Conductor Elim Chan has had remarkable success since being named the first woman to win the Donatella Flick Conducting competition ten years ago. This month Chan is realizing two big dreams: to open the classical music season at the Hollywood Bowl and to conduct the First Night of the Proms in London at Royal Albert Hall. Not too bad for a young girl who years ago was inspired by Mickey Mouse in Fantasia.

The July 9th concert at the Hollywood Bowl finds Chan conducting the same piece that led to her winning the Donatella Flick LSO Conducting Competition: Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade. The July 19th First Night of the Proms concert will open with Handel’s Music for the Royal Fireworks Overture and close with Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5.

Earlier this week I spoke with Chan about these two concerts and what they mean to her, her evolving relationship with Scheherazade and what new dreams she has as she moves forward with her career.

What follows are excerpts from our conversation that have been edited for length and clarity. To see the full interview with Chan, please go to our YouTube channel.

Q: Could the young girl who responded so passionately to the image of Mickey Mouse conducting in Fantasia have ever imagined these two big concerts for herself?

Absolutely not. Even though as a young girl I think I had quite a crazy imagination. Of course I have dreams. But this kind of dream, the Hollywood Bowl, it’s already very cool. And to think I’m going to start the classical season! Then the Proms is basically like a unicorn. To conduct the Proms on the first night – the biggest summer festival in the UK and famous one in the world? It’s more than a dream come true.

What was your first experience conducting the Proms, and how do you think this one will be different? 

The first time that I conducted the Proms was an amazing experience because the Royal Albert Hall, it’s a very different concert hall. You really feel that you’re in sort of like a stadium. You have the audience standing at your feet and you can literally touch them or they can touch you. The feeling of how the audience cheered for you and they really are so involved. That’s really quite something I never experienced anywhere else. That was such a huge honor. I felt like a rock star.

To know that this concert was like one of the first ones to be sold out; the tickets were gone the moment it went out there. I don’t know, I’m going to just stay open and let this just be a surprise.

We often hear about how conductors think about music. What do you think is unique about the way you hear music – whether you’re reading a score or when you’re conducting an orchestra? 

I think that’s a very interesting question. Conducting is so cool in the sense that I have this concept in my head, this story, a narrative or some sort of sound soundscape the moment I start opening a score. It starts. I can hear it. I can play it on the piano and then it builds this world that I’m hearing or envisioning.

When I’m on stage with the orchestra, I have to compare what I’m hearing with this vision in my head and then have to bring it closer. Sometimes, actually, what I’m hearing is nicer than what I thought. It’s like a constant synergy of both worlds. It’s, in a way, like a tango, right? Of course, I’m the conductor and I want to mold it in the end that we arrive at the vision that we’re all happy about.

I interviewed conductor Simone Young four years ago, and she told me that, “Everything comes from the written page. I spend hours and hours studying scores, but also studying manuscripts. References. I want to get as much info about the thought process and the work process.” Do you think there can be a definitive understanding of a composer’s thought process? Or will it always be open to interpretation?

I think the second. I also do the same. I want to really put myself back in the time, in the context. This is really, I feel, like investigative work. There’s like a crime scene. Something happened. Okay, what really happened? You can collect evidence. You can talk to people who think they saw the thing happened. But each perspective is different. Then collecting all these things and then I try to build an interpretation of what exactly happened because no one actually really knows. And I think this is so cool. That’s the beauty of it, that there’s really not one right way. We’re all interpreters in that sense.

At the Proms, you’re going to be conducting probably one of the top five best known compositions in the history of the world: Beethoven’s Fifth. With a work so familiar to audiences and so familiar to the musicians, how do you think your approach to it might be the only one that you, as an individual, could have imagined? 

Well, there’s only one Elim, right? In that sense. It will be my interpretation of it. One thing that came out from this whole crazy time, and we’re still in some crazy times, is that I really want to give this life experience to everyone who is there. That you need to be there to experience that because it only happens once.

Beethoven Five is so familiar. And the audience thinks they know, too. The world is so messed up with wars happening everywhere and we get to make music and to celebrate first night of the Proms. The beginning of Beethoven Five is like a moment to really express something that fuels it to become a Beethoven Five that is fresh and happening now.

How often do you surprise yourself in the middle of a concert?

A lot. I laugh actually when mistakes happen because that shocks everyone. I love those very raw like a minute or two and everyone is like, wait, what? Oh no. And everyone’s awareness is insane, right? I love these waking up moments.

That sounds like a jazz musician, not a classical musician. Because a jazz musician moves past the mistakes and who knows where it leads them? I bring that up because I was very surprised to see a list of the five most important works for you and Bill Evans is on your list. What inspires you most about Bill Evans and do you see a way in which the way Bill Evans created and performed music that inspires the way you create and perform music?

He’s such an immense pianist and musician and it’s not ever the same. This is something I really want to take into a Beethoven Five or a Clara Schumann or Handel, Bruckner. I’m going to just take this opportunity and just really bring in that spirit. I think we can learn so much from all the other genres.

Note: First Night of the Proms includes performances of Clara Schumann’s Piano Concerto by Isata Kanneh-Mason and Bruckner’s Psalm.

You’ll be leading the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl. Music director Gustavo Dudamel is set to leave soon. if the L.A. Philharmonic came to you and asked if you would like to be the next music director, what would be the first thing that you would think? 

That’s another unicorn. And then I’ll start doing a happy dance. I will probably be like, unbelievable. You know what? If that happens…thank you and let’s get to work. I want to be as ready as possible They are one of the most adventurous, curious, orchestras institutions in the world. They take chances, they take risks, and they can afford to do it. So yeah. Let’s see.

At the Hollywood Bowl you will be revisiting Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade. How was your relationship to this particular composition evolved in the ten years since your winning the Donatella Flick Conducting Competition?

The piece has a very special place in my heart. It’s the piece that jump started my career. Ten years ago I was the first woman to win the competition in London. And now ten years later, I’m still the only woman to have done that. And I’m like, hey girls, where are you guys?

Talking about the piece itself, it’s literally about a woman having to stand up for herself every night telling stories, and if she doesn’t tell a good story, she gets killed. I’ve done this piece again and again and I really feel very like I identify myself with her – Scheherazade. Each time I do the piece I get more brave. I’m more convinced that we really need to be strong. My interpretation is like a steady slow cook. It takes more flavor. Every time I go back to it, I still see something new and I want to try something new so I can tell the story in different ways. I really love the fact that this piece lends itself for that. 

Rimsky-Korsakov is quoted as having said, “I had no idea of the historical evolution of the civilized world’s music, and had not realized that all modern music owes everything to Bach.” Do you agree that all modern music, even today, owes everything to Bach? 

Wow, what a statement! I think a lot of it, yes. I always believe that we all need to actually understand what happened in the past, especially Bach as such a master. To really understand what the traditions [were] that came before. Then you can decide to keep it or break it. All the greats follow Bach. If you look back, Brahms, Beethoven, everyone basically comes from there.

We started the conversation by my asking you if you could have imagined opening the classical season at the Hollywood Bowl and then opening the BBC Proms in London. That seems like a dream come true. But everybody has to have new dreams as well. What dreams do you have beyond what this July is going to offer you?

