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)

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THIS IS THE FOURTH OF OUR BEST OF 23 REVIEW OF INTERVIEWS: If you’ve been following Cultural Attaché for even a small amount of time, you know how much I love singer Cécile McLorin Salvant. We’re happy to say we finally have an interview with this three-time Grammy Award winner (who also happens to have a nomination for Best Jazz Vocal Album for her most recent release, Ghost Song)!

Those three Grammy Awards came for three albums in a row: For One to Love, Dreams and Daggers and The Window. Might it be four-in-a-row? The New York Times called it “her most revealing and rewarding album yet.” I love the album and had the privilege of seeing Salvant in back-to-back performances at the Blue Note in New York City in September. Salvant is truly a once-in-a-generation artist.

She is currently on tour across the United States. Her next show is at Royce Hall on Thursday, January 26th as part of CAP UCLA’s season. She’ll be at the Mondavi Center in Davis on January 27th; Bing Concert Hall at Stanford on January 28th; the Stewart Theatre in Raleigh, NC on February 2nd and Knight Concert Hall in Miami on February 3rd (where her special guest is the Christian Sands Trio).

For her full itinerary, please go here.

Here is my interview with Salvant which was conducted via e-mail.

During the pandemic you were reading Marcel Proust, particularly In Search of Lost Time. In the fifth volume he writes, “The only true voyage of discovery, the only fountain of Eternal Youth, would be not to visit strange lands but to possess other eyes, to behold the universe through the eyes of another, of a hundred others, to behold the hundred universes that each of them beholds, that each of them is..” Do you agree with him and how does that perspective align itself with how you choose, hear and perform music?

I love that quote!!!! Beautiful. I absolutely agree with this.

The pandemic negated the opportunity for LA audiences to see and hear Ogresse. What does the future hold for that work and will you record it or turn it into a fully produced musical/show?

We’re making it into an animated feature length film. It’s already recorded but we’re animating it now with a team in Europe. [Salvant will be performing Ogresse on February 24th and 25th at the Walker Art Center in Milwaukee.]  

Five years ago you gave an interview to ArtsDesk.com where you said, “Visual art is the most important thing to me.” At that time you weren’t sure if that passion for visual arts influenced your music adding, “probably, but not in a way that I can tell.” Has your perspective on that changed since 2018? Do works like Ogresse and/or the art that Nonesuch released with Ghost Song provide examples of some blending of your passions?

Yes! My perspective often changes though! Lately I’ve been trying to approach making music with the same playfulness I feel when I draw.

I first became aware of you when Bryan Ferry closed for you at the Hollywood Bowl in August of 2017. It’s a night I won’t ever forget. I’ve since seen you at much smaller venues. What role does a given venue play in the concerts you give?

My favorite venues to play are clubs! I like to be really close to a small packed audience. I want it to feel like I’m spilling secrets. But it’s always exhilarating and a little bit scary to be in front of a vast crowd like at the Hollywood Bowl!

Sometimes Aaron Diehl is your pianist and other times it is Sullivan Fortner. What does each pianist bring to you and your music? Are there tangible differences for you that influence the way you make music and present it live with each of them?

There are a few others I’ve been playing with over the years. Everyone adds different elements and colors to the music, they bring their tastes, their approaches even their feel to it. It’s the same with every instrument in the band. I often unknowingly pick my repertoire based on who’s playing.

In the concerts I’ve attended there seems to be a semblance of spontaneity in the set lists. What role does fluidity play in each performance? How much does an audience play a role in what you choose to sing at a given concert?

That’s another that changes based on the band. If I’m playing duo with Sullivan there’s often no setlist and it really depends on the moment. The audience plays a bit of a role if they choose to! Some audiences feel quiet, or more reserved. They play less of a role. When they participate a bit more, are reactive, they play a much bigger role to where the set will go.

Music from Broadway musicals used to top the record charts. It’s been a long time since that happened. Yet your passion for musicals is undeniable. The first song on your first album, Cécile, comes from an obscure 1930 musical, Lew Leslie’s International Revue (Exactly Like You). You seem almost childlike in your appreciation for these songs. How and when did that passion for get ignited in you and what role will that material play as you move forward throughout your career?

I’m not sure it’s a childlike quality, it’s more that I love theater and acting. I love operas too, which to me aren’t much different from musicals. I love songs that flow from a character dealing with a specific context.

Like pianist Brad Mehldau and others, you had a background in classical music but switched to jazz (though I heard you sing Baroque music at the Blue Note in NY in September). How does your classical background inform your approach to jazz?

This is a tough question to answer because I try to get away from genres. Genres like jazz and classical are too broad in my opinion. Jazz is extremely fragmented, it encompasses so much different music. Even baroque and early music have such fragmented, different styles within them. There were differences in the music based on cities! Even tuning was based on location.

I think everything I’ve studied informs what I do in some way. In conservatory, I got to learn the aria Medea sings when she goes back and forth between wanting to kill her children for vengeance and wanting to protect them. I think learning that and other songs, learning a bit about baroque dance, studying tap dance for a month in high school, learning the basics of reading figured bass on a harpsichord, all this informs my desire to find a way to approach music in a more open way, with less boundaries.

Your mother has described you as an intellectual (The New Yorker 2017). You’ve talked a lot about your instincts. How and where do your instincts meet up with your intellect and vice-versa?

I don’t identify as an intellectual! I can be a nerd for the things that I love. And I study and research and learn about the history of those things. But following my instincts is very important to me. Sometimes too much research can get in the way of that.

In an interview with Ethan Iverson you bring up a point, this was in relation to Bessie Smith, where you said, “at first I guess it sounds very the same when you don’t know how to listen.” What is the audience responsibility in listening? How much does technology and the need for videos and photos get in the way of your ability to communicate with an audience and their ability to listen? Is the fine art of listening a dying art?

It’s changing the way we communicate. We have more access than ever to all kinds of music and yet our attention span is very low. But I think people are feeling a bit over-saturated so there might be a countercurrent to that soon. I also really admire the way this younger generation coming up can find whatever they connect with, regardless of era or popularity, online. Listening will have to change whether we like it or not! But it’s always been changing. It changed already when the first compositions were notated on paper, when people began having access to records, when music videos started to gain popularity, and so on.

Nonesuch Records alluded in an email last week to a new album coming out this spring. What can you tell me about this new recording?

