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Tom Harrell slowly walked from stage right. Standing just off center stage in Kilbourn Hall. One movement wove into the next in short, deliberate steps. Long, crumpled coat, raised, and lowered, arms guiding the seven piece chamber ensemble through jazz interpretations of works by Debussy and Ravel. Some familiar moments, some familiar instruments in an unknown song. Like ghosts in the trees.
Radio static in the dark. A bandstand shaped like a boom box. Sounds of different stations as this radio wandered the dial. The shadows of the band creating these radio sounds.
Then Esperanza Spalding strolled out onto the stage of Kodak Hall of Eastman Theatre, where she played bass, sang, and led her band through Saturday night's musical journey as part of the Xerox International Rochester Jazz Festival.
Arriving earlier than usual on Day One at RIJF, we had a nice walk through the streets as bands tuned up, vendors stocked up, and fans lined up. It was barely past 4 pm and the line was around the fence for Acoustic Alchemy scheduled to play Harro East Ballroom at 5:30.
Composer Philip Glass turns 75 this year, and his birthday is being celebrated with concerts throughout the year, and even a singalong.
Nicholas DiCarlo, a friend from West Virginia living in New York City, posted an invitation to a free, outdoor Philip Glass retrospective along the river in Rockefeller Park on Wednesday. I couldn't make it across the state to join him, but he kindly shared his pictures from the concert and wrote up a few thoughts.
From the Top’s first international show in Bogotá, Colombia last week was a collaboration with the Batuta National Foundation (Colombia’s national youth music program) and the Filarmónica Joven de Colombia (Colombia’s national youth orchestra), and was one of the most inspiring and rewarding journeys we have ever experienced.
I. GLASS ART
You could own an original piece of visual art by composer Philip Glass. He donated a 6” X 6” piece to the Rochester Contemporary Art Center, 137 East Avenue in Rochester. The gallery’s director Blue Cease sent this picture of the back of the work:
Violist and composer Kenji Bunch payed tribute to Robin Gibb with his last selection on the Viola After Dark concert last Saturday night at the Miller Center during the International Viola Congress in Rochester. The video below is too awesome to keep secret:
As I walked over to Eastman this morning to get some (iced) coffee, I saw a number of people with instrument cases. This week, of all times, I felt pretty safe in assuming that these cases were holding violas, and not violins.
