Jazz Up Close August 22: Bass Clarinet & Baltimore

We are lucky people living in Middletown Connecticut in that we have a vibrant arts scene, we have Wesleyan University and its concerts spaces, galleries, and theaters, we have the Russell Library, and we have Noah Baerman (pictured left).  Mr. Baerman is a composer, educator, pianist, author, and the creator of Resonant Motion.  Resonant Motion is a record label, a place for visual artists, for writers, for performance artists, and for collaborations.  Noah is artistic director and the producer of Jazz Up Close, a series of concerts presented in the Hubbard Room of the Russell Library, 123 Broad Street in Middletown.  Now in its fifth season, the series has brought world-renowned artists to perform, talk about their work, and to answer questions from the audience.  The artists usually are joined by the pianist/curator along with his longtime collaborator, bassist Henry Lugo.

This coming Thursday August 22, Jazz Up Close welcomes bass clarinetist, composer, and social activist Todd Marcus.  Mr. Marcus, a native of New Jersey, has lived in Baltimore, MD, for over two decades and works tirelessly in the Sandtown-Winchester/Upton section of the city to bring about positive change.  You may recognize that area because it's where Freddie Gray died in police custody in 2015 and where massive riots followed in the wake of the event.  Mr. Marcus, who is half-Egyptian, had moved to Baltimore to go to college but left after two years, settled down in the community and went to work with the non-profit organization Intersection of Change – click on the name to see all that the organization does to help its community.

In early 2018, Todd Marcus released "On These Streets (a Baltimore Story)", an instrumental recording interspersed with audio clips from those very streets.  While some clips present a neighborhood in the midst of exploding and trying to deal with the eruptions of emotions, the music has a power and stories to tell on its own.  At one time, the community's main thoroughfare, Pennsylvania Avenue, was alive with nightclubs, concert halls, theaters, and businesses, a hub of and for the African American families and working people.  Many Black artists played there, influencing generations of musicians and artists.  Mr. Marcus takes his compositional cues from the socially conscious music of Max Roach, Charles Mingus, Sonny Rollins, and Duke Ellington.  On previous recordings, he has explored Middle Eastern music, especially on his 2014 Jazz Orchestra recording "Blues For Tahrir", and he will play several of those compositions during the concert.

The program starts at 7 p.m. and is free and open to the public.  This event is supported in part by the Middletown Commission on the Arts and the CT Department of Economic and Community Development, Office of the Arts, which also receives support from the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency, along with the Shoreline Arts Alliance.  Bring open ears and a curious mind, Jazz Up Close will do the rest.

Here's one of the audio clips and the musical story that follows:

Jazz Up Close at Russell Library Tuesday July 3rd

Hailey Niswanger plays Tuesday evening at Russell Library.

Tuesday, July 3rd at 7:00pm, Russell Library will play host to Resonant Motion’s 2018 Jazz Up Close series, Sound Belief: Faith Through Music. 

Saxophonist/composer Hailey Niswanger will be the visiting artist for the series. She will play and discuss her recent body of work inspired by Thich Nhat Hanh. 

The evening will have series curator Noah Baerman on electric piano, bassist Henry Lugo “plugged in” alongside Hailey’s collaborators Randy Runyon on guitar and David Frazier, Jr. on drums. 

Thank you for the support of the Middletown Commission on the Arts and the CT Department of Economic and Community Development, Office of the Arts, which also receives support from the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency, along with the Shoreline Arts Alliance. 

Make Music Day at Russell Library this Thursday! June 21

This Thursday, June 21, is Make Music Day in Middletown! There will be music all over town! Russell Library will host four different events:

In the morning, at 11:00am, Barbara Arafeh will lead families with young children (ages 2-5) in fun and educational musical activities in our courtyard. 

At noon, Noah Baerman will play in the lobby with a band created spefically for this day: "

Stankeye Jones and the Vagabond Librarians!

Carolyn Halsted playing Clara, our piano. 

At 6:00pm, a piano recital of Carolyn Halsted's students will take place in the Hubbard Room. 

Directly afterward, at 7:00pm, Carolyn Halsted and Mara Bennett will present "Clara's Journey: Why Our Piano Goes to the Woods". 

The piano at Russell Library is named Clara, after the composer Clara Schumann. During the summer months, it is played at Noyes Rhythm Summer Retreat in Portland, CT. 

As part of the evening's program, Mara Bennett will present "A Day at Noyes Camp" -- including the "Morning Recreation Class" and "Evening Playtime". 

Mara Bennett has been a Noyes teacher for 15 years. She will involve the audience in some of the dances that are planned. 

