In the music industry, a “standard” is a popular song that almost everyone knows, a classic that has been recorded or sung by numerous performers who each put their own spin on it. In a previous era, they were often songs first composed for a Broadway show (think anything written by Cole Porter) that migrated to the pop charts thanks to someone like Frank Sinatra or Ella Fitzgerald, who’d give them a new uptempo or ballad treatment.
Few singers today sing the standards, those songs are perceived as too old. But Sunday night at Joe’s Pub in New York, the genre itself got a whole new interpretation.
Selecting numbers by singers or songwriters better known to today’s audiences like Stevie Wonder, John Legend, Donny Hathaway, India Arie, Bonnie Raitt and James Taylor to name a few, Porter sang inspired neo-soul, rock, pop and hip hop arrangements of songs that collectively mined feelings of love, desire, loss and inner strength.
These were not mere note-for-note covers of other people’s songs, but rather reinventions, in Porter’s own gospel/soul/Broadway-stage-infused style. Faithful to the meaning of the “standard,” everyone knew these songs but marveled at the unique approaches. Porter brought the house to its feet with a slower, funkier take on Elton John’s “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me” then later dropped a few original rap lyrics into a remix of the Beatles “Got to Get You Into My Life.”
In conceiving the whole show, Porter assessed the state of the recording industry and the ways in which consumer spending on music has changed. “People want comfort music,” he said, “Music they are already familiar with.” No one was releasing anything new, he noted, “Unless you’re Beyonce.”
Backed up most ably by a three piece band and assisted by his musical collaborators James Sampliner and Michael McElroy, Porter gave the capacity crowd more than its money’s worth. Scheduled for only one more evening, Monday night, hopefully he’ll either book a longer stay in the near future or record an album of these songs for those unfortunate enough to miss this show.
New York City is always a cultural oasis and the summer time seems to be when arts and entertainment events, or the announcement of future happenings, are in abundance. With gas prices being what they are, and “staycations” the new, less expensive way to enjoy time off, venturing around town seems the best bet.
Here’s a peak at some upcoming entertainment options:
The Tony Award-winning choreographer Bill T. Jones will direct and choreograph a new musical about Fela Kuti, slated to open in September.
“Fela!” was written by Jim Lewis along with Jones, who won a Tony last year for his choreography of “Spring Awakening” and who is also artistic director of the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company. The play is based on the life of the legendary Human Rights activist and Nigerian Afrobeat musician, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, who died in 1997 of AIDS-related illness. Fela spent years as a political prisoner after founding the political party Movement of the People, and is known for bringing huge bands to the stage, including many singers, dancers, percussionists, brass musicians, and guitarists. His music, which blends jazz with African beats and lyrics that demanded change and equality in his country, will be performed in the show by the Brooklyn group Antibalas.
The show will run at the 37 Arts theater in Manhattan from September 4 to September 21.
Joe’s Pub, the intimate nightclub performance space at The Public Theater, is celebrating its 10-year anniversary with an unprecedented 300 shows from September through December. During that time, Joe’s Pub will welcome back many of the artists who have had their US debuts at Joe’s Pub, recorded live albums there, or got their break in the music industry through showcases at Joe’s Pub.
Among the returning stars is one of our favorites, Billy Porter, who will do two shows there, December 7 and 8. Porter calls his show The Contemporary American Standard, and will do songs made famous by Stevie Wonder, Anita Baker, Donnie Hathaway, Oleta Adams, John Legend, Bonnie Raitt, James Taylor, India.Arie and others.
10th Anniversary tickets go on sale Thursday, July 17, 2008.
Ntozake Shange’s powerful mid-’70s “choreo-poem,” for colored girls who have considered suicide when the rainbow is enuf, is getting a Broadway revival at the Circle in the Square Theatre. Previews start August 19, with a scheduled opening on September 8. India.Arie is set to star and three time Tony Award winner Hinton Battle will choreograph this play which dramatizes the struggles and journey toward self respect experienced by black women in America.
Another 1970’s black theater revival, The First Breeze of Summer, by playwright Leslie Lee, is being staged by the Signature Theatre Company, August 5 to September 28.
Signature Theatre is celebrating the historic Negro Ensemble Company, which originally staged this play in 1975 on Broadway. The show takes place over the course of one sweltering weekend in June, as the struggles of three generations of the Edwards family collide. Gremmar, the Edwards family matriarch, recalls her past and considers its legacy for her children and grandchildren as they confront the choices that will define their futures. Leslie Lee’s Obie-Award winning play is a timeless portrait of family bonds and coming of age. Ruben Santiago-Hudson will direct.
Although a long way off, another revival of another classic theatre piece was announced this week, to some considerable interest. A new Broadway production of the landmark musical West Side Story, directed by librettist Arthur Laurents, will begin previews Feb. 23, 2009. This production will introduce the unprecedented element of selectively weaving Spanish throughout both the book and songs.
