“Q-Tip, TS Monk, Lalah Hathaway, and more reveal personal stories and celebrate the life of the prolific Weldon Irvine”

Weldon Irvine penned Nina Simone’s electrifying 1969 civil rights anthem “Young, Gifted and Black,” served as Simone’s creative director, was a brilliant pianist, fearless playwright, and mentor to generations of jazz, funk, and hip hop musicians. 

Yet his legendary story has largely gone untold…until now.

Through rare archival footage and in-depth conversations with Irvine’s contemporaries, collaborators, and family, including TS Monk, Q-Tip, Sam Waymon, Lalah Hathaway, and Bill Curtis among others, award-winning director Victorious De Costa’s documentary “Digging For Weldon Irvine” unearths Irvine’s visionary contributions and dedication to Black liberation and expression.

While April 9th serves as the day of Irvine’s untimely death, BLK Docs presents this special screening in celebration of Irvine’s life and storied accomplishments.

DIGGING FOR WELDON IRVINE 

2019/USA/111 minutes 

Directed by Victorious De Costa

Who is Weldon Irvine?  He’s perhaps the most creative writer/pianist/arranger/composer you’ve probably never heard of.  But with his deep influence on the Black Arts Movement, the evolution of hip-hop, and the development of some of the most well-known figures in modern jazz, “Digging For Weldon Irvine” explores how prolific the man who penned Nina Simone’s electrifying civil rights anthem “Young, Gifted and Black” was, and how relentlessly he strived to reinvent himself within an unforgiving and seldomly reciprocal industry.

extra-special live Q&A conversation for ”Digging For Weldon Irvine” with De Costa and executive producer and jazz musician Joey “G-Clef” Cavaseno, moderated by freelance arts journalist and cultural critic Shannon Ali