In addition, Carolyn Halsted will play pieces of her own composition as well as several by Clara Schumann and three by Amy Beach. 

All programs at Russell Library are free. These programs are drop-in, no registration required. 

Learning the Value of Ethics Through Music

In a week when Middletown residents will protest the elimination of the position of Arts Coordinator for the City on Tuesday evening, guitarist/composer Amanda Monaco and her ensemble will perform music inspired by the "Pirkei Avot" translated as "Ethics of Our Fathers." These ethical and moral principles are teachings gleaned from the Mishnah, described as "an edited record of the complex body of material known as oral Torah that was transmitted in the aftermath of the destruction of the Temple in 70 C.E." 

The performance takes place at 7 p.m. on Thursday May 31 in the Hubbard Room of The Russell Library, 123 Broad Street in Middletown as part of Noah Baerman's refreshing "Jazz Up Close" series.  Pianist, composer, author, and educator Baerman created the series when he was "named Artistic Director of Resonant Motion, Inc., an organization that seeks to explore and deepen connections between music and social causes" (read more at www.noahjazz.com).  He has brought musicians from around the country to the Library where they perform original material and answer questions from the audience.  Ms. Monaco, who has been a friend and musical associate of Mr. Baerman since high school, is the first performer for the "Sound Belief" series, a program of music inspired by the artist's religious beliefs, faith, and studies. (Author's note: I had the honor of presenting Ms. Monaco's "Pirkei Avot: Volume I" at Congregation Adath Israel several years ago. The performance was quite moving.)

For Thursday's event, the guitarist and Baerman will be playing  newer songs based on the "Pirkei Avot" alongside the expressive vocalist Tammy Sheffer, recorder master Daphna Mor, bassist Henry Lugo, and percussionist Rogerio Boccato.   Like all events at The Russell Library, the performance is free and open to the public.  For more information, click on bit.ly/2IO0hFz.

Here's a piece from Volume 1 of "The Pirkei Avot Project" featuring Ms. Monaco and Ms. Mor plus bassist Sean Conly, percussionist Satoshi Takeishi, and vocalist Ayelet Rose Gottlieb:

Saturday Jazz (Up Close + Solo)

News@Wesleyan

Pianist, composer, educator, and author (he also plays guitar and sings) Noah Baerman is the curator of Jazz Up Close!, a program sponsored by the Russell Library, the Shoreline Arts Alliance, the Middletown Commission on the Arts (and others. This Saturday September 23, Mr. Baerman, alto saxophonist Kris Allen, and bassist Henry Lugo welcome Brazilian-born drummer and percussionist Rogério Boccato for the "Crossing Cultures" program to take place at 1:30 p.m. in the Hubbard Room of the Russell Library, 123 Broad Street.

Boccato, who has worked and/or and recorded dozens of contemporary musicians including bassist John Pattitucci, composer Maria Schneider's Orchestra, vocalist Michael Franks, and UCONN/Storrs Professor of Music Earl MacDonald, teaches at the Manhattan School of Music and has served on the Percussion Faculty at the Hartt School/University of Hartford.  He also has a long association with artists from his home country including Milton Nascimento, Dori Caymmi, Hermeto Pascoal, and the late Antonio Carlos Jobim.

This should be a fascinating concert, with good insights into the world of percussion and creative music.  Bring your questions!  For more information, go to russelllibrary.org.

Here's Senhor Boccato playing with Hartford natives Luques & Zaccai Curtis (The Curtis Brothers) on their "Completion of Proof" album:

Pianist, composer, and educator Laszlo Gardony returns to The Buttonwood Tree, 605 Main Street in Middletown, on Saturday (9/23) at 8 p.m. for a concert of solo piano music.  Professor Gardony, who is on the faculty of the Berklee College of Music in Boston, is a frequent visitor to The Buttonwood.  He's in town to celebrate the release of his latest Sunnyside Records album, "Serious Play", a delightful collection of works including a number of originals and standards such as "Georgia on My Mind" and John Coltrane's "Naima."  The pianist pays with great fire, great emotion and has a lifetime love for melody and improvisation. I know for a fact he loves playing in the intimate performance space because of the receptive audiences and how close people sit.  

For ticket information, go to buttonwood.org/event/lazlo-gardony-cd-release-concert/ or call 860-347-4957. To find out more about the pianist, go to www.lgjazz.com.

