A Special Evening (11/13)

I've watched and listened to pianist/composer Noah Baerman grow as a musician, teacher and person for well over a decade. All that time, he has worked with a physical ailment (Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome) that has threatened his career as a "player" but has sharpened his skills as a writer and performer.

Jazz can be and often is a jumble of sounds but there is usually a clarity to what Baerman creates with his trio. Bassist Henry Lugo is rock-solid, melodic to be sure but also the foundation for the composer's musical explorations. Drummer Vinnie Sperazza can be loud, even noisy at times, but he also gives the music its propulsion and forward motion. In that whirlwind, the pianist weaves soulful melodies with lucid and often heady solos. The ensemble's ballads can be contemplative, light in feeling yet with touching emotional weight.

In 2008, Noah Baerman received a grant from Chamber Works America (administered by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation) - he proposed to write a full-length musical work for an expanded ensemble and the premiere of the composition, "Know Thyself", takes place this Friday at 8 p.m. in Crowell Concert Hall. The musical aggregation of the Crowell stage will include Lugo and Sperrazza as well as long-time friends Wayne Escoffery (saxophones) and Amanda Monaco (guitar) - the friends played together in their high school years while attending New Haven's Educational Center for the Arts and have recently released a CD titled "Playdate". West Hartford native Erica von Kleist, a graduate of the famed Hall High School Jazz program and the Juilliard School, will add her tenor saxophone sounds to the band and vibraphonist Chris Dingman (Wesleyan 2002) adds a strong melodic and percussive voice to the work.

As for Baerman's new work, Monaco tells me it's "fun to play and very musical", with the pianist's many influences blending together in new and surprising ways. Highly personal yet universal in its quest for self understanding, I anticipate (and hope) that "Know Thyself" will find Noah Baerman a wider audience for his musical visions, an audience excited to grow along with the music.

For ticket information, call the University Box Office at 860-685-3355 or go online to www.wesleyan.edu/cfa.

Friday Music & Dance (October 30)

My apologies that this information is getting to all of you so late.

There are so many events happening on Friday October 30 that an arts aficionado might have a hard time making a choice. I'm not sure staying home is an option.

The Yale Russian Chorus, Mark Bailey, Artistic Director, performs at 7 p.m. in Crowell Concert Hall. The group's repertoire features music that spans from the twelfth century to the twenty-first, and stretches across Eastern Europe from Slovakia to Georgia, including a variety of sacred and secular settings. These include ancient chant, folk songs, and works by Tchaikovsky, Bortnyansky, Kedrov, and Chesnokov, to name a few. The 16-man chorus has been in existence since 1953 and has performed in venues around the world. This concert is free and open to the public. For more information, go to www.yale.edu/yrc.

The Buttonwood Tree presents singers-songwriters Gail Wade and Brooks Williams in concert at 8 p.m. The duo has played the venue several times in the past few years and always draws a crowd. Williams is one of the finest acoustic guitar players on the planet and Ms. Wade has a fine voice and a strong songwriter. They will play separate sets and a few tunes together. For more information, call 347-4957.

The Fall Faculty Dance Concert, featuring new works by the Wesleyan dance faculty, takes place at 8 p.m. in the '92 Theater Friday and Saturday evenings. Faculty members Rachel Boggia and Iddi Saaka will perform solo and duet works in collaboration with several guest artists. For ticket information, go to www.wesleyan.edu/cfa or call 860-685-3355.

"Hearts Pounding and Skins Taut" is a concert taking place Friday and Saturday evenings at 8 p.m. in Wesleyan's Memorial Chapel featuring music for percussion and keyboard instruments. The program includes music composed by Wesleyan faculty members Ron Kuivila, Alvin Lucier (pictured), Neely Bruce and Jay Hoggard as well as works by Christian Wolff, Xiaoyong Chen and Giovanni Mikhailov. Go online at the Wesleyan address above for more information.

Eilen Jewell Concert Postponed

The Eilen Jewell Concert scheduled for Saturday night at Wesleyan's Crowell Concert Hall has been postponed until November.

