Music

Through Ella’s Eyes – Logan Center for the Arts – August 17, 2024

Posted on by admin

In celebration of Ella Fitzgerald’s 107th birthday, the Chicago Jazz Philharmonic put on a show.

I didn’t know that number was one of the big ones, like 50, 75, 100, as this was my first time at someone’s 107th birthday party.

At that, I almost didn’t make it in time, what with all the street closures for the DNC, which apparently stands for Drive No Cars.

After arriving, I wish I had been late enough to miss the opening “aren’t we all wonderful” speeches.

I could have used those extra minutes, en route, to further gaze in awe at the in-progress Obama Presidential Center, perhaps the ugliest building I’ve ever seen.

But, since it isn’t yet completed, there’s still hope. I would suggest that they hire some graffiti artists to work on the outer walls, like the city did a few days ago to paint murals on the CTA trains.

The highlight of the first half of the concert was the opening number, A Lost Panorama. It was followed by Tributary, which I wish had flowed in a different direction. For me, the three featured woodwind players lacked sax appeal.

After intermission, the second half started with a “lively discussion” between conductor/arranger Orbert Davis and long-time jazz critic Howard Reich about Fitzgerald. Though I came for music, not talk, I enjoyed the conversation.

That said, my biggest disappointment about the program was the insertion of too much banter throughout, so much so that the finale, which I was highly anticipating, It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got that Swing), ironically got cut.

The other interruption to my enjoyment of the wonderful orchestra was the constant encouragement by Davis, and vocalists Bobbi Wilson and Margaret Murphy-Webb, to applaud. Jazz musicians are so needy.

I like to show my appreciation, but really, is there a need to applaud after every five second solo? I had to soak my hands in Epsom salts when I got home.

I will, nevertheless, single out three people from the orchestra – John Moulder on guitar, Leandro Lopez Vary on piano, and Zara Zaharieva, who is now officially my all-time favorite female Bulgarian violinist, not just for her skills, but also for the enthusiasm she evidenced throughout the evening.

Fascinating Rhythm: Gershwin and Friends – Grant Park Music Festival – August 14, 2024

Posted on by admin

In 1916, The Georgia Tech football team, coached by John William Heisman (after whom a trophy, not for sportsmanship, would be named), beat Cumberland College 222-0. It is said that one of the Cumberland backs, after fumbling the ball in the backfield, yelled at a teammate to pick it up, whereupon the teammate yelled back – “you dropped it, you pick it up.”

Byron Stripling, conductor of the Grant Park Orchestra for the evening, told a story, he swore was true, of a concert where a man in the front row started snoring. Stripling stopped the music and asked the man’s wife to wake him, the wife responding “you put him to sleep, you wake him up.”

True or not, it made this wide-awake audience laugh, as did his introduction of himself, “for those who did not know,” as Wynton Marsalis, helping to exhibit why Stripling is a quadruple threat, as he also sang, scatted and played a mean trumpet while leading a night of beautiful music.

My enjoyment actually started at the morning rehearsal, sitting in the choral seats behind the orchestra, where I uncovered the secret of how horn players prepare when they aren’t playing – texting, emailing and reading on their cell phones.

I also got to see three union reps quietly storm the stage to inform Stripling that it was break time, whereupon the orchestra was asked to vote whether they wanted to first finish the song they were working on. (Democracy in action.) They did, though the harp player, with nothing to do at that point, and situated near the exit, snuck off.

As Jim Rupp, the drummer for the Cleveland Jazz Orchestra and the Cleveland Pops Orchestra, was brought in to do his thing for the concert, the regular percussionists spent a lot of time out of sight, mentally preparing for their highlighted moments that included a whistle blow and a single strike of the triangle. Good thing all the sound shields in front of them were in place.

Jazz pianist Bobby Floyd was also brought in to wow us, as was vocalist Sydney McSweeney, who earned a standing ovation from the audience shortly before Stripling politely kicked a confused orchestra off the stage, thereby averting another visit from their union reps, to finish the program with Rupp and Floyd in a jam session of, appropriately, Summertime, wherein he held a note so long on his trumpet that I researched, wrote, edited and rewrote this whole blog before he moved on.

Broadway x 3 – July 31, August 6, August 12, 2024

Posted on by admin

Three different annual Broadway-related concerts, put on by three different groups, in the span of 13 days, and nothing unlucky about it.

The Grant Park Music Festival opened with Broadway Rocks!, which opened with the overture from Tommy. I would have been satisfied with that alone, but the orchestra and a trio of singers kept the energy going through another dozen selections, closing with Don’t Stop Believing (Rock of Ages).