Here is the title track of his splendid new album:

Jazz Up Close Thursday June 1

"Jazz Up Close", the series that pianist, composer, and educator Noah Baerman has produced at The Russell Library, 123 Broad Street in Middletown over the past several years, continues on Thursday June 1 with guests Meg Okura (violin) and Sam Newsome (soprano) joining Mr. Baerman, bassist Henry Lugo, and drummer Paul Wells. Over the past two decades, Ms. Okura has been busy playing in multiple ensembles and multiple genres, from composing string quartets to performing with Cirque du Soleil to being a featured soloist with artists such as Dianne Reeves and Lee Konitz.  She's also the leader of the Pan Asian Jazz Ensemble (an ensemble with 2 CDs released so far), a Trio, and the J Orchestra, a big band dedicated to playing the music of Japanese and Jewish composers (the latter two ensembles have yet to record).

Mr. Newsome first came to critical in the late 1980s when he joined trumpeter and compose Terence Blanchard's group. He went off on his own in 1995 and also decided to concentrate on soprano saxophone.  Mr. Newsome is now considered one of the masters of the instrument.  His solo concerts and recordings are brilliant, each in their own right.  His breath control, intelligent use of amplification and prepared saxophone, plus the various ways he employs the saxophone keys, stand out.  Since 2007, he has  released six CDs of solo performances with performances that are as musical as they are challenging, amazing and earthy music that defies labels. Sam Newsome is also a fine blogger; on his "Soprano Sax Talk", he writes about many aspects of his chosen instrument and some of the people who play it. Go to sopranosaxtalk.blogspot.com to check it out.

If you have attended these events in the past, you know the host leaves time inside the concert and after for the audience to ask questions of the artists. In that way (and others), Mr. Baerman does much to demystify the music, making it accessible to those who shy away from what they consider a challenge.

The concert takes place at 7 p.m. in the Hubbard Room. Best of all, the event is free and open to the public.  For more information, go to www.russelllibrary.org.

Here's a taste of Ms. Okura's wonderful violin work:




Here's Sam Newsome from his 2014 album, "The Straight Horn of Africa":



(This post also appears on steptempest.blogspot.com.

Jazz Up Close "Spanning Generations"

Pianist, composer, educator, and author Noah Baerman hosts the Jazz Up Close series at the Russell Library in Middletown approximately four times a year.  This Thursday (June 16) as part of the "Spanning Generations Up Close", Noah and bassist Henry Lugo will perform with guest artist guitarist  Monnette Sudler, the Philadelphia, PA native and still a resident.

Here's how the pianist described his guest in his promotional material. "Forty years after recording "Time for a Change", her debut as a bandleader for SteepleChase Records, Monnette Sudler is still a potent force in music. Adept at straight-ahead jazz, avant-garde music and R&B, she has collaborated with a comparably diverse cast of musicians, including Grover Washington, Jr., Hugh Masekela, Sam Rivers, 'Philly” Joe Jones, Kenny Barron, Khan Jamal, Cedar Walton, Shirley Scott, Byard Lancaster, Steve Turre, Sunny Murray, and rapper Erik Honesty (Ms. Sudler’s son). Her current projects include Sisters in Poetry (in collaboration with poet Trapeta B. Mason), the Ladies Night Out quartet, and the Monnette Sudler World Music Ensemble featuring Liberian vocalist Fatu Gayflor, as well as serving as the organizer of the annual Philadelphia Guitar Summit. Ms. Sudler is a graduate of Temple University and is active as an educator, having recently authored the instructional book "Motif Mojo Jazz Guitar."

Ms. Sudler has issued six CDs since her debut, the latest being 2012's collaboration with Ladies Night Out titled "First Born."  The album is a delightful blend of vocals and instrumentals, with a clean sound  all around and several gospel-flavored tracks.  

If you are a regular attendee of these concerts, you know that the artists take time to answer questions from the audience.  It's .amazing what one can learn and how the artists give a glimpse into the creative process.

The concert begins at 7 p.m. and takes place in the Hubbard Room.  As always at the Library, the show is free and open to the public. For more information, go to resonantmotion.org/jazz-up-close/. 

To learn more about the guitarist, go to www.monnettesudlermusic.com. 

Here's a view of the guitarist at play from 2010:

(This post also appears on steptempest.blogspot.com.

September Events at Russell Library

Russell Library is a hub of activity this September.

September marks the start of the school year, and Russell Library is reflecting that same energy. In addition to our children's programming, our reading and writing groups, and the beginning of the monthly Friends' Book Sales, we've got some special events planned!
 
September 12th at 2:00 p.m.:  Jazz Up Close Resonant Motion, Inc. and series curator Noah Baerman presents the third of four installments in the 2015 Jazz Up Close series. Renowned drummer and composer Victor Lewis will be featured in a trio with bassist Henry Lugo and pianist Noah Baerman.

