The comma in the album’s title is important to Hersch. Silent isn’t describing the listening. Being silent and listening are two distinctly separate qualities that were of paramount importance to him while recording Silent, Listening and the qualities he hopes listeners might employ when they put on the album. Which they should.

I recently spoke with Hersch about his concepts for this album, how the resurgence of vinyl impacts the albums he’s making and how he’s challenging himself to do something we haven’t heard before. What follows are excerpts from our conversation that have been edited for length and clarity. To watch the full interview with Fred Hersch, please go to our YouTube channel.

Q: What is the role of silence in your music and in your life?

Without silence you can’t have music or much of anything else. This is maybe my 12th or 13th solo album. I think the title of this project partially refers to the the specific place and circumstances around the recording of the album. In a fantastic auditorium in Switzerland at the Swiss Radio in Lugano, a legendary auditorium, with superb acoustics, fantastic piano. I was prepared. I had some things that I wanted to play, but, I also left a lot open to the last minute.

I think there’s a lot of patience on this record; playing something and seeing how it lands. Play the next thing. As an improvising musician, that’s how you always want to be. You want to play the phrase and then see where it lands, and then the next thing comes. And if you have a goal or an expectation, then often you’ll be disappointed. Just like life. I like to be in that zone where I’m really minutely paying attention to each detail, which leads to the next thing. There’s a lot of what I call spontaneous composition on the record, open improvisation, whatever you want to call it. Just paying attention to the sonority, not the chord, just the actual sound. So sound was a factor and the beautiful silence that you get playing in a room like that.

I love the way you allow notes to just fade away. Then there’s a pause before you go on to something else. It feels like you’re not only allowing yourself to be patient, but you’re asking your listeners to be patient as well.

I think this record really unfolds almost like a suite. It’s kind of contra to the way that people consume music these days. I believe in the value of an album as a statement; a small film, if you will, a story. I think this album tells a story and builds on itself. A lot of the selections I didn’t plan to play. They just arrived. Certainly the spontaneous pieces just arrived, but when we put it together, we were totally in agreement about the sequence. It’s not just a series of tracks. It’s very much a unified statement. And the glue that holds it together is just sound. It’s a pretty immersive album.

In the press notes for this album you are quoted as wanting to have tell a story with this album. Yet, at the same time, you’re saying that some of the pieces just came to you as you were in the place. I’m assuming that you had the story deeply embedded into your heart and soul so that you knew what those pieces would be that came to you.

No. I had no title at all. I had a list of titles of artworks by Robert Rauschenberg. I would just assign, like Night Tide Light, that’s the title of a collage by Rauschenberg. Volon. I don’t know what volon means, but it’s an interesting word, so we just picked that. But the story emerged. There was no real intent. I think the story just arrived.

Manfred’s a great producer. What he says and also what he doesn’t say. Sometimes he just let me work stuff out. Other times he might say something. At one point he went into the audience, which was helpful. A couple of tunes I just played for fun, and he said, I really love those. I didn’t intend to play them. It was very much something that unfolded as we did it. But once we had the pieces, we completely agreed this is how the story gets told. Sometimes the pieces led very smoothly into each other. Sometimes there’s a very jarring contrast. It’s very cinematic, I think. But it wasn’t intentional. I just wanted to make a record with him in that place on that piano and see what happened. And so this is what happened right now.

I can’t help but believe that there is, whether intentional or not, a bit of a commentary about the cacophonous and easily-distracted world we live in. 

Yeah, I mean, that would be really nice if people would slow down and paid attention. I play in concerts in my home club, the Village Vanguard, people are quiet. It’s maybe the one time in the day where they are away from their cell phone for 75 minutes – hopefully. The final track, Winter of My Discontent, I learned 45 years ago. The lyrics are really relevant to our time. Whenever I play any kind of standard or anything that has words, I’m really singing the words as I’m playing the melody. It helps me emotionally connect to the melody, but it also informs the way that I interpret it. 

I listen to a lot of vinyl, so it’s like only a 22 minute a side commitment. Find time to put some music on and not while you’re on the treadmill or doing your email. Who knows how many people out there actually do that. But, without being fat-headed, I’d say that the people that do take the time to listen to this thing through, I think there’s a reward. We’re in the era of LPs coming back. When you make shorter albums, people are maybe a little more likely to actually dip into the whole thing. This record’s about 50 minutes. The one I did with Enrico Rava [The Song Is You] was 43 minutes. I think we’re in the era of not overdoing it. Less is more. 

Is that better for you as an artist?

It is. I’m going to record a trio album for ECM next month. If it’s only a 45-minute album, that’s only going to be 6 or 7 pieces because there probably will be a bass solo or two and something for the drums to play. I’ve got probably a good 1500 vinyls and some of them I’ve had since childhood. It’s still the best delivery system for music sound wise. As I learned to play jazz, self-taught in Cincinnati, Ohio, in the early 70s, I would have one side of one LP on the turntable for days. I just keep listening to those four or five tracks over and over again and get to know them deeply. We’re in an age where everything is the algorithm says if you like that, listen to this. Everybody’s twitchy with their fingers. I think it’s great that LPs are coming back. To me, they never left.

I have noticed in the past couple of years, listening to artists like Gerald Clayton or Joel Ross or the half of Sullivan Fortner‘s Slow Game that you produced, artists in the jazz world are expressing themselves in a more quiet manner than they used to. Do you think there’s something going on in our world that’s inspiring it?

It’s a great question for which I don’t have an answer. There are incredible 40-and-under musicians or 30-and-under musicians. You mentioned players like Gerald Clayton or Sullivan – state of the art younger jazz pianists, in my estimation. Great instrumentalists and very deep in their way of playing the language and with their own perspectives. I have my ear to the ground. Certainly living in New York, I go out and hear people. I’ve taught a lot of these great younger pianists over the years. I always learn a lot from the way that they speak the language, which is different. I came to New York in 1977. The job description for being a working jazz pianist was you had to know tunes. You had to be able to swing. You had to be able to accompany. If you sight read, that was a bonus. But that was it. Now all the young musicians are expected to be composers and manage their internet empires and social media presences and produce their own albums.

Some of the people that you’re mentioning who are more mature, who are able to hold more stillness and withhold all the stuff that they could play, these are the more artistic ones, in my opinion. But for every one of those, there’s six more I could think of where it’s a lot of stuff that’s kind of forgettable. Nothing sticks. So stickiness in performance – improvisation, composition, is a quality that I value. It doesn’t have to be Andrew Lloyd Webber to be sticky, you know?

