Fourth Presbyterian Church Noonday Concert

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

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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.

Fourth Presbyterian Church Noonday Concert and Chicago Jazz Festival – September 1, 2023

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At the church, Ashley Ertz (oboe) and Lillia Woolschlager (piano) treated us with a Samuel Coleridge-Taylor piece I can’t remember the name of, possibly because I never looked at it in the program. 

I didn’t stay for the rest of the concert, featuring composers unknown to me, and compositions from the latter half of the 20th century, a potential red flag for me, though, I admit, the music wafting through the Sanctuary as I left sounded like something I might have liked. But I had other fish, or beignets, to fry and so headed for the Jazz Festival.  

As promised to myself last week after seeing the Juan Pastor trio at the Noonday Concert, I went to see Pastor’s Chincahno, expecting a quintet, but pleasantly surprised to hear a septet, whose sound filled Millennium Park with Peruvian-inspired top-tapping rhythms.    

And, as with any music festival worth its salt, a wide variety of overpriced t-shirts were available for purchase.  

More interestingly, there was a creole food stand, whose offerings included the aforementioned beignets. The last time I had one of those, it was with a cup of coffee and chicory, sitting outside at the original Cafe du Monde (there are now 10) on the banks of the Mississippi River in New Orleans, where the beignets are served in threes in case eating just one of these deeply fried treats is not enough to clog every artery in your body. The approximately 60 million steps I’ve taken since then hopefully have negated that indulgence, but I decided not to risk further damage this time, even though there was a medical vehicle stationed not too far away.

Coming Attractions (or not) – September, 2023

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I was berated today for not telling people about events before they happen. So, for all of you out there who haven’t yet learned how to use your computer, and since I have a little time to kill, here are some ideas for things to do in September.

First, and foremost, and before you tire of my sarcasm, you must go to the Porchlight Music Theatre’s Icons Gala on the 8th at the Athenaeum Center. It will, as always, be a very entertaining evening and, if you buy one of the top-tier tickets, you get to mingle with me at the pre-show cocktail reception. Also, the guest of honor, Ben Vereen, will be in attendance.

As I alluded to in an earlier post, the Chicago Jazz Festival comes to town the first few days of the month. You’re on your own as to which acts might interest you. I stopped going years ago, as I tired of the modern, atonal nonsense they inappropriately call music, but there are a few acts on the calendar this year that I either have seen before and liked or am confident enough about to risk a trek down to Millennium Park or the Cultural Center for a look-see.

The Fourth Presbyterian Church takes its Noonday Concerts indoors starting this Friday, which seems premature to me, but allows them to put to use their big honking organ, though, fortunately for my tastes, not until the end of the month, so, again, why not keep things outdoors until then.

The Harris Theater for Music and Dance is celebrating its 20th Anniversary (seems like 40 years taking into account having to traverse all those stairs) on the 9th in Millennium Park. The unprecise schedule makes it hard to know when I might want to drop in, though the likelihood of families attending the afternoon sessions is fair warning to avoid those.

The Printers Row Lit Fest is that same weekend (both days). It always presents a plethora of interesting exhibitors and programs, if you can find them in the event’s labyrinth (watch out for the Minotaur).

And, not finally, but I’m tired, the American Writers Museum is hosting Get Lit: Grown-Up Book Fair on the 12th, which will feature refreshments, carnival games, and an Adult Spelling Bee, which, I assume, means either dirty words and/or easier ones than the obnoxiously well-prepared kids at the real one have to tackle.

Juan Pastor Trio – Fourth Presbyterian Church Noonday Concert – August 25, 2023

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The Juan Pastor Trio treated attendees to a wonderful last outdoor Noonday Concert of the year. This group was new to me, but I’m already hoping to see Pastor’s larger band, Chinchano, which adds two saxophones to the trio’s bass, piano and drums, at the upcoming Chicago Jazz Festival.

Chinchano is promoted as “Pastor’s modern instrumental jazz group that fuses the traditional North American jazz harmonic palette with exciting rhythmic concepts drawn from Central and South America.” Sounds good to me.

Pastor is Peruvian by birth, I assume from the Chincha Province, based upon his group’s name. Chincha means ocelot in Quechua (an indigenous language spoken by the Quechua peoples, primarily living in the Peruvian Andes), which confuses me because chinchillas, historically, lived in Peru (and Bolivia and Chile), but are rodents, not felines, which makes me think about a different kind of fusion, that of two different orders of mammalia, rodentia and carnivora, which might produce a very atonal product.

Fourth Presbyterian Church Noonday Concert – August 18, 2023

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A 1986 Los Angeles Times review of a Marni Nixon album of George Gershwin songs called it “polished and professional, yet also sparse and dry.” It went on to say that “Nixon’s voice is not rich in its lower registers . . . . and that nearly all the songs . . . ask for more stretching and surging of tempo than the performers [including the pianist] allow.”

We’re talking Marni Nixon, ghost singer for the stars (Deborah Kerr, Natalie Wood, Audrey Hepburn). So, you’ll excuse me if I say that soprano Kathleen Monson (and her accompanist Riko Higuma) did not provide fascinating rhythm for me in much the same way.

Monson’s voice is beautiful, but not for me. I left this summertime concert with plenty of nothing.

Higuma was given some solo time, including a shortened version of Rhapsody in Blue. This is the third performance of that classic I’ve witnessed this year. I previously raved about Sean Hayes and Michelle Cann. While I found Higuma’s work more entertaining that Monson’s, it didn’t rise to the level of the other two pianists, though, to be fair, they were playing grand pianos and she was playing an upright that may or may not have been made from Legos.

