Corinne Bailey Rae Releases New Album 'Black Rainbows'

Grammy-winning singer/songwriter Corinne Bailey Rae releases her highly anticipated new album, Black Rainbows, via Thirty Tigers.

In conjunction with the album’s release, a book, REFLECTIONS/REFRACTIONS AT THE STONY ISLAND ARTS BANK photographed by Koto Bolofo, is also out today. Order/share here.

Wide ranging in its themes, Black Rainbows’ subjects are drawn from encounters with objects in the Arts Bank, a curated collection of Black archives comprising books, sculpture, records, furniture and problematic objects from America’s past.

From the rock hewn churches of Ethiopia to the journeys of Black Pioneers westward, from Miss New York Transit 1957 to how the sunset appears from Harriet Jacobs’ loophole, Black Rainbows explores Black femininity, Spell Work, Inner Space/Outer Space, time collapse, ancestors and music as a vessel for transcendence.

Inspired by her transcendent experience at the Stony Island Arts Bank in Chicago, the project marks a new direction for the artist. She notes, “I knew when I walked through those doors that my life had changed forever.”

Singles “New York Transit Queen” and “Peach Velvet Sky” were released to critical acclaim in advance of the album. On the juxtaposition of the tracks, Bailey Rae explains “The giddy girl group fizz enlivening ‘New York City Transit Queen’—all handclaps and joyous gang vocals—contrasts with the spare piano balladry of ‘Peach Velvet Sky.’”

In celebration of the new project, Bailey Rae is touring select U.S. cities this fall, including Yale University’s Schwarzman Center, New York’s National Jazz Museum in Harlem, University of Chicago’s Rockefeller Memorial Chapel, Nashville’s CMA Theater, New Orleans’ Orpheum Theater and more. Bailey Rae will also make an appearance at the 35th Annual Chinati Weekend in Marfa, TX. See below for the full U.S. and international tour routing.

About Corinne Bailey Rae

English singer/songwriter/musician Corinne Bailey Rae shot to stardom with her self-titled #1 U.K. debut album in 2006, featuring the global hits “Put Your Records On” and “Like A Star.” Over the course of her career, she has released three critically acclaimed studio albums—Corinne Bailey Rae, The Sea and The Heart Speaks in Whispers—and earned two Grammy Awards, two MOBOS, and has been nominated for multiple awards including the BRIT Awards, Mercury Music Prize and BET Awards.

Her work for film and television includes the theme to Stan Lee’s Lucky Man (SKY1), “The Scientist” for Universal Pictures’ Fifty Shades Darker opening title and soundtrack which charted globally, and in 2020 her song “New to Me” was performed in the film The High Note by Tracee Ellis Ross. Bailey Rae has collaborated with a wide range of artists including Mary J. Blige, Al Green, Herbie Hancock, KING, Paul McCartney, Kele Okereke (Bloc Party), Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Questlove, Salaam Rami, RZA, Tyler The Creator, Paul Weller, Richard Hawley, Stevie Wonder, Tracey Thorn, Pharrell, Logic, Mick Jenkins and many more.

ABOUT THEASTER GATES

Theaster Gates lives and works in Chicago. He creates work that focuses on space theory and land development, sculpture and performance. Drawing on his interest and training in urban planning and preservation, Gates redeems spaces that have been left behind. Known for his recirculation of art-world capital, he creates work that focuses on the possibility of the “life within things.”

Gates smartly upturns art values, land values and human values. In all aspects of his work, he contends with the notion of Black space as a formal exercise—one defined by collective desire, artistic agency and the tactics of a pragmatist. Gates has exhibited and performed at Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France; Sprengel Museum Hannover, Germany (2018); Kunstmuseum Basel, Switzerland (2018); National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., USA (2017); Art Gallery of Ontario, Canada (2016); Fondazione Prada, Milan, Italy (2016); Whitechapel Gallery, London, U.K. (2013); Punta della Dogana, Venice, Italy (2013) and dOCUMENTA (13), Kassel, Germany (2012).

He was the winner of the Artes Mundi 6 prize and was a recipient of the Légion d’Honneur in 2017. He was awarded the Nasher Prize for Sculpture 2018, as well as the Urban Land Institute, J.C. Nichols Prize for Visionaries in Urban Development. Gates is a professor at the University of Chicago in the Department of Visual Arts and the College and also serves as the Senior Advisor for Cultural Innovation and Advisor to the Dean.

Gates is Director of Artists Initiatives at the Lunder Institute for American Art at Colby College Museum of Art and the 2018/2019 Artist-in-Residence at the Getty Research Institute (GRI).

ABOUT STONY ISLAND ARTS BANK

Designed by William Gibbons Uffendell and built in 1923, the bank at 68th and Stony Island was once a vibrant community savings and loan. Today, the restored Stony Island Arts Bank provides the South Side of Chicago with 17,000 square feet of space for innovation in contemporary art and archival practice. At the time of its construction, the bank was a symbol of the growing prosperity of the South Side, which was experiencing a building boom in the early decades of the 20th century.

In 1979 the Bank was closed and it fell into disrepair. In 2012, upon threat of demolition, artist Theaster Gates purchased the building from the City of Chicago for $1. Gates, whose practice harnesses the power of space, objects and the spirit within them, saved the landmark from destruction. Gates sold marble from the original Bank build as “bank bonds” on the commercial art market to finance the renovation and remediation of the building.

Today, the Stony Island Arts Bank is a vibrant hub of artistic, archival and cultural activity on the South Side of Chicago. In addition to serving as a gallery, institution and cultural space, the Arts Bank also hosts a variety of events including exhibitions, performances, film screenings and lectures.

CORINNE BAILEY RAE LIVE 2023

September 17—Nashville, TN—CMA Theater
September 19—Charleston, SC—Charleston Music Hall
September 20—Durham, NC—Carolina Theatre
September 22—Sugar Hill, GA—The Eagle Theatre at Sugar Hill
September 24—Birmingham, AL—Alys Stephens
Center at University of Alabama
September 26—New Orleans, LA—Orpheum Theater
September 29—Austin, TX—The Paramount Theatre
September 30—San Antonio, TX—Boeing Center at Tech Port‡
October 1—Houston, TX—Stafford Centre
October 3—Dallas, TX—Texas Theatre
October 5—Santa Fe, NM—Lensic Performing Arts Center
October 7—Marfa, TX—Saint George Hall
‡Supporting Maxwell

INTERNATIONAL TOUR DATES

October 25—London, U.K.—Ladbroke Hall
October 26—London, U.K.—Ladbroke Hall
October 28—London, U.K.—Ladbroke Hall
October 29—Cork, Ireland—Guinness Cork Jazz Festival
October 31—Madrid, Spain—Teatro Pavón
November 1—Barcelona, Spain—Studio P62
November 3—Seville, Spain—Cartuja Centre
November 4—Lisbon, Portugal—Capitolio
November 5—Porto, Portugal—Casa de Musica
November 8—Amsterdam, Holland—Paradiso Noord
November 9—Rotterdam, Holland—LantarenVenster
November 12—Macau, China—Kooltai Festival

CORINNE BAILEY RAE LIVE 2024

February 6—Beverly Hills, CA—Wallis Center
February 7—San Diego, CA—Observatory North Park
February 10—San Francisco, CA—SF Jazz
February 11—San Francisco, CA—SF Jazz
February 13—Ridgefield, CT—Ridgefield Playhouse
February 15— New York, NY—Blue Note Jazz
February 16—New York, NY—Blue Note Jazz
February 17—New York, NY—Blue Note Jazz
February 18—New York, NY—Blue Note Jazz

photo credit: Koto Bolofo

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