Sullivan Fortner told me that you were “an extremely nice man and that you’re not an easy person to please.” How easy or how challenging is it for you to please yourself, either when you’re composing or playing? 

I can be a little tough on myself. I’m at that point in my career where I’ve done so many projects, to find something new, that’s where I am now. I don’t need to make another record just to make another record. I want to make something that represents growth. Something different.

I teach this all the time. Don’t obsess about what you’re not playing or what you wish you could play, or what you played yesterday that you can’t play today. Every time. Blank slate. If you make a mistake, use it. You already played it. There’s no point in tensing up about it. With Sullivan, when I’m dealing with somebody with a talent level like that, people don’t need to pay me to say, oh, you sound great. We were working together at the highest possible standard. It’s a pleasure and a gift to teach such talented individuals. I’m just really glad that people are really coming along to how great he is – finally.

You had him record just single takes of each song and I know you did far more songs that were released. How often do you rely on single takes for your own recordings?

On Silent, Listening I recorded the Russ Freeman tune The Wind. It’s the longest track on the album – seven minutes. The melody repeats twice. I just played the melody at the end. Both times I played a wrong note in the melody. Both repeats I played the wrong note. Same mistake, same place. The Fred of 20 years ago would never put that out. Like, people think I don’t know the melody. I’m always bugging people you don’t really know the melody. I made the same mistake twice. But there was magic in the take. Especially with things like ballads, you have to go with the feeling. To me, if I get a take and I’m really in the flow in it the whole way through, no lapses of concentration, it unfolds naturally, I won’t do another one because I might get, quote better. But then it’s going to be confusing later on between the take that has the vibe and the take that’s more perfect. I think I’ve learned to just leave things alone. 

The best way to make an album for jazz like I do or Sullivan does is you prepare everything or you have an idea, but you leave it open for the magic to happen when the tape is rolling. If you figure it out and then execute it, to me that’s anti jazz. I don’t want to hear people regurgitate what they know. That’s not interesting to me. I want to hear people play what they don’t know. That’s when it gets good. Sullivan could just react and reaction is a huge part of being a jazz musician.

It’s everything, isn’t it? Listening and reacting.

Right! I got into jazz to play music with people and in front of people. Starting as a 5 or 6-year old, I liked to improvise and then discovered jazz. It was a great language for improvisation. Hanging out with all the people in the clubs was fun. It didn’t matter what your age was or your race was or where you came from. Everybody had this shared love of this music. Nobody’s making any money. It was kind of romantic in a way.

Reacting is when I’m playing trio. Yeah, I’m nominally the leader, but I’m really one third of what’s happening. So I have to allow the musicians to add what they do and allow myself to be inspired by them. In a duo, it’s even more intense because it’s just this intimate conversation. Solo, I am reacting to the feel of the piano under my hands, the touch and the actual sound in the room. And then the emotion of whatever piece I’m playing is a large part of it, too. I have to play the right piece at the right time in terms of the emotional connection that I could get.

To watch the full interview with Fred Hersch, please go here.

Main Photo: Fred Hersch (Photo by Roberto Cifarelli/Courtesy Fred Hersch)

The post Fred Hersch: The Power of Being Silent and Listening appeared first on Cultural Attaché.

It also applies to the additional 14 transcriptions that he commissioned that have yet to be recorded but de Mare is playing now in concert. He’s appearing at Royce Hall at UCLA this Sunday. He also has performances upcoming in Encinitas, La Jolla, at Ravinia in Chicago and Woodstock.

I first spoke with de Mare when ECM Records released Liaisons in 2015. Of course, a lot has changed since then. Not only has de Mare’s project grown bigger, but performing the original works in concert got put on hold during the pandemic. Most importantly, Sondheim passed away.

The second round of commissions was timed for Sondheim’s 90th birthday. As he was with the first round of commissions, the composer was closely involved with de Mare in bringing these transcriptions to fruition.

“He was never demanding,” de Mare revealed. “It was always this is where we are. What do you think? And he would come back and say, ‘Oh no, this is great, keep going.’ Or he would offer his suggestions. And I think that helped me to get to know him and his work better because I got a little bit of a window into how he worked privately on his own shows when he was writing them.”

During the pandemic he remained in touch with Sondheim. de Mare also did something he doesn’t really like doing to keep Sondheim updated on the progress of the new transcriptions.

“I did record a few of them at home, which I just never liked [doing], basically to send to him because I wanted him to hear them. We went back and forth on some of the pieces. And then this past year, of course, I sent him more scores.”

For the first 36 transcriptions, Sondheim suggested composers he wanted contacted to gauge their interest. Amongst them was film composer Thomas Newman. For the 14 additional transcriptions he suggested less well-known composers.

“Sondheim made a special request that I ask Marc Schubring into for these for the new batch. He’s a German theater composer who Sondheim has been fond of for many years. And he chose Goodbye For Now, which is from Reds. Schubring plays the piano extremely well and he’s an amazing painter and illustrator and he made this really beautiful, full-bodied piano work out of that song.”

Not only was Sondheim taken with that transcription, Schubring built an homage to Sondheim when writing out the score.

“He did this very touching thing to the piece. He labeled the measure numbers starting at 1930 and up 2021 so it’s 91 measures long.” Sondheim was born in 1930 and passed away in 2021 at the age of 91.

As for the songs found in these new transcriptions, de Mare relied primarily on a list of songs that were not included in the first 36 compositions.

“What I was pleased with was that a lot of the composers chose songs that I originally wanted included, but weren’t chosen the first time around. So it was filling in a lot of gaps. There’s still some I wish were still part of it that aren’t. Even from the original collection, I had wanted someone to set the opening number of Company because I thought that would make a great piano piece. The opening of Pacific Overtures – The Advantages of Floating in the Middle of the Sea; Getting Married Today could make a really fast, virtuosic, wonderful piece. From Evening Primrose I wanted I Remember Sky and also With So Little to Be Sure Of from Anyone Can Whistle.” 

One composer who contributed to both sets is de Mare himself. For the first he tackled Sunday in the Park with George. For the second set he took on a song cut from Follies that actually anchors the overture to the show.

“The first or second Symphony Space concert back in 2012 or 2013 my partner Tom was in the green room and Sondheim was there and they got into a conversation. Tom just happened to mention to him, ‘You know, one of the songs I’ve always loved of yours is All Things Bright and Beautiful.’ And Sondheim said, ‘I’ve always loved that one, too. And I was really sorry that it had to be taken out of the show.’ So I looked at the vocal score, I looked at the prologue as well as the original song itself and created another piece.”

