Play about drummer is clear and clean

‘ ‘ ‘ Once he figured that he had done enough drumming, legendary Pittsburgh jazz musician Joe… ‘ ‘ ‘ Once he figured that he had done enough drumming, legendary Pittsburgh jazz musician Joe Harris decided he wanted to tell the story of his life for an audience, on stage. ‘ ‘ ‘ This weekend, the University of Pittsburgh’s Kuntu Repertory Theatre will present its adaptation of Rob Penny’s ‘Clean Drums,’ a play mixing biography with the music that defined Harris’s career. ‘ ‘ ‘ The drama depicts influential moments from the musician’s life, in both the early and later stages of his career, and includes appearances by many other well-known jazz musicians from the Pittsburgh area, like Billy Eckstine and Erroll Garner. ‘ ‘ ‘ Vernell Lillie, the director and founder of the Kuntu Repertory Theatre, has known Harris for years and cited his obsessive and intense personality as part of what makes him such an interesting subject for the play. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘After I’d heard him [at a performance] I said, ‘Joe, you’ve done so many things, what else would you like to do?’ He said, ‘I would love to have a play written about me, with me playing myself,” said Lillie. ‘ ‘ ‘ The actor playing Joe Harris is actually Erroll Garner’s great-nephew, said Lillie, which gives the production an interesting connection to the material. ‘ ‘ ‘ The title of the play, Lillie said, reflects the idea that Harris was a ‘clean’ drummer. He didn’t do drugs, didn’t drink, and he just focused on the music. ‘ ‘ ‘ Herb Newsome, who plays trumpet in the show, said that fleshing out the nuances of the script has been a challenging and exciting process. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘It’s interesting to try and capture the essence of the time in which the piece takes place, because the musicians were going through a lot of things,’ he said, ‘But just being on stage and playing the incredible music with everyone has been a great experience.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ Kuntu will perform ‘Clean Drums’ as part of a season of four productions by Rob Penny, a Kuntu playwright-in-residence for many years. Penny died in 2003.