passion for art. He had a passion for the acrylic and a wide ranging appreciation for oils and acrylics, to be exact. And he had a love for painting. And he was telling me how Anthony Quinn had taken a, he took the pen, I had a Mont Blanc with me at the time. And he took the Mont Blanc and he drew the age lines of a man in a tree. And he said, Anthony Quinn just got finished, give me one of these. And he said, you got to charge more for your work. And he said, you know, because you're charging too little for your work. Too little, which was interesting. So we know Miles Davis is one of your biggest influences. Anyone else? I'd like a Basquiat, which is interesting. I had done a show when Miles told me to go to Europe. I had, I think it was my sixth trip to Europe. I was in Paris. Yeah. And Basquiat had just died. I'm doing two one man shows, one at the Latitudes Hotel and one at the Meridian Hotel. And Basquiat had died and now he's the superstar. I was in Miami recently at the Basel, where I was invited to give a talk at Historical Black College. And I did two group shows at Basel in Miami. And I was just really amazed as to what the Basquiat pieces are going for. And there's another guy, Kerry Marshall Washington, I'm not mistaken. And these are contemporary people. Well, he, Basquiat's not, but Kerry Washington is. And it's just really neat. I happen to be a plant based organic, biodynamic artisanal farmer myself. I just like to have my hands in compost and the dirt. And but I get inspired by picking up oils and playing with acrylics and doing etchings and wood blocks. And so it's kind of that helps to balance out the the creative side of me. And you know, what's interesting when we were watching the screen of the Miles Davis film, and all of the people, the iconic people that he worked with, Quincy Jones, he worked with Sly and the Family Stone. And who else did he work with? We were surprised. Well, he was a restless, inventive individual who never rested on his laurels, who was always trying to get that inner muse to speak to him, obviously. And I just love the fact that art and music define the times in which we live. And Miles was one of those iconic masters who was able to get the very best of everybody who played for him. And so I remember Cedric Lawson and Lenny White, I was at Jack's drum shop in Boston years ago, and I heard that Miles was looking for a piano player and that sort of thing. Several of my associates that were living in the same complex were attending Berkeley at the time. And it was just really cool to know that Miles would have not only phenomenal music, but he would have unbelievable fashion. Oh, yes, he was dapper. He was always clean. He seemed to be timely for the times. And he had a way of bringing out the very best in every individual. And everybody knew where their lane was, basically. And yet, at the same time, when you got together, he, from what I understand, would prefer that you didn't practice, but you actually did it on stage in real time. You know, he's a genius. He was a genius. And he knew the right people to place and the arena with him. They would just go with the flow. And then when I saw him performing with Prince, that was amazing. They're going to enjoy the film. It was phenomenal. It was phenomenal. And in some ways, you know, it was like, the train in Miles, I would say for the train, he had an internal revolution. You know, he was playing love, the love supreme stuff back in 64, 65, when all of the stuff was going on in American, the American cities. And Miles brought the train along and it had allowed the train to express himself in a way that had beautiful colors with McCoy and with Alvin and those cats. When they would play, it was like, you could close the door to an airplane and take off and go somewhere together. And it was wonderful. I really liked Miles' ballads because they were hauntingly beautiful. And to this day, when I listened to them, they make me reflect upon my family. And sometimes I become very vulnerable and you sometimes see me go for my handkerchief. And that's okay. So Miles Davis, birth of the soul. Of the cool. Of the cool. Why do I keep saying it? Because I'm so excited about the other movie, Mr. Soul, that we're going to be showing. But Miles Davis, birth of the cool, opening night reception is Saturday, February the 16th. Correct. It's six o'clock at six p.m. is an opening night. And it is $35 for non members. Correct. $30 for members, members for the museum members. This is a movie that and I know we're almost sold out that I would, you know, our friends are going to be calling us at the last minute. Can you get me and no, please come, get your tickets, get them early. But very quickly, I would like to also thank our African American Film Festival committee members for sitting together. And this is our eighth annual. It is our eighth annual. So we want to thank Daphne Barbie Wooten, Ethan Caldwell, Akemi Glenn, Marcia McFadden, of course, John, you're on the committee as well, Atalia Rice, Sandra Simms, and of course, myself. So let's just say that the museum has been