My dream is to find an orchestra, a place where we can do some crazy things and grow together, fly together. Another dream of mine actually will come true is that I finally can do some opera. I came from voice choirs and so I love theater, I love drama. So what’s better than actually opera to have all these elements coming together? This is like in two years. There are crazy dreams to conduct the Berlin Philharmonic, the Vienna Philharmonic, all this stuff. Sometimes I put a dream and then things like the First Night of the Proms comes in. So in a way, I’m like, life – come on, surprise me.

To view the full interview with Elim Chan, please go here.

All Photos: Elim Chan (Photo ©Simon Pauly/Courtesy for artists)

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Here are the twelve concerts I think warrant a journey to the Hollywood Bowl this summer:

JULY FOURTH FIREWORKS SPECTACULAR WITH HARRY CONNICK, JR. – July 2^nd – July 4^th

If you’ve never experienced a fireworks show at the Hollywood Bowl, you clearly don’t know what you’re missing. This year’s headliner for the annual July 4^th concerts is Harry Connick, Jr.

His most recent album centered on songs of faith, but I would expect this concert to focus more on the material he’s best known for which are jazz standards and songs from the Great American Songbook.

Thomas Wilkins leads the Los Angeles Philharmonic in these three concerts.

For tickets and more information, please go here.

For those not in the Los Angeles area, he’ll be performing at The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park in San Diego on July 6^th; Mountain Winery in Saratoga, CA on July 9^th and 10^th and at Chateau Ste. Michelle in Woodinville, WA on July 12^th and 13^th. These are the only dates on his schedule right now.

ALL- GERSHWIN – July 11^th

Who could ask for anything more than pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet, opera’s Isabel Leonard and Broadway star Tony Yazbeck in an evening of songs and music by George Gershwin?

The program opens with the Cuban Overture and is then followed by Variations on “I Got Rhythm.“ Leonard and Yazbeck conclude the first half with selections of Gershwin’s songs.

The second act features Thibaudet playined Rhapsody in Blue and closes with An American In Paris.

Lionel Bringuier conducts the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

For tickets and more information, please go here.

MAESTRO OF THE MOVIES: THE MUSIC OF JOHN WILLIAMS AND MORE – July 12^th – July 14^th

This annual celebration of all things John Williams will be a little different. Yes, Williams curated the program utilizing his own music and many classic scores he loves from the Golden Age, but he will not be appearing this year.

Williams had to cancel all upcoming appearances due to a health issue “from which he is expected to make a full recovery.” Does that mean light sabers won’t be at the ready for the inevitable selections of music from Star Wars? Of course not. 

David Newman, who regularly conducts the first half of these concerts each year, will be conducting the full program.

For tickets and more information, please go here.

BIG BAND NIGHT – July 17^th

If you love large ensemble jazz music, this concert is for you. The evening opens with the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra (who have made countless appearances at the Hollywood Bowl).

Next up is The Count Basie Orchestra who will feature vocalist Nnenna Freelon. 

The headliner is the Maria Schneider Orchestra which is celebrating its 30^th anniversary. Earlier this year Maria Schneider released a 3-lp vinyl box set entitled Decades. You can’t stream that recording, you can only get it here. But you can hear this incredible artist and her musicians live. This is her only US appearance until September.

For tickets and more information, please go here.

STRAVINSKY & KHACHATURIAN – July 30^th

I’ve written before how Aram Khachaturian’s music isn’t performed often enough. As they did in the Walt Disney Concert Hall this season, the LA Philharmonic is breathing new life into his work in this program that features the composer’s Violin Concerto and the Spartacus Suite No. 2.  Martin Chalifour is the soloist for the concerto.

The concert closes with the 1919 version of Stravinsky’s The Firebird Suite. Kevin John Edusei conducts.

For tickets and more information, please go here.

PROKOFIEV & SHOSTAKOVICH – August 6^th

One of my top five piano concerti of the entire repertoire is being performed by Denis Kozhukhin in this concert. It is Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 3 in C major, Op. 26. (My favorite recording of it is by Martha Argerich.)

The second half of the program is Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 10. The work was completed the same year that Joseph Stalin died and is widely interpreted as the composer’s commentary on the brutality of the Soviet government during Stalin’s reign. It’s a big and powerful symphony.

Ryan Bancroft leads the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

For tickets and more information, please go here.

HERBIE HANCOCK HEAD HUNTERS 50^th – August 14^th

Where were you on October 26, 1973? Maybe you remember the release of Herbie Hancock’s Head Hunters which is considered amongst the best jazz-fusion/jazz-funk albums of all time.

Watermelon Man may not be a title recognize, but I guarantee you the music has burrowed its way into your soul. 

This is the ONLY reunion of Hancock with the surviving members of that record:  drummer Harvey Mason; saxophonist Bennie Maupin and percussionist Bill Summers.  Playing bass is Marcus Miller as original bassist Paul Jackson passed away in 2021.

The original four-track album runs less than 45 minutes. Which means there will be a whole lot more music performed by Hancock and his bandmates.

For tickets and more information, please go here.

THE ELEMENTS WITH JOSHUA BELL – August 15^th

Joshua Bell commissioned five composers to write individual movements based on the elements: Earth, Water, Air, Fire and Space.  Those composers are Kevin Puts, Edgar Meyer, Jennifer Higdon, Jake Heggie and Jessie Montgomery.

Bell performs the work with Rodolfo Barráez conducting the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

Also on the program are Aaron Copland’s El Salón México, which opens the concert and Leonard Bernstein’s Symphonic Dances from West Side Story  which closes the concert.

For tickets and more information, please go here.

SARA BAREILLES WITH THE HOLLYWOOD BOWL ORCHESTRA – August 17^th

What at one point years ago might have seemed like a pop concert, is now pure heaven for musical theater lovers. Sara Bareilles is a three-time Tony Award nominee having received two nominations for Best Original Score (Waitress in 2016 and SpongeBob SquarePants in 2018) and for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical for the 2023 revival of Into the Woods.

Of course, she’ll perform music from throughout her career and this is her only concert on her schedule until late September.

But wait, there’s more. Tony Award winner Renée Elise Goldsberry (Hamilton) will open the show.

Thomas Wilkins conducts the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra.

For tickets and more information, please go here.

THE RITE OF SPRING – August 22^nd

The Rite of Spring by Igor Stravinsky is one of classical music’s most important and enduring works. Hearing this monumental work outside is reason enough to see this concert. But fans of Stravinsky’s music are in for a full evening of his genius.

Teddy Abrams, Music Director of the Louisville Orchestra, conducts the Los Angeles Philharmonic in a concert that opens with Stravinsky’s arrangement of The Star-Spangled Banner. His Circus Polka follows and the first half closes with Leila Josefowicz performing his Violin Concerto. Then the main attraction is on tap for the second half of the program.

For tickets and more information, please go here.