It will be all in French! About a half woman half snake.

If you could talk to the teenager who had a mohawk, was listening to Dave Matthews Band and Soundgarden before moving to France, what would you say to her about the artist you’ve become and the artist you want to be as you move forward in your career?

I probably wouldn’t say anything about that if I could talk to the teenager I was!!

I’d probably just stare. But I’ll say to you that I feel really lucky for everything that I’ve been able to do, and I’m very excited to keep making my arts and crafts, which is how I like to think of what I do (otherwise you get too precious about it all).

Main Photo: Cécile McLorin Salvant at the Blue Note in New York (Photo by Craig L. Byrd)

The post Bo23: Cécile McLorin Salvant Talks Arts & Crafts appeared first on Cultural Attaché.

This is a two-disc recording in which the first half finds Sullivan performing solo piano. Each song was performed just once and there are no overdubs and there’s no editing. This part, Solo, was produced by Fred Hersch.

The second part, Game, finds Fortner making use of many of the tools artists use to perfect their recordings, but he uses them to help create music rather than correct was has been recorded. The cumulative effect of the album is to see jazz as a constantly fluid genre of music and Fortner with one foot standing on the shoulders of the legends before him and the other firmly striding forward to the future.

In early December I spoke with Fortner about Solo Game, his working with Hersch and Salvant and what he requires from his art and what his art requires from him. 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.

Q: Miles Davis is quoted as saying, “You should never be comfortable, man. Being comfortable fouled up a lot of musicians.” How do you think being comfortable fouls up audiences? I ask that because I think your album is not comfortable and challenges audiences to eliminate any preconceived ideas they might have.

For better or for worse, for an artist, I think it’s important to constantly push. And I think as an audience member, at least for me, and the people that I talked to about it, they don’t like to see people perform and be too comfortable. They like to see some sort of struggle. I think one thing that the pandemic kind of brought a little bit more to light is the idea of watching people’s processes and watching how people create. The idea of watching people go through things and figure out formulas and struggle, make a mistake and then do it over.

It brings a certain type of humanity to the art or to whatever it is that they’re creating. One of the things I try to do is I try to create real performances. If it’s a little bit too perfect, then it doesn’t seem real to me. It’s not human. You know, the imperfections are the things that make music alive and beautiful.

How much do you think an audience is aware of that struggle?

I think we give the audience a little bit less credit than than than we probably should. But I also think that if there’s a type of banter or type of communication that happens within the bandstand, then people can get that. They’re like, Oh my God, what’s getting ready to happen next? Oh, the drummer’s going crazy. Something happened. You know what I mean? The drummer just gave the bass player a look. Oh, he didn’t like him too much, you know? Stuff like that.

What is the conversation you are having between Solo and Game, and how does that give us a better understanding of who Sullivan Fortner is?

I wanted both Solo and Game to reflect Sullivan Fortner. Not so much the pianist, but the artist, the musician and the thinker. Both sides of the album were exposing me. Acoustic being, okay, I’m playing by myself, completely acoustic piano. No edits, notes, no second takes, nothing. Then the other side being, okay, now I get to play whatever it is I want to play, but on instruments that I’ve never played before. Just experimenting with limitations.

Both of them had that idea of experimenting within a certain type of parameter limitation. Both of them kind of question the idea of when we play music, do we actually play music? It underlined that word play. So when you think of that word play, you think of arcade games. Both sides of the album there are various games that are constantly being played. Both sides reflect each other. 

How important is it for you for the tradition of jazz music to evolve as it always has and as it inevitably will?

I think that it’s extremely important. I think it’s also important for jazz musicians to use the tools of the studio. I had a conversation with a great musician and great friend of mine who basically said when we go in the studio as jazz musicians, nine times out of ten, we use Pro Tools to edit a part that we don’t like. We use ProTools or Auto-Tune to correct the note or to fix whatever. They don’t use the studio and use those programs to help as an extra instrument for the music. You know what I’m saying? So what I wanted to do in this album, especially with the Game part, I wanted to use pitch correction as a part of the music and not to fix whatever I did that was wrong.

As an compositional tool instead of a correctional tool. 

You said it exactly the way I want to see it. I also think that it’s important for the musicians to not be so precious with the studio. The idea of it wasn’t necessarily be perfect. It was to be honest and show a real representation of who I am and where I am at that particular time. A lot of times, especially younger jazz musicians, we’re all so gung-ho about creating the perfect album rather than creating an honest album. This album that I created by no means is perfect. I already know, but I know that I can honestly say I’m proud of it because it’s the most me that I’ve ever created.

How long has this other side that wanted to play in the studio, that wanted to to not be afraid of the studio, not be afraid of the technology, been buried inside you?

If I’m honest COVID actually birthed that side of me. The first instrument that I grew up playing was a Hammond organ before I started playing piano. My first love was the organ. So electronics and manipulating sounds within the capabilities of an electronic instrument was something had always been in me since I was seven years old. I’d never really owned a piano when I grew up. I only owned keyboards, but I would just stick to the piano parts and try to manipulate the piano parts. Maybe there would be some times where I could record on the keyboard. I would add instruments just with keyboard patch. But that was just for fun. But the idea of actually going in the studio and doing that was inspired by COVID and Cécile McLorin Salvant.

She keeps subtly reinventing herself. That’s the thing I love about her. They’re not radical shifts. It’s not like suddenly Bob Dylan is playing an electric guitar. There are these subtle shifts and every one of them makes sense. That has to be an inspiration.

It is. Being on the side of the stage that I sit on, whenever I see her and the more I get to know her, the more I realize that she’s becoming more and more herself every album. I think that’s the most inspiring thing to watch her evolve as an individual, as a woman, as a human being on this planet and as an artist. Watching her just really step into what makes her unique and special in her eyes. That’s the most inspiring thing, just her being excited about her being herself.

I’ve seen you with Cécile multiple times. It strikes me that the two of you do not have a traditional vocalist and accompanist relationship. When I see Cécile McLorin Salvant and you’re on the stage with her, it might as well be Cécile McLorin Salvant and Sullivan Fortner, because you two are so intrinsically tied to one another musically. Does this feel like a unique collaboration that is different than what you have seen or witnessed or even experienced as a pianist and a vocalist working together?

