Brooklyn Rider at the Cedar: Photos

When: Monday, Aug. 20, 2012 • Where: Cedar Cultural Center, Minneapolis • Who: Brooklyn Rider with Kayhan Kalhor. Brooklyn Rider is Johnny Gandelsman, violin; Colin Jacobsen, violin; Nicholas Chords, viola; Eric Jacobsen, cello. Kayhan is an Iranian composer and kamancheh (Persian stick fiddle) player. What: The program included "Atashgah," "Beloved, do not let me be discouraged," and "Three Persian Miniatures" (Jacobsen), "Culai" (Lev "Ljova" Zhurbin, a commission for Brooklyn Rider), and "Silent City" (Kalhor).

Brooklyn Rider with Kahyan Kalhor
by John Whiting

Kayhan Kalhor
by John Whiting

Crosby, Stills and Nash at the Orpheum

Off the jazz path, I've finally seen Crosby, Stills and Nash live for the first time. Not in their heyday, not at their peak, but still vital and meaningful and musical. Find a brief review of the show (Monday, Aug. 6 at the Orpheum in Minneapolis) on MinnPost.com. Here's the setlist with more notes.

THE BAND: David Crosby, voice and guitar; Stephen Stills, voice and guitar; Graham Nash, voice, guitar, tambourine, harmonica, and keyboards; Todd Caldwell, Hammond B3; Shane Fontayne, guitar; Steve DiStanislao, drums; Kevin McCormick, bass; James Raymond, keyboards.

FIRST SET

1. Carry On

2. Chicago

3. Long Time Gone 

4. Just a Song Before I Go

5. Southern Cross

6. Lay Me Down

7. Radio

8. Marrakesh Express

9. Almost Gone

10. Bluebird

11. Deja Vu

12. Love the One You're With

It's a sold-out show, a full house of a certain age. Crosby and Nash have very white hair. Nash performs barefoot. They don't seem tired of songs they've been singing for decades. Stills' voice isn't what it used to be, but Crosby and Nash sound great, even a cappella. 

"Long Time Gone" evokes in me a rather fierce nostalgia for the days when people believed that a song could change/rearrange the world. After "Southern Cross," Nash tells the crowd, "We're enjoying the shit out of this." "Lay Me Down" is a new song by James Raymond, Crosby's son, who plays keyboards in the band. "Radio" is a new song by Crosby, who introduces it by explaining that it sounds like it has a marine theme but it's really about reaching out and helping others. "Almost Gone" is a new song by Nash and Raymond about Bradley Manning, the American soldier accused of giving sensitive documents to WikiLeaks. Here are the lyrics. Bill O'Reilly hated it. To me, it's strongly reminiscent of "Ohio." A rocker. "Bluebird" is an old Buffalo Springfield tune. I was glad Stills sang "Love the One You're With." So his voice isn't the greatest; it's his song, and you can hear him in it. They introduce all the new songs but expect us to know the rest, which we do.

SECOND SET

1. Helplessly Hoping

2. In Your Name

3. North Country Fair

4. What Are Their Names

5. (didn't catch the title)

6. Guinevere

7. Daylight Again

8. Find the Cost of Freedom

9. Cathedral

10. Immigration Man

11. Our House

12. Almost Cut My Hair

13. Wooden Ships

14. (encore) Teach Your Children

The set begins with Crosby and Nash both commenting on a women sitting near the front who spent much of the first set texting. "You could do that outside," Crosby says. "You don't have to pay for a ticket to text." "Someday," Nash adds, 'YouTube and Twitter and Facebook will merge into a new thing called YouTwitFace." It's mean but not undeserved. Photography (no flash) is allowed, but no recording, so we see camera phones raised everywhere. I thought HH would have to watch most of the concert on the phone of the woman sitting in front of us, who had it up in the air for much of the night, taking fuzzy pictures. At least the band doesn't pull a Keith Jarrett and walk off the stage.

The second set is harder-rocking and also more intimate and acoustic. Stills' guitar shines. "In Your Name" is a new-ish song (2007) about the violence and atrocities committed in the name of whatever we call our higher power. Pointedly, they dedicate it to the families of people killed in the Sikh temple shooting in Milwaukee earlier in the week. "North Country Fair" is a Bob Dylan cover, with just CSN and Stills on acoustic guitar. It's gorgeous. 