DUDAMEL LEADS BEETHOVEN 9^th – September 10^th

Not sure what else anyone needs to know beyond Gustavo Dudamel, the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9. But here goes:

The soloists for this concert are bass Dashon Burton; mezzo-soprano Samantha Hankey; tenor Anthony León; countertenor Key’mon Murrah and soprano Hera Kyesang Park. The Los Angeles Master Chorale also performs.

The concert opens with Leonard Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms.

For tickets and more information, please go here.

DUDAMEL AND THE STARS OF OPERA – September 12^th

I couldn’t tell you the last time tenor Jonas Kaufmann performed in Los Angeles, but I can tell you the next time he will – at this concert where he will be joined by soprano Diana Damrau.

The two will perform selected arias and duets.

The concert opens with Verdi’s Overture to I vespri sicilliani which is followed by the ever-popular Intermezzo from Cavalleria rusticana by Mascagni. Respighi’s Pines of Rome closes the concert.

Gustavo Dudamel leads the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

For tickets and more information, please go here.

Those are the 12 Hollywood Bowl Concerts Not to Miss in my opinion. What concerts are on the top of your list? Let me know in the comments.

Main Photo: Hollywood Bowl 2023 (Photo by Craig L. Byrd)

The post 12 Hollywood Bowl Concerts Not To Miss This Summer appeared first on Cultural Attaché.

During the first half of this concert music by Tan Dun (Concerto for Six), Yi-Wen Jiang (Selections from ChinaSong) and Bright Sheng (Four Movements For Piano Trio) will be performed.

Wang was born in China and joined the LA Phil in 1994. She’s a beautiful musician and audiences may know her best from her on-stage collaborations with composer John Williams. Wang is the featured soloist any year in which the Theme from Schindler’s List is played as part of the Maestro of the Movies concerts.

Wang has performed under music directors Esa-Pekka Salonen and Gustavo Dudamel. She will soon find her third music director on the podium after Dudamel leaves for the New York Philharmonic.

Last week I spoke with Wang about this concert, the significance of the music she programmed and about her musical partnership with Williams. What follows are excerpts from our conversation that have been edited for length and clarity. To see the full interview with Wang, please go to our YouTube channel.

Q: What does the New Year mean to you personally and do you associate any particular music with the New Year?

All New Years means so much for many of us coming from Asia. I heard a comparison that it is like Thanksgiving and Christmas combined. I have to say it is that combined and much more. There are many traditions. Traditions with foods that we eat for Lunar New Year and of course, music. What I’m going to perform, it’s not really traditional New Year’s music. But certainly, as people will hear, it’s very effective. It’s very colorful. It’s going to be very festive. 

I guess being colorful and festive makes it easier for Western audiences to hear Chinese music. 

In fact, as I was practicing Harvest Celebration [one of the ChinaSongs], it came to my mind this is exactly the drum beats and the percussive rhythm that people would feel at a local dance. I’m going to speak at the beginning of the concert. I will ask people who has seen a Lion Dance. They will really associate that with the rhythm that they will hear in Harvest Celebration.

The concert opens with Yi-Wen Jiang’s adaptations of traditional songs. Then you’ve got music by Bright Sheng and Tan Dun. The second half of the program is Mendelssohn’s string quintet. What’s the conversation that you see taking place between the first half of the concert and the second half of the concert?

I actually wouldn’t be the expert right now to tell you. But I do want to mention that to the audience that viola quintet is a form of chamber music that’s less common than a string quartet and a piano trio. Bright Sheng’s piano trio brings back a lot of familiar memories to me melodically. So I recommended that piece and I suggested Yi-Wen Jiang’s transcription of the three string quartet pieces. In terms of Mendelssohn viola quintet, it’s a master work of the chamber music repertoire. What is the connection? I cannot just ignore that when I introduce the program. In terms of how I see that, it’s as if we give you some beautiful hamburgers on the Chinese banquet table.

Selections from ChinaSongs opens the concert. Those are based on traditional songs. What can you tell me about those songs and their cultural significance? 

The first piece is Yao Dance. It means dances of the Yao People. The Yao People is from the south west of China. They are a minority. They love to sing and dance and they have beautiful music. The second one is Shepherd’s Song, and this is folk music from the Inner Mongolia. [It’s] really about the shepherds in the prairie and has a lot to do with singing. Shepherd Song and Harvest Celebration are both very well known as solo music for violin with piano accompaniment. So these two are the pieces that I played many times when I was growing up in China.

Shepherd Song is slow. It’s beautiful. It’s music originally written for a Chinese instrument, which is called suona, which is a double reed instrument. It sounds like an extremely loud oboe. It’s an instrument that people play in festival settings like weddings and New Years. It’s very loud. A composer transcribed that for violin. It’s really a great piece that always brings down the hall because it’s so lively and loud. It’s exciting. It has syncopation. It has rhythmic changes. It’s always a fantastic piece for a performance.

Where do you believe Tan Dun’s work stands in the world of contemporary classical music in general, and in the music by Chinese-American composers?

I really think Tan Dun is very important, if not the most important, living Chinese composer. I always thought that from the very beginning. He always incorporates a lot of elements from back home and not only the familiar melodies that I grew up listening to. He went into places in China that we’ve never been to. I think he’s so innovative. I feel he’s always ahead of all time.

Tan Dun and Bright Sheng were in the same composition class at the Central Conservatory in Beijing. That’s the first class right after culture revolution ended. We always consider that to be the most important and the greatest composition class period in Chinese history. So they both attended and were in that class, and they both came to Columbia University and had their doctorate at Columbia University. We actually turned out to have two composers from the same background and education.

What does it mean to you to have Chinese music part of the programing at the Los Angeles Philharmonic or any other orchestral institution that chooses to program it?

I feel it’s very important. Not only in L.A. Society is so diverse and it’s important that we understand each other’s music and background. So I’m always thrilled to be the interpreter or to introduce that music to a broader audience. Obviously in L.A., needless to say, we have so many people of Chinese heritage.

Increased exposure to non-traditional music and contemporary classical music began in earnest under Esa-Pekka Salonen. Gustavo Dudamel has done a wonderful job of continuing that tradition. What are your hopes that whomever the new music director is announced to replace Gustavo Dudamel will follow in those footsteps and continue to present music from other cultures and from newer composers that don’t traditionally fit into programing?

I have no doubt whoever our next music director will be will be innovative and will bring their new angle and strength in this following champions of modern music. Gustavo came and look at how much music he brought in. We’ve played so much music of South American composers that we really had not a lot of exposure to before. So I feel whoever will come will bring their unique angle on this.

Is it time for a woman to be the music director?

Maybe. We will see. I think we are trying not to put an expectation to fulfill a certain agenda or a role. Yes, we are looking. We are taking our time. We are hopeful. We’ve had Gustavo for 17 years.

I noticed how carefully you skirted around that question. If Gustavo said, hey, there’s a place for you at the New York Philharmonic, would you join him?

I have to say this, I will not. My home is in LA and my part is here. 

One of the advantages of having your home in Los Angeles is the relationship that you’ve developed off-stage and on-stage with John Williams. What can you tell me about your close musical relationship with him and how that developed? 

