Thelonious Monk’s 1959 performance at Town Hall marked the first time Monk had performed his work with an orchestra. Thirty-eight years later, jazz pianist Jason Moran was approached about recreating that legendary concert.
Before embarking on this project, Moran made one thing perfectly clear, absolute remakes don’t work. He told New York Magazine that Gus Van Sant’s shot-for-shot remake of Psycho was just one example.
So for this project, which he’ll be performing on Friday night at the Theatre at the Ace Hotel (part of CapUCLA’s season), he’ll be trying to delve into not just the music, but a sense of how this evening came together.
If you saw Jason Moran’s Fats Waller Dance Party at either Walt Disney Concert Hall or the Valley Performing Arts Center in the past couple years, you know he’s simultaneously respectful of those who came before him and also an innovator who brings a fresh point-of-view to his presentation of their music. This is certain to be a memorable evening.