Yeah, it most definitely has. And it was like that from the first time we played together. From the very first note, it felt like we were immediately at home. At least it felt like I was. You’re playing with somebody that has that certain type of independence where you don’t feel like they are relying on you to make something happen.

We definitely are individuals. But for the first time, I actually felt like I could play with somebody that I could grow with. You know what I mean? It wasn’t waiting on me to play catch up.

In 2016, you told the Oberlin Revue that “Music is like a drug. You’re chasing that first high….the high you got..the first time I played music and really enjoyed it. Since then, I’ve been trying to chase that feeling.” What was that feeling you were chasing with Solo Game? What was the high? 

You want the honest answer? I went in the studio nervous and Cécile said, just go in and relax. So I took an edible before I went in the studio. So that automatically relaxed [me] and that got rid of the nervousness. But I think the high that I was chasing was just that feeling that I got when I was a kid and I didn’t know anything. I was just happy to play. You know what I mean? I didn’t know. I didn’t know any complicated chords. I could only play in like four or five keys. There was not really a whole lot of harmonic sophistication. There wasn’t a whole lot of rhythmic sophistication. It was just me playing the songs to the choir. I didn’t know anything. I was just happy to play. That was the high that I was chased. 

Did it take a lot to be comfortable in the recording of this particular album? You were working with Fred Hirsch who, along with Jason Moran, complete the album with their own comments about you and this project.

Fred is not an easy person to please. He a very nice man; extremely nice. Been very kind to me. But he’s definitely particular about what it is that he likes. So whenever you’re in a room with somebody like that, you always you automatically feel this pressure of doing anything that you possibly can in order for it to sound good.

I think with Game, it’s a little bit more like I was left up to my own antics. It was fun making it. But I had to suffer when I was shopping the album around. I had a little bit of difficulty trying to find a home for it and people who actually wanted to support it, to back it up and help me put it out because it was so different and so unorthodox. 

I’m assuming you probably got a lot of offers to release the first half, Solo.

Here’s the funny part. When I shopped that around, I only shopped around Game, minus the edits and all the added sound effects. Once I found a label that was interested in that, then I gave them the acoustic album and said, Okay, I want both of these to come out at the same time as one album. They were like, we’ll put up the acoustic album, no problem. But this other one we got to wait. I said nope it is either both of them, or none of it. It took a lot of guts and I almost gave in. But, thanks again to Cécile and to Jason Moran, they were like, no, this is what you want to do. You need to do it that way.

It makes sense that Jason would be a supporter of doing that. If you look at how his career is started and what he’s doing now.

In the last two years basically every piano player, every major piano player, people who are soon to be major, in my opinion, have released solo albums. Jason Moran. Brad Mehldau. Ethan Iverson. Kevin Hays. Vijay Iyer. Fred Hersch. They’ve all released solo albums, especially during Covid, because there was nothing else to do. If I was going to do a solo album, I wanted it to stick out more than just be acoustic piano. I wanted it to be an all-encompassing solo situation. So part of it was sticking out. The other thing was I wanted to make a statement that I’m not just a piano player. I’m also someone that has an idea or a vision musically that goes beyond just the eighty eight key box.

Solo Game was recorded during the pandemic and it took a while, as you mentioned, to shop it around and find somebody who was going to release it. But that’s given you all kinds of time to develop new ideas and new ways of expressing yourself. Where are you headed with new material now?

I’m thinking about continuing along this path; especially in the studio. Going back to using the tools that are available in the studio as a part of the composition. The next project that I’m working on is a trio album. It won’t be a double album, but it will be two different trios. One trio would be with Marcus Gilmore and Peter Washington and another trio would be with Tyrone Allen and Kayvon Gordon, who are a group of guys that I’ve been playing with for the last year or two. They’re a lot of fun to play with.

That’s the next thing to try to figure out. It’ll be a mixture of originals and standards, a little bit more towards the traditional side, but with few surprises maybe. And after that, I think the next thing I want to do is a choral album which would feature just piano for the most part and vocals with my family singing. So I’m in the process of writing stuff like that. I’m trying to continue along in the vein of Game and building a catalog as opposed to creating separate worlds that each album stands in and lives in. 

I want to ask you about something Duke Ellington is quoted as saying. He said “Art is dangerous. It is one of the attractions; when it ceases to be dangerous, you don’t want it.” For you personally, what do you want most from your art today, and what do you think your art wants most from you? 

I guess the art wants from me fearlessness. Not being afraid to try and not being afraid to step out there. Being you and being confident in that. 

What do I want my art to give me? I want the art to just continue to give me what it’s already given me, which is a sense of purpose and being able to continue to help me articulate what it is I can’t say in words. To help me to discover more about myself and discover more about the world around me. Art teaches me music and art teaches me about life and learning how to get along well with others, to compromise, to live in harmony and peace and balance. That’s the stuff that art gives me and I want it to continue to. 

To see the full interview with Sullivan Fortner, please go here.

All photos of Sullivan Fortner: ©Sabrina Santiago/Courtesy Artwork Records

The post Sullivan Fortner Plays a Long Game Solo appeared first on Cultural Attaché.

My top pick of the best of what’s New In Music This Week: December 1st is:

JAZZ:  SOLO GAME – Sullivan Fortner – Artwork Records

Pianist Fortner (whom I first as the pianist accompanying Cécile McLorin Salvant) fully embraces the past and the present in this stunning new album. I would love to know how his mind works because even if I’ve seen him do a solo on the same song with Salvant, it’s never the same. It’s not even remotely close.

There are two parts to Solo Game. The first part finds Fortner doing solo performances of nine songs from a wide range of styles. This includes songs by Stevie Wonder, Duke Ellington, Rodgers & Hart and more. The penultimate track on Disc 1 is This Is New by Ira Gershwin and Kurt Weill. 

That title also serves as a signpost for what you’ll find on Disc 2. Here Fortner goes beyond the piano to include multiple electronics and effects along with other instruments to explore different ways or presenting music – much of it composed by Fortner. The result is absolutely mesmerizing.  This is one of my favorite albums of the year.

The rest of my choices for New In Music This Week: December 1^st are:

CHORAL MUSIC:  MIRACLE OF MIRACLES: MUSIC FOR HANNUKAH – Chicago a Cappella – Cedille Records

Truth be told, this album came out in October. But I only found out about it this week and found it utterly compelling. This 20-track collection of traditional and other Hanukkah songs will make you realize there’s much more to this music than the I am a Little Dreydl (which gets performed in such a beautiful way you’ll wonder why you’d never heard such harmonies applied to the song before.)

