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| Harlem Jazz Shrines Festival (Re)Creates Small's Paradise In 1925, businessman Ed Small opened a Harlem basement club called Small's Paradise at 2294 Seventh Avenue. It was one of the incubators of modern music, and it had everything: from the experimental bebop, and Charleston-dancing waiters, to riotous saxophonic floorshows; which is why it remained one of the longest-running clubs in the Big Apple, changing hands when basketball legend Wilt Chamberlain bought the club in the sixties. The second annual Harlem Jazz Shrines Festival salutes the pioneering spirit of Small's with a series of sensational concerts, jam sessions and educational presentations, produced by Festival partner Jazzmobile, Inc., at Harlem USA, 2309 Frederick Douglass Blvd., 2nd Floor. When it opened in 1925, Small's Paradise like its sister club Minton's would later served as an incubator of a new and evolving African-American musical pedagogy open to all who felt the groove. That learning experience continues today when the Festival transports jazz lovers to the days of the Renaissance with a 21st Century twist. The series includes: May 7, 9:00 pm Small's (Re)Created: Harlem After Dark featuring vocalists Johnny O'Neal, Sachal Vasandani, Umar Hassan (The Last Poets) and The Tap Messengers. Curated by Revive Music, Harlem After Dark is a journey back into the heydays of Harlem revisiting the experience and live music of the 1930s and 1940s, presenting a retrospective concert with a modern day twist incorporating vocal numbers, tap dancing and an after-hours jam session. May 9, 10, 11, 10:00 am-6:00 pm Small's Paradise Education and Special Programs. Poet/actor/narrator Daniel Carlton will illuminate the history of this famous venue with the superlative presentation, "When Small's Had It All*, " an interactive, multimedia theatrical work that salutes and recreates the electric atmosphere of the club with music, visuals and storytelling for students from grades six to twelve. Also, at the Small's site, the Maysles Institute will present the film short "Smash Your Luggage" featuring the Small's Paradise Entertainers and an exclusive showing of selections from Bill Miles' "I Remember Harlem" for senior citizens. There's also a free floorshow and luncheon for seniors, contrasted by an After-School Dance Demonstration for students from grades six to twelve. *Commissioning support from City Parks Foundation / Charlie Parker Jazz Festival 20th Anniversary and Jazzmobile. May 11, 7:00 pm Small's (Re) Created. Co-curated by Monique Martin and hosted by Liza Jessie Peterson. Cellist Marika Hughes brings her band Bottom Heavy to a shared bill with genre-defying drummer Will Calhoun and friends for an evening of spirited music, movement and a bit of mayhem to keep it fresh. Featuring Marika Hughes, cello/vocals; Charlie Burnham, violin; Robin Macatangay, guitar; Fred Cash, bass; Tony Mason, drums. Will Calhoun, drums, indigenous percussion, loops; Marc Cary, keyboards; Burniss Travis, bass; plus surprise special guests. The saying goes, "You can't go home again, " but at the Harlem Jazz Shrines Festival, you definitely can "swing home" again, and experience all of the propulsive pomp and pageantry that Small's Paradise had to offer. Tickets to the evening performances at Small's (Re)Created are $10 and are available at the door. For more information, visit www.jazzmobile.org. Other highlights of the 2012 Harlem Jazz Shrines Festival include: Wycliffe Gordon's Jazz à la Carte The Apollo's variety shows of the 1930's made a stellar comeback last year under the music direction of composer/trombonist Wycliffe Gordon and the director/choreographer Kenneth L. Roberson. The show returns when Gordon celebrates the world-renowned Apollo with host Maurice Hines, tap star Savion Glover, the Juilliard Jazz Orchestra, vocalist Theresa Thomason, pianist Aaron Diehl, trumpeter Philip Dizack, trombonist/vocalist Natalie Cressman and the Apollo Dancers. Tribute to Club Harlem: Celebrating Cecil Three of today's most innovative pianists honor the uncompromising creative force of Cecil Taylor in two evenings of solo and duet performances. Vijay Iyer, Amina Claudine Myers and Craig Taborn will perform at the Harlem Stage Gatehouse. Showman's Late Night Jazz A week-long series produced by the Apollo Theater and Showman's at the legendary club frequented by Duke Ellington, Sarah Vaughan, Pearl Bailey, Grady Tate and countless others, continues the tradition with sessions featuring Danny Mixon, Lonnie Youngblood, Lou Volpe, Cynthia Holiday and Sarah McLawler. Tribute to Clark Monroe's Uptown House at Harlem Stage Gatehouse Featuring some of the world's finest instrumentalists and vocalists, this year's Grammy winner for Best Jazz Vocal Album The Mosaic Project gives females a place to support and celebrate each other from a musical and social perspective. Terri Lyne Carrington will be joined by Lizz Wright, Nona Hendryx, Ingrid Jensen, Tia Fuller, Helen Sung, Mimi Jones and Nir Felder to construct creative consciousness as "women with voices." Minton's Playhouse: Legends on the Bandstand Jazzmobile brings the famed club on 118th Street back to life with a celebration of some of the legends of the esteemed bandstand. Acknowledging iconic contributions are keepers of the flame, including TK Blue celebrating Charlie Parker, octogenarian Barry Harris remembering Thelonious Monk, Winard Harper with a tribute to Max Roach and Jeremy Pelt paying homage to Dizzy Gillespie. Each set will be followed by a late night jam at Red Rooster's Ginny's Supper Club. The three partners are again collaborating with Columbia University to bring humanities programming that will further highlight the cultural significance of Harlem and the Festival. The University's programming includes The Savoy King, a documentary on Swing-era drummer/bandleader Chick Webb, Ella Fitzgerald and the renowned Savoy Ballroom as well as an exploration of the spiritual dimensions of Harlem's aesthetic legacies in jazz. write your comments about the article :: İ 2012 Jazz News :: home page |