When I Paint The World: A Tribute to My Brother John, From Hannibal

This ceremony celebrates two great achievements. One, the unbreakable bond formed between artist John T. Scott and musician Hannibal Lokumbe some 24 years ago. The other is the publication of the Pulitzer Prize-nominated book "Hannibal Lokumbe: Spiritual Soundscapes of Music, Life, and Liberation" (Columbia University Press 2024) by Lauren Coyle Rosen and Lokumbe.

Both will be celebrated with a reading from the book, conversation with the dynamic Jarvis DeBerry, and performance of the composition, written in John Scott’s honor, "When I Paint The World." Stellar musicians Herlin Riley, Oscar Rossignoli, David Pulphus, and Ivan Griffin will join Hannibal on the bandstand for this tribute performance.

About the Speakers

Hannibal Lokumbe is an American composer, poet, community activist and noted jazz trumpeter. His career spans more than five decades. Originally from Smithville, Texas, Lokumbe lived and played in the New York jazz scene for many years where he performed with many of his music idols including Gil Evans, Roy Haynes, Cecil Taylor, Pharoah Sanders, and Elvin Jones.

Hannibal is the founder and director of the Music Liberation Orchestra, a program that teaches music, poetry, and genealogy to incarcerated men in the Bastrop County J*il (Bastrop, Texas), Orleans Parish Pr*son (New Orleans, Louisiana), the Holmesburg Detention Center (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), and the Pr*son system of Nashville, Tennessee.

Notable awards and recognitions: Harlem Jazz Hall of Fame Lifetime Inductee; Bessie; National Endowment for the Arts (NEA); The Detroit Symphony Orchestra Lifetime Achievement, 2011; United States Artist Award in Music, Peter Cummings Fellow, 2010; Joyce Award 2011, Texas City Independent School District Hall of Fame; The Contemporary Arts Center SweetArts Award, New Orleans; Honorary Advanced Degree, Drexel University College of Arts and Sciences, 2017; Philadelphia Orchestra Composer-in-Residency, 2016-2019; 2020 recipient, Americans For The Arts Johnson Fellowship for Artists Transforming Communities.

Commissions: The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia; The Philadelphia Orchestra; St. Louis Symphony; Detroit Symphony Orchestra; The American Composers Orchestra; Houston Symphony; Baltimore Symphony Orchestra; New Jersey Symphony Orchestra/New Jersey Performing Arts Center; Kronos Quartet; Vocal Essence; Carnegie Hall; Carole Haas Gravagno; The Art Sanctuary of Philadelphia; Academy of Arts and Sciences; the Nashville Symphony (2023) and the Oklahoma City Philharmonic (2023 and 2024).

Jarvis DeBerry is an opinion editor and writer for MSNBC.com. He was a longtime editorial writer, columnist and deputy opinions editor for The Times-Picayune and the founding editor of the Louisiana Illuminator. He is married to Kelly Harris-DeBerry and they have one daughter, Naomi.

Host or Publisher The Helis Foundation John Scott Center