Regardless of who composed the transcriptions, de Mare feels they all had one thing in common: to celebrate Stephen Sondheim as a composer.

“That was the mission of the project from the beginning because I felt he was one of the great American composers of the 20th and 21st century. We discovered that nearly all of the composers said he either secretly influenced them or their admiration for him led to their excitement about being part of the project. I think these piano pieces really have done a great service to him for that. Listeners have also found a profound awareness now and a deeper awareness of him as a composer.”

No one, however, is as close to these works as de Mare. It’s a unique position he doesn’t take lightly.

“I’ve grown to know the music even more deeply. It’s a body of work that I hold very close to my own heart. Each piece is like a personal friend. People asked me years ago when this is over are you going to choose another project like this with another composer or pop composers only. It didn’t really dawn on me. There was a purpose with this and I feel very gratified and I feel very fortunate to have been able to do it.”

To see and hear the complete interview with Anthony de Mare, please go to our YouTube channel.

Main Photo: Anthony de Mare performing Liaisons: Reimagining Stephen Sondheim From the Piano at Symphony Space (Photo by Rahev Segev)

The post Pianist Anthony de Mare And His Friends… appeared first on Cultural Attaché.

Our top pick, previewed yesterday, is a reading of Larry Kramer’s The Normal Heart on Saturday. We also have some great jazz music for you (both traditional vocals and a very contemporary performance), a London production of Chekhov that earned rave reviews, a tribute to two of Broadway’s best songwriters, chamber music and a contortionist. After all, it’s Mother’s Day weekend. Don’t all mothers just love contortionists?

Here are the Top 10 Best Bets: May 7th – May 10th

*TOP PICK* PLAY READING: The Normal Heart – ONE Archives Foundation – May 8th – 8:00 PM ET/5:00 PM PT

We previewed this event yesterday as out Top Pick, but here are the pertinent details:

Director Paris Barclay has assembled Sterling K. Brown, Laverne Cox, Jeremy Pope, Vincent Rodriguez III, Guillermo Díaz, Jake Borelli, Ryan O’Connell, Daniel Newman, Jay Hayden and Danielle Savre for a virtual reading of Larry Kramer’s play.

The reading will be introduced by Martin Sheen.

There will be just this one live performance of The Normal Heart. It will not be available for viewing afterwards. There will be a Q&A with the cast and Barclay following the reading. Tickets begin at $10 for students, $20 for general admission.

PLAY READING: Rachel – Roundabout Theatre Company’s Refocus Project – Now – May 7th

Angelina Weld Grimké’s 1916 play Rachel, is the second play in the Refocus Project from Roundabout Theatre Company. Their project puts emphasis on plays by Black playwrights from the 20th century that didn’t get enough attention or faded into footnotes of history in an effort to bring greater awareness to these works.

Rachel tells the story of a Black woman who, upon learning some long-ago buried secrets about her family, has to rethink being a Black parent and bringing children into the world.

Miranda Haymon directs Sekai Abení, Alexander Bello, E. Faye Butler, Stephanie Everett, Paige Gilbert, Brandon Gill, Toney Goins, Abigail Jean-Baptiste and Zani Jones Mbayise.

The reading is free, but registration is required.

JAZZ: Joel Ross & Immanuel Wilkins – Village Vanguard – May 7th – May 9th

You’d be hard-pressed to find a more compelling pairing of jazz musicians than vibraphonist Joel Ross and alto saxophonist Immanuel Wilkins.

The two have been collaborating for quite some time. Wilkins is a member of Ross’ Good Vibes quintet.

Nate Chinen, in a report for NPR, described a 2018 concert in which Ross performed with drummer Makaya McCraven this way. “Ross took one solo that provoked the sort of raucous hollers you’d sooner expect in a basketball arena. Again, this was a vibraphone solo.“

Wilkins album, Omega, was declared the Best Jazz Album of 2020 by Giovanni Russonello of the New York Times.

I spoke to Wilkins last year about the album and his music. You can read that interview here. And if you’re a fan, Jason Moran, who produced the album, told me that this music was “just the tip of the iceberg.”

Tickets for this concert are $10.

PLAY: Uncle Vanya – PBS Great Performances – May 7th check local listings

Anton Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya is performed by a cast headed by Richard Armitrage and Toby Jones. Conor McPherson adapted the play for this production which played at the Harold Pinter Theatre in London and was directed by Ian Rickson.

Arifa Akbar, writing in her five-star review for The Guardian, said of the production:

“Ian Rickson’s exquisite production is full of energy despite the play’s prevailing ennui. It does not radically reinvent or revolutionise Chekov’s 19th-century story. It returns us to the great, mournful spirit of Chekhov’s tale about unrequited love, ageing and disappointment in middle-age, while giving it a sleeker, modern beat.

“McPherson’s script has a stripped, vivid simplicity which quickens the pace of the drama, and despite its contemporary language – Vanya swears and uses such terms as “wanging on” – it does not grate or take away from the melancholic poetry.”

CHAMBER MUSIC: Beyond the Horizon – LA Chamber Orchestra – Premieres May 7th – 9:30 PM ET/6:30 PM PT

This is the 12th episode in LACO’s Close Quarters series and definitely one of its most intriguing. Jessie Montgomery, the composer who curated the previous episode, curates this episode as well. She is joined by her fellow alums from Juilliard, mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard (who directs) and music producer Nadia Sirota.

The program features Alvin Singleton’s Be Natural (a pun any music major will understand); Mazz Swift’s The End of All That Is Holy, The Beginning of All That is Good and Montgomery’s Break Away.

The performance portion of Beyond the Horizon is conducted by Christopher Rountree of Wild Up! Visual artist Yee Eun Nam contributes to the film as does art director James Darrah.

There is no charge to watch Beyond the Horizon.

CHAMBER MUSIC: MusiKaravan: A Classical Road Trip with Delerium Musicum – The Wallis Sorting Room Sessions – May 7th – May 9th

Music by Johannes Brahms, Charlie Chaplin, Frederic Chopin, Vittorio Monti, Sergei Prokofiev, Giacomo Puccini and Dmitri Shostakovich will be performed by Delerium Musicum founding violinists Étienne Gara and YuEun Kim. They will be joined for two pieces by bassist Ryan Baird.

The full ensemble of musicians that make up Delerium Musicum will join for one of these pieces? Which one will it be? There is only one way to find out.

This concert is part of The Sorting Room Sessions at The Wallis.