September 15th at noon: We begin the first of our film discussion series. This series is entitled, Pre-Code Hollywood: Sin on the Silver Screen, featuring four films that were made before the censorship system was instituted in 1934. The first film is "One Hour With You" from 1932.

September 15th, 6:30 - 7:45 p.m.: We are privileged to be part of the New England tour of a Mexican puppet company called Facto Teatro. Along with New York City-based Great Small Works and German puppeteer Barbara Steinitz, the troupe will perform Three Toy Theater Tales: A Puppet Show for family audiences. Thanks goes to La Boca Restaurant and Cantina for donating dinner to the performers!

September 17th, 6:30 - 7:30 p.m.: Award winning dancer/choreographer Eiko Otake will be performing A Body in a Library as part of her solo series, “The Body in Places” in the public spaces of Russell Library. A discussion with the audience follows the performance. 

 

Jazz Up Close (and pleasantly personal)

That's Noah Baerman in that "serious" pose on the left.  That makes sense as he is serious about his music, about his teaching, and about the ability to reach people through music and have them lead positive lives.  To that end, Mr. Baerman has started a program at Russell Library in Middletown he calls "Jazz Up Close" - it's a concert but the musicians talk to and with the audience, explaining what they are attempting to do with their music, why they do what they do and more.  Playing jazz is more than playing the notes; it's about teamwork, about communication, and about creativity (and much more).

This Saturday at 2 p.m. (March 28), the 2015 season of "Jazz Up Close" commences with Mr. B (piano) leading at quartet with with bassist Henry Lugo, drummer Willard Dyson and special guest, guitarist Freddie Bryant (pictured left). Besides his busy solo career, Mr. Bryant has worked with the great vocalist Salif Keita, trumpeter Tom Harrell and the Mingus Big Band. He and drummer Dyson have worked together on a number of occasions as well as recording together on 2 of his 7 CDs.  His latest, "Dreamscapes: Solo, Duo & Trio" (self-released), was issued in 2014 and features saxophonist Chris Potter and bassist Scott Colley. Mr. Bryant is equally versed in jazz, pop, and classical music and has a fluid style that swings, often with unabashed glee.


To find out more about the series, go to www.russelllibrary.org. To find out more about Freddie Bryant, go to www.freddiebryant.com.  Check out all the good work of Noah B at www.noahjazz.com.

(This post also appears, in an edited version, on my blog, at steptempest.blogspot.com.)

Give Gifts That Keep On Giving

 

Noah Baerman, composer-author-educator-pianist, has just issued his first solo CD.  "Turtle Steps" (Lemel Records) is yet another small miracle in the life of the Middletown-based artist. You may recall Baerman has Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (read about EDS here) and, some years ago, there was the great possibility that, as he grew older, he would never play piano again.  Thankfully, that is not the case and this CD, recorded at the Hartt School of Music in July of this year, is proof-positive that he continues to mature as a performer and composer.

The 15 tracks, all dedicated to either a mentor, friend or family member, range from gospel to blues to boogie-woogie to jazz to a sparkling rendition of Frederic Chopin's "Minute Waltz", with originals intermingled with standards and traditional tunes.  Included in the program is Baerman's "Since The Blues Walked In" (dedicated to pianist-educator Kenny Barron), arguably the finest piece he has ever composed. Pair that with "Tiger Rag" (one of the first "jass" songs ever published) - the performance is utterly dazzling, displaying a technical prowess that makes one sit up and say "wow!"

There is so much to savor on "Turtle Steps". This is an album to give to a friend who loves music and give one to yourself.  We are blessed in the Middletown area with musicians such as Rani Arbo and Scott Kessel, Bill Carbone, David Davis, Carolyn Halsted, Professor Neely Bruce, Professor Anthony Braxton, Seb Giacco, and so many others.  Like the people listed above, Noah Baerman's music brings such joy in this and all seasons of the year.  To find out more, go to www.noahjazz.com. 

Besides the musical treasures that one can find in Middletown, this city, incorporated in 1650, has quite a number of fascinating stories in its history.  If you have never visited the General Mansfield House, home of the Middlesex County Historical Society, you should go spend some time meandering through the building at 151 Main Street.  In fact, a thoughtful gift for the Holiday season would be a Family Membership - it's not expensive ($35.) and you will receive the newsletter, invitations to various talks and exhibitions and your support will help the Society continue to grow.  (Writer's note - I am Program Chair of the MCHS and have often wondered why more Middletownians (?)...Middletownites (?).. don't take advantage of what the organization has to offer)  To find out more, go to www.middlesexhistory.org. 

Happy Holidays!