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| Wycliffe Gordon's Jazz á la Carte at the Harlem Jazz Shrines Fest For eight decades, the world-famous Apollo Theater has been the premiere showcase for African-American music: from vaudeville, blues, jazz, R&B, soul, mambo and hip-hop. One of its most popular long-running shows was the Jazz á la Carte, a variety show produced by Frank Schiffman and Leo Brecher, featuring MC Ralph Cooper, the Benny Carter Orchestra and many other exciting performers. Last year, at the inaugural Harlem Jazz Shrines Festival, presented by the Apollo Theater, Harlem Stage and Jazzmobile, Inc., the Jazz á la Carte series was wonderfully revived by trombonist/composer/arranger Wycliffe Gordon. This year at the 2012 festival, on Saturday, May 12, at 3:00 and 8:00 pm, Gordon returns to the Apollo, 253 W. 125th Street, for two splendid and swinging sets of the legendary revue/variety show. Led by the multi-talented Gordon – who was discovered by Wynton Marsalis, and was a former member of the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra – this year's edition is a pulsating potpourri of musicians and dancers that will light up the Uptown Manhattan night at the Apollo Theater, with director/choreographer Kenneth L. Roberson; dancer extraordinaire Maurice Hines, who will serve as Master of Ceremonies; the world's tap dance superstar Savion Glover; along with The Juilliard Jazz Orchestra, the gospel-tinged vocalist Theresa Thomason, pianist and Cole Porter Fellow Aaron Diehl, trumpeter Philip Dizack, trombonist/vocalist Natalie Cressman and The Apollo Dancers. A master of all of the inventions of his instrument – from the tailgating tempos of the New Orleans second line to the infinite vibrations and varieties of the plunger mute, Gordon has recorded 13 CDs as a leader, currently serves on the faculty of the Jazz Arts Program at Manhattan School of Music and published a book, Trombone Majesty. He received the Jazz Journalists Association 2011, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2002 and a 2001 Award for Trombonist of the Year, and the Jazz Journalists Association 2000 Critics Choice Award for Best Trombone. With this outstanding lineup, Wycliffe Gordon is poised again to deliver all of the swinging Sepia Panorama of Harlem's revered Apollo Theater revue, where a new generation will swing into a new century. Other highlights of the 2012 Harlem Jazz Shrines Festival include: • 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. • Small's Paradise: (Re) Created – Jazzmobile will take the bold leap to re-create the legendary Small's Paradise, once Harlem's premier night spot and longest-operating club. Working in collaboration with the Government and Community Affairs Department at the City College of New York, Jazzmobile will re-create Small's Paradise at Harlem USA, featuring the Revive Music Paradise Band, a 12-piece house band backing the famous Small's floor show complete with dancers (tap and swing) and singers recalling the music of Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Cab Calloway and James P. Johnson. Small's Paradise (Re)Created sheds new light on an old tradition. • 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 an artist TBD paying homage to Dizzy Gillespie. Each set will be followed by a late night jam. 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 :: © 2012 Jazz News :: home page |