phenomenal. Taylor Chang, Taylor Chang, director of doors, do theater, content, highlights, going to the edge of the precipice and allowing the community to experience this artistic expression is phenomenal. It is phenomenal. And you know, the way that it all started to be quite honest with you was I had done a portrait. Okay, so one of my influences is Sir Lawrence Alma Tadeima, Sir Lawrence Alma Tadeima. And he was the artist in residence at Buckingham Palace for Queen Elizabeth's grandmother. He would take paintings, and he would do pieces and oils, and he would take common people and make them nightly. He would make them look like queens and kings and beautiful people. But he also took granite and marble, and he aged it, he weathered it. So that's what I had done for Ernest Harris, Dr. Harris and his wife, Betty Jo, who had raised a lot of funds for the immigrants here. We had both gone to University of Hawaii to get the School of Public Health. I did this portrait and I had Ernest handing his wife three dozen roses over a grayling, and then the background was Canioli. And I said, this belongs in a building called Art for Public Places. And so I knocked on the door at the museum and they said, can't really hang any artwork here. And I kept thinking, after coming back from Europe, that Europe was older than this country. And art and music define the times in which we lived. And so when Stefan said, you can't, we're not going to do an art thing, we're going to do a film thing, but about the involvement with the community, I said, let's do it. And we had Faye, Kennedy, we had Betty Jo, we had several of the original members were a part of this whole thing. And as it turned out, that was the catalyst that started this whole thing. Well, when we come back, let's finish the story on art and jazz. We'll be right back. Okay. Aloha and welcome to At the Crossroads. I'm your host, Kisha King. You can catch me every Wednesday alive at five. I'll see you there. Hi, I'm Rusty Komori, host of Beyond the Lines on Think Tech, Hawaii. My show is based on my book also titled Beyond the Lines, and it's about creating a superior culture of excellence, leadership, and finding greatness. I interview guests who are successful in business, sports, and life, which is sure to inspire you in finding your greatness. Join me every Monday as we go Beyond the Lines at 11am. Aloha. Welcome back to Sister Power. Our theme and episode for today is Art and Jazz. And our guest speaker here, John Henry Nichols, Hawaii's artist of the year. And we're talking about, you know, this is Black History Month, and we're talking about also the Honolulu African-American Film Festival that will take place next starting next Saturday, February 16th. And we are showing Miles Davis' Birth of the Cool. And you see the flyer there on screen. And we have an opening reception. Come dressed for jazz and enjoy good music, wine, food, and company. Celebrate the legendary Miles Davis. And what's so interesting about this, John, is you met Miles Davis. But before we went on break, you were telling us the story and how this came together, the African-American Film Festival, very quickly, that we can just elaborate on that briefly. I just think it's fantastic that we were able to pivot as a result of not having any artwork on the walls in the state, to my knowledge, that relates to the diaspora of African-Americans. However, the Film Festival was and still is a very vibrant event that is very artistic and expressive. And it brings the community together, which is huge. So yeah, that is huge. I just want them to see another picture again of with you and Miles Davis. This is just such an iconic moment, I'm sure for you. Could I ever tell you the story about how when I met Miles, I had a blue star sapphire. I was holding a blue star sapphire. No, tell us about it. This is when we're going to see you with Miles Davis, you and Miles. I don't know if there may be an image of his jacket or this jacket. That shirt has either black onyx or it could be blue star sapphires on it. Okay. And when I was told that I would meet him, I was told to at least expect the unexpected. And that was Meltzer, his manager right there. That's the etching of Miles. I love that. And that's going to be displayed at the Honolulu Art Museum the night February the 16th. Right. People will have a chance to see this art piece. It's a hand painted etching. It's hand painted etching. And before we let's talk a little bit very quickly and we'll come back and speak about Miles Davis, that we also have 21 and done. But before we start talking about Miles Davis, birth of a cool, the producer will be there. Am I correct? The producer will be there that night and I'm so excited about meeting her. That's going to be exciting. So we have 21 and done February the 17th. We have Liana, February the 17th. And also we have, which I keep saying it's Mr. So, I am so excited about Mr. So. And Bill speak could talk too. And it built, now that's the one, it built street could talk. We are having that on February the 21st, February the 22nd and February the 24th. We