It all started after I joined the L.A. Phil. My first summer was 1995, and then, in 1998, I remember very clearly when he first programmed a violin solo. On that program it was Sabrina and he was so thrilled. We connected and the rest is history. We have have performed yearly ever since then. So it’s more than 25 years now. I’ve also toured with him. There’s nothing else quite like that.

When I’m asked your favorite conductor, I will bring up John Williams’ name. Who will give you this kind of experience for me?

When you are on stage, immersed in this music and you look up the composer looking down at you – that kind of connection, that kind of gift and experience cannot be replaced.

He has written a violin concerto or two. Maybe you could be a soloist on one of those.

It is my goal. Yes. Someday I will play one of those concertos and not just the three minute solo, which I do love. 

Being a young girl growing up in China, could you ever have imagined this kind of experience with the most beloved film composer of all times, with arguably the greatest orchestra in the United States? What does it mean to you every night when you get on stage, whether you’re a member of of a small ensemble, as you will be Tuesday, or a soloist with the entire Philharmonic?

Thank you for asking me that question, because I feel that every day. I could not have imagined. When I attended the Middle School of Shanghai Conservatory and practiced around the clock. When I came here on a full scholarship to attend Peabody Conservatory. Then when I attended Manhattan’s School of Music and studied under Glen Dicterow, who is a colleague at USC Thornton School of Music. I could not have imagined that my professional path would have taken me this far. Even when I joined the L.A. Phil at age of 26, I could not have imagined how my professional development have evolved and grown.

I have an important part of my career that is teaching now. I already have one former student in the orchestra and I have another incoming former student. This is really the greatest feeling to see the next generation, developing under my guidance.

On your page on USC’s website, you are quoted about your teaching philosophy that, “The intent is always to motivate and to inspire them to become better instrumentalists and complete musicians.” I was intrigued by complete musician. When did you realize you were a complete musician and what does it mean to you? Or how do you define what a complete musician is?

I hope I live by example. You don’t only win the job and play the notes and make a salary. Complete musicians means you’re devoted. That you are involved in music. Your responsibility includes sharing, cultivating, giving, which is so important. I would say at my ripe old age, I feel I’m still changing and hopefully getting better. I’m still hoping to become a better musician, artist and a teacher. That, for me, means you’re complete musician. You are immersed and giving.

Berl Sinofsky [one of Wang’s former teachers] is quoted as saying that, “Music is a higher calling than just a profession or living. It is an effort in understanding something bigger than yourself. It is an effort at striving to be something bigger than you are.” In what ways has music given you that understanding of something bigger and that ability to be something bigger? 

I doubt I can give really a deserving answer to your question. I think that’s a great statement that he gave. I hope to do more is really part of my answer. It’s going to be what I said earlier. I think by really doing good with my music and really becoming more than just a musician by really helping others and be involved and immersed in a community. I think that’s that’s what I’m hoping to do.

To watch the full interview with Bing Wang, please go here.

All photos courtesy of Los Angeles Philharmonic

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This week Herbie Hancock, who along with Shorter was a member of Miles Davis’ Second Great Quintet, is celebrating his friend the best way he knows how: with a massive concert at the Hollywood Bowl on Wednesday, August 23rd. Amongst the artists coming together for this celebration are Alex Acuña, Terence Blanchard, Teri Lyne Carrington, Ron Carter, Devin Daniels, Jack DeJohnette, Leo Genovese, Lionel Loueke, Marcus Miller, Chris Potter, Carlos Santana, Cindy Blackman Santana, esperanza spalding and Kamasi Washington.

It wouldn’t be a proper tribute to Shorter unless Blade, Patitucci and Pérez are also performing and indeed they will be.

Last week I spoke with Pérez about Shorter, the wisdom he shared with him, the ways in which Pérez was influenced by Shorter and how his work in the future will continue to celebrate the man he refers to as a father figure.

What follows are excerpts from our conversation that have been edited for length and clarity.

To see the full interview, please go to our YouTube channel.

In a conversation I once had with Terence Blanchard he said that working with younger musicians makes him a better artist. How do you think Wayne Shorter working with you made him a better artist?

I think working with us sharpened his mentorship abilities. I could see a development as time went by in how he was able to integrate his genius and being able to share that with us. What we have been exposed to was not just music, it was about life experience. He liked to be around younger people; anything to do with new ideas, with things that he might find interesting to explore. What we brought to the table was that that childlike quality that he was excited about and the ability to be able to interpret what he had in his mind and come back with our own ideas about it. We were very committed to learn the language, the universe of Wayne Shorter, because we love his music, but also loving [him] as a person.

Did the universe of Wayne Shorter seem to get bigger the more you spent time with him?

Being with Wayne was an endless conversation. He was so interested in the world, so interested in people. He never got bored. His creative mind was always working. He challenged convention all the time. He questioned the norms. He inspired us to push the boundaries of our own creativity. 

He asked me, do you play everything you think? Do you think you can play everything you think? Miles Davis asked [him] this question. And I said, What do you answer? He goes, “I left dead silence.” Miles Davis said, “I know what you mean.” So I basically, when he asked me that, I left the silence, too. And he goes, “Yeah, okay. I see.”

What was that moment like the first time you actually played with him?

The first sound check we had I said, “Maestro, do you have the set list? You know what song we’re going to play?” He had all this music that he brought. He looked at me and said, “Danilo, you can’t rehearse the unknown.” So that was it. That was the early introduction. Wayne 101.

You spent more than two decades with Wayne Shorter. You’re obviously an important part of his legacy. Do you feel motivated to keep his legacy alive? 

I think we have to acknowledge all the lessons, the mentorship, the music that we developed together. The creative process through all the aspects of our life he taught us to bring to our life. He also taught us to question why music exists. What is the purpose of music? Music or life? What come first? How do you apply creative thinking? How do you use music to spread hope through the world? I think it’s our duty to share that experience with others.

To really open our eyes to the realization that your life and what you do is a process. That before you are an artist, as Wayne taught us, you are a human first. Everything we do from here, and everything I do every day, I think of him. He was more than just a musician figure for me or a supreme genius. He was a father figure to me and to Brian and John. And we are going to be committed to continue spreading the message right now in the world that we live in. We need music, we need art. We need musicians to re-imagine a new world. 

I read a profile that Nate Chinen did with Wayne for the New York Times in 2013. He called you, John, Brian and Wayne a superlative quartet and “a band of spellbinding intuition that” has had “an incalculable influence on the practice of jazz in the 21st century.” That’s the outsider view, looking in and listening to the work that the four of you were doing. What was your perspective as one quarter of that quartet that made this combination of talents so incredible? 

I think chemistry. I think backgrounds. I think diversity. I think something that Wayne encouraged a lot in us, collective genius. I think he encouraged us to go deep in our soul. He opened the gate for us. He helped us open our hearts and explore together. Have fun. Be children again. I think that was the key.

On March 4th of this year you posted on your Instagram account an impromptu solo piano improvisation dedicated to “the infinite Dr. Wayne Shorter.” What do you remember about that particular improvisation and what was going on in your heart and mind as you were performing it and creating it?

