Meet Preston Riddick: Behind The Music

BY MEGAN MCGIBNEY

Preston Riddick is a familiar face around Fort Greene-Clinton Hill. Besides being a longtime resident (since 1973!), Riddick is well known for his contribution to the neighborhood’s arts scene. In recent years, he has led the Afro-Latin-Jazz band, Resura, which plays at local venues, including Five Spot on Myrtle Avenue.

But what some may not know about he is that he was once a veteran teacher, having only retired a few years ago. Riddick brought the arts to his students, while also forming creative relationships that have lasted decades. We caught up with him recently to talk about life, dance, music, and what 2016 has in store.

How did you come to music?

I came here from Virginia to go to Columbia University to get my Masters’ in dance choreography. But I didn’t get the degree because I went into another area — I saw the beauty of kung fu, and it was so graceful. It made me switch over from dance to martial arts.

My music career came out of me starting the youth and adult organization, in Clinton Hill in 1970. I started an program for children and adults involving African dance, drama, martial arts, and so forth. And I will also in a drama group called the Alonzo Players. So from there, I evolved into music, first with African music.

Some of the youths were sent over to Africa, and they came back to perform. So we started this group, we called it the Indoda Entsha Percussion Ensemble, in around 1991. And the music has continued to evolve since that time. And its always been like a synthesis of music, dance, martial arts.

How did Resura come about?

After years of doing traditional African music, I wanted to go into an even deeper sound and fuse the discipline of jazz and experimental music. So we took the traditional sound from Africa, brought in the jazz element, and then started stirring around in experimental music.

Resura is word that means Resurrection. And that came about five or six years ago. We moved from Indoda into Resura. And some of the young men who started with me when they were nine or ten years old in the 90s, they’re still with me now in the group. So we’ve been together since 1992.

You’ve been living here since 1973 and have seen it grow a lot over the decades, especially the past ten years. What’s it like seeing the growth here in Fort Greene-Clinton Hill?

Well, Clinton Hill has always been a kind of artistic neighborhood. Even in the 80s and 90s, there was a lot of cafes with sawdust on the floor, people doing poetry, everything. Then it kind of died out, and then it came back. So I’ve seen several ups and downs.

At this particular point, I don’t feel that it is as art driven as it was some years ago. To me now, it is more, I would say, corporate. But, there are a lot of venues in Fort Greene and Clinton Hill that are open now that weren’t open in the past. BAM has always been there, but BRIC and the clubs that have opened up, that has increased because more money has come into the area.

What has been your greatest accomplishment?

I’m a retired schoolteacher. I taught elementary fifth and sixth grade in Bed-Stuy, and I’ve taught basically everything. I think one of my greatest accomplishments was when I taught fifth and sixth graders and we did the play, Oedipus the King — we took it all over Brooklyn. People were shocked. We didn’t cut anything out. There was movement and the whole thing. I thought it was great.

And there were certain years where I was able to achieve some of the highest reading and math scores, I would say that was a great achievement. And another great achievement is being able to hold a group of men together since the 90s, and for them to still be with me at this particular time. One other achievement, is the martial arts system. My foundation was kung fu, but after I left that discipline and started my school, I left the katas, the forms and stuff behind. So most of the carters and the forms is unique to this particular system. Because I never lost that desire for choreography. So I was able to choreograph my own forms, the twelve carters, and so on.

What has been your greatest challenge?

My greatest challenge is to bring you a conscious person. To remain calm when there’s so much unnecessary corruption all around.

What’s going to happen in 2016 for you?

I have been working on a book for about many, many years. And I wrote so much that when I took it to the editor, he told me that I had enough for three books. I had to take it and break it down into three books. Because for some reason, I don’t know, it was some kind of defense mechanism or some kind of fear, I just kept writing and writing. Every time, I would come to a point, I wanted to add more and make the book to be more and more powerful. But I kept writing. So now I’m at the point where its broken down, and I’m in the final stages in the editing of the first book. I hope I will have it out by October.

What’s the book called?

It’s like an anthology. It’s a collection of portraits, essays, monologues, short stories. I take fiction but I drop a lot of truth in it, in a way you are protected. You could always say, ‘well yeah, its fiction’. I think because I’m a Pisces, I see things from another side, another viewpoint.

What is next for Resura?

I’m hoping to take that on a national tour. That will be one of my goals also. We are working real hard. I’m hoping that we soon be at BAM Café. The music is getting tighter and tighter. Now that we’ve added some more instrumentation, it’s coming along really good.