"In Your Name" hinted at things to come; this is also the more political set of the show. Crosby introduces "What Are Their Names" by saying, "The men who wrote our constitution did not intend that the guy with the biggest TV budget gets the keys to the kingdom." I think "Names" must be new but learn later that Crosby wrote it in 1971. Some people in the Orpheum crowd are not amused. We hear a few anti-Obama shouts, and "The right to bear arms!" and "We came to hear music, not your politics!" and, when one of the trio mentions that he's recently been in Japan, "You should have stayed there!" It almost gets ugly. The band plays on. 

The next song, for which I don't catch the title, is a new Crosby composition; he says this is only the second time he has performed it live. It's about the life of a young prostitute. A human rights song. The crowd doesn't quite know what to do with it, and they're largely silent throughout, but they applaud at the end. "Guinevere" is just Crosby and Nash, with Crosby on guitar. Lovely. "Daylight Again" merges into "Find the Cost of Freedom," still the acoustic trio. The band returns for "Cathedral." "Immigration Man" could have been written yesterday; Nash wrote it in 1972, but it seems more incendiary today.  

I went into this concert knowing it would probably be an emotional experience for me, but I don't actually lose it until "Our House." Maybe because it's a love song and I'm a sucker for a good love song (and even some bad ones). Maybe because HH is holding my hand. Maybe because it's a beautifully framed watercolor of a perfect moment in time: sweet, innocent, safe. A place no one would ever want to leave. 

Two rockers to end: "Almost Cut My Hair" and a ramped-up "Wooden Ships." One encore: "Teach Your Children."

Two generous, lengthy sets. Many high points. Timeless songs, shimmering harmonies. Crosby, Stills and Nash might not be doing this in ten years, but they're doing it now, and if they come your way, you should catch them if you can.

CD Review: Jeremy Siskind's "Finger-Songwriter"

l2r: Jeremy Siskind, Nancy Harms,
Lucas Pino
Source: bjurecords.com

The third song on the latest recording by pianist/composer Jeremy Siskind asks, “What is that feeling you feel?” You might ask yourself that question as you hear “Finger-Songwriter,” an exquisitely beautiful hour-long journey of emotion, intimacy, poetry and reflection.

Siskind, a terrific young pianist who studies with Sophia Rosoff* and Fred Hersch, is joined by two kindred spirits for his third CD (after “Prophecy” in 2007 and “Simple Songs” in 2010): Nancy Harms and Lucas Pino. Harms is a singer of considerable gifts; she’s a storyteller, a flirt, a blithe spirit, a deeply serious interpreter of song, and a femme fatale whose voice includes just enough breath to knock you over. I’ve been enchanted by her since I first saw her sing in April 2008. Pino is new to me, but his saxophones and clarinets close the circle of Siskind’s piano and Harms’s voice. Together they make a whole. The bass and drums aren’t missed, although Pino’s bass clarinet sometimes (and at just the right times) sounds like arco double bass.

(* I’m guessing most of you know who Fred Hersch is but some of you might not be familiar with Sophia Rosoff. See Sarah Deming’s “The Emotional Rhythm of Sophia Rosoff.” Siskind makes an appearance in this fascinating piece.)

Because of how it unfolds, “Finger-Songwriter” should be experienced as a whole, from start to finish. If you skip around or download single tracks, you’ll miss the point, at least on first listen. Once you’ve heard it through a few times, it’s okay to have favorites.

The opening song, “One Art (for Elizabeth Bishop),” introduces the theme of loss, which is thoroughly explored by the time we reach the final song, “Theme for a Sunrise (for H.W. Longfellow)." Rather than compose new lyrics, Siskind, who holds a Master’s in English and Comparative Literature from Columbia, mined and “Frankensteined” (his word) literary texts by writers including Bishop, Seamus Heaney, Kerouac, Borges, Wallace Stevens, Nabokov, and Longfellow. Why more composers don't do this is a mystery.

“One Art,” a wistful waltz, begins on piano, softly, delicately. About two minutes in, Pino’s saxophone enters whispering, repeating and ornamenting the melody. Almost four minutes pass before Harms sings: “I’d like to learn how to lose/By losing something new every day … I was so good at losing you … You smiled through tears in the winter’s frost/Perhaps you knew that without you I’m lost.” Once through, not repeated, and devastating.