Fourth Presbyterian Church Noonday Concert – Peppermint Patties – August 4, 2023

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I’m guessing that it was just a wild coincidence that the Peppermint Patties, a self-described, genre-fluid trio specializing in tight harmonies appeared at the lunchtime concert one week after Libby York (whom I did not go to see), If she and this group combined and promoted themselves as the York Peppermint Patties, I imagine a lawsuit would ensue.

The confection was introduced in 1940, amid the height of the Andrews Sisters popularity, an act whose hits the Patties recreate and then some with their own beautiful, classically-trained voices.

But, as advertised, the ladies also sing other styles, including musical theater, though Nikki Krzebiot, joining Anna Caldwell and Daina Fischer, and filling in for a departed member for the first time in public, stopped during her rendition of Cockeyed Optimist, because she perhaps overoptimistically thought she had memorized the lyrics, cleverly complimented those in the front row mouthing the words, and then restarted, proceeding flawlessly.

Despite their moniker, the group did not sing the Peppermint Patty theme song, made famous by the Charles Schulz character, so I didn’t get to hear “My name is Peppermint Patty, I live in Cincinnati, With a freckle on my nose, And eighteen toes.”

Nevertheless, a very enjoyable show.

Friday Noon Concert – Fourth Presbyterian Church – January 6, 2023

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When you can’t tell the difference between the musician warming up and the performance itself, you know you’re in trouble. Imagine watching NBA players taking three steps, without dribbling, before dunking. Surely you wouldn’t confuse that practice routine with game action, when they take four steps, without dribbling, before dunking.

Anyway, I didn’t stay for the whole concert, but still appreciated the fact that I can cross two more composers off my imaginary list. I’m sure the cellist played Amy Heo’s When It Falls in the manner in which it was intended, but to me it sounded like a really bad version of the signals we might send to dissuade an unfriendly group of aliens attempting to land at Devils Tower National Monument.

As for Amy Wurtz’s Songs and Dances, I’m thinking about suing, based on false advertising, for the emotional distress caused me by hearing music that could not possibly be the foundation for any terpsichorean movement I’ve ever seen. The second part, entitled Spitfire, was anything but. Perhaps I was oblivious to an ironical message, but ran for the door anyway, which was perhaps unfortunate, as my later research revealed that the two closing selections I missed, by other composers, I might have enjoyed. They shouldn’t have buried the lede, just the opening music.


Jonathan Zeng – Music by the Fountain – Fourth Presbyterian Church – July 22, 2022

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The concert was promoted as Jonathan Zeng, voice and piano. Zeng sang, but someone else, who was introduced, but not promoted, and didn’t speak, but did wave to the audience, played the piano.

Zeng’s voice was fine, but I found him boring. I would rather just have listened to the piano and heard in my head the voices of the performers who made famous the mostly Broadway show tunes he led us through. I was not surprised to learn, afterwards, that his resume includes a lot of work with opera companies, and not one musical theater credit I could find. Note to self, next time look at the resume before going.

Zeng’s patter, so important in cabaret type acts, was lackluster, and less than spontaneous, as evidenced by him being guilty of misreading his notes to say that a song had been indicted into some hall of fame, before correcting himself to say inducted.

He also admitted to not knowing, prior to including a song from it in his act, that Kiss Me Kate was based on Taming of the Shrew, or why Judy Garland had such a large fan following, until a friend of his took him to see A Star is Born (there wasn’t one today).

Piece of advice, Don’t admit these kinds of things when trying to work a room (or courtyard), unless you know how to make them funny. He didn’t.

Courtyard Concert – Fourth Presbyterian Church – July 1, 2022

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Eric Schneider and Andy Brown were back together again. Last year, while praising the music, I highlighted Schneider’s song introduction shortcomings. Maybe he read my piece, as this year he didn’t even try to tell us any background information, except that he did know that Hoagy Carmichael wrote the song New Orleans, but was from Indiana, which was a prime example of what Schneider thought was funny. I disagreed.

In my opinion, Brown is the better musician of the two. Perhaps I just don’t have a refined ear, but on a couple of occasions, Schneider’s playing this year reminded me of Commander Riker’s trombone issues in Star Trek – just never could hit that note in Nightbird.

Whereas Riker admitted it was his fault, Schneider, at one point, regaled us with his version of the creation of the clarinet, which, according to my research, was maybe 50% accurate, and why therefore it was so hard to play, which, in any event, would not explain the one particularly alarming note that emanated from his saxophone, rousing me from my contemplations in the church courtyard’s idyllic setting.

Still, the rain held off, and thanks to Brown the concert was well worth its free price of admission. I will go back to see him performing solo in a couple weeks.

 

 

 

 

 

Robert Chen – Fourth Presbyterian Church Noonday Concert – January 21, 2022

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The last time I saw Chicago Symphony Orchestra concertmaster Robert Chen perform solo was in January 2019. And the last time I was this awestruck was when I saw how good my multiflex, cordless, stick vacuum cleaner was at picking up all the dust on the floor under my bed.

Chen played some Bach and Paganini, but the one piece I want to mention is Ysäye’s Danse Rustique, Allegro giocoso molto moderato, which I believe is translated as a barn dance, played while quickly eating a chocolate lava cake in a library containing virtual files.

Chen’s interpretation was clearly different than mine, and admittedly better, but the most notable part of the performance was his ability to maintain his concentration when an unmasked man (clearly not The Lone Ranger) walked through the sanctuary shouting (probably about nothing, but possibly about the recent decision to keep the Doomsday Clock at 100 seconds to midnight rather than advance it forward).

Chen, looked up, but never missed a beat, unlike me, as when I think I may have heard someone in Nepal sneeze and am then forced to stop in the middle of the piece I’m playing and start over.