have a fabulous lineup. Just before the Oscars up in the upstairs. Just before the Oscars. I believe so. Yeah. So the timing on that is really huge as well. Good. So the Honolulu African American Film Festival celebrates Black History Month with a selection of Black excellence in cinema from the United States and beyond, from honoring iconic figures in the Black history to celebrating Black love and all is form. And I love about celebrating Black love because that's what it's all about. Just loving one another. And it's really historically relevant right now too. It is. It is historically relevant. Let's just talk about your artwork. How do you cultivate a collector base? Patrons, sponsors. All right. Patrons and sponsors are important. I say if people going to invest in stocks and bonds, why not invest in a dream? Where I'm at right now is I was recently invited to be a part of the donor's Gala at the Smithsonian, where I saw the people who gave me two million dollars or more. And it was phenomenal. I met Denise Graves, the opera singer. Oh my goodness. As you know, I'm working on a new series called The Classical Voices of Color. And that catalogs 200 years of African American divas and divos in the opera. And I'm not an opera person, but I just absolutely have a great appreciation in respect for the classics. Will the show be here? You know, I really I want to take Miles advice and take it to Europe. All right. I've been invited to Milan's La Scala. I've had like three or four correspondence with the folks at La Scala in Milan. But I need to get back and shape myself. So I, you know, physically, I need to stop running, swimming, hitting the weights. And we all do. But in order for me to go to Europe, I'd like to be able to be down, you know, in the the cruising way, so to speak, you know. So you met the opera singer at the Simonian Museum of African. Denise Graves. And Denise Graves. My goodness. And her mom's her daughter and her aunt. You met the entire family. I met the entire family. And her husband, too. Yeah. So we were, like I say, we were part of the donors group. And so Denise said, we use no microphones, John. When I sing, it is to project out to wherever it is, you know, in the opera house. And so she said, these are some books that I want you to look at. And here's my contact information. And so we have been in touch. And I said, Denise, wouldn't it be great for every child in elementary and high school to be able to be exposed to the classical voices of color and to understand that there have been 200 years of African American divas and divos that have actually performed in concert halls and opera houses of the world. I was not aware of it. There was a woman named Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield, who 200 years ago was invited to sing for Queen Elizabeth's mother, a grandmother, rather. And she performed in then Harriet Beecher Stowe, discovered her in London. And they had a great, how does one say it, rapport. And she came back to Philly and ended up teaching music in Philly voice, to be exact. So we have so much history in African American history. Well, American history is African American history. And I'm just so excited about the Honolulu African American Film Festival that will be taking place very soon. And the tickets are going fast, too. I mean, I think we're down to about 20 tickets. Oh, that's right. So get your tickets. You should get your tickets soon. And again, I want to thank our Honolulu African American Film Festival committee, which is Daphne Wooten, Ethan Caldwell, Akemi Glenn, and Marsha McFadden, and of course, Sandra Sims is on. And of course, Taylor. And Taylor Chang. And all the curators at the same time. Oh my God, they've been phenomenal. Been phenomenal. This is very special, our eighth annual Film Festival. This is going to be, again, a big success. And what I'm loving about it is, again, your art piece will be shown. That's huge. The opening now. That's very huge. Yeah, it is huge. Yeah, and it's up for sale. It's for sale. As a matter of fact, it's being shipped from Hollywood. I'm having it framed in Hollywood and shipped to Honolulu in a few days. In a few days. I think we're going to put a black silk mat and then a gold filet around it. And it'll be interesting to see how it turns out. Oh, I think it's going to be fabulous. And I just want to let people know about the opening night reception that, you know, which is the icing on the cake is to have your piece. And we'll have Brown Man Ali performing, too. Oh, we have, and he is going to perform at the opening night reception. Right. And he's going to play Miles Davis' music. Correct. Correct. Which is fabulous. So definitely come dressed for jazz and enjoy good music, wine, food and company to celebrate the legendary Miles Davis. The opening night reception precedes the screening of Miles Davis, birth of the soul at 7.30 p.m. Now, moving forward, how has your practice changed over time? Well, you know, I find that the more disciplined you are, the freer you become. And by that, I mean, I used to do a lot of yoga, heart yoga. I