There Will Be Blood

Set in the California oil boom of the late 1880s–early 1900s, Paul Thomas Anderson's movie is epic and grim, and Daniel Day Lewis's performance as Daniel Plainview is colossal. But it's the soundtrack that knocked me out. It's unbearably tense, and it never lets go. Think Bernard Hermann's score for Hitchcock's Psycho, only more modern and less melodic.

iTunes describes it as "...more primal than music. The rumble of a fault line. The ominousness of a dust storm. The terror of a thousand hissing asps.... Whether this soundtrack is a brilliant accomplishment because it intensifies the film's every moment or because it stands next to the film as its own work of devastating shock and excitement is a tough call."

Composed by Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood, it scared the living daylights out of me, even when nothing significant was happening on screen. I spent a lot of time hunkered down in my chair with my fingers in my ears. Fantastic. Its ineligibility for an Oscar nomination this year is a crime.

Hats for Cats: Michael Lewis and his mom

Michael Lewis plays the saxophone like no one else I've seen or heard. I've seen him perform live many times—with Happy Apple, Fat Kid Wednesdays, in various other configurations around town at the AQ, Cafe Maude, and more. At Fat Kid's performance with the Moroccan group B'net Houariyat during the 2006 Minnesota Sur Seine music festival, his hat kept falling down over his eyes while he played. He'd push it up during split-second breaks between flurries of notes, but would fall again when he moved, and he moves a lot.

It made me itch. It made me squirm. It made me want to make him a hat. So when I saw him at Maude in early January, standing outside smoking during a break, I offered and he said yes. His mom Mary was there so I made one for her, too.

Romeo and Juliet

When: 1/29/08
Where: The Ordway
Who: The Minnesota Opera with James Valenti as Romeo and Ellie Dehn as Juliet

To sing opera requires the ability to sing opera, and if a singer is also attractive and not too old or fat, traditionally that has been a bonus. But today looks are everything, or almost everything, so it wasn't surprising when the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden sacked soprano Deborah Voigt from her signature role in Ariadne auf Naxos because she couldn't fit into a cocktail dress (and hired her back after she lost 150 pounds). And it's not unusual that the Minnesota Opera is promoting its own production of Romeo and Juliet as featuring "two of opera's hottest stars."

The posters (like the one above) are meant to be steamy, and in a video ad I saw on the Strib's Web site, the dishy Valenti looks into the camera and says "I'm your Romeo" while the words "Sexy," "Riveting," and "Spectacular" appear below. Rohan Preston's preview for the Strib (which I would link to if the Strib were the New York Times) is titled "Beauty over beast," and in a video on the Strib site, Minnesota Opera artistic director Dale Johnson's first words are "The cast is full of bee-yoo-ti-ful young American singers.... Valenti is a tall, dark, and handsome tenor."

So, how's the opera? Pretty good, kind of weird, too long. I wish they had trimmed some fat from the first two acts. I wasn't familiar with the music (usually I know at least one aria from an opera) so it all kind of ran together for me over three hours with two intermissions. The sets—buildings and parts of buildings that rumbled back and forth, with projections of statues, water, clouds, and candles—were initially interesting, ultimately distracting. I didn't get the dancers in their gauzy dresses and mannered poses.

Valenti and Dehn are both wonderful singers, but there isn't any chemistry between them. Dehn's costumes added random tension to the production; more than once it looked as if she might fall out of her dress, and if there's anyone who should not scamper across the stage wearing a low-cut gown, it's Dehn. The staging of the bedroom scene was in questionable taste. Dehn showed too much cleavage, Valenti wore a nightshirt over naked legs, they rolled around on rumpled sheets and pillows, and I'm sure the people sitting at stage right saw a lot more than we did at stage left, making me even more grateful for the seats we had.

