Mavis Staples, voice behind anthems like “I’ll Take You There” and “If You’re Ready (Come Go With Me)” will be performing tomorrow night at UMD. DCist interviewed the R&B legend in advance of the show.
Every spring since 2004, eight of the country’s finest jazz musicians convene in San Francisco for a multi-week session of writing and rehearsing, before embarking on a performance series as the SFJazz Collective. SFJazz, the ensemble’s umbrella organization, is the West Coast’s largest nonprofit jazz institution and presenter of the annual San Francisco Jazz Festival.
“The general concept to have a band that has no leader, where everybody shares the leader position at different points,” said saxophonist and founding member Miguel Zenón during a recent interview with DCist. “The idea is to have a totally democratic ensemble.”
Joe Louis, “The Brown Bomber,” became an American hero in an era when a black idol was unthinkable, but when the bell has rung and the gloves are off, how is a hero remembered? Joe Louis was much more than a boxer; he was a symbol of democracy in a time of political unrest. His fights weren’t simply viewed as crushing contests between astounding athletes, but as a clash of the titans of a different sort – of nations and ideologies at war. Although he was hailed as a hero, Louis still felt the stinging blows of racism, acting with an unmatched generosity that ultimately became one of his downfalls.
Despite the success of artists like Wynton Marsalis, the 1980s were a somewhat dark period in jazz. There was no particular movement breathing new life into the music, as fusion had done in the ’70s, and the masters who came up during the classic days were aging. Fortunately, jazz experienced a bit of a renaissance in the ’90s as a crop of young lions came to the fore. These musicians were all highly trained,…
The following post is from our advertiser, Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center L.A. Theatre Works presents RFK: The Journey to Justice at the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center at the University of Maryland. Playing 1/29 and 1/30 at the Kay Theater, RFK: The Journey to Justice by Murray Horwitz and Jonathan Estrin, with producing director Susan Albert Loewenberg. LATW’s new docudrama chronicles Robert F. Kennedy’s transformation into a champion of civil rights and a crusader…
The following post is from our advertiser, Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center. Disfarmer is a portrait of an artist, a piece of puppet theatre that examines the contradictions in the life of hermit Mike Disfarmer, who was born in 1884 and died in 1959 alone in his photo studio. His solitary world comes to life through “table-top puppetry,” Magic lantern slides and 8mm home movies; old Edison wax disks and haunting Ozark mountain music create…
The Bang on A Can All-Stars Bang on A Can has always been about innovation, exploration, and breaking boundaries. Formed in 1987 by composers Michael Gordon, David Lang and Julia Wolfe, the New York based collective acts as an incubator for new and contemporary music. The organization is a place where adventurous composers and performers strive to add a fresh voice to the musical landscape. Bang on a Can began as a one-day event,…
Most of us have made, or will make, a major career change at some point, but it must have been a shock to those close to her when, in 1997, Vijai Nathan decided to abandon her career in journalism for the dog-eat-dog world of stand-up comedy. Since then, she has appeared on ABC News’ 20/20, PBS, The Oxygen Network, the BBC, and in 2003 was named one of the country’s top ten comics by Backstage…
Pianist Chick Corea and vibraphonist Gary Burton are both jazz giants in their own right, but they have forged a musical partnership that is one of the most special and enduring in music, regardless of genre. Last night’s sell out crowd in the lovely Dekelboum Concert Hall at the University of Maryland’s Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center no doubt had high expectations, but as it cheered the two masters as they took the stage, no…
It was a good weekend for historically informed performance: after a stunning concert of the Bachs by Café Zimmermann at the Library of Congress, it was out to the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center on Sunday night for a recital by the British duo of Andrew Manze and Richard Egarr. In charming prefatory remarks, Manze labeled the selection of one Schubert and three Mozart sonatas as “some of our favorites.” A look back over their…
