Morehouse Ray Charles Center is now open

Joe Adams, business manager and confidant to music legend Ray Charles for nearly 50 years, walked through the Ray Charles Performing Arts Center and Music Academic Building and smiled.

“This is absolutely impressive,” he said as he stood near a likeness of his old friend. “It’s great.”

On September 29, a day that music department Chairman Uzee Brown called a great day, an audience of approximately 300 watched as Morehouse cut the ribbon on the state-of-the-art facility that becomes the College’s center for music teaching and performance.

“This facility is not simply just another building at Morehouse,” said President Robert M. Franklin ’75. “This is also a symbol of the Morehouse renaissance.”

Anchoring the College’s south side, the $20-million facility covers 76,000 square-feet, houses a digital/analog recording studio, 12 faculty studios, nine practice rooms, two rehearsal rooms and three academic labs.

One of those labs is the David Geffen Keyboard Digital Music Laboratory, featuring 16 digital keyboards and other computerized music equipment.

A wall of the Morehouse College “House of Funk” Marching Band’s rehearsal room can be raised up and outward to cover what becomes a stage for the Eugene M. Mitchell Performance Lawn.

The building also becomes home for the world renowned Morehouse College Glee Club, which celebrates its 100th anniversary this year.

After a performance by the Glee Club, the audience moved inside to the 550-seat Emma and Joe Adams Concert Hall where music department faculty and students presented dedicatory performances of jazz, symphonic and spiritual music.