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| The Vermont Jazz Center Presents 6th Annual Solo Jazz Piano Festival 6th Annual Solo Jazz Piano Festival Six extraordinary artists representing a wide variety of piano styles come together to pour their hearts into their performances and communicate their unique ideas in masterclasses Friday & Saturday April 22 & 23, 2022 FOR ALL MUSIC LOVERS, not just pianists, interested in both the practical and spiritual aspects of jazz and improvised music. Together we will hear six brilliant pianists perform and discuss their relationship to music, to the jazz lineage, to structure and to freedom. The piano is both a work of art and a tool for personal expression, it is an instrument that gives access to simultaneous harmonic, melodic and rhythmical vocabularies. The VJC invites you to participate in a festival that showcases the myriad ways that people who have invested their lives in the piano relate with the instrument and with the sounds that spring forth – with reverence, discipline and joy. The Solo Jazz Piano Festival is one of the solid cornerstones of the VJC's programming. Now in its 6th year, it has presented some of the world's top pianists including NEA Jazz Masters Toshiko Akiyoshi and Joanne Brackeen; jazz legends Stanley Cowell, Luis Perdomo, Helen Sung, Kirk Lightsey, Orrin Evans and George Cables; emerging artists have included Christian Sands, Julius Rodriguez, Miro Sprague, Franz Robert, Kris Adams and Craig Taborn. Renowned piano-educators David Berkman and Kenny Werner have also been presented. Because the piano is an instrument that has an expansive range and players can use two hands and ten fingers to strike multiple notes, it conveys harmony, melody and rhythm all at the same time. One of the greatest piano legends of all time, Oscar Peterson, stated: "I believe in using the entire piano as a single instrument capable of expressing every possible musical idea." This richness, this vast capability to convey different voices simultaneously has led to a history of artistry that is well-worth the time to investigate. A little digging reveals a treasure-trove of recordings that prove the instrument's capacity to play orchestrally in a solo context; these recordings also demonstrate the instrument's capacity to anticipate new trends in the music, specifically when related to harmonic, rhythmic and sonic exploration. By seeking out solo recordings of Art Tatum, Thelonious Monk, Mary Lou Williams, Brad Mehldau, Keith Jarrett, Gerri Allen, Abdullah Ibrahim and Kris Adams, listeners will discover the accessible connection of the piano to jazz standards, but they will also find that the wide-ranging options inherent in the piano's sound and structure encourages creativity. In listening closely to the vast variety of approaches, one finds that recordings of piano music throughout jazz history give us a lens to see the instrument's tendency to create and predict new exciting trends that might just be around the corner. One of the intentions of the VJC's Solo Piano Festival is to give audiences an opportunity to experience those trends first hand, to observe and appreciate each of the different artists' approaches, historical context, sound, repertoire, and emotional depth while performing within hours of each other on the exact same instrument. The Festival honors the tradition of the piano as an instrument that has stylistically and historically paved the way for other instruments to follow. The piano's significance in the history of jazz is especially pronounced when examining the music's roots. For example, the traditions of ragtime and blues piano were expanded and improvisation was given more emphasis in the pioneering work of the New Orleans pianist Jelly Roll Morton in the early 1900s. His arrangements moved the swing feeling forward, they featured the improvisational capabilities of his fellow musicians using new arranging styles and they showcased Morton's own pianistic virtuosity, giving him a new, public forum to demonstrate his untethered creative ideas. This year's festival features recognized artists as well as talents deserving wider recognition. The most familiar artists are Benny Green, whose recording credits include tenures and recordings with Ray Brown, Art Blakey and Bobby Watson to name a few, and Grammy-award winning Sullivan Fortner who is best known for his work with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra and MacArthur Fellow vocalist Cécile McLaurin Salvant. Exciting and highly accomplished, yet lesser-known artists headlining this festival includes the co-leader of the Black Art Jazz Collective, Xavier Davis, who has recorded with Freddie Hubbard, Wynton Marsalis and Betty Carter (and many others), and Fulbright Award-winner Arcoiris Sandoval, a trend-setting composer and arranger who records with Allan Harris and her own group, Sonic Asylum. CLICK HERE for full artist bios On the evenings of April 22nd and 23rd starting at 8:00 PM, two headlining pianists will be featured each night in back-to-back solo sets: on Friday evening we will hear Arcoiris Sandoval and Sullivan Fortner, and on Saturday evening, Xavier Davis and Benny Green. The schedule for Saturday, April 23rd also includes a full day of activities beginning at 10:00 AM. Each of the four headliners will present a masterclass that is intentionally accessible to all music lovers (not just pianists). Throughout the day there will be a total of four masterclass and two short emerging artist sets, as well as interviews and a round-table discussion with all six artists. Topics for the panel will be selected from questions presented by in-person and online audiences. CLICK HERE for full schedule. With this diverse and talented set of pianists, the VJC's 6th Annual Solo Piano Festival aims to illustrate the critical role that the piano continues to provide in the development of jazz as an art form that is accessible for ALL MUSIC LOVERS, not just pianists. This year's Solo Piano Festival balances different stylistic approaches to the piano including the bebop-oriented sounds of Benny Green, the focus on the Great American Songbook by Sullivan Fortner, and the use of the jazz language as a vehicle for activism in the work of Xavier Davis and Arcoiris Sandoval. This year's Festival promises to be of extremely high quality, it will give listeners a wide view of solo piano styles while still connecting to the heart and soul of jazz. The solo piano idiom is a microcosm of jazz that provides a fascinating and authentic lens through which to listen to and understand the broader impact and deep history of our music. write your comments about the article :: © 2022 Jazz News :: home page |