But I liked it. I've liked opera since a distinguished visiting professor from Amsterdam took me to see the Metropolitan Opera perform the double bill of I Pagliacci and Cavalleria Rusticana at Northrop Auditorium back in the day when the Met came to town. As the final curtain fell, I turned to say thanks and saw he had tears streaming down his face. I knew then there must be something to this wildly excessive and histrionic art form. I hope I hear Valenti sing again someday, and Dehn too, in more flattering clothes.

Valenti and Dehn sing "Tou! Vous!" from Manon:

Jon Weber

When: 1/27/08
Where: The Artists' Quarter
Who: Jon Weber (piano), Gordy Johnson (bass), Kenny Horst (drums)

Weber is one of my favorite piano players. Self-taught, he can play anything, and he seems to know everything about music. He has perfect pitch and total recall; by age 6, he had memorized 2,000 standards from his grandmother's piano rolls. He's a riveting performer, a brilliant composer, and an imaginative improviser. Why he isn't more famous is a mystery. Maybe he's just too scary smart in a profession that requires more brains than most people realize.

Weber splits his time between New York and Chicago (six days a week in NYC, one day in the Windy City) and rarely comes to Minneapolis/St. Paul except for the annual Twin Cities Jazz Festival in June, where he's a beloved regular. This weekend, he played a private event in Minneapolis on Saturday, leaving Sunday free for the AQ.

Because Sunday was Jerome Kern's birthday (Weber appears to know—and quite possibly really does know—every composer's birthday, date and year, and when every song was written, and what movie or musical it came from, if it did), the first set at the AQ was devoted to the music of Jerome Kern: "Long Ago and Far Away" (from the 1944 musical Cover Girl), "Nobody Else But Me" (a tune Gordy Johnson recorded on his Trios Version 3.0 CD), "All the Things You Are," "The Song Is You," "I'm Old Fashioned" (from the movie You Were Never Lovelier), and "Old Man River" from the musical Showboat.

But that's not all we heard. Like most jazz artists, Weber never plays just one tune. Between statements of the melody (so we have some clue what we're hearing), he improvises. And Weber's improvisations are wild rides through pretty much everything musical. All jazz artists quote from other songs, but with Weber, the quotes are so diverse and they go by so fast you've barely figured one out before he's already three ahead. It's as if each improvisation is an opportunity for Weber to mine the vast and astonishing wealth of music in his head, and he does it at warp speed. I found myself holding my breath so I wouldn't miss a thing.

A lot of things I recognized but couldn't name flew by. A few I could: Bits of Mozart (Weber calls him "Zart;" the 27th was his birthday, too) from "Eine kleine Nachtmusik" and more. Snippets of "Hooray for Hollywood" and "Chicago" (that toddlin' town). John swears he heard a phrase from an old Woolite jingle ("You'd look better in a sweater washed in Woolite"). Nothing was off limits and it all fit.

Between tunes, Weber talked, filling us in on what he had just played and preparing us (sort of) for what was to come, peppering us with facts and stats and stories. "Here we are in the second century of jazz," he said, "and you don't know what you're going to get.... It's the flying trapeze jazz act without a net."

The second set left Kern behind and chased the rest of jazz: "Swanee" (stride style), James P. Johnson's "Worried and Lonesome Blues" (Weber: "Someday I'm going to dedicate a whole show to songs with 'and' in the title.... 'You and the Night and the Music' will be a double"), "I'm Beginning to See the Light," Oscar Peterson's "Riff Blues," "Alone Together," "Very Early" (written by a 19-year-old Bill Evans), Charlie Christian's "A Smooth One," and "Sonnymoon for Two" by Sonny Rollins.



Introducing "Sonnymoon," Weber mentioned that Rollins was one of seven surviving jazz artists in the famous "Great Day in Harlem" photograph taken by Art Kane in 1958, a copy of which hangs on a wall at the AQ. Weber named six survivors but couldn't come up with the seventh, so after the set he and Kenny Horst and Davis Wilson and a few others gathered around the photo to try to figure it out.

Photos: Top: Jon Weber by John Whiting. Bottom: L to R: "Great Day in Harlem," Kenny Horst, HH, unidentified man, Jon Weber, Davis Wilson.

