On Sunday, June 28th, over 50 artists and tens of thousands of fans came together for Justice Comes Alive, a one-day, virtual festival harnessing the power of music to bring about collective change in response to racial inequality. The donation-based streaming event generated $55,000 and counting in funds for the participating artists, who remain out of work as the pandemic continues, as well as a number of social justice-oriented causes via PLUS1 For Black Lives Fund.
The 12-hour live-stream marathon featured new contributions by an array of amazing artists from around the world including Louis Cato, the diversely talented singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist/producer who viewers nationwide may recognize as a member of Stay Human, the Jon Batiste-led house band for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
The Portuguese-born, Carolina-bred, current Brooklyn, NY resident is no stranger to planes, tour buses, recording studios, TV sets, liner-notes, and airwaves. He has recorded with everyone from Beyonce to Q-Tip to John Legend to Mariah Carey and toured with influential acts like Bobby McFerrin, Snarky Puppy, Marcus Miller, John Scofield, David Sanborn, and George Duke. For Justice Comes Alive, however, Cato grabbed an electric guitar and a microphone for a soul-stirring, solo rendition of Curtis Mayfield‘s 1964 protest anthem with The Impressions, “Keep On Pushing”, employing the arrangement he wrote with Gil Goldstein and Bobby McFerrin.
“I’m really grateful to be here … contributing and offering up my voice to this cause that I so deeply believe in,” Cato explained to start the segment, “Justice represents, to me, something that should be understood and very basic, but we are in a place in the world right now where we need to fight for it and push for it. With that in mind, I wanted to do this song that encourages me as I try to keep my mind right and staying in push mode and believing and keeping hope alive in the process.”
Relive the Louis Cato segment from Justice Comes Alive below. If you enjoyed the Justice Comes Alive performances and have the means, consider making a donation to Plus1 For Black Lives Fund via www.JusticeComesAlive.com. You can also catch Louis Cato performing live on the Blue Note NYC Instagram page this Saturday night, July 25th, at 8:00 p.m. ET.
Louis Cato – “Keep On Pushing” (The Impressions) – Justice Comes Alive
Presented by Live For Live Music in partnership with PLUS1 and Nugs.TV, Justice Comes Alive was conceived as a way to harness the power of music to bring about collective change in response to racial inequality. All funds raised from Justice Comes Alive will be split evenly between the artists on the bill and the PLUS1 For Black Lives Fund, which was developed to address and continue the fight against anti-Black racism and violence in the U.S.
Directly supporting organizations like Equal Justice Initiative, Impact Justice, and The Bail Project, the PLUS1 For Black Lives Fund focuses on empowering Black communities, movement building, keeping people out of the criminal justice system while dismantling it more broadly, and a collective, international narrative change toward the equitable treatment of Black people. 30% of the PLUS1 for Black Lives Fund is also committed to small grants for Black and Indigenous-led grassroots efforts combating racism. For more information on Justice Comes Alive, head here.