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| Aardvark Jazz Orchestra in Boston The Aardvark Jazz Orchestra, with Jerry Edwards and Grace Hughes, completes its three-concert series celebrating 40 years of Jazz at Emmanuel and 40 years of the Ellington Sacred Concerts with a concert titled Jazz Tapestry on Sunday, April 2, Emmanuel Church, Boston. The concert will feature music by Ellington and musicians associated with him, who also performed at Emmanuel Church. The band will perform compositions by Jaki Byard, Abudullah Ibrahim and Mary Lou Williams, as well as Mark Harvey's extended work No Walls, a sonic tapestry of styles, moods, and rhythms inspired by Duke Ellington's belief in moving beyond category, in music and life. Concert proceeds will benefit the American Friends Service Committee. In conjunction with the Jazz Tapestry concert, Mark Harvey and saxophonist Arni Cheatham (28-year veteran with Aardvark) will present a lecture on Thursday, March 30, at Emmanuel Church. They will share recollections of their work with the Jazz Coalition, based at the church during the 1970s, and the JazzEd Project's involvement with the desegregation of the Boston Public Schools. Aardvark's April 2 concert commemorates 40 years of jazz at Emmanuel, during which the church presented hundreds of artists including Duke Ellington, Mary Lou Williams, Sam Rivers, George Russell, Sheila Jordan, Herb Pomeroy and Abdullah Ibrahim, among others. Mark Harvey and his Aardvark Jazz Orchestra were in residence at Emmanuel from 1974 to 1992. The concert also celebrates 40 years of the Duke Ellington Sacred Concerts. The First Sacred Concert was performed in 1965 in San Francisco and New York City. The public response was overwhelming, with the NYC performance recorded and released on RCA. Ellington then wrote, recorded, and toured two more full programs now titled "Sacred Concerts" to churches, cathedrals, synagogues and concert halls around the world. The Sacred Concerts opened up a new chapter in the already multifaceted and amazing career of Ellington. Ellington's Second Sacred Concert was performed at Emmanuel Church in 1969. The Aardvark Jazz Orchestra, now in its 33rd season, specializes in original compositions by Mark Harvey, together with intriguing performances of Ellington, other jazz legends, and American masters. Winner of the 2000 Independent Music Awards, Aardvark has premiered over 90 original compositions and has released 8 CDs to international acclaim. The band's latest recording Trumpet Madness (Leo Records) was praised for its "exuberance, imagination, and sheer brio" (Jazz Review, United Kingdom), while Aardvark's CD Duke Ellington/Sacred Music was hailed by allaboutjazz.com as "exhilarating...remarkably impressive...Aardvark and Ellington are an ideal couple." Mark Harvey has received commissions from the Meet the Composer/Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Commissioning Program, the 15th Annual John Coltrane Memorial Concert, and others. He has performed and recorded with George Russell (Blue Note) and appeared with such notables as Gil Evans, Claudio Roditi, Howard McGhee, and Sam Rivers. Dr. Harvey teaches at MIT and lectures widely on Duke Ellington, jazz history, and American music. write your comments about the article :: © 2006 Jazz News :: home page |