used to run the beach. I used to swim and that sort of thing. And I can actually see how the pieces that I would create would be kind of directly related to that. Okay. So here it is. You have the three P's, pianists, poets and painters. Oh, I like that. You like that? Yes. Piano, there's a correlation between the 88 keys on the piano. And there are 88 U's and colors of the. So painters that they pick up on that and piano players, if they can maybe play a tune using all 88 keys, that would be very interesting. And so the dependent variable will be the three P's and then the color. Pianists, poets, painters. And if you could have a piano player take and compose a tune using 12 or 16 bars and a poet write about it. You feel what I'm saying? Yeah, I feel you. And if at that same time you call that Nova 88. Let's come up with the word Nova 88. All right. 88 keys, 88 chromas of the rainbow, 88 colors to the rainbow. And now you create a digital art form where you actually open a card and you have a minute and 28 seconds, which is the 88 seconds. And the music and the art are all together. So I'm kind of like riffing a little bit using art and jazz and combining those two together right now. And if I recall, you had an art piece with piano keys on it. I do, I do. Piano rama, what's it called? Piano rama, piano rama. I discovered. With the rose. With the rose. I discovered in Amsterdam. So when I else tells me to go to Europe, I go to Europe, I get the Florence and within the first 45 minutes of arriving in Florence, I had a roll of etchings and they were all sold. So then I go back to Amsterdam by way of the North Sea Jazz Festival and this at the Hague in the Congress Center, which is like the United Nations of Europe basically. And Oscar Peterson, I opened for my fourth cousin Oscar Peterson on the Canadian side of my family. And he's related. My grandmother, brother had gone to Canada and married into the Biggers family. And Oscar Peterson was the root of the tree. From that family. And it was just amazing that we were staying at the Des Indies Hotel in Dunhag and I get to meet my fourth cousin Oscar Peterson, which is amazing. Yeah, it was great. It was amazing. But piano rama is a panoramic view of nine piano players that all played the musical feeling of I Love You. And they had, I have the the score visually of what their stride piano looks like. So you have Duke Ellington, Earl Garner, Fats Waller, James P. Johnson, Phineas Newborn, Oscar Peterson, Art Tatum. And you also have the Monk, the onus plump, with a clock one minute before midnight. And so the Monk actually got to see the piece. Yeah, it's the onus actually got to see the piece. And it started really appreciate it. I can't wait to read your book. As a matter of fact, I'm thinking that that would make a lot of sense. Exactly, put all of this on paper. You have lived a full life. I feel like this guy in the world. Yes, you are. I mean, living here in Hawaii, you paint beautiful flowers. And I have a piece that from Sarah Vaughn that you painted. Vaughn with the Wind. Vaughn with the Wind. In fact, Sarah got one at Monterey, the Jazz Festival. As I say now, I'm really feeling a need to stretch into the arena of the opera series, which is so totally, it's a different fabric of cloth that is cut from. Opera is a different fabric of cloth. And let's just say I'm not an opera person, but the running joke is, I had so much time on my hands. I was wearing two Rolex watches. And I got rid of all the bling with the Casio, you know, but seriously speaking, I'm really very fortunate to have Hawaii is my adopted home. I'm really blessed and honored to be able to be a part of this phenomenal spiritual backdrop is probably the most spiritual place I've been in my life. It is, in fact, the most spiritual place I've been in my life. Before we close, there's another picture of you. Like you're holding the world in your hand. Oh, Jesus, here. What is the name of that one? I think we have that one. We have many pictures and we have so much to talk about. We're almost running out of time. But there it is in 30 seconds of left. Tell us about that picture. Each one of those panels, there are 140, actually 288 panes of glass on the Louvre at the Louvre. That's at the Louvre in Paris. So I do two one-man shows in Paris and I invited a few friends of mine from DC had a fabulous time in Paris and consequently was inspired to do the piece called The Four Seasons of Paradise. Well, John, this has been just absolutely wonderful. I've enjoyed this time with you. I've learned so much. And again, we want to remind people to come out to the Honolulu African American Film Festival that starts next Saturday, February 16th through the 24th. And we have Miles Davis' Birth of the Soul. Birth of the Cool. Birth of the Cool, sharing, getting birth of the Cool. Because I'm excited about Mr. Soul. And very quickly, right on the heels of the Civil Rights Movement, one fearless Black pioneer reconseed a Harlem Renaissance for a new era. So come out, everyone. And enjoy our festival, Love, Peace and Soul. Aloha. Aloha. Thank you, Sharon.