In “Vanished Music, Twilit Water (for Seamus Heaney),” Harms does something I’ve never heard her do: jump an octave. Who’s surprised that the results are perfect and pure? I’m not. This is already one of the most remarkable recordings I’ve heard in a very long time. Siskind is known mainly as a jazz pianist, Harms as a jazz singer, but this is chamber music and these are art songs. In the bluesy “What Is That Feeling? (for Jack Kerouac),” the music swings, at first in a loose and lazy way, then hard, fronted by Pino’s tenor saxophone. The lyrics are world-weary: “The two-lane highway is endless night … Switching off the headlights, you park the car and start to cry.” In “A Single Moment (for Lisa Hannigan),” which begins with Harms a cappella, we’re given a glimmer of hope in lyrics sung through a veil of breath with a hint of a smile. “The Inevitable Letdown (for Steven Millhauser)” is all sass and attitude, infused with roadhouse stride. With “Mirrors I (for Borges)” we’re back to ballads, which is probably where this trio is strongest due to Siskind’s gorgeous, painterly compositions and an ability all three share: to play (or sing) with gauzy softness without sacrificing meaning or articulation. You’ll hold your breath and lean in to hear, but it’s all there. “Mirrors I” ends abruptly – almost too abruptly. Pino’s arco-bass-clarinet simply fades.

For “More Mist than Moon (for Wallace Stevens),” Siskind doesn’t even give Harms real lyrics to sing. Her wordless syllables soar above the music. We’re clearly in the land of the art song now, and this is a lovely example. Over and over, on “Finger-Songwriter,” Harms stretches her voice, pushing it higher than she has in the past. It’s exciting new territory.

“Swift-Winged Darkness (for Vladimir Nabokov)” is part tango, part Edgar Allan Poe: “Swift-winged darkness falls/It’s creeping down the stairwell as we drink a farewell toast and reminisce/I wonder if I should give you one last poisoned kiss?” Deliciously sinister, performed with wit and style. “Mirrors II (for Borges)” is a reflection of “Mirrors I” and ends as abruptly. Siskind makes an interesting choice to separate them rather than follow one with the other. Maybe he’s influenced by Borges’ fear of mirrors?* “Aubade (for Paul Auster)” is chordy and romantic. The word “aubade” means “a morning love song; a song or poem of lovers parting at daybreak.” Knowing this, we hear it differently. Harms adds a shimmer of vibrato, over which Pino’s bass clarinet casts shadows, like passing clouds. Siskind’s song cycle has emerged from the night into the light.

(* “I was always afraid of mirrors,” Borges said in 1971. “I had three large mirrors in my room when I was a boy and I felt very acutely afraid of them, because I saw myself in the dim light – I saw myself thrive over, and I was very afraid of the thought that perhaps the three shapes would begin moving by themselves.” — from “Borges: A Life” by James Woodall.)

“Theme for a Sunrise (for H.W. Longfellow),” technically the final song on the album, is the last of Siskind’s original compositions. It opens with a tricky, intricate dance between Harms’ voice and Pino’s clarinet: two overlapping, interlacing melodies, with jeweled glissandos from Siskind’s piano. It’s upbeat, joyful, set to the words of a pastoral poem: “I heard the shepherd sing in gentle swell a merry tune … I heard a bird in flight and saw the valley bathed in light.” (Here’s Longfellow’s “Sunrise on the Hills,” for comparison.) 

Siskind could have left us sunlit and contented, but he adds a bonus track, “All You Wanna Do Is Dance (for Billy Joel),” where the mood is “Loss and longing be damned, let’s party.” Siskind’s piano sparkles, Pino’s growling bass clarinet and its repeated ascending figure are almost comical, and Harms is wry and saucy. It’s a turn-that-frown-upside-down finish to an album that starts out dark and gets darker, plumbs the depths of heartbreak, touches on numbness and despair, and delivers a happy ending. Bravos all around.