Battleship Potemkin with the Minnesota Orchestra

When: 1/26/08
Where: Orchestra Hall
Who: Esa Heikkilä and the Minnesota Orchestra

Because I prefer my music on a smaller scale—jazz trios, chamber music recitals (exceptions: Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, Maria Schneider Orchestra, Dave Holland Big Band)—I mostly ignore the Minnesota Orchestra. Although I know the occasional Beethoven symphony would do me good, and everyone says Osmo Vänskä is an amazing conductor, it's not on my radar. And since the sound at Orchestra Hall is hit-or-miss for almost anything but the orchestra, I rarely go to the big box with the giant sugar-cube ceiling.

But lately interesting things are happening there. Jazz is heard more frequently, with more to come; starting in April, there's a mini-series called "Jazz at Orchestra Hall" and it's not Doc Severinsen. Another small series, "Sounds of Cinema," began last week with a screening of Charlie Chaplin's City Lights, with Vänskä and the orchestra performing Chaplin's original score. I didn't go but a friend did and she loved it.

"Sounds of Cinema" continued tonight with Sergei Eisenstein's The Battleship Potemkin (1925) and a score compiled from portions of Shostakovich's symphonies. The movie was projected onto a large screen at the back of the stage, the orchestra filled the stage (I forget how large orchestras are), and we were in the second row, where we couldn't read the subtitles without craning a bit but we could see every move the bass players made. Conductor Esa Heikkilä is a protégé of Vänskä; this was his first appearance here.

I had never seen the film Roger Ebert calls "one of the fundamental landmarks of cinema" (my bad) but I recognized iconic scenes, like the baby carriage careering down the Odessa steps. The music—parts of Shostakovich's Symphonies Nos. 4, 5, 8, 10, and 11, pieced together by Soviet musicologists in 1976—fit the film like 10-year-old Anastasia's white opera gloves. The performance was 90 minutes without an intermission, and the time raced by. It was entirely thrilling. It made me want to catch up on classic films (does that mean I have to stop watching Project Runway?) and buy season tickets to the orchestra.

The third and final "Sounds of Cinema" performance is called "To Boldly Go....," and it's hosted by George Takei, Star Trek's Dr. Sulu. Music from Star Wars, Close Encounters, Star Trek, and Holst's The Planets. That one I'll skip.

Christine Rosholt to record CD at the Dakota

One of the perks of living in the same town for a while is finding artists you enjoy and following them around. I'm not sure when I heard Christine Rosholtfor the first time, but it was probably soon after her local debut as a vocalist at La Bodega in October 2002.

Since then, I've seen her several times. In an especially memorable show in February 2005 at Macalester College, she sang jazz arrangements of works by Shakespeare while wearing a ruff.
Her theater background (she spent two years with the Children's Theatre Company and has performed at the Loring Playhouse and with Theatre de la Jeune Lune) serves her well; she's confident on stage, knows how to move and has impeccable diction. Through the years, her beautiful voice has become warmer and richer. She can do sensuous and sassy, and she can swing. Hear her sing here.

Rosholt (pronounced "ross-holt") released a demo CD of four songs in 2003 and her first full-length CD, "Detour Ahead," in 2006; the latter earned a Minnesota Music Awards nomination for Jazz Recording of the Year. On Jan. 30 and 31, she will record a new CD at the Dakota Jazz Club.

Perhaps the hardest-working jazz vocalist in the Twin Cities, with many gigs each month in all kinds of venues, Rosholt knows how to pick band members. Her Dakota recording will feature her regular trio of Tanner Taylor on piano, Graydon Peterson on bass, and Jay Epstein on drums, plus recent McKnight Artist Fellowship Award winner and beloved Twin Cities saxophonist/flutist/clarinetist Dave Karr.

I spoke with Rosholt Wednesday about what to expect at next week's recording sessions.