Contact Wesleyan's CFA box office for more information.

A Mid-Summer Week's Happenings (Part 1)

Monday July 14:
The Buttonwood Tree hosts a weekly Open Mic hosted by J-Cherry. Whether you are a poet, essayist, fiction writer, singer/songwriter, the microphone is yours. Sign-ups begin at 7 p.m. and the entertainment at 7:30.

Tuesday July 15:
The "Days" event this week at the Wesleyan Center for the Arts features instrument maker/musician/storyteller Hawk Henries. Henries, a member of the northeastern Algonquian tribe known as the Nipmuc (originally from Massachusetts), will deliver a talk and perform music that is both ancient and new, with a philosophy built on the land, the arts and self-sufficiency. The event takes place at 12:10 p.m. in Crowell Concert Hall and is free to all. To find out more about Henries, go to www.hawkhenries.com.

Movie Night in Middletown, held every Tuesday at the Goldsmith Family Cinema at Wesleyan, features Gary Cooper in "Mr. Deeds Goes to Town." The screening of the 1936 Frank Capra film begins at 7:30 p.m. with an introduction presented by actor/film enthusiast Edward Hermann ("The Gilmore Girls.") This event is free and open to the public. To find out more about the series and the "Cinefare" options, call the Chamber of Commerce at 347-6924 or check out this post.

If you'd rather be outside, the City of Middletown Summer Sounds Series takes place at 7 p.m. on South Green. This week, the Sonny Rogers Band serves up a smorgasbord of popular music, swing, and jazz. Bring lawn chairs, picnic food and more to this free event.

Wednesday July 16:
The Music at the Mansion Series, held on the spacious and very green back lawn of the Long Hill Estate/Wadsworth Mansion, welcomes the duo of Jay Ungar & Molly Mason for a 6:30 p.m. show. The pair have been performing together since the late 1970s with a repertoire that is filled with "hard-driving Appalachian, Cajun and Celtic fiddle tunes, stirring Civil War classics, sassy songs from the golden age of swing and country, stunning waltzes, and deeply moving original compositions" (from their website.) Many people have heard them perform on various Public Radio programs as well as Ungar's involvement on the soundtracks of numerous documentaries by Ken Burns. The grounds of the mansion open at 5:30 p.m. for those who wish to picnic and find a desirable spot to set down a blanket. For more information, call 347-1064. To get a taste of the duo's music, go to www.jayandmolly.com.

Thursday July 16:
The ARTFARM production of "The Taming of the Shrew" begins its 8-show run in the Grove at Middlesex Community College College, Training Hill Road. The 7 p.m. performance is preceded at 6 on Opening Night with a performance by guitarist and vocalist Nancy Tucker. The show goes on rain or shine!! - in the instance of the former, the show moves inside to the second floor of Founder's Hall. If the weather is good, bring a blanket, beach chair, comestibles, and a good supply of bug repellent. To find out more about the entertainment, read here. To learn more about ARTFARM, go to www.art-farm.org.

The Center for the Arts at Wesleyan presents the Hendrik Meurkens Samba Jazz Quartet at 8 p.m. in Crowell Concert Hall. Meurkens, born in Germany, is one of the finest jazz harmonica players in the world and his love for Brazilian music is unsurpassed. More about him and his fine ensemble later in the week - tickets are available by calling 685-3355 or going to www.wesleyan.edu/cfa.

Dance of All Kinds, At Wes

The Snap Crackle Pop Dance performance rescheduled from last week took place in Crowell Auditorium Monday evening with an array of dancing styles that ranged from tap, to clogging and break dancing.

The troupe was composed of Wesleyan students, and students from programs at the Green Street Arts Center.

Immediately following Snap Crackle and Pop, another dance peformance began a parade across campus from the Crowell steps, to a lawn adjacent to the Zilka Gallery. While I never caught the name of the piece it featured accordions and mouth organs, men in grass skirts, wall projections, flashlights for the audience, and rolling suitcases flung hither and yon by the energetic dancers.

Snap, Crackle, Pop! Rescheduled For Tonight

As Wesleyan returns slowly to a sense of normalcy, some events which were postponed or cancelled due to last week's tragedy, have been rescheduled.

