From a profile in The San-Diego Union-Tribune
Henry Afro-Bradley didn’t grow up on the Mississippi Delta, like the reclusive bluesman he plays in “I Just Stopped By to See theMan,” but he can relate to his character in just about every other way.
A blues guitarist and actor since his early 20s, Afro-Bradley said that understanding how to play the blues isn’t as simple as reading notes on a musical score. It’s about “understanding the spirit of the music that stems from the African-American experience.”
In Stephen Jeffrey’s play, Afro-Bradley plays Jesse, a legendary(and long-thought-dead) bluesman living in grief and seclusion at a Mississippi Delta crossroads with his brilliant daughter Della, aBlack Panther fugitive who now works as a waitress. Into their lives comes Karl, an English rock musician and devoted fan who has tracked Jesse down to coax him into playing at Karl’s upcoming retirement concert. Jesse is intrigued by the offer but the resulting publicity could forever change his life and that of his daughter.
Afro-Bradley said the play is based on the traditional Congolese cosmology myth about a trickster who meets unsuspecting travelers at a crossroad and tempts them with the one thing they desire most.The crossroads tale has been used in dozens of books, plays,movies, songs and musicals over the years, and “I Just Stopped By to See the Man,” Afro-Bradley said, was based on people theplaywright Jeffreys actually knows. The play examines how white musicians have moved into genres created by and once the exclusive realm of black musicians.
Afro-Bradley saw this happen firsthand growing up in multi cultural Harlem, where he describes himself as “just three generations out of slavery.” His early influences were jazz and gospel music and his early idols were Fats Waller, Bessie Smith and Bill Broonzy. After high school, Afro-Bradley served a two-year Army stint in Germany where he met some German jazz musicians struggling to play a Count Basie arrangement of “Sweet Georgia Brown.”
“They played what they saw on the sheet music, but they didn’tget it. The spirit of jazz cannot be put down on paper, but when Iplayed it for them, they understood,” he said.
After his Army discharge, Afro-Bradley studied musical theater and worked at the famed Greenwich Village music club the Bitter End. He ran nightclub shows, performed jazz and blues music throughout the Northeast and recorded on the Folkways label.Several years ago, he teamed up with harmonica player/stage director Jasper Magruder in a blues duo that lectures on the black experience through music and poetry. They have performed at museums and festivals throughout the New York area and get together whenever they’re not busy with theater engagements.
“I Just Stopped By to See the Man” marks Afro-Bradley’s Old Globe debut. He has performed in the past at the Joseph Papp Theatre, Classical Theatre of Harlem, Horse Trade Theater Group and Metropolitan Playhouse, among others and has done films and television.
Afro-Bradley said he likes having one foot in theater and onefoot in the music scene. In fact, his nightclub background is helping him prepare for the Globe’s theater-in-the-round stage.
“When you play music in a club, it’s all about making contact with your audience,” he said. “I’m not used to performing plays with the audience all around me, but I’ll just try to use my musical background to remember that there are people on every side who I need to connect with.”
| Credit Type | Production | Season |
|---|---|---|
| Actor | Satchel: A Requiem for Racism | 2007-08 Season |