I was crying all over the place. I started embarking on a piece of his called Diana (from Shorter’s 1975 album Native Dancer). I got lost in the piece and I was watered down and that’s all I remember. I just felt I was saying, I’m going to find you no matter where you are. I was holding myself so I could finish the piece.

It was a big hit. It was a moment that we all knew was going to happen. But it’s a moment that you don’t want to happen. We all went into deep soul searching to cope with the idea that physically he’s not going to be here. Playing that day, I didn’t know I could do it, but somehow it worked out. As soon I started playing, I just felt his voice saying, “Yeah, that’s it. That’s how you do it.” That moment was therapy. It was music therapy.

Downbeat Magazine did a cover story on you in 2022. Wayne Shorter told them that he first saw you in Dizzy’s United Nations Band on television. And his response was, “This guy is on to something. He’s a storyteller.” We all only have an infinite amount of time on the planet. What are the most important stories that you want to tell? How will Wayne’s influence find its way into the way you tell those stories moving throughout the rest of your career?

I am going to keep fighting to find music that that brings us together. Every day I want to make music that resembles the the potential of where I come from, Panama: the heart of the universe, center of the world. I want to make music that brings people together, that connect us in deep ways. That’s my goal. Reach out. Make music that becomes a musical bridge in the world. Create global jazz where people from all the different backgrounds feel they find a place of connection there. And I want to be a good ambassador to my country and to the legacy of my mentor, Wayne Shorter.

To see the full interview with Danilo Pérez, please go here.

Main Photo: Danilo Pérez (Photo by Tito Herrera/Courtesy Los Angeles Philharmonic)

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Before I offer up my setlist, a reminder of the participants at Everybody Rise!: Skylar Astin, Sierra Boggess, Sutton Foster, Norm Lewis, Patti LuPone and Brian Stokes Mitchell.

Given the title of the show and Ms. LuPone being part of the concert, it’s safe to assume that The Ladies Who Lunch from Company will be performed. A very bold move would be to open the show with that song, but my guess is it will happen much later in the concert.

What roles might each of these actors be perfect for in Sondheim’s musicals? Astin could no doubt sing the role of George in Sunday in the Park with George as he could Bobby in Company, Addison Mizner in Road Show, Toby in Sweeney Todd and more.

Sierra Boggess would make a great Squeaky Fromme in Assassins, Petra in A Little Night Music (though she has played Charlotte in the show); Dot in Sunday in the Park and more.

Foster told Stephen Colbert her dream role is Mama Rose in Gypsy (which only has lyrics by Sondheim), but since LuPone won a Tony Award for that role, I’d be surprised to see Foster tackle anything from that show. Foster has played Nurse Fay Apple in Anyone Can Whistle and The Baker’s Wife in Into the Woods, so those two shows register as distinct possibilities.

Norm Lewis has played the demon barber in Sweeney Todd, Bobby in Company, Protean in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and appeared in Sondheim on Sondheim.

LuPone has appeared in the most Sondheim shows: Sweeney Todd, A Little Night Music, Passion, Sunday in the Park with George, Anyone Can Whistle, Gypsy and Company. But I’d love to see her in Follies.

Brian Stokes Mitchell has a great voice for Sweeney Todd, which he performed at the Kennedy Center in 2002. He could also make a great Giorgio in Passion, Ben in Follies and Fredrik in A Little Night Music.

So here’s my setlist for Everybody Rise! I know this presupposes everyone will want to work as hard as it would take to learn all these songs and that re-arrangements would be required to fit voice types, but this is a show I’d like to see.

ACT ONE:

Opening would be an overture of themes from a multitude of Sondheim’s shows. (I know that’s been done before, as in the clip below, but it never ceases to impress.)

Skylar Astin would follow the overture with Take Me to the World from Evening Primrose.

Boggess would join Astin to perform I am Unworthy of Your Love from Assassins. She would stay on stage to sing Last Midnight from Into the Woods

Immediately afterwards Lewis and Mitchell would sing The Best Thing That Ever Happened from Road Show.

Lewis would perform Epiphany from Sweeney Todd. He would then be joined again by Mitchell and they would do Agony from Into the Woods.

Mitchell would stay on stage to perform Marry Me a Little from Company.

Foster would be next with On the Steps of the Palace from Into the Woods and Could I Leave You? from Follies.

Boggess would sing The Miller’s Son from A Little Night Music.

The first act finale would be Patti and Norm Lewis doing A Little Priest from Sweeney Todd.

ACT TWO of Everybody Rise!

Foster, Astin and Boggess to open Act 2 with Getting Married Today from Company. 

Boggess stays on stage to sing Send in the Clowns from A Little Night Music.

LuPone sings Loving You from Passion and I Remember from Evening Primrose.

Lewis sings The Road You Didn’t Take from Follies and Pretty Little Picture from A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.

Astin is next with Finishing the Hat from Sunday in the Park with George and is joined by Sutton Foster for Move On from the same show.

Foster stays on stage to perform Sooner or Later from Dick Tracy.

Mitchell takes to the stage to sing Fear No More from The Frogs followed by Being Alive from Company.

Boggess returns with Not a Day Goes By from Merrily We Roll Along.

The act would close with, what else, The Ladies Who Lunch from Company performed by LuPone.

The encore would find the ensemble doing two songs: Old Friends from Merrily We Roll Along and Sunday from Sunday in the Park with George.

What would you like to hear at Everybody Rise! this weekend?

Main Photo: Stephen Sondheim at opening night party at Sardi’s for the stage production West Side Story (Photo by Friedman-Abeles/Courtesy New York Public Library Archives)

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Joining these shows are Patti Austin, B.J. The Chicago Kid, Jennifer Hudson, Angélique Kidjo, Alfredo Rodriguez, Sheléa and more with special surprise guests rumored to be joining each night.

The Hollywood Bowl Orchestra will be lead by conductor Jules Buckley.

In this interview Siedah tells multiple stories about Quincy Jones, her interactions with Michael Jackson (she co-wrote The Man in the Mirror and sang a duet on I Just Can’t Stop Loving You both from the album Bad), meeting great artists like Ella Fitzgerald, Barbra Streisand and Sarah Vaughan and so many more at dinners at Jones’ house. She was also invited to a more personal and intimate celebration for Quincy Jones on his 90th birthday and reveals a little about what that night in March of this year was like.

I hope you enjoy this interview as much as Siedah and I did.

For tickets and more information on these two shows, please go here.

To see more interviews with artists and creators in the performing arts, be sure to visit our YouTube channel.

Photo: Siedah Garrett from Cultural Attaché‘s interview.

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June 17th – June 18th:

Hollywood Bowl Jazz Festival

Formerly called the Playboy Jazz Festival, this two-day event is when summer officially starts. This year’s programming was curated by Herbie Hancock and Kamasi Washington. The first day features a line-up that includes Lionel Loueke and Gretchen Parlato, Samara Joy, Poncho Sanchez and Washington. Day two includes Ledisi, The Soul Rebels, Leon Bridges and West Coast Get Down (an ensemble that also features Washington.) Arsenio Hall hosts. If you’ve never been to Jazz Fest at the Hollywood Bowl, you don’t know that total joy that you are missing!