My personal favorites on this recording are the four selections of Hallel Cantata by Daniel Tunkel. If, like me, you’re tired of the same old holiday music, Miracle of Miracles will provide you 62-minutes of music performed by an extraordinary choral ensemble.

CLASSICAL: MAHLER SYMPHONY No. 8 – Minnesota Orchestra/Osmo Vänskä – BIS

The Minnesota Orchestra began its series of recordings of all of Mahler’s symphonies in 2017 with a recording of the composer fifth symphony. They are nearing the completion of that cycle with this release (the second Mahler symphony recording to be released this year with the Mahler 9^th having been released previously.)

If you haven’t heard Mahler’s 8^th symphony, it is called the Symphony of a Thousand for a reason. As evidenced by the number of people joining the Minnesota Orchestra for this recording: the Angelica Cantanti Youth Choirs; the Minnesota Boychoir; the Minnesota Chorale; the National Lutheran Choir plus tenor Barry Banks; mezzo-sopranos Sasha Cooke and Jess Dandy; bass-baritone Christian Immler; baritone Julian Orlishausen and sopranos Carolyn Sampson and Jacquelyn Wanger.

The final recording of Vänskä’s Mahler cycle of recordings will be Mahler’s 3^rd which I’m assuming will be released next year. In the meantime, this album will yield numerous replays and discoveries.

CONTEMPORARY CLASSICAL:  WEATHER SYSTEMS II – SOUNDLINES: ON LANGUAGE AND THE LAND – Steven Schick – Islandia Music Records

If you had asked me if I would enjoy listening to a percussion album of contemporary compositions, I would have told you that I’d take the under in that bet. But something about this album from Schick got under my skin in a way I didn’t expect.

This is a fascinating and intriguing album that had me rethinking how open I was to something different. This is different and fascinating and endlessly worthy of examination.

Amongst the composers whose work is performed are Vivian Fung; Lei Liang; George Lewis; Fredric Rzewski and Iannis Xenakis.

JAZZ:  THE TONY BENNETT BILL EVANS ALBUM – Tony Bennett and Bill Evans – Craft Recordings/Original Jazz Classics

This album was recorded in June of 1975 and released in July of the same year. That says everything you need to know about the beautiful simplicity that this collaboration between vocalist Bennett and pianist Evans.

There are nine tracks on this high-end vinyl reissue which is also being released digitally. Amongst the songs are Days of Wine And Roses, My Foolish Heart, Some Other Time and We’ll Be Together Again.

Two years later they released Together Again which will, if I were to predict the future, also be an Original Jazz Classics re-issue in the near future.

JAZZ:  SOLO PIANO (LIVE IN NEW ORLEANS 1984) – Dr. John – Tipitina’s Record Club

If the name Tipitina’s registers with you (as it should), you’d know straight away this is a recording from the legendary club in New Orleans.

I’m not sure what more you need to know about this thoroughly enjoyable release. It’s Dr. John doing what he does best – singing and playing the piano like no other.

There are seven tracks on this album and the 37 minutes go back way too fast. One hopes there are more recordings in the vault that will bring us this same level fo joy.

JAZZ: PETER MARTIN & GENERATION S – Peter Martin – Open Studio

Open Studio is an on-line school for jazz musicians. They have instructors you know if you’re familiar with jazz at all: Ron Carter; Emmet Cohen; Fred Hersch; Christian McBride; Dianne Reeves and more.

Amongst those instructors is pianist Peter Martin. Martin has worked with Reeves and McBride plus Betty Carter, Wynton Marsalis and Joshua Redman amongst others.

If his teaching is as good as this recording, his students are very lucky.  Joined by Sarah Hanahan on saxophone; Gregory Hutchison on drums and Reuben Rogers on bass, Martin has released a forward-thinking album that is refreshing in its freedom and its creativity. Just listen to Groove Echo Chamber and you’ll have a smile on your face. Abstract Courage will put you in a relaxed mood and Alfred T will have you thinking about your late-night plans.

MUSICALS:  THE SOUND OF MUSIC – SUPER DELUXE EDITION – Craft Recordings

If you love this Oscar-winning film from 1965 with Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer, this is the holy grail of music and materials from this beloved film.

You can buy this in a 4CD/1 Blu-Ray box set that includes every note of music found in the movie. There are also instrumentals of every song, nearly a dozen alternate takes that have never been released and more. It’s a price box set at $109.

There is also a 2-CD edition plus a 3-LP vinyl release. If you choose to purchase one or more of these sets, it’s no doubt your home will be filled with the sound of music.

VOCALS:  CHRISTMAS WITH YOU – Julie Benko – Club44 Records

Benko slayed Broadway audiences when she performed the role of Fanny Brice in the revival of Funny Girl. So it’s no wonder she’s opted to take advantage of that and record a song or two about the holiday that revolves around a man with a sleigh.

This EP contains four tracks that opens with The Man with the Bag that features a big-band arrangement that gives these four tracks an impressive beginning. She follows that with an original song, (I Never Had a) Christmas with You on which she’s joined by Mykal Kilgore which mixes a 50s-style arrangement to the blues. The third track celebrates Hannukah with the traditional song Tumbalalaika.

Benko closes out the EP by singing Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas with her husband, Jason Yeager. He arranged all four tracks, but this might be my favorite because it avoids a lot of the stereotypes usually associated with this song.

That’s all for New In Music This Week: December 1^st

Enjoy the music.

Enjoy your weekend.

Main Photo: Part of the album cover art for Dr. John’s Solo (Live in New Orleans 1984)

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#1: The Return of Live Performances

There isn’t any one show that could top the fact that we were able to finally return to the glorious experience of live performance in theaters, concert halls, outdoor venues and more. As great as streaming programming, it could never replace the centuries old practice of communal celebration of life through plays, musicals, concerts and dance.

Yes there were new rules to get accustomed to. Some required masks, others didn’t. Proof of vaccination became required (and that’s a good thing in my book). The first time I returned to a theatre and found my seats was the best possible therapy for my soul. If you read Cultural Attaché I’m sure you feel the same way.