Snap, Crackle, Popa percussive dance show featuring Green Street and Wesleyan dance groups has been rescheduled for today, Monday, May 11th, 7 pm in Crowell Concert Hall

Admission is free and everyone is invited - you're invited to join in a community gathering and collaboration.

Arts Events Monday - Wednesday 5/04-06

The Buttonwood Tree presents its weekly Open Mic at 8 p.m. Monday night. Hosted by Jennifer Schafer Wood, it's an opportunity for local poets, authors, singers and musicians to "do their thing." Sign-ups begin 30 minutes before the microphone "opens." For more information, call 347-4957.

Professor Anthony Braxton presents his "Large Ensemble Music" concert at Monday 8 p.m. in Crowell Concert Hall. Students and invited guests perform Braxton's music, some of which is thorny and complicated, other pieces that are "straight-ahead" and melodic, all of which is uniquely Braxton. The event is free and open to the public.

Tuesday is "Cinco de Mayo" and Jazz at Public celebrates with an evening of "Latin Jazz" from 6 - 9:30 p.m. with vocalist Theresa Wright (pictured.) Joining her will be an all-star band including Don DePalma (keyboards), Bob Laramie (bass), Rob "The Drummer" Gottfried (drums, naturally) and Greg Allen (congas, percussion.) Public is located at 337 Main Street, in part of the old "Bob's Store" building.

The "Celebration of Silent Sounds" takes place Tuesday at 7 p.m. in the World Music Hall at Wesleyan. "Silent Sounds" is the literary magazine for the Middletown Public Schools grades 6-12 and features one-act plays, short stories and poetry. The authors, poets and playwrights will read from their works and you'll be both amazed and pleased by the quality of the writing. The event, free and open to the public, is co-sponsored by the Center for the Arts and the Middletown Public Schools Cultural Council.

Also on Tuesday, the Wesleyan Wind Ensemble, aka "WesWinds", Peter Hadley, music director, performs its Spring Concert at 8 p.m. in Crowell Concert Hall. The program, titled "Blue", features works by Frank Ticheli (U.S., born 1958), David Holsinger (U.S., born 1945) and George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue", featuring pianist Jose Garcia-Leon. The event is free and open to the public.








The final presentation in The Russell Library's "Screwball Comedy Film Series" is "The Thin Man", the 1934 classic starring (from left to right) Myrna Loy, Asta (screen name), and William Powell. Based on the Dashiell Hammett novel of the same name, the movie became the first in a series of 6 featuring the same lead characters. It, also, is the blueprint for the style of movie that blends murder, mayhem and comedy (not to mention the basis of other shows such as"Moonlighting.") The screening takes place at 12noon in the Hubbard Room - bring your lunch and the Library will provide soft drinks and dessert. Hosting the event is Richard Alleva, film critic for Commonweal magazine and Assistant Head of Children’s Services at Russell Library. For more information, call 347-2528, extension 135.

Dar Delights

Last night, Middletown was the recipient of a very special treat in the form of a concert by the ever talented Dar Williams.. As always, Dar delivered intelligent and thought-provoking messages through the angelic beauty of her voice and the simplicity of her guitar playing. She is a natural storyteller and her song introductions came across as if having a conversation with a friend. Dar graduated from Wesleyan in 1989 and it was apparent last night that her experiences there have shaped her songwriting ever since. She had tales to tell about the campus radio station WESU and wove those stories into the introduction of Are You Out There, the song about the deep influence that radio can have on youth. Her lyrics are so emotional and so real and delve so deeply into such painful topics, my friend and I were wondering how she sings her songs without bursting into tears – we certainly did! I thought the biggest tearjerker was “After All”, a song about the struggles of coming into your own self, which last night was introduced also as having developed under the backdrop of Wesleyan.

