Jazz

The Frogs

November 9, 2023

MasterVoices acquitted itself well in this deliciously comic concert staging of "The Frogs." Why this Stephen Sondheim score is not better known or revived more often remains a mystery after seeing the fine production that fit the Fredrick P. Rose Hall of the Rose Theater. Hopefully, this concert will lead to more fully staged productions now that MasterVoices demonstrated how many star turns are available in this comic masterpiece by Shevelove, Lane and Sondheim. [more]

92Y’s Lyrics & Lyricists Series: “Get Happy: Harold Arlen’s Early Years”

February 4, 2017

The show began with Arlen’s first hit, “Get Happy,” 1930, and ended with his 1939 score for the MGM film, "The Wizard of Oz." The first half of the evening was devoted to Arlen’s stand-alone popular tunes, his songs written for the Cotton Club Revues (1932-1934), and musical numbers for early sound movies. Blackhurst recounted how Arlen (born Hyman Arluck of Buffalo, New York), was a child prodigy singing in his father’s choir when he was seven, forming his own bands in his late teens, and occasionally appearing as a vocalist with them on records in his twenties. [more]

Dave Douglas Meets The Westerlies

April 10, 2016

The Douglas-Westerlies music, whether its subject is lament or celebration, protest or affirmation, is artistically coherent: testing and stretching traditional genres, the music is about forward movement, about the exploration of “Great American Themes” as they end in felicitously determined encouragement and optimism. This music's informing energy and spirit shine and summon. Audience and listeners are invited into a musical experience in which history provides context, inspiration and goad; references to the political, musical and cultural past do not tether the music to old habits but liberate it for new conversations. Together, Douglas, Royston and the Westerlies generated a warm and rich brass-and-percussion sound; the Westerlies' happy virtuosity, discipline and irrepressible affection for the full range of their instruments' sounds make them a perfect collaborative partner for Douglas' genre mixing and generously imaginative expansion of the artistic possibilities of trumpet, trombone and drums. [more]

Witchcraft: The Jazz of Cy Coleman

March 22, 2016

“He was tied to the life of jazz clubs,” said Billy Stritch of Cy Coleman, the subject of The 92nd Street Y’s Lyrics & Lyricists Series Presents: "Witchcraft: The Jazz Magic of Cy Coleman." Mr. Stritch was the personable host, artistic director, and performed on piano and was a vocalist along with four other talented singers during this very entertaining and jazzy concert. [more]

Rudresh Mahanthappa: “Bird Calls”

December 22, 2015

Mahanthappa's elegant and exciting compositional voice is well established. His jazz combines the full development of the genre since its inception with the idiom of South Indian classical music which is his personal inheritance. Mahanthappa – among other jazz artists featured in recent years in the Jazz at Miller Theatre series, such as Anat Cohen and Miguel Zenon – has already contributed to an expanded vision of jazz as an American art form that can incorporate global influences; Mahanthappa has indeed been both exemplar and participant in the necessary and welcome twenty-first century examination of the fluid meanings of “American” and “global.” [more]

The New York Pops: Sophisticated Ladies

November 19, 2015

In this centennial of the birth of jazz great Billie Holiday, The New York Pops November concert was devoted to Harlem Renaissance ladies like Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan and Dinah Washington as well as Holiday. Titled "Sophisticated Ladies," the evening was graced by three dynamic guest artists, Montego Glover, Capathia Jenkins and Sy Smith, who have a tremendous affinity with this music, along with music director and conductor Steven Reineke who narrated the story of this spirited and electrifying music. Beginning with Sam Shoup’s orchestral arrangement of Billy Strayhorn’s “Take the ‘A’ Train,” and ending in a rousing encore of “Get Happy,” performed by all the artists, the evening brought the audience to its feet. [more]

Modern Art Orchestra

November 18, 2015

Founded in 2005 and led by Kornel Fekete-Kovacs, trumpeter and composer, the Budapest-based Modern Art Orchestra is a marvel. Its twenty musicians – five in the rhythm section (piano, percussion, guitar, double bass) and fifteen on horns of all sorts (saxophones, trombones, tuba, French horn, trumpets and flugelhorn) – form a tight, cohesive group, sharing features of big band brash and a chamber group's intimate connectedness. Many of the musicians played more than one instrument, even within the span of a single piece; in a few pieces, individual musicians had extended solos. At any given moment, if one or more players weren't playing, they were watching their colleagues with delight, bobbing the rhythms with their heads and tapping out the complicated syncopations with their feet. [more]

The Hope of Christmas (Holiday CD)

November 4, 2015

On Union Street” with music by Wesley Whatley is the lively and wistful opening track of the delightful jazz based recording, The Hope of Christmas. It is performed by the acclaimed vocalist Ann Hampton Callaway and is one of the twelve songs on it she magnificently sings. Lyricist William Schermerhorn has crafted eleven wonderful original songs for this work that range from sentimental to inspirational to the warmly comic that perfectly capture the spirit of the holiday. His fine words are matched by the gorgeous melodies of accomplished composers. [more]

Boogie Stomp!

October 20, 2015

Performed by two bonafide Boogie Woogie experts, Baldori and Migliazza are positioned on stage next to each other in front of their dueling grand pianos. With a lifetime of experience in the business, Baldori has played with Chuck Berry for the past 40 years in over 100 performances. This is evident in his stylings, technique, and from the hilarious and entertaining stories that are told in between songs. As his counterpart, Migliazza is a skilled and formidable musical opponent. Together the two take turns singing, playing the piano or keyboard, or cracking jokes to the audience to vary the pace. [more]

New York Festival of Song: “Harlem Renaissance”

December 18, 2014

The Merkin Concert Hall of the Kaufman Music Center was packed on a recent cold December evening; the audience, happily anticipating two hours of fabulous music, was not disappointed. Five musicians – pianists Steven Blier and Michael Barrett, soprano Julia Bullock, tenor Darius de Haas and baritone James Martin – presented 24 carefully chosen pieces of music from the Harlem Renaissance in a concert of marvelous music-making. The singers inhabited their songs so completely that their singing was not about interpretation, but identity. The pianists were equal partners in the music, not mere accompanists. The audience applause, together with their Ohhs and Ahhs and slowly expelled breaths of marveling gratitude, created an atmosphere of receptivity that greeted and thanked the musicians before and after every song. [more]