Six days later Porchlight Music Theatre (PMT) wrapped up its Broadway in Your Backyard 12-concert summer series in Washington Square Park (I also saw them June 27 at Seneca Park), opening with, appropriately, Another Op’nin’, Another Show (Kiss Me Kate) (which sent me off into “what if” land, wondering about what the the reception would have been if Mel Brooks had titled the song from The Producers Another Op’nin’, Another Flop, instead of just Opening Night) and closing with Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In (which was actually the opener in Hair). These things are important.

Then, another six days later, it was back to Millennium Park for Broadway in Chicago, put on by, wait for it, Broadway in Chicago, featuring songs from 16 shows coming to Chicago (starting today with Back to the Future). Some of the shows have been here before, like Come From Away, Les Miserables, Moulin Rouge and the pre-Broadway run of Tina, but the biggest hits of the night were a couple newcomers, Kimberly Akimbo and Titanique (produced by PMT), both of which brought waves of laughter and enthusiastic applause from an audience that packed the park from front to back.

Finally, I would be remiss if I omitted the fact that two songs were included in both otherwise divergent Millennium Park Concerts, the always crowd-pleasing Proud Mary (Tina) and the always crowd-engaged Sweet Caroline (A Beautiful Noise), which closed the last of the three nights.

Broadway Rocks! – Grant Park Music Festival – July 31, 2024

Posted on by admin

Robbie Ellis of WFMT emceed the pre concert talk, featuring conductor Lucas Waldin for the first 10 minutes before he had to leave to prepare for the concert.

Then the program went off the rails. Ellis and his other two guests, neither of whom I have any clue about, started comparing jukebox musicals to elements of Harry Potter. Half the attendees, myself included, had no idea what they were talking about.

Then, just as I was ready to bail, Ellis turned the discussion to a jukebox musical coming to town in 2025. Without going into detail, let me say that I, and the Porchlight Music Theatre (co producer of said show, Titanique, with Broadway in Chicago) Board of Directors sitting next to me, let our presence and enthusiasm be known, leading to a short dialogue with Ellis, who praised Porchlight, leading to cheering from the crowd.

It was then on to the concert itself, which consisted of a wonderful array of songs, energetically performed, and more costume changes by Lakisha Jones and Chloe Lowery in 90 minutes than I make in a year.

It was two shows in one, as a woman sitting three rows in front of me relived her youth throughout, while the man who appeared to be her husband sat stoically next to her, apparently no longer excited by her singing and chair dancing to the music.

2 Pianos 4 Hands – Northlight Theatre – July 27, 2024

Posted on by admin

Two pianos, four hands, and a hundred twenty minutes of entertainment.

Years ago, when I first saw this show, I had not yet started my adult piano lessons, so, although I enjoyed it, obviously enough to see it again, a lot of what I heard and saw I took on faith, given that the piano teacher I had for two years as a child had the pedagogical skills, though not the charisma, of someone who might have studied with Harold Hill at the Gary Indiana Conservatory, gold medal class of ’05.

This time around I could appreciate everything even more, though I missed the overhead mirror that the earlier production used to help the audience better see the pianists’ hands at work.

Adam LaSalle and Matthew McGloin are both accomplished musicians, who also displayed excellent acting chops while inhabiting several characters each, along with the main roles as they aged from childhood prodigies to adults.

McGloin, in particular, showed off a range of physical movements that highlighted the action in a story where there really is no action other than at the keyboard.

Another ability that both men portrayed was to play below their obvious talents, as occasionally required by the story.

The final classical duet of the night was spotless, even to the point of my inability to decode any subtle signals they were giving each other from across the room, behind their respective instruments.

Scheherazade – Grant Park Music Festival – July 26, 2024

Posted on by admin

Just as he had two nights earlier in conducting a stirring rendition of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5, Eric Jacobsen wore red socks with his black tuxedo, the latter of which directed me toward the paronomastic pursuit of linking it with the tales from Scheherazade’s One Thousand and One Nights, though I suspect Jacobsen did not wear different tails each night.

And, just as he had a week earlier, when conductor Anthony Parnther had put the pressure on him by announcing that he would be playing the violin part in the theme from Schindler’s List originally performed by Itzhak Perlman, concertmaster and 1st violin Jeremy Black provided the audience with a memorable experience.

A final word about Scheherazade. Even if the music weren’t beautiful, how could you not like a composition whose final movement is described in the program as concluding with The Ship Goes to Pieces on a Rock, which gives me the chance to plug a musical comedy about a ship that goes to pieces on an iceberg (I guess it’s not too soon), Porchlight Music Theatre’s upcoming spring 2025 Chicago premiere of Titanique, presented in association with Broadway In Chicago.