Tickets are $20 and will allow for streaming for 48 hours

MOTHER’S DAY OFFERINGS: MOMentum Place and A Catalina Tribute to Mothers – May 8th

Will Geer’s Theatricum Botanicum is celebrating Mother’s Day with MOMentum Place, a show featuring aerial artists, circus performers, dancers and musicians. The line-up includes circus artist Elena Brocade; contortionist and acrobat Georgia Bryan, aerialist and stilt dancer Jena Carpenter of Dream World Cirque, ventriloquist Karl Herlinger, hand balancer Tyler Jacobson, stilt walker and acrobat Aaron Lyon, aerialist Kate Minwegen, cyr wheeler Sarah Moser and Cirque du Soleil alum Eric Newton, plus Dance Dimensions Kids and Focus Fish Kids. The show was curated by aerlist/dancer Lexi Pearl. Tickets are $35.

Catalina Jazz Club is holding A Catalina Tribute to Mothers at 9:00 PM ET/6:00 PM PT. Headlining the concert are singers Jack Jones, Freda Payne and Tierney Sutton. Vocalist Barbara Morrison is a special guest. Also performing are  Kristina Aglinz, Suren Arustamyan, Lynne Fiddmont, Andy Langham, Annie Reiner, Dayren Santamaria, Tyrone Mr. Superfantastic and more. Dave Damiani is the host. The show is free, however donations to help keep the doors open at Catalina Jazz Club are welcomed and encouraged.

JAZZ: Love in Exile – The Phillips Collection – May 9th – 4:00 PM ET/1:00 PM PT

There is no set program for this performance by pianist/composer Vijay Iyer, vocalist Arooj Aftab and bassist Shazad Ismaily. The website says Love in Exile performs as one continuous hour-long set.

Having long been a fan of Iyer, spending an hour wherever he and his fellow musicians wants to go sounds like pure heaven to me.

Iyer’s most recent album, Uneasy, was released in April on ECM Records and finds him performing with double bassist Linda May Han Oh and drummer Tyshawn Sorey. It’s a great album. You should definitely check it out.

There is no charge to watch this concert, but registration is required. Once Love in Exile debuts, you’ll have 7 days to watch the performance as often as you’d like.

DANCE: Past, Present, Future – ALL ARTS – May 9th – May 11th

ALL ARTS, part of New York’s PBS stations, is holding an three-night on-line dance festival beginning on Sunday.

If We Were a Love Song is first up at 8:00 PM ET on Sunday. Nina Simone’s music accompanies this work conceived by choreographer Kyle Abraham who is collaborating with filmmaker Dehanza Rogers.

Dancers (Slightly Out of Shape) airs on Monday at 8:00 PM ET. This is part documentary/part dance featuring choreographer Pam Tanowitz as she and her company resume rehearsals last year during the Covid crisis. It leads to excerpts from Every Moment Alters which is set to the music of Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Caroline Shaw.

One + One Make Three closes out the festival on Tuesday at 8:00 PM ET. This film showcases the work of Kinetic Light, an ensemble featuring disabled performers. This is also part documentary/part dance made by director Katherine Helen Fisher.

All three films will be accompanied by ASL and Open Captions for the hearing impaired.

BROADWAY: Broadway Close Up: Kander and Ebb – Kaufman Music Center – May 10th – 7:00 PM ET/4:00 PM PT

You know the work of John Kander and Fred Ebb: Cabaret, Chicago, Flora the Red Menace, Kiss of the Spider Woman, New York New York, The Scottsboro Boys and Woman of the Year.

Their work will be explored, discussed and performed with host Sean Hartley.

He’s joined by Tony Award-winner Karen Ziemba (Contact) who appeared in two musicals by the duo: Curtains and Steel Pier. The latter was written specifically for her.

Any fan of Kander and Ebb will want to purchase a ticket for this show. Tickets are $15

Those are our Top Ten Best Bets: May 7th – May 10th (even if we cheated a little bit by having two options listed together). But there are a few reminders:

The Metropolitan Opera has their own view of mothers with their theme of Happy Mother’s Day featuring Berg’s Wozzeck on Friday; Puccini’s Madama Butterfly on Saturday and Handel’s Agrippina on Sunday.

Puccini returns for the start of National Council Auditions Alumni Week with a 1981-1982 season production of La Bohème. We’ll have all the details for you on Monday.

LA Opera’s Signature Recital Series continues with the addition of a recital by the brilliant soprano Christine Goerke.

One rumor to pass along to you: word has it Alan Cumming will be Jim Caruso’s guest on Monday’s Pajama Cast Party.

That completes all our selections of Best Bets: May 7th – May 10th. I hope all of you who are mothers have a terrific weekend. For those of you celebrating with your moms, I hope we’ve given you plenty of options to consider.

Have a great weekend! Enjoy the culture!

Photo: Larry Kramer (Photo by David Shankbone/Courtesy David Shankbone)

The post Best Bets: May 7th – May 10th appeared first on Cultural Attaché.

Clearly not all the fireworks are going to be taking place in Tampa. In fact, I’d be willing to wager that these are some of the best offerings on any given weekend in recent memory. Though I will admit there aren’t a lot of new offerings on Sunday, but many of these listings are for more than just one day.

Our top pick this weekend is drummer/multi-instrumentalist/composer Tyshawn Sorey at the Village Vanguard on Friday and Saturday.

So let’s get to it. Here are the Best Bets: February 5th – February 7th.

PLAYS/READINGS: Christa McAuliffe’s Eyes Were Blue – Center Theatre Group – Now – April 4th

If you’ve seen the film One Night in Miami, you are familiar with the work of playwright Kemp Powers. He adapted his play for the Regina King-directed film now available on Amazon. (Earlier this week the film received two Golden Globe nominations for Best Supporting Actor – Leslie Odom, Jr. and Best Director for King). Kemp is also the co-director and co-writer of Pixar’s newest film, Soul.

Christa McAuliffe’s Eyes Were Blue tells the story of twin brothers who find life treats them very differently. One brother has to battle with racism because of his dark skin and the other can pass as white. The play takes place in two different settings: New York City in the 1980s when they were just boys and a Minnesota courthouse in 2006, by which time their lives have taken very different paths.

This “produced reading” (meaning there are sets and costumes) stars Giovanni Adams, Jovan Adepo (Fences), Amaia Arana, Lorena Martinez (South Coast Rep’s Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, Connor Paolo (Business Doing Pleasure), Adam J. Smith (Taken 3), Cory Michael Smith (1985), Larry Bates (Big Little Lies) and Justin Lawrence Barnes (InterVallum). It was directed by Jennifer Chang.