MinnPost: What songs will you perform and record?
Christine Rosholt: We'll do a mix of lesser-known and more common tunes. "Cheek to Cheek," "If I Were a Bell," "Down with Love," "Tea for Two." "Estate" by Bruno Martino, with lyrics by Susannah McCorkle. Bob Dorough's "Devil May Care." He wrote the "Schoolhouse Rock" music. The CD will have 16 songs, most from the 1930s and '40s.

MP: How did you choose the songs?
CR: It's hard because there are so many good ones, so I just try to mix it up — upbeat songs, some with a Latin feel, one or two in waltz time. Fun songs and serious ones, sexy songs, ballads. Not too many in the same key. I asked the band to tell me their favorites and took that into consideration.

MP: So in a time when everyone is buying singles from iTunes, you're still treating this as an album?
CR: Yes, it will be something you can listen to all the way through.

MP: Who does your arranging?
CR: All of us. I've been playing with these guys for years — Jay since the beginning, Graydon since our first gig together at Nochee's [now Harry's] on New Year's Eve 2004, Tanner since about 2003, Dave for about two years. Our ways of doing the songs have just evolved.

MP: After two nights in the club, will you follow up with studio work?
CR: I hope we won't have to. Steve Wiese from Creation Audio is our recording engineer, and he's so good I hope it can all be live. I don't really like going into the studio. You're alone in a little room and it's so cold. I hate the term "people person" but I guess that's what I am. I prefer an audience.

MP: Are you still happy with your previous CD, "Detour Ahead"?
CR: Yes and no. It was arduous for me, and I tweaked it too much. Also, I sing a lot of those songs lower now, so sometimes when I hear it, it sounds weird. But the other night I was driving home from a gig in Wisconsin and listening to Maryann's show ["The Jazz Connection with Maryann Sullivan" on Minnesota Public Radio] and she played "Early Autumn" and I thought, "Oh my god, that's pretty good."

MP: When you're not performing, what local singers do you like to hear live?
CR: Carole Martin. I love Lucia [Newell]. And Connie [Evingson]. I'm excited for her new CD with Dave Frishberg. ... We have such a good scene here. I was in Chicago recently, and there wasn't a lot going on.

What: Christine Rosholt: Live CD Recording
Where: The Dakota, 1010 Nicollet Mall, Minneapolis
When: 7 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, Jan. 30 and 31
How much: $5
Phone: 612-332-1010
Website

Upcoming Picks

Chris Bates et al: Bassist Bates is another artist I follow around. He emailed this tantalizing description for an upcoming show at the 331 Club: "Improvised music from me, Wendy Ultan, Anthony Poretti and Stefan Kac plus 2 other bands." (This is the club that will host the First Annual Drunken Spelling Bee on Feb. 2. Sounds like a fun place.) 331 Club, 10 p.m. Friday, Jan. 25 ($3).

Jon Weber: A perennial favorite at the Twin Cities Jazz Festival (formerly the Hot Summer Jazz Festival), pianist Weber is inventive, sublimely entertaining, incredibly knowledgeable and very tall. The Artists' Quarter, 8 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 27 ($10).

Hugh Masekela and the Chissa All-Stars: The South African superstar is much more than "Grazing in the Grass." Expect a spicy stew of jazz, funk, and Afro-beat. He's bringing singers. The Dakota, 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 29 ($50 and $35).

Originally published on MinnPost.com on January 25, 2008

Photo by Ann Marsden

MinnPost: Christine Rosholt CD Recording Preview

I like Christine Rosholt personally and as a singer. We were trying to remember when we first met; she thinks it was when she was walking behind John and me in the skyway to Orchestra Hall for some event and she overheard us talking about Kurt Elling.

It was fun to interview her for this week's MinnPost article, a preview of her upcoming live CD recording at the Dakota. I learned a little of what she had done before she became a jazz vocalist:

"My degree is in performance art and photography [from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago].... I used to combine photography and theater in performance pieces, multimedia with photography projections; I did shows in New York, tons of show in Chicago, and a lot of independent hole-in-the-wall theaters.... I've done a lot of crazy ass performance art, and I'm so glad I got that out of my system."