July 7th – July 9th:

Maestro of the Movies: John Williams with the LA Phil

This program typically takes place later in the season, but the addition of Gustavo Dudamel as conductor for, probably, the first half of the concert makes the date switch more than just fine. The LA Phil launches a two-year celebration of Williams at the Walt Disney Concert Hall this fall, so this concert is a preview of things to come. Of course, it is capped by having Williams conduct the LA Phil for the second half of the program (if this year’s concerts follow the tradition of these shows.) Fans will have their light sabers ready for music from Star Wars. Of course, I’d love to hear music from Rosewood, too.

July 13th:

An Ellington Celebration

It won’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that swing. But with Dudamel leading the LA Phil, there will be no doubt it will swing. Not much has been released yet about this program, but Ellington’s work – particularly his close collaboration with the often not-credited Billy Strayhorn – is legendary music. Expect many of the classic songs and some of Duke’s symphonic works as well.

July 25th:

Rhapsody in Blue

Next year will mark the 100th anniversary of the premiere of George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue. The Los Angeles Philharmonic gets a jump on the centennial celebrations with this performance conducted by Leonard Slatkin with soloist Makoto Ozone. The program also includes Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9 “From the New World,” which is not my favorite of his works (I know how sacrilegious that seems to many). Cynthia McTee’s Timepiece, commissioned by the Dallas Symphony Orchestra for their own centennial opens the show.

July 28th – July 29th:

Quincy Jones’ 90th-Birthday Tribute: A Musical Celebration

So far Patti Austin, George Benson, Siedah Garret, Jennifer Hudson, Angélique Kidjo, Ibrahim Maalouf, John Mayer and Sheléa have been announced as performers coming together to celebrate Q. Jules Buckley will lead the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra. With the vast career that Jones has had, don’t be surprised if the list of performers more than doubles. He’s had that kind of impact.

July 30th:

Everybody Rise! A Sondheim Celebration

I know this means going to the Hollywood Bowl twice in one weekend, but what fan of Stephen Sondheim’s work can resist an evening of his music performed by Skylar Austin, Sierra Boggess, Tony Award-winner Sutton Foster, Norm Lewis (so good in A Soldier’s Play at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles right now) and Tony Award-winner Brian Stokes Mitchell. Robert Longbottom curates the concert along with conductor Kevin Stites. Oh, did I mention that Patti LuPone, who won her most recent Tony Award for her performance in Company will be making sure that everybody rises?

August 10th:

Sibelius and Grieg

For a purely classical music experience, my choice is this LA Philharmonic concert with conductor Tarmo Peltokoski. The Sibelius is his Symphony No. 2. (Doesn’t Sibelius often work so beautifully in an outdoor setting?) The Grieg is the composer’s Piano Concerto with soloist Anton Mejias. Opening the concert will be Ciel d’hiver by composer Kaija Saariaho who just passed away on June 2nd.

August 22nd:

Chris Thile & Appalachian Spring

Classical music fans know that Appalachian Spring is the very famous work by Aaron Copland. Teddy Abrams will lead the LA Philharmonic in this concert. Opening for Copland is the world premiere of HOLLAND by Jonathan Bailey. Following that is where mandolinist Chris Thile comes in for the West Coast premiere of his ATTENTION! A narrative song cycle for extroverted mandolinist and orchestra. Thile’s work has its world premiere at the Virginia Arts Festival on June 14th.

August 23rd:

Herbie Hancock Celebrates Wayne Shorter

If anyone can rally a great line-up of artists to celebrate the legendary Wayne Shorter who passed away in March, it is Herbie Hancock. And he has. In addition to Shorter’s regular band (Brian Blade, John Patitucci and Daniel Pérez), Hancock is bringing together Terence Blanchard, Terri Lyne Carrington, Ron Carter, Jack DeJohnette, Marcus Miller, Chris Potter, Carlos Santana, Cindy Blackman Santana and esperanza Spaulding.

September 20th:

Promises

Legendary saxophonist Pharaoh Sanders passed away last September. Just four days before the first anniversary of his death, Floating Points (composer Sam Shepherd) will premiere the live performance of this 2019 collaboration with Sanders. There are nine movements in this nearly 50-minute work. The original plan was for Sanders to perform with Floating Points. In his absence, Shepherd is being joined in this performance by Kara-Lis Coverdale, John Escreet, Shabaka Hutchings, Kieran Hebden, Los Angeles Studio Orchestra, Jeffrey Makinson, Hinako Omori, Dan Snaith and Sun Ra Arkestra. The album is amazing. The live performance should be equally exciting.

That’s my list of the 10 Hollywood Bowl Concerts not to miss this season. What’s on your list? Let me know!

Click on the title of each concert for information and to purchase tickets.

Main Photo: The Hollywood Bowl (Photo by Adam Latham) All Photos Courtesy Los Angeles Philharmonic Association

The post 10 Hollywood Bowl Concerts Not to Miss 2023 appeared first on Cultural Attaché.

Or perhaps you know the MONK’estra that celebrates the music of Thelonious Monk and has also recorded Beasley’s music. Which gives us another way to know him – through his compositions. Some of that work having appeared in his work as a composer/arranger for film and television.

One of his biggest projects is his collaboration with legendary jazz musician and composer Chucho Valdés on the over hour-long opus La Creación. It’s a three-movement suite that explores the Afro-Cuban religion Santería and the creation story of Regla de Ocha.

The work had its world premiere in Paris last year. Valdés starts a short US tour this Wednesday at the Hollywood Bowl where La Creación will be performed. Beasley, along with co-arranger/music director Hilario Durán, will be on stage with Valdés, MONK’estra and the Yoruban band. After Los Angeles La Creación will be performed at the Paramount Theatre in Oakland on September 22nd, the Monterey Jazz Festival on September 23rd, The Rose Theatre in New York on October 7th and 8th, Berklee Performance Center in Boston on October 14th, the Kennedy Center on October 16th and the Chicago Symphony Center on October 18th.

Last week I spoke with Beasley about Valdés and the creation of La Creación. What follows are excerpts from our conversation that have been edited for length and clarity. To see the full interview, please go to our YouTube channel.

Chucho Valdes is quoted as saying about La Creación, “This work is very significant to me. I think it’s my masterpiece – so far.” What does that tell you about this legendary musician and composer that, as he approaches the age of 81, he’s still thinking forward by saying “so far?”

The guy lives and breathes music. He told me during the pandemic he was still practicing 6 to 8 hours a day: couple of hours in the morning, a couple hours after lunch, a couple hours after dinner.

So that tells me something right there. He’s still interested and still wanting to get better. 

When in the creation of La Creación did you first get involved and what was your first reaction to the music?

I got involved before he even started writing. It was January of 2020 and it was supposed to be premiered that fall in Paris. Of course, the pandemic happened. So he didn’t really start writing again until 2021. At first I thought it was going to be an opera – the story of of rhythm from the Yoruban culture to the Cuba Santeria up through New York to jazz up till now. It’s turned into this suite now which I think is a lot more interesting and easier to travel with for sure. He approached me about arranging it and orchestrating it in New Orleans that year. He sent me a lead sheet and he said, “Just go, man, you know, just do your thing.” And so I started working on it and marked it up for him in Sibelius and sent it back and we went back and forth a few times.He pretty much gave Hilario and I free rein in a way.

