‘David Bankston and Friends’ to perform at Coastal
Featured performers will include Coastal’s music faculty members Bill Hamilton, Kurry Seymour, Tom Yoder and Steve Bailey. Singer Elise Testone, a Coastal graduate who performs in clubs in the area, will also appear.
The program will include a batch of new original songs by Bankston, selections by Jimmy Webb (composer of “By the Time I Get To Phoenix,” “Up, Up and Away” and other pop classics) and jazz standards.
Bankston, associate professor of performing arts, was born and raised in southern Louisiana. Inspired by Bob Dylan and Mose Allison, Bankston was first associated with the acoustic group Manchild, which signed to Capitol Records in the mid 1970s. After Manchild’s breakup, he spent years performing in musical theater.
Bankston has since become a music educator and composer as well as an accomplished interpreter of American popular song. His autobiographical CD “Galvez Town” was named one of the “10 Best CDs of 2002” by The Sun News in Myrtle Beach.
Hamilton, associate professor of music, is a composer, jazz pianist and vocalist.
Seymour, assistant director of bands and percussion coordinator at CCU, plays percussion instruments.
Yoder, who teaches music, plays acoustic guitar, and Bailey, artist-in-residence at Coastal, is a virtuoso bass player. Testone has performed numerous times on and off campus both as solo artist and with musical groups in the area.
Bankston has also performed extensively in opera and musical theater, including leading roles in companies such as the Houston Grand Opera, Washington Opera and New Orleans Opera. He was also involved in setting up “Guitars in the Classroom,” a program that provides guitar and music instruction for students and teachers in area elementary schools.
For more information, call 349-2502.