The audience seemed to be mostly students. One who I spoke to said she had never heard Dar Williams music before. If that student was at all representative of the audience in general, I can hardly imagine the triumph of discovery that this show surely must be for so many who were hearing Dar Williams’s soulful music for the first time. Another person I spoke to was a Dar Williams fan who came from Clinton to see the show. She couldn’t say enough about how impressed she was with the venue and all of the other amazing events, past and upcoming, that were listed in the calendars.

Music for the Mind and Body

The Crowell Concert Series at Wesleyan begins its Spring Semester schedule this Friday evening at 8 p.m. with saxophonist-flautist -composer Henry Threadgill's Zooid.

Threadgill, who turns 65 on Valentine's Day,has been in the forefront of the creative music since since the late 1960s. The Chicago native was one of the original members of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), a cooperative dedicated to original music that combined traditional approaches to jazz with experimentalism. Musician-conceptualists such as Anthony Braxton (now Professor of Music at Wesleyan), Muhal Richard Abrams and George Lewis worked alongside groups such as the Art Ensemble of Chicago to create new sounds that challenged musicians and audiences alike.

In 1971, Threadgill recruited percussionist Steve McCall and bassist Fred Hopkins for a trio he called Reflections. Several years later, the group changed its name to Air, recorded several Lps for a Japanese label and began to tour extensively. Bolstered by the brilliant rhythm section, Threadgill wrote music that took its influences from traditional African music, from New Orleans, from contemporary classical music, blues and more. After McCall left the trio in 1982, he was replaced by Pheroan ak Laff, now a Private Lessons instructor at Wesleyan.

After moving to New York City in the mid-80s, Threadgill disbanded Air and started several groups, including the 7-member Henry Threadgill Sextett. The group's music had a swagger and a bluster, thanks to the presence of a tuba in the rhythm section. Among the members of the band was ak Laff and, for one Lp and several tours, trombonist and tuba player Bill Lowe (who was on the Wesleyan faculty in the late 1980s and early 90s. The Sextett was followed by Very,Very Circus, a Fellini-esque ensemble that gave way to Make a Move and Zooid. The former quintet has more of an electric sound while the latter tends more towards the acoustic and eclectic.

Zooid features Liberty Ellman (guitar), Dana Leong (cello), Jose Davila (tuba, trombone), Eliot Humberto Kavee (drums, percussion) and an, as-yet unnamed, oud player. The music Threadgill writes for the group is rhythmical, hypnotic, edgy, and often exciting. To call it jazz or "chamber-jazz" is quite limiting; this is creative music at its best.

Professor Braxton will deliver the "Pre-concert Talk" at 7:15 p.m., no doubting attempting to shed light on his long-time friend and occasional collaborator's place in the musical universe. For ticket information, call 685-3355 or go to www.wesleyan.edu/cfa. To get a taste of Zooid, go to www.pirecordings.com/album/pi02.

Crooked Still at Crowell

Some people call it bluegrass. Some call it old-timey. Some simple call it string band music. While each label conjures up a slightly different angle on ancient American music, the sound of guitar, fiddle and banjo has inspired a new generation of musician. There's an entire movement of young string bands exploring the reaches of where the tradition has been, and where they can carry it.

Crooked Still, a proponent of "progressive bluegrass" will offer their take on string band music in a concert on Friday at Crowell Concert Hall at Wesleyan University.

Friday, October 17, 8pm
Crowell Concert Hall
Pre-concert talk at 7:15pm
Tickets: $22 A, $18 B, $6 C

Klezmer Fusion at Wes Friday and Saturday

Clarinetist David Krakauer takes the stage at Crowell Concert Hall on the Wesleyan campus tomorrow evening to present a concert which will range from a set of solo classical pieces to a full-band performance with Klezmer Madness!

Krakauer is a licorice-stick virtuoso who is comfortable playing in a wide-ranging and diverse set of styles including classical chamber music, Eastern European Jewish klezmer music and avant-garde improvisation.

A klezmer jam takes place at the World Music Hall on the Wesleyan campus at 7 pm Friday, admission free. On Saturday, a ticketed concert begins at 8 pm and tickets are available through the Wesleyan Box Office. The Saturday concert will be preceded at 7:15 by a pre-concert talk with Wesleyan Professor of Music, Mark Slobin