The first time Dana Salzman walked into the East Bay Center for the Performing Arts (EBCPA) in downtown Richmond she experienced an epiphany that changed the course of her life.
A longtime pianist, vocalist and songwriter who’s performed widely around the Bay Area, she drove from her home in Oakland on a bright spring afternoon to sub for an EBCPA piano class. When she entered the building’s lobby, Salzman was struck by “a very physical feeling,” she recalled.
“I’ve gotten this feeling only twice before and it has to do with the sun and God. I felt I needed to be part of this place. I tried to get a job there and it took six months. They started me off with one or two piano students, and then asked if I could help teach the singing group.”
EBCPA has, since 1968, provided youths with training in music, theater, dance and media-making through classes and a diploma program. It also partners with local schools to promote equitable access to the arts in the West Contra Costa Unified School District.
It was 17 years ago that Salzman first stepped into EBCPA’s 1920s building, built as a public hall and theater, and these days she is an EBCPA mainstay who directs the vocal group Voices of Reason. She formerly co-led the group with Oakland vocalist and culture activist Valerie Troutt, and has run it herself since the fall of 2021. The group has performed around Richmond, singing at Juneteenth celebrations, gay pride rallies, and community events, even venturing to the Lesher Center in Walnut Creek.
A new recording of Vince Staples’ song ‘Magic’
Now the long-running ensemble has gone international with the release last month of a Voices of Reason recording and video capturing the group’s celebratory version of the 2022 single “Magic” by Compton-raised rapper Vince Staples.
Written and filmed in Richmond and recorded at Oakland’s 25th Street Recording studio, the piece was a group effort. Many members contributed verses and ideas that turned the track into a buoyant vehicle for sharing their own experiences, insights, and dreams.
“I created the hook, the chorus, and I taught it to them while playing the beat and chords on the piano,” Salzman said. “For one or two classes we wrote to it and shared what we’d done at the end of the class. I said, ‘don’t worry if it’s not perfect.’ I record everybody’s ideas on my phone, listen and put it together in a cohesive way that flows.”
She credits EBCPA’s team for the major vote of support in approving the “Magic” video. “They believe in us and say yes to my ideas,” Salzman said.
On a recent video call, before the group started its regular Tuesday evening rehearsal, several members who participated in the recording and video talked about what the song meant to them. Brenda Womack, the group’s senior member who’s sung in Voice of Reason for more than a decade, said that creating the arrangement and recording the video helped build camaraderie amongst the singers.
“It was a very beautiful process, with all of us enjoying each other,” she said. “I came up with eight bars of runs to make it more beautiful.”
“She was creating her ad-libs on the spot,” Salzman noted.
Aide Nuñez, who joined the group about a year ago with her sister, Adah, was impressed by how a group with younger, less experienced members and long-time vocalists united during the project.
“Seeing how other people have different singing abilities and come together was very cool,” she said, while admitting that she hadn’t shared the video with friends.
The precociously talented Joy McDowell joined Voices of Reason as a tween about four years ago. She wrote and performed the song’s opening verse, setting the tone for a piece that lets the young vocalists shine. “For me it was like showing the magic within yourself and showing the whole world your sparkle,” she said.
Filmed by cinematographer Elana Cohen-Khani, and edited by EBCPA’s Media Coordinator Ian Burbage, the recording and video project flowed out of Salzman’s hands-on teaching philosophy.
“Whenever possible I try to incorporate an element of writing so they get to express themselves,” Salzman said. “I picked the song we based it on because I like the beat. I love the idea of this magic we all have, that’s overlooked.”
Group draws on rich tradition of Black vocal music
Launched in 1986 as a vehicle to train teens and young adults in the rich traditions of Black American vocal music, Voices of Reason has been led by a series of seasoned educators, including singer composer, historian Kerrigan Black, long-time Richmond educator and cultural leader Terrance Elliott, and lyric tenor John Patton, an expert in spirituals and actor who played Preacher in the 1985 film “The Color Purple.”
Over the decades the group has been a go-to ensemble for intra-EBCPA collaborations, performing the music of Duke Ellington with the Center Jazz Ensemble, supporting the West African Music and Dance Ensemble, joining the Theater Ensemble in works like “The Wiz,”and presenting original a cappella compositions by Center artists such as Troutt.
“VOR performs each December in the Center’s Richmond version of ‘The Nutcracker’’ ” EBCPA’s former executive director Jordan Simmons wrote in an email. “Many alumni from the group, like William David Southall, have gone on to study music and become singer/songwriters, educators and choral artists.”
Part of what makes Voices of Reason an enduring project is that members can stay affiliated to the group as long as they want. The group mostly comprises youths ages 12 to 17, “but people go to college and then come back,” Salzman said.
The fact that the singers know that the ensemble is always there for them has created a deep bond. Even during the first years of the pandemic, when singing in person together was impossible, “we did not miss one beat, not one week,” Salzman said.
“We started to meet online, and though it’s impossible to sing on Zoom we found an app, and we continued to sing together and record together. Everybody came. We never had a dip in attendance.”