Center Theatre Group subscribers and donors can access Christa McAuliffe’s Eyes Were Blue for free. There is a $10 streaming fee for all others.

MUSIC/DANCE FESTIVAL: Whistleblower – Philip Glass’ Days and Nights Festival – Now Available

In a lead-up to their tenth annual Days and Nights Festival in Big Sur, they are holding a digital celebration beginning this week. Composer Philip Glass created the festival and many of his works will be available through at least May. Ten projects have been announced so far and the festival launches with a film of the 2017 performance of Whistleblower.

Inspired by Edward Snowden’s leak of classified information, Whistleblower has music by Glass with concept and text by performance poet Jerry Quickley. Glass appears in this film. Also performing are Miranda Cuckson, Matt Haimovitz, David Harding, Tara Hugo, Lavina Meijer, Alex Weil and Alex Weston.

Also debuting this weekend are The Pattern of the Surface from Molissa Fenley Dance Company in a performance also from 2017 and Heart Strings, a musical depiction of the Dalai Lama’s escape from Tibet created by Tenzin Choegyal and Glass.

Tickets to watch each performance are $5. You can buy each for $20. The Festival is also offering discounts or comps for those who don’t have the ability to pay. You can submit a request for that here.

PLAYS: All the Devils are Here: How Shakespeare Invented the Villain – Shakespeare Theatre Company – Now – February 7th

Patrick Page may be best known for his menacing portrayals of some of the theatre’s great villains. He was Tony-nominated for his performance as Hades in Hadestown. He also appeared opposite Denzel Washington in a Broadway production of Julius Caesar, The Green Goblin in the ill-fated musical, Spiderman: Turn Off the Dark and as Scar in The Lion King.

In this 80-minute film, the first-ever online production produced by Washington, D.C.’s Shakespeare Theatre Company, Page examines the many villains William Shakespeare created in his plays and how they progressed from simple stock characters in the playwright’s early works to fully-realized villains that set a new standard for the depiction of those characters we most love to hate.

Page has played his share of Shakespeare’s characters with STC including Claudius in Hamlet, the title character in Macbeth, Iago in Othello and Prospero in The Tempest.

Page wrote the script for All the Devils are Here. I’ve seen Page in multiple shows and can assure you that this is a perfect pairing of actor and material. And his voice…if you haven’t heard it (no doubt you have, even if you aren’t aware), you’re in for a real treat with his take on Shakespeare’s bad guys.

Tickets are $25

CLASSICAL MUSIC: Jupiter String Quartet – Kranner Center for the Performing Arts – February 5th – 1:00 PM EST/10:00 AM PST

Violinists Nelson Lee and Meg Freivogel, violist Liz Freivogel and cellist Daniel McDonough make up the classical music ensemble known as Jupiter String Quartet. It’s a family affair. Liz is Meg’s older sister and Daniel is Meg’s husband. This family, however, makes beautiful music together.

On Friday, February 5th they are releasing a new album with Jasper String Quartet that features works by Felix Mendelssohn, the world premiere recording of a work by Dan Visconti and Last Round by Osvaldo Golijov on Marquis Classics.

That same day they launch the first of four digital concerts in collaboration with the Kranner Center for the Performing Arts under the title Reflection and Renewal.

Each performance becomes available at 1:00 PM EST/10:00 AM PST and is free to stream.

This week’s first concert features Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 11 in F Minor, Op. 95, “Serioso” and Kati Agócs’ Imprimatur (her second string quartet). Imprimatur was commissioned by The Aspen Music Festival and School, Harvard Musical Association, and the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts/University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

The link takes you to the full line-up which will include works by William Bolcom, Haydn, Mendelssohn and Schubert.

OPERA: Il trittico – Royal Opera House – Debuts February 5th – 2:00 PM EST/11:00 AM PST

This weekend the Royal Opera House begins streaming (through March 7th) their 2011 production of Giacomo Puccini’s Il trittico.

Il trittico is a trilogy of one-act operas. The three operas are Il tabarro, Suor Angelica and Gianni Schicchi. The latter is the best-known of the three as it is the most commonly performed.

Jealousy and murder are on tap in Il tabarro involving the love triangle of Michele (Lucio Gallo), his wife Giorgetta (Eva-Maria Westbroek) and her lover Luigi.

Suor Angelica is the dramatic story of a nun (Ermonela Jaho) dealing with loss.

Gianni Schicchi (Gallo) depicts what happens when someone dies and the will goes missing. And you think your relatives were difficult?

Richard Jones directed this 2016 production (a revival of his 2011 production) and Antonio Pappano conducted.

Tickets are £3 which equates to roughly $4.10 (as of press time).

PLAYS/CONVERSATION: TCG Books’ First Friday with Michael R. Jackson – February 5th – 7:30 PM EST/4:30 PM PST

This year’s Pulitzer Prize for Drama went to playwright Michael R. Jackson for his musical A Strange Loop. TCG Books, a publisher who releases plays and musicals in book form, is hosting a conversation with Jackson on the occasion of their publishing A Strange Loop.

The leader character in A Strange Loop, Usher, offers perhaps the most succinct description of the show. “It’s about a black, queer man writing a musical about a black, queer man who’s writing a musical about a black queer man who’s writing a musical about a black queer man, etc.”

Jackson told the New York Times in a 2019 interview about his experience seeing Brian Dennehy in a production of Death of a Salesman. As a black, gay, young man he felt innate sadness and that Arthur Miller’s play revealed that in “America you’re worth more dead than alive.” But he also asked himself the question that would lead to A Strange Loop.

“What if I can make an old white man empathize with what it might be like to be a young, black, gay man and suffer — and not because he’s being killed by the police or destroyed in some way like that, but it’s actually an emotional journey from the inside?”

This conversation will take place on TCG’s Facebook Page. Those interested in buying the book can purchase it here.

JAZZ: Christian McBride’s New Jawn – SFJAZZ – February 5th – 8:00 PM EST/5:00 PM PST

When jazz bassist Christian appeared at SFJAZZ in 2016 for this concert, he was certainly working out the material that ended up on his 2018 album Christian McBride’s New Jawn. The line-up on the album and this concert are the same: trumpeter Josh Evans, saxophonist Marcus Strickland, and drummer Nasheet Waits.