#2: Fire Shut Up In My Bones – Metropolitan Opera

While I wasn’t able to see Terence Blanchard‘s powerful and moving opera in person, I did take advantage of the Metropolitan Opera’s Live in HD series to see a live transmission from New York. Blanchard and librettist Kasi Lemmons have taken the memoir by Charles M. Blow and created an opera that is going to be performed around the world.

So rich is the storytelling, so brilliantly was the production directed by James Robinson and Camille A. Brown (who also choreographed), so spectacular was the singing, Fire Shut Up In My Bones was easily the single most impressive performance of the year.

Hopefully the Met will add additional showings of Fire Shut Up In My Bones via their Live in HD series or make it available for streaming online.

The opera will be performed at Lyric Opera of Chicago beginning on March 24th of this year. For more details and to get tickets, please go here.

#3: Caroline, or Change – Roundabout Theatre Company at Studio 54

I’ve been a fan of this Jeanine Tesori/Tony Kushner musical since I saw the first production (twice) in New York at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre in 2004. I loved the show so much I saw it a third time when it came to the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles later the same year.

Color me pre-disposed to like this revival. What surprised me most was that even though this Michael Longhurst production was more lavishly produced than the original, it never lost one bit of its heart. Hugely contributing to the emotional wallop of this show was Sharon D. Clarke’s towering performance as Caroline. She’s definitely going to receive a Tony Award nomination and deserves to win for her remarkable work.

Caissie Levy, Kevin S. McAllister, Harper Miles and N’Kenge all made incredible impressions. Plus it’s always great to see Chip Zien on stage – I’ve been a fan of his since Into the Woods.

If you are in New York or going this week, you still have time to catch this amazing production before it’s last performance on January 9th. For tickets go here.

#4: Santa Fe Opera 2021 Season – Santa Fe Opera

I had never attended a production at Santa Fe Opera prior to this summer. I don’t intend to miss any seasons going forward. This is a truly magical place to see opera. This summer found a smaller line-up than in non-COVID years, but the four consecutive nights in early August were a great introduction to this wonderful tradition.

On tap this year were The Marriage of Figaro, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Benjamin Britten), the world premiere of The Lord of Cries (John Corigliano and Mark Adamo) and Eugene Onegin. My personal favorite was Britten’s adaptation of Shakespeare’s play.

Each night, however, had plenty of joys to be found: whether it was my second time seeing Anthony Roth Costanzo in a opera (the first being Ahknahten), revisiting the joys to be found in Tchaikovsky’s brooding opera, enjoying the staging of Mozart’s classic opera or experiencing the tailgating experience that is de rigueur before each performance.

I’m excited about this summer’s season as my favorite opera, Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde, is being performed at Santa Fe Opera for the first time.

#5: West Side Story

I was completely skeptical about what Steven Spielberg would do with one of my favorite musicals. That he had Tony Kushner working with him gave me some optimism. Try as I could to wrangle details from colleagues who were working on the film, I was completely unable to glean any information about what kind of updating and changes were being made.

When I saw the movie on opening weekend I was thrilled to discover that my concerns had all been for naught. Simply put, I think this is a vastly superior film than its Oscar-winning predecessor. I’ve always found this Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim and Arthur Laurents musical emotional (let’s face it, it’s Romeo and Juliet), but seeing it so close on the heels of Sondheim’s passing probably intensified my emotional response.

Sondheim said how excited he was for audiences to see what had been done to West Side Story. I know he wasn’t a fan of the original film – feeling it was too close in presentation to the stage version – so I had my fingers crossed he was right. And he was. If you haven’t seen the film yet, do so. It’s the kind of film that must be seen on a big screen with terrific sound.

#6: Head Over Heels – Pasadena Playhouse

If you had asked me what the odds were that a jukebox musical using the songs of The Go-Go’s would be a show I would see at all, let alone twice, I would have given you huge odds against that happening. And I would have lost my shirt! What Sam Pinkleton and Jenny Koons did with this production was create the best party of the year.

Alaska 5000, Lea DeLaria, Yurel Echezarreta, Freddie, Tiffany Mann, George Salazar, Emily Skeggs and Shanice Williams put their hearts and souls into this story of family, acceptance and love. The all-female band rocked the house.

Both times I saw the show I opted for the on-stage/standing room seats and I wouldn’t have had it any other way. At the first performance Lea DeLaria made a comment during the show about my pants. For the second performance I had a better idea where to position myself to have an even better time than I did at the first performance.

This was a party I never wanted to end.

#7: desert in – Boston Lyric Opera

This streaming opera/mini-series is definitely not your parent’s opera. It is guided by its own rules as it tells the story of a unique group of strangers (or are they) who congregate at a seedy motel.

The music was composed by Michael Abels, Vijay Iyer, Nathalie Joachim, Nico Muhly, Emma O’Halloran, Ellen Reid, Wang Lu and Shelley Washington. The libretto was written by christopher oscar peña.

Appearing in desert in are mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard (for whom the project was written), soprano Talise Trevigne, Tony-nominated performer Justin Vivian Bond (Kiki & Herb Alive on Broadway), actors Carlis Shane Clark, Alexander Flores, Anthony Michael Lopez, Jon Orsini, Ricco Ross and Raviv Ullman with vocal performances by tenor Neal Ferreira, Tony Award-winner Jesus Garcia (La Bohème), baritone Edward Nelson, tenor Alan Pingarrón, soprano Brianna J. Robinson, mezzo-soprano Emma Sorenson and bass-baritone Davóne Tines.

The project was directed by James Darrah who also oversaw the Close Quarters season of films from Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra; directed a production of Les Enfants Terribles for Long Beach Opera (that took place in a parking lot) and, underachiever that he is, also directed The Lord of Cries at Santa Fe Opera.

You can still stream desert in. Go here for details.

#8: Cécile McLorin Salvant – The Ford

Without a new album to promote jazz vocalist Salvant took to the stage at The Ford in Los Angeles for a concert with Sullivan Fortner that was nothing short of pure joy. She and Fortner have such a musical bond that she can make up the setlist on the spot and he’s ready to dive right in to dazzle the audience. As they did on this late September evening.

The only problem with seeing Salvant perform is you can never get enough. Truly. Rare is the performer who can so thoroughly enrapture an audience with their skill the way Salvant can.

