The Wesleyan University Crowell Concert Series opens the second half of the 2010-2011 season with the Charles Lloyd Quartet on Friday January 28 at 8 p.m. The saxophonist/flautist/composer first came to prominence in the early 1960s as the music director of drummer Chico Hamilton's Quintet and as a member of the Cannonball Adderley Group. But, it was his first "classic:" Quartet that took both the rock music and jazz world by storm in the mid-to-late 60s, the group that introduced most of the world to pianist Keith Jarrett, drummer Jack DeJohnette and bassist Cecil McBee. Their Atlantic Records Lp "Forest Flower", recorded live at the 1966 Monterey Jazz Festival, was a big hit and critical success and the band spent much of the next 3 years touring the world and recording. At the height of his success, he left the music scene.
Over the next few years, he kept a low profile but recorded with The Doors, Canned Heat, and The Beach Boys, even touring with the latter group in the latter years of the decade. But, it was not until 1989 when he signed with ECM Records that he began to tour again on a regular basis. He's assembles a number of excellent groups featuring pianists Bobo Stenson, Geri Allen, and West Hartford-native Brad Mehldau, bassists, Palle Danielsson and Larry Grenadier, drummers Jon Christensen, Billy Hart, and Billy Higgins and occasional appearances by guitarist John Abercrombie. After Higgins passed in 2002, Houston native Eric Harland joined the group and is still there, anchoring the rhythm section with bassist Reuben Rogers and pianist Jason Moran (2010 recipient of the MacArthur Genius Grant.)
Their latest CD, "Mirror", came out last Fall with music ranging from gospel tunes to Thelonious Monk to Brian Wilson's "Caroline, No." Every member of the band is a fine improviser as well as intelligent accompanist, allowing the music to move off in fascinating directions. Harland is one of today's most sought-after drummers, a member of the SF Jazz Collective, and busy session player. Rogers also works with saxophonist Joshua Redman and pianist Aaron Goldberg (to name but 2) - his sense of time is impeccable and his melodic counterpoint works well beneath the flowing music. Moran and his Trio, known as Bandwagon, celebrated their 10th anniversary this past year and the CD that ensued, "Ten" (Blue Note), landed on many "Best-of.." lists. Also a Houston, TX, native (like Harland), his creativity in smashing categories, blending genres, incorporating elements of modern classical music with "hip-hop" with various jazz forms, has earned great (and deserved) acclaim.
I know the concert is 3 weeks away but tickets are going quickly. The day before, Thursday July 27, Mr. Lloyd will take part in a panel discussion titled "A Conversation about Music and Spirituality" at 4:15 p.m. in the CFA Hall (the old CFA Cinema near Zilkha Gallery.) The event is free and open to the public.
For ticket information, go to www.wesleyan.edu/cfa or call the Box Office at 860-685-3355.
Here's a look at The Charles Lloyd Quartet, complete with a short interview.
Tuesday February 16: The Art & Art History Department at Wesleyan welcomes conceptualist and multi-media artist Glenn Ligon to the CFA Hall (the former CFA Cinema next to Zilkha Gallery) at 5 p.m. where he will deliver a talk that is free and open to the public. Ligon, who graduated from Wesleyan in 1982, creates works that deal with race, identity, gender and class issues. Ligon has received grants and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts (1982, 1989, and 1991), Art Matters (1990), the Joan Mitchell Foundation (1997), and the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation (2003). In 2006 he was awarded the Skowhegan Medal for Painting. His work has been shown in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, MOMA New York, and the Whitney Museum of American Art, among many others. For more information, email kteneyck@wesleyan.edu.
Wednesday February 17: Poet, translator, and art critic John Ashbery is the 2010 Millett Writing Fellow at Wesleyan and he will give a reading at 8 p.m. in Memorial Chapel. Ashbery, born in Rochester, N.Y. in 1927, has won numerous awards for his writing including a MacArthur Fellowship, two Guggenheims, a Pulitzer, a National Book Award, the Bollingen Prize, and the International Griffin Poetry Prize. His latest collection, "Plainisphere" (Ecco/HarperCollins), was issued late last year. The reading is free and open to the public. Here's a poem from the new collection (courtesy of Ecco Press)
NO REASON NOT TO
Parents raising their voices and others
long to join the pilgrim’s downward trek,
if only to see nothing at the end of the gorge.
The mayor too was languid,
some kind of monsieur,
failing to grasp the humor in the kiddies’ spree.
And truth just kind of sails overhead
like a turkey vulture, on parenthetical wing,
empty as a cupboard.
Interrupt me (then)
with semi-elaborate everything,
spores left by a cloud seizure.
The block of flats will find then forget us.
Thursday February 18:
The Green Street Arts Center holds its annual fundraiser on this day. Titled "A Feast for the Senses", the event begin at 6 p.m. and features desserts, beverages, live performances and a "super silent auction" to raise funds for the After School Program and Scholarship Fund. Tickets are still available - call 860-685-7871.
The Ring Family Israeli Film Series at Wesleyan continues with "My Father My Lord", directed by David Volach and released in 2008. Here's the synopsis (courtesy of www.fandango.com): Anchored with his wife and son in an orthodox Haredic community of Jerusalem, Rabbi Edelman leads a disciplined life of worship and faith – one he hopes Mendham will follow. Although polite and respectful, the young Edelman begins to observe life with his own eyes and to question some of his father’s tenets: “Why do animals have no soul?” the boy asks after witnessing a dog follow its sick owner into an ambulance. As Rabbi Edelman becomes increasingly worried about his family’s commitment to the Jewish Law, his unwavering belief system is put to test on a summer outing near the Dead Sea.
Starring Assi Dayan, Sharon Hacochen Bar and Elan Griff, the movie is one of the new wave of features that focuses on the Orthodox community in Israel. Introducing the film will be critic Michael Fox. The screening takes place at 8 p.m. in the Goldsmith Family Cinema in the Center for Film Studies, Washington Terrace. The event is free and open to the public. For more information, email dkatz01@wesleyan.edu.
Friday February 19:
The Crowell Concert Series at Wesleyan continues with the Shanghai Quartet at 8 p.m. Formed at the Shanghai Conservatory in 1983, the Shanghai Quartet has worked with the world’s most distinguished artists and regularly tours the major music centers of Europe, North America and Asia. Recent seasons have included concert tours of Japan, China, Australia, New Zealand, and several countries in Europe. The Quartet has made regular appearances at Carnegie Hall in chamber performances and with orchestra, and in 2006 gave the world premiere of Takuma Itoh’s "Concerto for Quartet and Orchestra" in Carnegie Hall’s Isaac Stern Auditorium. The Quartet's repertoire ranges from Brahms to Bright Sheng, Beethoven to Frank Bridge and much more. Members include violinists Weigang Li and Yi-Wen Liang, violist Honggang Li and cellist Nicholas Tzavaras. Tickets are available at www.wesleyan.edu/cfa/ or by calling 860-685-3355.
The Buttonwood Tree presents a double bill of singer-songwriters at 8 p.m. featuring Abi Tapia (pictured) and Jen Lowe. Ms. Tapia attended college in Iowa (Grinnell), began performing while living in Portland, Maine and now lives in Austin, Texas. She's released 3 CDs, the latest being 2008's "The Beauty in the Ruin" (MoonHouse Records.) Ms. Lowe, whose debut CD "From the End of the Hallway" was issued in 2008, is a fine composer who performs throughout on guitar and percussion. For ticket information, call 860-347-4957.
Shakedown returns to Boney's Music Lounge for a 9 p.m. gig, an evening featuring several sets of long jams and Grateful Dead covers. For more information, call 860-346-6000.