By the time the album was released, McBride and his ensemble coalesced their work into a Grammy-nominated work that garnered this praise from Hilary Brown in Downbeat Magazine, “The word ‘jawn’— a fresh new phenomenon—is familiar argot to Christian McBride, a Philadelphia native. And when it comes to trailblazing new, cool jazz concepts in eponymous trios or big bands, the venerable bassist always delivers. Enter his latest jawn—a pianoless quartet, born of a New York scene that sates East Coast soul-seekers and purists alike. Christian McBride’s New Jawn faithfully salutes its forebears—Gerry Mulligan, Ornette Coleman and the like—but leave it to this next-gen assimilation of bandleaders to take musical liberties.”

Hearing these four amazing musicians work on this material live well before putting it to vinyl is going to be a great way to launch your weekend.

Tickets are $5 which allows for one month of Fridays at Five performances or $60 for a complete year of them.

TOP PICK: JAZZ: Tyshawn Sorey – Village Vanguard – February 5th and 6th – 8:00 PM EST/5:00 PM PST

February is a busy month of drummer/composer Tyshawn Sorey. Next week Opera Philadelphia will unveil the world premiere of his Save the Boys, a composition written for and performed by countertenor John Holiday. But before that happens, he’s taking to the stage at the Village Vanguard in New York.

Sorey was recently profiled in the New York Times Magazine where writer Adam Schatz wrote, “Sorey who turned 40 over the summer, would be worth writing about for his drumming alone. The power, precision and inventiveness of his playing often draw comparisons with masters like Max Roach, Elvin Jones and Tony Williams. But Sorey refuses to play conventionally virtuosic drum solos — he prefers to play delicately and sparely, if at all — and he avoids being photographed with his sticks in the athletic poses that have defined the image of most jazz drummers. He is also a brilliant trombonist and pianist, and in the last few years he has become as arresting a figure in contemporary classical and experimental new music as he is in jazz..”

Joining Sorey for these two performances are saxophonist Joe Lovano (who just released a new album, Garden of Expression, on ECM Records last week) and guitarist Bill Frisell.

Tickets are $10 for each performance.

OPERA: Lohengrin – San Francisco Opera – February 6th – February 7th

Conducted by Nicola Luisotti; starring Brandon Jovanovich, Camilla Nylund, Petra Lang and Gerd Grochowski. This Daniel Slater production is from the 2012-2013 season.

Richard Wagner’s Lohengrin had its world premiere in 1850 in Weimar. It is one of his few romantic operas.

The setting is Antwerp in the 10th century. Elsa is accused by Friedrich von Telramund of killing her brother in an effort to prevent Telramund from assuming the dukedom. The dispute is to be resolved by combat. In an answer to her prays a mysterious knight named Lohengrin appears. He agrees to help Elsa as long as she never asks who he is or where is from. When Lohengrin defeats Telramund in battle, but spares his life, revenge is foremost on Telramund’s mind.

Director Slater updated Wagner’s opera to take place in the mid-20th century in an unnamed Eastern European country.

Joshua Kosman, writing in the SF Chronicle, said of Jovanovich, “In his debut as the mysterious, nameless knight who shows up to defend Elsa of Brabant against the baseless charge of fratricide, Jovanovich combined sweet-toned lyricism and ardent heroism in just the proportions required by this tricky role. His singing was thrillingly pure and tireless, his stage presence simultaneously tender and aloof.”

OPERA RECITAL: Anna Netrebko – Met Stars Live in Concert – February 6th – 1:00 PM EST/10:00 AM PST

Soprano Anna Netrebko is arguably one of the biggest opera stars in the world. She will be performing a recital from Vienna’s Spanish Riding School with pianist Pavel Nebolsin on Saturday as part of the Metropolitan Opera’s Stars Live in Concert Series.

The program is slated to include four works by Sergei Rachmaninoff; two by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov; three by Richard Strauss; five by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky an one each by Frank Bridge, Gustave Charpentier, Claude Debussy, Antonín Dvořák, Gabriel Fauré, Ruggero Leoncavallo and Jacques Offenbach.

During the recital Mezzo-soprano Elena Maximova will join Netrebko for two duets.

Tickets are $20 and the performance will remain on demand for 14 days.

PLAYS: While Yet I Live – Play-Per-View – February 6th – February 10th

Tony Award-winner Billy Porter’s semi-autobiographical play, While Yet I Live, had its world premiere in the fall of 2014. The cast was Lillias White (The Life, Fela!), Emmy Award winner S. Epatha Merkerson(Come Back, Little Sheba), Elain Graham (Smash), Sheria Irving (Romeo & Juliet, Ethel Sings), Kevyn Morrow (Moulin Rouge! The Musical), Sharon Washington (The Scottsboro Boys) and Larry Powell (The Gaze…No Homo).

They are all reuniting with director Sheryl Kaller (Next Fall, Mothers and Sons) to do a reunion reading of the play. The live reading takes place on February 6th at 7:00 PM EST/4:00 PM PST. It will be available afterwards on demand through February 10th at 11:30 PM EST/8:30 PM PST.

At the time of the production, Porter said, “This play is a love letter to my mother, my sister, and the women who raised me. Reflecting on my own life experience as a gay, black, Christian man, and survivor of abuse, I wanted to write a play that was about family, faith and the healing power of forgiveness, three things very necessary to move forward and make change in your life. Change is possible, but it takes patience.”

Tickets for the live performance range from $5 – $50 based on your ability to pay. To watch the show afterwards, the price is $15. All proceeds will benefit the Actors Fund Covid-19 Emergency Relief Fund​.

DANCE: Passage – Dance Theatre of Harlem YouTube Channel – February 6th – 8:00 PM EST/5:00 PM PST

Dance Theatre of Harlem launches a one-month Winter Series of virtual events and performances with Passage which begins streaming on the company’s YouTube Channel on Saturday, February 6th.

Choreographer Claudia Schreier created Passage for a commission from the Virginia Arts Festival and the State of Virginia’s 2019 Commemoration. Their event recognized the 400th anniversary of the arrival of slaves from Africa to Virginia.

Schreier told the Center for the Performing Arts at Penn State that Passage, “addresses themes of struggle and aspiration and reflects, in abstract, the fortitude of the human spirit and an enduring will to prevail. There are several images throughout the ballet that suggest descent or ascent, as well as the presence of water. The movement is borne out of this ebb and flow, much of which is drawn from Jessie’s sweeping score.”

The Jessie is composer Jessie Montgomery. If her name sounds familiar, the Los Angeles Philharmonic has recently included her works in their In Concert at the Hollywood Bowl series. Her music will also be performed by the orchestra in their Icons on Inspiration concert on Saturday (see immediately below for details).

