Olu Dara at the Studio Museum in Harlem

Watch video footage from an open-air concert at the Studio Museum in Harlem on April 24th, 2007. Singer-trumpeter-guitarist Olu Dara is a master of the blues and a legend of the free-jazz movement. Mr. Dara began his career as a blues musician at the age of seven in his hometown of Natchez, Mississippi. He later made his name on New York's free jazz scene, playing trumpet alongside David Murray and Henry Threadgill. The father of famed rapper, Nas, Dara's own critically acclaimed albums weave soulful dance and blues grooves through intricate changes and humorous tales. Dara brings the avant-garde home to his rural roots, but he gets down further than the American South: this sonic alchemist draws West African and Caribbean music into the mix as well.