How much of the score is formally written?

It’s a jazz piece. The solos are all improvised. The first movement is a long sort of prayer, if you will, a call and that’s improvised with me and Chucho and the rhythm section. That’s probably 10 minutes at least right there; sort of a free thing. That really mixes modern elements, synthesizers with the original Santería religious ceremony. There’s a long extended percussion, solos and drum solos, and then Chucho is playing a lot. 

In an interview with Jazz Times you told a story of playing next to Herbie Hancock at the Bowl and watching him get lost in the music. You said that lesson inspired you to be “sort of lost as an arranger….to arrange like an improviser.” How did that mindset come into play for La Creación?

Sort of the same way. Chuco sent me basically a lead sheet with the melody, some lines, a tempo vibe and said, just go. So I learned the piece on the piano, kind of absorbed it, and then started imagining it in my head how things could go. The way I kind of imagine having the guitar ensemble mixed with Elvin Jones, that was super important for me because my two movements in the piece, other than the beginning are sort of the modern era.

I think Elvin is super African in the way he plays and I wanted to have that happening with the jazz beat and jazz waltz and stuff like that. So much of my arranging happens away from the computer and the piano. I like that because I don’t end up writing what I already know how to play. 

What stands out to you about what Valdés has created with this work?

The breadth of it is more enormous. You put this many people together and have this vision of a local’s Santería ceremony. The ensemble with a full Latin jazz ensemble with a big band, two arrangers, two music directors, two other keyboard players. That’s a big job and to do it for his 80th birthday.

I’m still amazed with all the different stuff he does all the time. We premiered in Paris and the next day we did a whole different show of a birthday celebration show, you know, with different people, different music. It’s just amazing, you know? He’s very gracious and he’s an amazing person. People are going to really sense his humanity, I think, when they see this piece.

Many people are not familiar with La Regla de Ocha which serves as the foundation for this work. What role does the music play in not just engaging the soul or the spirit, but also in explaining or demonstrating the religious traditions of Africa that came to Cuba in the early 19^th century?

That’s really good. Well the slave trade, number one, that still has to be illuminated. People still don’t get that. It’s heartbreaking. Number two, you can’t eliminate the fact the reason why the African diaspora in the States sounds different. That’s because the slave owners didn’t allow drumming. They were afraid of it. So gospel music happens. After slavery reconstruction instruments, European instruments become what we call jazz and R&B and gospel music.

And in Brazil sort of the same thing happened. The ideal of superimposing African deities onto Christian saints. It’s all over Brazil, all over South America. The greatest thing about human suffering through all the setbacks is what’s survival with this soul intact? This beautiful art form survived all that horror. That’s amazing. It’s amazing that there’s not as much bitterness and anger as there certainly could be.

Has La Creación been recorded? If not, would a live setting be more faithful to the spirit of the work than a studio recording?

That’s interesting because it evolves every night. Every night is different. You could argue that a live recording would be really great because we feed off the audience. There’s a lot of moving parts, it’s a large ensemble, so getting everybody in one place is sort of a challenge. Something about that live energy would be great.

On the other hand, to work on multiple takes and and punch in certain sections to really make it tighter or whatever. It’s not that the live thing is not tighter. It’s just a different animal, you know? You have a lot more control in the studio. Get a nice mix going. I don’t know if there’s an answer to that.

I want to conclude our conversation by asking you about something that Thelonious Monk said. He said, “Whatever you think can’t be done, somebody will come along and do it. A genius is the one most like himself.” What have you and Chucho Valdés and Hilario Durán accomplished with La Creación and how do you think your work has allowed you to be the most like yourself? And perhaps by extension, according to Monk, a genius.

The gift that Chucho gave Hilario and us to take his music and do our thing is to be ourselves. It starts at the top. Chucho knows that. He’s a true artist and he knows exactly what you’re saying. And he knows that to get the best out of somebody in his own work he has to give up a part of himself and let it pay forward to the next step of the process. He did that and that’s a lesson.

That’s one of the best things about leading a big band is the pressure’s off me sometimes. There’s so many great musicians in the band to let them go and do their thing and embrace the music as they hear it. You can have fun and and sort of expand on what they’re doing and be yourself. Does that make sense?

It does make sense. So do you think Chucho Valdés is a genius? 

Geniuses. Listen to how he plays and how he communicates. He doesn’t sound like anybody else. He can sound like other people, but at this age it’s just pure. Somehow it’s just coming up here. Monk can say this, but Monk also put tons of hours into this. So has Chucho. You can have that the talent of a genius. But unless you put the hours in the flow of the genius will not be the same.

To see the full interview with John Beasley, please go here.

Main Photo: John Beasley (Photo by Scott Mitchell ©2012/Courtesy John Beasley)

The post John Beasley Shares the Secrets of Creation appeared first on Cultural Attaché.

David Newman will conduct the bulk of the concert. He’s long been a fan of Williams and his work. (You can see my interview with him from a few years ago when he was conducting the score to Jaws live to film at the Bowl.)

This got me thinking about the one time I interviewed John Williams.

In the fall of 1996, I was hired to produce a celebration of the re-release of the original Star Wars trilogy. The show, Star Wars: The Magic & The Mystery, was being produced for the Fox Network. Amongst my responsibilities was getting as many participants in those films to do new interviews about the trilogy and the way those stories and characters entered the zeitgeist in a way that was previously unfathomable.

I was able to confirm that Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, Billy Dee Williams, James Earl Jones plus filmmakers George Lucas and Irvin Kershner would participate. But the interview that had me most personally excited was with composer John Williams.

His music was one of the many diverse soundtracks of my youth. In the years since Star Wars was released, I had become an enormous fan of his scores for Close Encounters of the Third Kind, The Fury, Superman, Dracula, 1941, The Witches of Eastwick, Empire of the Sun, JFK and many more.

If I had my way I would have spoken to John Williams for hours about these and many other scores. But my job was to talk to him about just the original trilogy of Star Wars films. I liked Star Wars, but I didn’t appreciate the film as much upon its initial release as I did much later. But I loved the music.

I wasn’t sure what to expect. By this point I had interviewed a number of composers and they ranged from lovable mensches to cantankerous curmudgeons. Which one would John Williams be?

Of course he was a perfect gentleman. Modest, humble and gracious.

Over the course of the hour we spent together he told me about Steven Spielberg having recommended Williams to George Lucas. He was still amazed at how successful the records of the scores were. He considered the music in the cantina scene to “stick out entirely as an unrelated rib to the score.” He discussed recording a short finale for Return of the Jedi due to the addition of the Ewoks celebration. (In fact, he mentioned that Lucas was dubbing that music into the final reel of the reissue at the time of our interview.)

It was at the end of the interview that I asked Mr. Williams about if he would be scoring the upcoming new films (that became the first three chapters in the series.) This shows the depths of his modesty.