Laurents, who earned solid reviews (and a 2008 Tony nomination) for staging the current Broadway run of Gypsy, stated, “This show will be radically different from any other production of West Side Story ever done. The musical theatre and cultural conventions of 1957 made it next to impossible for the characters to have authenticity. Every member of both gangs was always a potential killer even then. Now they actually will be. Only Tony and Maria try to live in a different world…”
West Side Story has music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and a book by Laurents. The staging will retain the original choreography of late director Jerome Robbins, who conceived the project by transposing Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet to the turbulent streets of the Upper West Side in 1950’s New York City.
Casting information and on sale date for tickets will be announced later.
If eating out is more your style, New York City Restaurant Week—which is actually two weeks–runs July 21 through August 1. Over 200 restaurants will offer three-course prix-fixe dinners for $35.00 and lunch at $24.07.
Finally, jazz trumpeter Jeremy Pelt has released a new CD, November on the MAXJAZZ label. Possibly the most cost effective staycation you can have. Just stay at home and listen to music.
Innovative jazz trumpeter Roy Hargrove brought his 19 piece big band to Harlem Stage and the beautiful performance space at The Gatehouse Friday for a sold out, one-night only concert that featured a special guest performance by hip hop artist Q-Tip. While the jazz police might scoff at such musical pairings, similarly inspired collaborations are nothing new for the Grammy Award-winning Hargrove, who has previously crossed genres with latin and funk performers and fronted his own hip hop/jazz collective.
The Hargrove Big Band jumped out of the gate right from the start and picked up speed, only slowing down after they’d finished their final encore some 90 minutes later. While all but a few tunes played were known to me, the dial was set on swing and his band swings hard. One could expect a group led by a horn player to give lots of solos to the brass section, but Hargrove was quite generous in stepping out of the spotlight. During the course of the evening, nearly every musician in the group got a chance to shine and they all made good use of the opportunity.
The Q-Tip segment illustrated the improvisational styles inherent to both jazz and hip hop. The band would lay down a beat and Q-Tip riffed off of it, making up rhymes on the spot, some better than others, but the fun was in the process. He’d lay out and let various sections of the band or Hargrove himself take a chorus before jumping back in. Since many hip hop artists are used to rapping against pre-recorded music or a simple bass line, to be backed by 19 musicians who can feed off whatever he created seemed enjoyable for both artists and audience.
New York City is awash in jazz musicians, jazz fans and jazz news this week.
First, some 8,000 educators, musicians, industry executives, media and students from 45 countries are in town through Saturday for the 34th Annual Conference of the International Association for Jazz Education.
The four-day conference will feature a 75,000 square-foot music industry exposition, commission premieres, technology presentations, research papers, award ceremonies, and performances by over 500 of the worlds most respected professional jazz groups and musicians. In addition, a number of top school groups from France, Denmark, Australia, United Kingdom, Israel, Kazakhstan, Canada, and the United States are scheduled to perform.
On Friday, January 12, the IAJE Conference will host the 2007 National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters Awards Concert. Beginning in 1982, and every year since, the NEA Jazz Masters Award has been conferred on a handful of living legends that have made major contributions to jazz. Recognized as the nations highest honor for the field of jazz, the award to date has been given to 87 great figures in American music. The awards concert will feature performances by The Dizzy Gillespie All Star Band, under the direction of Slide Hampton, and the Clayton Brothers Quintet.
Jazz fans that cant be there in person can hear on-site reports and interviews with musicians by listening to Newark, New Jersey-based jazz radio station WBGO, either locally or over the Internet.
Had you been listening this morning, you would have heard the announcement that Wynton Marsalis, the Artistic Director of Jazz at Lincoln Center and the musical director of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, will be taking over as host of the centers syndicated radio program, Jazz at Lincoln Center Radio. The weekly broadcast heard on over 240 public radio stations, had been hosted for 14 years by newsman and jazz fan Ed Bradley, who passed away last November.
Finally, Lincoln Center was the site earlier today of the unveiling of a new United States Postage Stamp honoring the First Lady of Song, Ella Fitzgerald. The new 39-cent stamp bearing her likeness becomes the 30th in the Black Heritage commemorative series, which includes among others, James Baldwin, Alvin Ailey and Paul Robeson, noted on these pages at the time of their unveiling. One of Fitzgeralds musical collaborators on several truly memorable recordings, the great pianist Oscar Peterson, was also honored with a postage stamp in his native Canada.
How to Order the First Day of Issue Postmark
Customers have 60 days to obtain the first day of issue postmark by mail. They may purchase new stamps at The Postal Store Website at www.usps.com/shop, by telephone at 800-STAMP-24 and at their local Post Office. They should affix the stamps to envelopes of their choice, address the envelopes (to themselves or others) and place them in a larger envelope addressed to:
ELLA FITZGERALD STAMP
POSTMASTER
421 EIGHTH AVE RM 2029B
NEW YORK NY 10199-9998
After applying the first day of issue postmark, the Postal Service will return the envelopes through the mail. There is no charge for the postmark. All orders must be postmarked by March 10, 2007.
One hundred and fifty million Ella Fitzgerald stamps were printed.