Photo: Christine and bassist Tom Lewis at the Jazz Vocalists of Minnesota CD Release Party, the Artists' Quarter, July 15, 2007

Sophie Milman

When: 1/22/08
Where: The Dakota
Who: Sophie Milman (voice), Cameron Wallis (saxophones, musical director), Paul Shrofel (piano), George Koller (bass), John Fraboni (drums)

She's young, she's smart, she's beautiful, and she can sing. Just 24, Sophie Milman is already being compared to Diana Krall, Sarah Vaughan, and Ella Fitzgerald. Her debut CD has sold more than 100,000 copies and her latest is winning raves. She's been called a "hottie" and a "doll-eyed blonde."

It must be hard to follow your own press onto a new stage in a new town; when expectations are that high, the pressure's on. But Milman exuded confidence and the only hint of her youth (other than her fresh and dewy looks) was a tendency to talk a bit too much about herself between songs.

Her band was terrific. Who are these guys? Where are they from? From the IAJE Web site, I learned that Wallis hails from Winnipeg, lives in Montreal, and earned his Master of Music and Bachelor of Music from McGill. Shrofel and Wallis have made a CD together called OneUpOneDown; brief bios on that site tell me that Shrofel "is a well trained and versatile musician comfortable in a variety of musical settings." Thanks for nothing. IAJE says that Shrofel is based in Montreal as well. It seems that George Koller is also a member of a Toronto band called the Shuffle Demons, though it's hard to be certain because his photo there shows him wearing a hat and a beard, and neither were in evidence last night. (Is Koller Milman's regular bass player? Recent articles name bassist Kieran Overs as the newest addition to Milman's band.) John Fraboni is part of the Montreal jazz scene, and that's all I can find about him.

We saw the second set on the final night of a two-day stay at the Dakota. The band opened and Millman came out for the second tune, jumping right into Jobim's "Agua De Beber" (ba-ba-du-da, baya-duba-duya). She sang songs from her self-titled debut CD: "My Heart Belongs to Daddy," "My Baby Just Cares for Me," the Russian folk song "Ochi Chornye" (in Russian, which she still speaks at home with her parents; the family emigrated from Russia to Israel when Milman was six, and from Israel to Canada when she was 16). We also heard songs from her new CD, Make Someone Happy: "Matchmaker, Matchmaker," "Undun." Her performance wasn't limited to her recordings; she performed a two-song tribute to Oscar Peterson, "Tenderly" and "Sweet Georgia Brown," and an interesting jazz arrangement (Wallis's?) of Bruce Springsteen's "I'm on Fire."

"Agua De Beber," was lovely, "My Heart Belongs to Daddy" kittenish. I could have done without a jazz version of the song from Fiddler on the Roof. "I'm on Fire" has the potential to become the next "Fever." I can imagine a lot of jazz singers performing this song. When Kurt Elling sings "Undun" (the late '60s pop hit by Canadian rock supergroup The Guess Who), he slows it way down; Milman speeds it up, and I think I prefer Elling's reading. Which isn't fair to say since I prefer Elling's reading of almost anything, although I hope he never sings "MacArthur Park."

Previewing Milman's show for the Strib, the usually astute and perspicacious Jon Bream wrote, "You could easily mistake Sophie Milman for the daughter that Twin Cities jazz thrush Connie Evingson never had." I thought that was a boneheaded thing to write for at least two reasons, but having seen Milman, I can understand why he wrote it (although it was still boneheaded): She looks kind of like Connie, and she sings kind of like Connie. Who was not at the Dakota when we were, although Christine Rosholt was. I expected to see more singers in the house. Maybe they came to the earlier shows?

A close approximation of Millman's band (with Overs on bass instead of Koller).
Sophie sings "Agua De Beber."
Her MySpace page.

Photo: Koller, Milman. Sorry, Sophie, not the best photo. My card reader ate several images.