Coming Wednesday April 1st it’s time for a music documentary at 2Doc: ‘The Changin’ Times of Ike White’.
Changin’ Times (1974) by soul musician Ike White was the first commercial album ever recorded in an American prison. The album is seen as a lost classic within the soul and funk genre. With never before seen footage, director Dan Vernon sums up White’s journey, from prison to life as a free man and what followed.
Prison
Ike White grows up in Chicago. At a young age, he is imprisoned in the infamous San Quentin prison with a life sentence for the murder of a shop assistant. When White is detained, he starts playing in a prison band. When the legendary producer Jerry Goldstein visits prison, he sees the next Jimi Hendrix in Ike White. They record the soul album called Changin’ Times. The success of this album leads to a huge campaign to reduce his sentence. White is released, but then he disappears.
Where’s White?
Director Dan Vernon is looking for White. Who is he and where is he hiding? In this documentary Vernon combines animation and archive footage of White to understand this complex and talented man and emphatizing with him.
Broadcast: Wednesday, April 1 at 22.55 hrs. on NPO 2.