That should come as no surprise for an artist who has won three consecutive Grammy Awards for her three most recent albums. Her newest album, Ghost Songs, is being released by Nonesuch Records in March. No doubt the next Grammy Awards season will find Salvant’s latest album on their list of nominees.

#9: Billy Porter: Unprotected

Porter’s memoir was released in the fall and it is one of the most inspirational and entertaining memoirs I’ve ever read. He’s a Tony Award (Kinky Boots), Emmy Award (Pose) and Grammy Award (also Kinky Boots) winning performer. He’s also been setting the fashion world on fire with his inventive and creative looks on runways from the Academy Awards to the Met Gala in New York. Let’s just say he knows how to make an entrance.

In Unprotected Porter details the many obstacles put in his way through challenges at home to being subjected to harsh criticism from his church to casting directors who thought he was too much. Though it all he remains steadfast in his individualism and his talent. It’s a lesson we can all use. As he says in his memoir, “My art is my calling, my purpose, dare I say my ministry.” I, for one, found a lot to learn from his ministry.

Gay men and women are not the only audience for Porter’s ministry. The life lessons he endured and his response to them is precisely the nourishment our souls need today. You can also clearly hear Porter’s voice in the book. So engaging and entertaining is his book I read it in one sitting. I found it impossible to put down. I think you will, too.

#10: Ledisi Sings Nina Simone – Hollywood Bowl

Anyone who is brave enough to tackle material made famous by the incomparable Simone either has a lot of guts or a lot of talent. Ledisi proved she had both in this memorable concert at the Hollywood Bowl in July (which she performed elsewhere as well.)

Ledisi wisely chose not to emulate her idol. Instead she made each song her own while still retaining a sense of what Simone’s original recordings offered. She released a seven-track record, Ledisi Sings Nina Simone, but added more songs to her concert. It was particularly interesting to her performance of Ne Me Quitte Pas and then hear it performed by Cynthia Erivo less than a week later at the same venue. Who sang it better? Let each who saw both shows answer that question.

Runners up: Vijay Iyer’s latest album Uneasy; Veronica Swift for her album This Bitter Earth; The Band’s Visit touring production at The Dolby Theatre in Hollywood; Jason Moran solo piano performance as part of LeRoy Downs’ Just Jazz series; Springsteen on Broadway; MasterVoices’ Myths and Hymns and Cynthia Erivo singing Don’t Rain on My Parade at the Hollywood Bowl.

Here’s hoping there’s even more to see and hear in 2022. What’s on your list? Leave your choices in the comments section below.

Happy New Year!

The post Top 10 of 2021 appeared first on Cultural Attaché.

Though this clip isn’t from that concert, it showcases how thoughtful, graceful and beautiful his work as an accompanist is.

In a 2019 article about Fortner in Downbeat Magazine, Salvant said of his playing, “It felt like he was almost saying the words with me and making them ring or sparkle. It felt wonderful.” 

He’s just as good when he’s on his own. As he is in this performance of Billy Strayhorn’s Passion Flower.

Fortner’s most recent solo album was 2018’s Moments Preserved. Earlier this year he released Tea for Two which finds him performing with vibraphonist Kyle Athade.

I could throw all kinds of details about Fortner, his background, positive reviews and awards he’s received, but it ultimately comes down to the music. Take a look and listen to three very different performances.

If that doesn’t intrigue you and convince you, I don’t know what will. I know what I’m doing at 5:00 PM in Los Angeles. If you love jazz, particularly jazz piano, I know what you should be doing, too.

Tickest for Sullivan Fortner are $10. They can be purchased here.

Photo: Sullivan Fortner (Courtesy his website)

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What can you watch this weekend? Musicals old and new; an innovative approach to live performance of a play; three classical music concerts; two operas and one opera recital; a dance film festival where every film was shot with mobile devices plus a revival of a classic work of dance from the 1970s.

If that isn’t enough, we’ll remind you of two jazz concerts, three more operas and a marathon audio stream of Richard Wagner’s Ring Cycle.

To access any of the on-line events, click on the title of the individual event you want to see.

So what will you watch? Here are this weekend’s Best Bets at Home: July 24th – July 26th:

She Loves Me – PBS Great Performances – July 24th (check local listings)

Roundabout Theatre Company’s 2016 revival of She Loves Me was one of the most enjoyable musical productions of that season. This weekend PBS is airing a film of that production which starred Laura Benanti, Gavin Creel, Byron Jennings, Jane Krakowski and Zachary Levi.

The musical was written by composer Jerry Bock with lyricist Sheldon Harnick (Fiddler on the Roof) and book writer Joe Masteroff (Cabaret). It is based on the book Parfumerie by Miklós László and tells the story of two people who have a truly antagonistic relationship at work, but don’t know they are the anonymous pen pals who are falling in love through the letters they write each other. Sound familiar? Perhaps you’ve seen The Shop Around the Corner or You’ve Got Mail.

This production (the second revival of the show) was directed by Scott Ellis with choreography by Warren Carlyle. I cannot recommend it enough. This was truly a wonderful production. See it!

The Weir – Irish Repertory Theatre – July 24th – July 25th

New York’s Irish Rep has had great success with Conor McPherson’s The Weir. Their 2013 production was nominated for Best Outstanding Revival at the Lucille Lortel Awards. The run of the show was so successful that they revived it again two years later. Now comes a version specifically designed for our pandemic age.

The play is set in a pub in Ireland. The bartender is sharing ghost stories with two regulars. They also discuss an imminent new arrival, a woman named Valerie who is renting a nearby house with the help of another former local, Finbar. Over the course of the play, with the men vying for her attention, the stories get more intense and some, deeply personal.

Dan Butler, Sean Gormley, John Keating, Tim Ruddy, and Amanda Quaid star in this new version directed by Ciarán O’Reilly – completed with all social distancing required to keep everyone safe. Critics have raved about how innovative this particular production is.

You must make a reservation to see one of the performances at least two hours in advance in order to get a link to watch The Weir. Performances are Friday, July 24th at 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT and Saturday, July 25th at 3:00 PM EDT/12:00 PM PDT. Tickets have a suggested donation price of $25.

Broadbend, Arkansas – Transport Group Theatre – Now – August 16th

Broadbend, Arkansas is a timely musical from 2019 that tells the story of a woman whose father was killed during a routine traffic stop by a police officer when she was a child. Three decades later she is now coming to grips with another attack by a police officer, this time on her teenage son.