On Friday, February 5th, Schreier and Montgomery will have a conversation on Dance Theatre of Harlem’s YouTube channel and Facebook page at 8:00 PM EST/5:00 PM PST.

CLASSICAL MUSIC: Icons on Inspiration – Los Angeles Philharmonic – February 6th – 9:00 PM EST/6:00 PM PST

The Los Angeles Philharmonic has certainly figured out how to go big with their events during the pandemic. Icons on Inspiration, their gala on Saturday night is no exception. They have a starry line-up of artists and music lined-up.

Lead by Music Director Gustavo Dudamel, their special guests are long-time Board member and Oscar-winner Julie Andrews, Oscar-winner Common, 13-time Grammy nominee Katy Perry, Oscar-winner Natalie Portman, soprano Liv Redpath, Colombian singer/songwriter and 2-time Grammy Award winner Carlos Vives and classical pianist and 4-time Grammy Award-nominee Yuja Wang.

The program will include Jessie Montgomery’s Starburst; Duke Ellington’s Martin Luther King from The Three Black Kings (arranged by Terence Blanchard); Tchaikovsky’s Scherzo: Pizzicato ostinato; Stravinsky’s Berceuse from The Firebird; Arturo Márquez’s Danzon No. 2; Romero’s Fuga can Pajarillo and Mahler’s Das himmlische Leben (arranged by Erwin Stein).

This event is a fundraiser, but you don’t have to make a donation to watch it (though donations are strongly encouraged).

CLASSICAL MUSIC: Schoenberg & Bach – Bard College’s The Orchestra Now – February 7th – 2:00 PM EST/11:00 AM PST

Works by Bach, Lutoslawski, Carreño and Schoenberg are featured in Bard College’s TŌN (The Orchestra Now) first concert of their 2021 season. Leon Botstein leads the orchestra through performances of Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 3; Lutoslawski’s Funeral Music; Carreño’s Serenade for Strings and closes with Schoenberg’s Verklärte Nacht (Transfigured Night).

There is no fee to watch the concert (scheduled to run approximately 1 hour and 45 minutes); however reservations are required. Donations, of course, are accepted with a suggested donation of $15-$35.

Those are my official Best Bets: February 5th – February 7th, but you know I’ll always offer a few reminders of shows that might be ending, or only have one upcoming airdate. Here they are:

MUSICALS: This is your last weekend to catch You I Like the loving tribute to Jerry Herman from the Pasadena Playhouse. Fans of musical theatre – do not miss it! For more information about this show, check out my interview with creator Andy Einhorn here.

CLASSICAL MUSIC/POP MUSIC: For the second week in a row, there are back-to-back episodes of In Concert at the Hollywood Bowl on PBS stations nationwide. The two episodes are Fireworks and Gustavo and Friends. Check your local listings

OPERA: The first week of Black History Month at the Metropolitan Opera concludes this weekend with performances of Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro from the 1985-1986 season on Friday; Strauss’ Ariadne auf Naxos from the 1987-1988 season on Saturday and the 1978-1979 production of Puccini’s Tosca on Sunday.

That should keep you busy this weekend. Whatever you choose to watch from amongst my Best Bets: February 5th – February 7th, I hope you enjoy yourselves!

Photo: Tyshawn Sorey (Courtesy TyshawnSorey.com)

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So let’s start exploring. Here is Jazz Stream: September 8th – September 13th:

Frank Lacy Septet – Smalls – September 8th – 4:45 PM EDT/1:45 PM PDT

I’ll be honest that I wasn’t familiar with Frank Lacy when I was reviewing options for this week’s column. But once I heard a few tracks and saw a couple videos, I knew this was music worth reaching a broader audience.

Lacy spent 30 years as a member of the Mingus Big Band. In addition to recording seven albums as a bandleader, he’s performed with such artists as Roy Hargrove, McCoy Tyner, Art Blakey and Jazzmeia Horn.

Joining Lacy for this performance will be Mike Lee – tenor sax; Brian Simontacchi – trombone; Christopher Hoffman – cello; James Robbins – bass; Brandon Lee Lewis – drums and Wen-Ting Wu also on drums.

Hiromi – Blue Note Japan – September 11th – 7:45 AM EDT/4:45 AM PDT

If you are looking at the start times for this concert and wonder why they are so early, it is because this a concert you can watch from Blue Note in Japan. But you don’t have just one opportunity to do so. There is a 24-hour window in which to watch Hiromi at the piano.

Hiromi is a musician for whom playing classical music and jazz appear to come easily. Due to her innate abilities to improvise she quickly rose to prominence in the jazz world.

Tickets for this concert are ¥3,300. That translates to approximately $31. The Blue Note website will help navigate your purchase of tickets from Japan.

Gerry Gibbs Quintet – Smalls – September 11th – 4:45 PM EDT/1:45 PM PDT

If the name Gerry Gibbs doesn’t sound familiar, trust me when I tell you his playing will. The son of vibraphonist Terry Gibbs, Gerry has spent a lot of time on the drums as both a leader and a sideman. To list all the artists with whom he has recorded and performed would take up multiple columns.

Gibbs is also a composer. His albums have consistently done well on the charts and he earned a Grammy nomination for his album, The Thrasher Dream Trio.

Amongst the guests on his first album, 1996’s Gerry Gibbs Sextet – The Thrasher, was sax player Ravi Coltrane who joins for this concert at Smalls. Also performing are Jeremy Pelt – trumpet; Andy Erin – piano and Ben Williams – bass.

Red Baraat – SFJazz – September 11th – 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT

Any attempt to simply define Brooklyn-based band Red Baraat would be a fool’s game. They mix multiple genres of music – including jazz – to achieve a sound that is uniquely their own. Red Baraat is this week’s Fridays at Five concert from SFJazz. The performance that will be aired is from a 2016 concert.

For those new to this column, SFJazz makes their concerts available for streaming only at 5:00 PM PDT and only on Fridays. To access the concert you have to sign up for either a one-month subscription (for all of $5 which gives you a month of access) or for a one-year subscriptions (for $60 for a year).

John Scofield Trio with Steve Swallow & Bill Stewart – Blue Note New York – September 11th – 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT

Three-time Grammy Award winning guitarist John Scofield plays a wide range of music: jazz, blues, rock, soul, country, bebop and fusion. He’s, as they say, versatile. Artists from Chet Baker to Charles Mingus to Miles Davis to Roy Haynes have relied on his nimble playing.

His most recent album, Swallow Tales, was released in June on ECM Records. The album is a tribute to his friend , bassist Steve Swallow. Joining Scofield and Swallow for this concert from Blue Note in New York will be Bill Stewart on drums.

