Bringing The World Home To You

© 2024 WUNC North Carolina Public Radio
120 Friday Center Dr
Chapel Hill, NC 27517
919.445.9150 | 800.962.9862
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Storyteller and Cellist Shana Tucker Lays Roots In North Carolina

photo of Shana Tucker
Chris Ubik

  

Shana Tucker remembers the day the Uptown String Quartet came to Howard University. There had been many jazz musicians who came to play and mentor students while she attended the school, but this was different.

 

These were women of color with stringed instruments playing classical, jazz, and soul. Tucker called it her “aha moment,” when she realized her cello could be used for more than just Bach and Beethoven. On the cusp of releasing her second solo album, “Playlist,” one of Tucker’s new joys in life is educating the next generation of musicians. She mixes her love for education and music on Tuesday, April 9 at Elizabeth City State University’s annual jazz festival where she will perform with ESCU/Northeastern High School Honor Jazz Band, and The ECSU String Ensemble. The day’s events include a jazz appreciation workshop for children K-12. “An Evening with Shana Tucker,” begins at 7:30 p.m.

 

 

Shana Tucker holding her cello
Credit Sonia Seelinger
I started playing violin when I was nine. I don't really remember telling people how much I hated it.

photo of Shana Tucker sitting on the floor with cello behind her
Credit Chris Charles for Creative Silence
We are the sum of our parts. Sometimes there's a methodical way to go about it, and sometimes you just stop thinking and play.

Shana Tucker posing with the cello behind her
Credit Chris Charles for Creative Silence
When I wrote those words, it was really just a journal entry. It was the first time I had fallen in love for real for real. - Shana Tucker on the lyrics to 'November'

Shana Tucker's next release is called "Playlist" dedicated to her favorites from the 80s.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXkPrhzh6aM

Dana is an award-winning producer who began as a personality at Rock 92. Once she started creating content for morning shows, she developed a love for producing. Dana has written and produced for local and syndicated commercial radio for over a decade. WUNC is her debut into public radio and she’s excited to tell deeper, richer stories.
Longtime NPR correspondent Frank Stasio was named permanent host of The State of Things in June 2006. A native of Buffalo, Frank has been in radio since the age of 19. He began his public radio career at WOI in Ames, Iowa, where he was a magazine show anchor and the station's News Director.
Related Content