Peter Bergin Piano/Ragtime and Great American Songbook – Fourth Presbyterian Church – July 26, 2024

Posted on by admin

Bergin started by announcing his one rule – the audience could/should sing along, but only to the song he’s playing. Seemed reasonable.

With that he launched into his snappy piano playing, starting with a song with no lyrics, unless you’re Maggie Brown (see my previous blog on Peddling Music in Rhythm), Scott Joplin’s The Entertainer.

Just as Brown did, Bergin mentioned the song’s use by ice cream trucks, which is said to have originated in 1973 after the founder of the company that supplied the preloaded music boxes to a majority of the country’s ice cream trucks, heard the song in the movie The Sting.

He followed with a George M. Cohan medley, some John Philip Sousa, and other oldies, including Bill Bailey Won’t You Come Home, adding some lyrics of his own about the Baileys from the neighbors’ viewpoint, no mention of whether they were using binoculars to spy on the couple.

Peddling Music in Rhythm – Harold Washington Library – July 25, 2024

Posted on by admin

When I was kid, there used to be a scrap man who walked through our alley singing out, to the best of my recollection, “old stoves, radiators” in the hope that residents would take advantage of his willingness to cart things away for them and thereby provide him with materials he might recycle for cash in the years before the 1960s, when recycling programs sprouted.

I say to the best of my recollection, because Maggie Brown, the very talented daughter of Oscar Brown, Jr., told us, at the Jazz Institute of Chicago’s Peddling Music in Rhythm program, that her father wrote the song Rags and Old Iron after he finally realized what the guy in his alley had been calling out.

Maggie and her excellent backup trio then entertained us with a rendition of that, preceded by Herbie Hancock’s similarly-inspired Watermelon Man, and followed by her own songs, songs by Abbey Lincoln, and other of her father’s songs, which she told us would be part of a 2026 celebration of what would have been his 100th birthday.

Maggie, known as a storyteller, took us back to the days of the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair and gave us a sneak preview of a project or hers about Scott Joplin, including a version of The Entertainer for which she has written lyrics.

All throughout her performance, Maggie never stopped moving, gliding soulfully to the music whether while singing or listening to the band’s instrumental interludes.

Grant Park Music Festival – Millennium Park – July 17 & 19, 2024

Posted on by admin

Two beautiful evenings, two large crowds, two wonderful concerts.

On July 17th, I had a feeling of deja vu while listening to pianist 
Clayton Stephenson play Rachmaninov’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. And then it occurred to me that I had heard it played by Bill Murray’s character (though really played by session musician Terry Fryer) in Groundhog Day at the party near the end of the movie.

So, it wasn’t an illusion of memory, or one triggered by reliving the same day 12,395 times, as computed and suggested by the yahoo!movies website, but rather an actual memory of a movie I saw three days in a row when it first opened.

On the 19th, for Star Wars and More: The Music of John Williams, I thought I might see a lot of attendees, particularly younger ones, in costume, but there was a dearth of Darth Vaders.

The Grant Park Orchestra, in top form both days, was led that day by Anthony Parnther, who, in addition to demonstrating his conducting skills and James Earl Jones impersonation, albeit from The Lion King, not Star Wars, proved to be an engaging raconteur, entertaining us with, among others, a story about a sound editing room physical altercation about a E.T. score volume alteration.

Charlie Musselwhite and Ivan Singh- Millennium Park Summer Music Series – July 1, 2024

Posted on by admin

Argentinian guitarist Ivan Singh (before you ask – his great grandfather was from India), who came to Chicago only a couple years ago, was a very loud opening act. I should have brought my ear plugs. Once I found a place to hang out suitably far away from the stage, I was able to enjoy his music.

But I wasn’t there for him, so I was happy to hear him fire up Sweet Home Chicago, which, predictably, meant he was closing his act.

After a break, blues legend Charlie Musselwhite entered the stage, harmonica in hand. I don’t think I was the only one there for him.

A fair number of people in the park rose to their feet to start dancing as soon as he raised his instrument. And I’m talking young people, though the older generation, folks who knew of him from way back when, some of whom didn’t see to have changed their wardrobe since, were plentiful throughout the crowded lawn.

Musselwhite, who did not disappoint, came to Chicago in 1962, and has played with all the local greats. He told a Sonny Boy Williamson story that must have been funny – the people in the first few rows laughed – but I couldn’t hear the details, even though I had by then moved closer, relieved by the fact that he and his excellent backup band maintained an acceptable decibel level.