“Oh, I very much hope I can do the new trilogy, or as much of it as I’m granted the energy and the time to do – I would welcome the opportunity and hope I will be able to. And I would look forward to it and I hope that happens.”

I responded, “Has there been a conversation about it?”

To which he responded, “Well George is – yes, we talk about it all the time. It’s more in the area of George threatening to say, you know, I’m going to get these three things done so get ready. So the conversation is kind of on that level, and he knows I’m ready and willing and hopefully able and certainly keen to do it.”

The rest as they say…is history.

If you look back at the list of scores I named at the beginning of this story, you’ll notice it isn’t filled with the usual titles (any of the Star Wars films, E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, Schindler’s List, any of the Harry Potter films, Jurassic Park and Raiders of the Lost Ark.)

That’s not to show disdain for those scores. The John Williams I admire most is the man who writes the score for John Singleton’s Rosewood. And The Reivers. And the man who recently told Gustavo Dudamel* (Music and Artistic Director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic) that he still wants to write a piano concerto. But John Williams is arguably the “people’s composer.” His enormous success and popularity has proven that over and over again.

“I’m not a particularly religious person,” he told me that day, “but there’s something sort of eerie, about the way our hands are occasionally guided in some of the things that we do. It can happen in any aspect, any phase of human endeavor where we come to the right solutions almost in spite of ourselves. And you look back and you say that that almost seems to have been a kind of – you want to use the word divine guidance – behind it. It can make you believe in miracles in any collaborative art form: the theatre, film, any of this, when all these aspects come together to form a humming engine that works and the audience is there for it and they’re ready for it and willing to embrace it. That is a kind of miracle also.”

So if the opening credits for Star Wars are an inevitable part of each Labor Day celebration, so be it. I’m just glad we get another opportunity to watch Mr. Williams once again ascend the podium, pick up his baton and take us to a galaxy far, far away. May he continue to do so for as long as he wants to.

The Los Angeles Philharmonic opens their season on September 27th with a gala called John Williams Celebration. For tickets and more information, please go here.

*This link leads to LA Philharmonic’s SoundStage video featuring the music of John Williams with Williams in conversation with Dudamel.

Main Photo: John Williams (Courtesy LA Philharmonic Association)

The post My Time with John Williams appeared first on Cultural Attaché.

Her sense of humor about it was something we discussed last week in a Zoom call. Parlato said, “If you see the list of the other artists I’m very certain that I am the most least-known artist of all of them. And I’m happy to be included. It’s just that feeling of being able to have that moment to honor this music and then be starstruck and to just look over. I don’t know how close you can get to the other artists.”

The other artists are Billie Eilish, Debbie Harry, Bettye LaVette, Seth MacFarlane, Brian Stokes Mitchell and Dianne Reeves. They will all perform with The Count Basie Orchestra with musical director Christian McBride and pianist John Beasley.

Though Parlato is not a household name the way other artists on this program are, she should be. She’s a two-time Grammy Award nominee for her albums Live in NYC (2013) and last year’s Flor. She has an understated approach to singing that draws a listener in almost immediately. She can easily go from singing from the Great American Songbook to singing a song by David Bowie (No Plan which is on Flor).

Her grandmother was the person who most influenced Parlato.

“She played a big role in playing these amazing jazz vocalists for me. Before I even knew what jazz was. It was just this sound of Ella and and Nancy and Frank and Peggy Lee.”

When asked if she’s concerned that our present-day culture is entirely too focused on the present and not the past, particularly as it relates to recording artists, she finds a reason to believe.

“I agree with you that often it takes a little more effort to seek out the art of any genre that isn’t alive anymore,” she offers. “To show how important [Sinatra and Lee] were in the lineage, look at the singers that are chosen to be a part of this show. Billie Eilish is one of them. She has stated her adoration for Peggy Lee and Frank Sinatra. So that’s a perfect example of someone who’s very young who can pay tribute and admire singers that she grew up with that have helped inform what she does. But it’s unique.”

For this concert Parlato will be singing two songs from the Sinatra and Antônio Carlos Jobim catalog. While she is definitely a fan of Sinatra’s, I believe she has a lot in common with Peggy Lee’s signing style. Lee said of her own vocal talents that what she did was “singing softly with feeling.” The comparison is not lost on Parlato.

“It’s interesting because I’ve heard different quotes from other artists. Not until you just mentioned the quote from her did I put it all together. That’s the way that I have been brought up being a vocalist. There’s something so powerful about this understatement and intimacy and kind of allowing people to feel all the different facets. It doesn’t have to be something obvious, it can be something that’s a little bit intriguing.”

It’s also the moments she chooses not to sing that are equally important to her.

“You’re totally right. That is equal, if not maybe more important; the space and the silence in-between the sound. I talk a lot about that when I teach. It’s like the yin and yang. It’s like these opposites that complement each other that make the other one even stronger. It’s an exciting place to be when you allow that space to sit and you get comfortable with it. And it’s a great metaphor for life to write, for meditating or just leaning in and accepting a situation and allowing it to be and feeling. Allowing whatever will come around to enhance that place that you’re in.”

Parlato has learned a lot from teachers like Ruth Price, Tierney Sutton and the late Barbara Morrison who called what Parlato does with her voice “an offering. It’s a gift, like, here you go.” As for the lessons learned from Sinatra and Lee, she is very quick to respond with one word.

“I think phrasing is everything. Singers like that really taught me to pay attention to not only the emotional story of the song, but what are we singing about. Barbara had us write out what are the lyrics about of the song that you’re singing. What’s a way that you can introduce this song and find your connection to it. That’s something that I can find much easier to do now in my forties than when I was a teenager. There was a disconnect, too. It was mostly about this more intellectual and technical sense of phrasing and rhythm. I think paying attention to the rhythm can be informed by the emotional story of the song. So what are you trying to say? How do we phrase based on the story?”

Last spring Parlato completed a recording with guitarist and singer Lionel Loueke. Their duo project will be released next year followed by a series of performances around the world. For now it’s the tribute to Sinatra and Lee followed by a tour in Europe in October and November.

But what if Sinatra was able to hear her sing? To hear her sing from some of the legend’s most celebrated albums? What would she like him to say?

“Oh, wow. That’s a cool question. I’m imagining him sitting in the box seat smoking at the show. I think if he said ‘Good job, kid’ I’d be good with that. If he said, ‘Let’s have a drink. Cheers!” that’d be good.

“In all seriousness, if he was able to find a glimpse, a sparkle that he had an influence and a connection to. I think that would be an enormous compliment. Somebody of that level just feeling that I am connected to the music. I would hope that he would appreciate artists finding their own voice, singing a song and telling their own story. So I would hope that he would hear me singing his exact arrangements and that he would hear that there’s a tradition there. But that there’s something fresh and a new story to tell. That I made it my own.”

To watch my full conversation with Gretchen Parlato, please go here.

For details on Gretchen Parlato’s tour schedule, please go here.

Main Photo: Gretchen Parlato (Photo by Lauren Desberg/Courtesy of the Artist)

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