Tickets are $15 and should be purchased in advance.

Bill Charlap Trio – Village Vanguard – September 11th – September 12th – 9:00 PM EDT/6:00 PDT

I’ve previously written about pianist Bill Charlap. You can go here to read the interview. He’s a sublime pianist and his trio work is, perhaps, his finest. Joining him for these two gigs are Peter Washington, bass; Kenny Washington, drums. This particular line-up has recorded 10 albums together including 2016’s Notes from New York and 2017’s Uptown Downtown.

These two concerts come from New York’s Village Vanguard. Tickets are $10.

Pasquale Grasso Quartet – Smalls – September 12th – 4:45 PM EDT/1:45 PDT

In late August I wrote about guitarist Pasquale Grasso who was performing solo and with his trio in a concert filmed at Birdland in New York. For this concert from Smalls, he’ll be performing with his quartet.

Joining Grasso will be Stefano Doglioni – clarinet; Ari Rolan – bass and Clifford Barbaro – drums.

If you saw that concert you know how good Grasso is. If you didn’t, here’s an opportunity to see and hear him perform for free.

That will do it for this week’s Jazz Stream: September 8th – September 13th. Have a great week and enjoy the music!

Photo: Hiromi (Courtesy of her website)

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In 2018 Vijay Iyer was named DownBeat Magazine’s Jazz Artist of the Year. On the heels of the release of their widely-acclaimed recording, Far From Over on ECM Records, the Vjay Iyer Sextet was also named Jazz Group of the Year. If you’re counting, this is the 4th time Iyer was named Jazz Artist of the Year.

The members of the Vijay Iyer Sextet in addition to the bandleader are Graham Haynes: flugelhorn – Steve Lehman: alto saxophone – Mark Shim: tenor saxophone – Stephan Crump: double-bass – Tyshawn Storey: drums.

What impressed critics and fans about Far From Over was the way Iyer mixes a wide range of influences that includes, in addition to jazz, sounds of African drumming, folk music, Indian music and more.

While the Recording Academy has been slowed to recognize Iyer with Grammy Awards or nominations (he only has one so far), he was named a MacArthur Fellow in 2013 and in 2017 served as the Music Director for that year’s Ojai Music Festival.

Iyer and pianist Craig Taborn just released a new ECM record, The Transitory Poems (Live at Liszt Academy, Budapest 2018) in March to another round of high praise from critics.

It would be, perhaps, unwise to call Vijay Iyer a thinking-man’s jazz musician and composer. But it wouldn’t be wrong either. His work has an intelligence and a desire to explore beyond the established norms of what jazz is in 2019.

If you are a fan of jazz music, I strongly urge you to get whatever remaining tickets might be available for Friday night’s performance.

For tickets on Friday night go here. Saturday’s performance is sold out.

Photo of Vijay Iyer by Lena Adasheva/Courtesy of The Soraya

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Joining Cohen are Fabian Almazan on piano, Barak More on bass and Marcus Gilmore on drums. Cohen’s most recent album was Cross My Palm With Silver on ECM Records. Here’s a sample of what makes Cohen and his fellow musicians so impressive.

When we spoke with Cohen in September of 2017 he talked about music as a vehicle for change, both socially and politically. He said of his music, “it’s just another platform and another reason to talk about it, to think about it and the reader or the listener should do whatever they can.”

Absent any details of a new album forthcoming, it will be interesting to see how Cohen has reshaped his music and if there will be any new music being played. Perhaps these gigs are warm-ups for new recording sessions.

Photo by Ziv Ravitz

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At press time there were no details of who exactly are his “friends” for this setting. Nonetheless, Iyer, who was named Jazz Artist of the Year by Downbeat Magazine this year is enough of a reason to attend. This marks the third time he’s received this honor (previously he was named Artist of the Year in 2012 and 2015.) His most recent recording is Far From Over on ECM Records.

This is not the first time Iyer has chosen to perform in a museum. The clip below is from his appearance three years ago at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

This evening is limited to 100 tickets. Members pay $50 and non-members pay $100. But the opportunity to see Iyer in this intimate environment is a great opportunity to see and hear one of music’s best.

There’s a second event on Saturday night at the Theatre at the Ace Hotel with Vijay Iyer and Teju Cole. You can read about that concert here.

Photo by Stacy Kimball

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“It talks about the titles of the tracks that are, in a way, about current evens, socially and what’s going on,” he says over the phone from Chicago. “That’s the question, ‘what’s to come? Where are we headed as human beings, as a society?'”

The Avishai Cohen Quartet will be playing this Friday and Saturday night at the bluewhale. He will no doubt feature work from the new recording and perhaps selections from his previous record Into the Silence. In Silence he processed the passing of his father.  Cross My Palm… is more political in nature, but no less stunningly beautiful.

“Is music going to change the world,” Cohen asks. “They say yes it does, in a sense, but….” There’s a pregnant pause before he continues.  “The first track, ‘Will I Die Miss, Will I Die?’ is about Syria and what’s going on in Syria. What can we do to change things? To really bring a change as human beings to society and how we are. I’m questioning that in music, writing music -it’s just another platform and another reason to talk about it, to think about it and the reader or the listener should do whatever they can.”

One thing he doesn’t believe is going to bring about change is posting about issues.  “I don’t see much happening today besides posting about it,” he offers. “That’s the other go-to solution is to write a post and then you feel very active about things. ‘I’m very politically active, I post about it all the time.’ That’s why I talk about the feeling of hopelessness.”

With his seemingly effortless command of the trumpet, Cohen is often compared, rather inevitably, to Miles Davis who long advocated that “an instrument should be an extension of you; it’s supposed to sound like you.” Does Cohen agree with Davis?  “That is my path, my role and I’m trying to get as honest as I can and the playing is a constant search. You find it, you lose it, because we are changing constantly. It’s the questions of who you are. Who am I?”

His role as a bandleader came about simply because there weren’t a lot of ensembles that used trumpet players.  “I better make it myself,” he realized. “After graduating all I wanted to do was to play and get a gig. It wasn’t a notion of making my own band. For the first time in my life I only do my band and I have no other sideman gigs.”

Which might surprise the ten-year-old Cohen who would stand on a soap box and play with a big band.  What advice would he give that boy now?  “Keep going with that search of who you are, finding who you are. That’s the only thing we can find out. We cannot be anything else anyway.  It’s a good question.”

Before ending the interview he wanted to add one more piece of advice for his younger self. “Just be kind.”

Photo Credit:  Di Perri/ECM Records

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