Justin Cunningham and Danyel Fulton star in this musical which features a libretto by Ellen Fitzhugh and Harrison David Rivers. The music was written by Ted Shen, who also wrote additional lyrics. This is a film from the 2019 production.

The show was described as “jazz-infused” and paying “homage to Stephen Sondheim” by Laura Collins-Hughes in her New York Times review.

There is no fee to stream the musical. However, Transport Theatre Group is encouraging donations to the Black Theatre Network.

Orchestre National de France at Carnegie Hall – Medici.tv – July 24th – July 26th

This week’s Carnegie Hall Fridays concert on Medici.tv comes from a January 2016 performance by the Orchestra National de France. Under the direction of conductor Daniele Gatti, this concert features works by composers from the 19th and 20th century. Joining the orchestra for this performance was violinist Julian Rachlin.

The program opens with the Prelude to Act III of Richard Wagner’s The Mastersingers of Nuremberg. This was performed in tribute to conductor Kurt Masur who had passed away one month prior to this concert. One aspect of Masur’s legacy was serving as Music Director of the New York Philharmonic from 1991-2002. He was named Music Director Emeritus after stepping down in 2002.

The rest of this concert features Claude Debussy’s Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune and Dmitri Shostakovich’s Violin Concerto No. 1 in A Minor featuring Rachlin. He continues with an encore of Eugène Ysaÿe’s Sonata for Solo Violin in D Minor.

After Rachlin’s encore the orchestra performs Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5 in E Minor and performs the Prélude to Gabriel Fauré’s Pelléas et Mélisande, Suite for Orchestra.

If you regularly read this column you know that Medici.tv and Carnegie Hall make these concerts available for free viewing over the weekend. However, you do need to sign up with an e-mail to access the film.

Faust – Royal Opera House – Now – July 29th

Charles Gounod’s Faust had its world premiere in Paris in 1859. The libretto was written by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré who used both Carré’s play Faust et Marguerite and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s Faust, Part One as inspiration.

This oft-told story is about a man who sacrifices his soul to the devil, Méphistophélès, in order to maintain his youth and the love of Marguerite.

But you know what happens when you make a deal with the devil…it’s not going to end well.

This 2019 revival of David McVicar’s 2004 production stars Michael Fabiano as Faust, Erwin Schrott as Méphistophélès and Irina Lungu as Marguerite. Dan Ettinger conducts the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House and the Royal Opera Chorus.

This opera has five acts and runs nearly three-and-a-half hours, but reviews for this revival were very positive. 

50 Years of Mostly Mozart – Lincoln Center at Home – July 24th

In 1966 Lincoln Center launched their Mostly Mozart Festival. The original mandate was to exclusively celebrate the work of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Over the years they have expanded that mandate to include composers who influenced Mozart, who were his contemporaries and later composers who were influenced by him.

This concert from 2016 features Mozart’s first and last symphonies.

Symphony No. 1 in E-Flat Major was written when Mozart was just eight years old. His final symphony is nicknamed Jupiter Symphony and is formally known as the Symphony No. 41 in C Major.

Music Director Louis Langré leads the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra in this performance. Pianist Richard Goode joins the orchestra for a performance of Mozart’s Piano Concert No. 12 in A Major.

Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra Summerfest Concert #2 – Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra – July 25th – 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT

This second of Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra’s newly filmed concerts features Joshua Ranz, the orchestra’s principal clarinetist. Each concert in their Summerfest series was filmed practicing social distancing behavior on the stage of Zipper Hall at the Colburn School.

The centerpiece of this second concert will be Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet.

Written in 1789, this is the composer’s only finished clarinet quintet. The work calls for two violins, a viola and cello in addition to the clarinet.

Joining Ranz in this performance are Tereza Stanislav and Cheryl Norman-Brick on violin; Robert Brophy on viola and Andrew Shulman on cello.

The concert will open with a performance of Florence Price’s Adoration. Ranz arranged her composition for Clarinet and String Quartet. You can read about Price in our preview of LACO’s first concert in this series here.

If you are unable to watch the performance as it debuts, it will be archived at LACO’s website.

The Makropulos Case – SF Opera – July 25th – July 26th

Czech composer Leoš Janáček wrote this opera between 1923-1925. It was his penultimate opera. He also wrote the libretto which was based on Karel Čapek’s play Věc Makropulos. The opera had its world premiere in Brno in late 1926.

The story is rather convoluted in The Makropulos Case.

It involves a nearly century-long lawsuit, a missing will, an opera singer admired by many men, a bastard son, allegations of forgery, suicide and a life-extending potion.

San Francisco Opera gave the American premiere of this opera in 1966. This production, directed by Olivier Tambosi, is from 2010 with Jiří Bělohlávek conducting. The cast includes Thomas Glenn, Miro Dvorsky, Susannah Biller and Karita Matilla.

Reviews were overwhelmingly positive for this production and all singled out Matilla who made her role debut in this production.

Mobile Dance Film Festival – 92Y Harkness Dance Center – July 25th – August 31

This is the third year of the 92Y Harkness Dance Center’s Mobile Dance Film Festival. All of the films showcased in the festival were shot on mobile devices.

Films from Europe (Germany, Hungary, Italy); South America (Brazil, Uruguay); Asia (Indonesia, Japan) plus Russia, Australia and Papau New Guinea are included with American entries.

Some of the films in the festival are part of a Quarantine Screen section which features films made during the Covid-19 pandemic. There is also the first-ever documentary film. Bent But Not Broken is a film that looks at dancers with scoliosis.

You need to register to access the Mobile Dance Film Festival and there is a $5 fee for doing so. That will give you full access to four hours of programming from July 25th through August 31st.

Lawrence Brownlee and Friends – Lyric Opera of Chicago’s Facebook Page – July 26th 7:00 PM EDT/4:00 PM PDT

Opera singer Lawrence Brownlee has assembled a talented group of friends for this live concert on Sunday. The tenor, who made his Metropolitan Opera debut in a 2007 production of Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia, will be joined by alumni from Lyric Opera of Chicago’s Ryan Opera Center.

They include soprano Whitney Morrison, mezzo-soprano J’Nai Bridges and baritone Will Liverman. Three current students at the Center will also participate. Craig Terry, Chris Reynolds and members of the Lyric Opera Orchestra will also perform from their homes.

The purpose of this concert is to celebrate Black artistry. Not only is Brownlee performing, he is also the artistic advisor of this concert.

Lawrence Brownlee and Friends will stream live on Lyric’s YouTube and Facebook channels.

Dougla – Dance Theatre of Harlem YouTube Page – July 26th

For those of a certain age, Geoffrey Holder is known for directing the original Broadway production (and its 1984 revival) of The Wiz and for directing the 1978 musical Timbuktu! Or you might know him from his 7-Up commercials from the 1970s advertising the soft drink as the “uncola.”

Holder was also a prolific choreographer and Dougla, which the Dance Theatre of Harlem revived in 2018, is one of his best-known works. It was first performed in 1974 and this revival was carefully overseen by Holder’s song, Leo and his widow, Carmen de Lavallade.

Trinidad was were Holder was born and the word Dougla refers to people of both African and South Asian descent. Specifically in his ballet, Dougla depicts a wedding between a couple where one partner is of Indian descent and the other is African.

The music was written by Holder and Tania León and primarily utilizes flutes and percussion. For this 2018 production, León directed the live performance of the music.

That’s this week’s Best Bets at Home: July 24th – July 26th.

Want more? How about a few reminders before we go:

Cécile McLorin Salvant and Sullivan Fortner are the featured concert on this week’s Fridays at Five from SFJazz. You can read our preview published earlier this week here.

The Ron Carter Trio performs live on July 24th and 25th from the Village Vanguard in New York. You can read our preview from earlier this week here.

LA Opera audio-streams their 2010 complete Ring Cycle by Richard Wagner on Saturday beginning at 11:00 AM EDT/8:00 AM PDT. For our complete preview please go here.

Metropolitan Opera’s streaming productions this weekend are Verdi’s Falstaff on Friday; Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier on Saturday and Puccini’s La Fannciula del West on Sunday. For details you can go here.

That’s officially it for our Best Bets at Home: July 24th – July 26th. Enjoy your weekend! Enjoy culture! And if you like what you read here at Cultural Attaché, be sure to tell your friends!

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Orrin Evans: Dedicated to Billy Strayhorn – July 23rd – 7:00 PM EDT/4:00 PM PDT

Connecticut’s Litchfield Jazz Camp is holding this one-hour concert by pianist/composer Orrin Evans celebrating the work of Billy Strayhorn, the composer best known for his work with Duke Ellington.

Amongst Strayhorn’s best-known works are “Take the ‘A’ Train;” “Chelsea Bridge” and my personal favorite song of all time: “Lush Life.”

Evans is a pianist and bandleader whose most recent album is called The Intangible Between. It’s with his ensemble the Captain Black Big Band and the record serves as a tribute to trumpeter Roy Hargrove and drummer Lawrence “Lo” Leathers, both of whom recently passed away. Jazz Times called the album “brilliant.”

He has been the leader and/or co-leader on 25 albums. In 2018 he was named the year’s “Rising Star” by DownBeat Magazine. An award he found a little strange more than 23 years into his career as he told the New York Times.

“I’m not looking down on it, but I’m just like: If I had waited on you, I’d have been a falling star. There was no way I was going to wait on you to tell me when I’m a star.”

The Black Madonna Project – July 23rd – 7:45 PM EDT/4:45 PM PDT

Mimi Jones is the leader of this concert from Smalls in New York. She will be joined by Leonor Falcón on viola; Juanma Trujillo on guitar and Mark Whitfield Jr. on drums.

It would be difficult to identify Jones with any one genre of music. She writes her own material and the styles range from jazz to funk to folk and rock.

She has three records of her own and has toured and/or recorded with a plethora of artists including Kenny Barron, Lizz Wright, Beyonce, Frank Ocean, Dianne Reeves, Roy Hargrove, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Nona Hendricks, Toshi Reagon and Ravi Coltrane.

When asked about The Black Madonna Project, Jones explained, “The inspiration for this concert came during my 2017 concert tour of southern Italy. When the promoter said to me, ‘You remind me of images of the Black Madonna,’ I realized that the only images I had seen of Christ and Mary were Caucasian. In Italy, I saw many pictures of black madonnas with a face that could look like mine. Those faces served as my muse, and revealed strength and grace.”

Cécile McLorin Salvant with Sullivan Fortner – July 24th – 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT

I’ve written several times about the amazing singer Cécile McLorin Salvant. She has won three consecutive Grammy Awards for her albums For One to Love (2015), Dreams and Daggers (2017) and her most recent recording, The Window (2018.)

This concert at SF Jazz took place on September 7, 2018 and it was part of her tour to showcase The Window.

Salvant recorded The Window with pianist Sullivan Fortner who joins her for this concert.

No need to say anything more. I’ll let her singing speak for itself.

This concert is part of SFJazz’s Fridays at Five series. It requires signing up for a monthly membership ($5) or an annual membership ($60) to see the concerts. I strongly recommend this concert.

Ron Carter Trio – July 24th and July 25th – 9:00 PM EDT/6:00 PM PDT

I’m not sure how much needs to be said about legendary bassist Ron Carter, either. If you go to his website you see a staggering statistic from 2015: “The most recorded jazz bassist with 2,221 individual recording credits as verified on September 15, 2015.”

His discography is truly a document of the history of jazz from the mid-1950s onward.

Collaborations with Art Blakey, Coleman Hawkins, Eric Dolphy, Gil Evans, Wes Montgomery, Horace Silver, Milt Jackson and Miles Davis only take you through the first ten years of his career.

He is a prolific performer, composer, author and educator. Simply put, he’s a legend.

For these two live concerts from New York’s Village Vanguard, he’ll be joined by Russell Malone on guitar and Donald Vega on Piano. You must purchase a ticket for the streaming concert to get a link to see it. Tickets are $10 per performance.

Those are our picks for Jazz Stream: July 21st – July 25th. To get considered for inclusion in our weekly lists, please e-mail us.

Photo of Sullivan Fortner and Cécile McLorin Salvant by Mark Fitton/Courtesy Salvant’s website

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Last week I wrote about how I discovered Ms. Salvant when she opened for Bryan Ferry at the Hollywood Bowl. You can read about my admiration of this amazingly talented woman. For now, the best thing to do is just let you hear Cécile McLoran Salvant sing!

Photo by Mark Fitton

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