_____________

“Finger-Songwriter was released in May 2012 by Brooklyn Jazz Underground Records. It’s available on CD through CD Baby and as a download on amazon. The trio is on tour through July 30 and will play a concert tonight (Saturday, July 21) at Jazz Central in Minneapolis.  Check Siskind’s website (click “Peer Into the Future”) to learn where they’re going next.

Rilke meets Tennessee Williams in George Maurer's "Autumn Song"

George Maurer by John Whiting

On Monday, July 23, German poet Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926) and American playwright Tennessee Williams (1911-1983) will meet on stage at St. Joan of Arc Church in Minneapolis. They’ll talk about poetry and love, desire and the questions we all ask as we go through life. We in the audience will witness their conversation, born in the imaginations of composer/pianist George Maurer and theater director Jef Hall-Flavin, sung and acted by Dieter Bierbrauer and Jared Oxborough.

Maurer’s new theatrical production, “Autumn Song,” has its world premiere at St. Joan of Arc, after which (in September) it travels to the Tennessee Williams Theater Festival in Provincetown, Massachusetts. For those who mostly know Maurer from his festive, jovial Christmas shows, “Autumn Song” will come as a surprise. For Maurer, this project is personal, emotional, and spiritual. He calls it “my Sistine Chapel … a serious work that will probably take my lifetime to build. Even as I add to it and touch it up, it continues to transform.”

I spoke with Maurer by phone earlier this week.

PLE: When did you first get interested in Rilke, and why?

George Maurer: When I was 18 and a college freshman, starting to ask those big questions: What am I doing here? What am I supposed to do? Who am I supposed to be? I was going for my degree in music composition at St. John’s University in Collegeville. My German professor handed me a copy of “Letters to a Young Poet.” I’ve been noticing Rilke ever since.

Why does Rilke remain important to you?

Rainer Maria Rilke

In 2003, right after the ending of a 10-year relationship, I picked Rilke back up with some earnestness. Again, I was looking for answers. I was also looking to do the intuitive artist’s thing and create something out of chaos. Rilke seemed to be the sealant that held all of that together. It made sense.

I was going to have the same monk professor who gave me the “Letters” book – Mark Thamert, OSB – read a particular Rilke poem I liked. I planned to record it, then try and create some piano stuff underneath it, to accompany it. In the course of reading the poem I wanted him to read, he asked, “Have you heard this other poem?” He was referring to Rilke’s “Liebes-Lied” – “Love Song.” It had this beautiful imagery about the spheres of a relationship. “How can I do my work without thinking of you too much?” That sort of thing. “How do I love you without possessing you? How can you leave me alone so I can get my work done?” The great image is – we’re like two strings on a fiddle. Two notes being drawn by one bow. “What fiddler holds us in his hands?” Rilke loved the unanswered questions. A lot his poems – the ones I’ve set to music – include unanswered questions.

What happened next was I started working on “Stations of the Heart,” a song cycle commissioned by Nautilus Music-Theater that I wrote with librettist Jim Payne. I was setting rhyming, metered verses to the AABA song form when I started to wonder, “Maybe there’s a way to manipulate translations of Rilke to fit this form.” I found Stephen Mitchell’s translations, and the Anita Barrows and Joanna Macy translations, and started thinking, “Let me see if I can manipulate Rilke into the AABA form.” That’s where the song “Autumn Day” came from. It fit into a nice gospel music package. I recorded it in 2003, it became a favorite, and it emboldened me to do more.

I started researching Rilke, reading biographies, and discovering more about what he was about and what was important to him. I began picking certain poems to set to music. Over the years, I have finished 13. I made a pilgrimage to Prague [Rilke’s birthplace] in 2006 and wrote “The Panther” there, in a little beatnik backpacker’s teashop in the heart of old Prague. Later, when I went back, I found a painting of a panther on the wall over the spot where I had written the song. [That seemed like] a sign.

I was gradually going over more complicated stuff by Rilke. Around 2007 I started giving concerts of this music, performing it live in church settings and the Dakota.

Where does Tennessee Williams enter in?

Tennessee Williams

[Director] Jef Hall-Flavin is a big fan of the George Maurer Group. He’s also the executive director for the annual Tennessee Williams Theater Festival in Provincetown. He’s the one who told me that Williams loved Rilke.

Tennessee discovered Rilke, along with other poets, when he went to Washington University in the 1930s. He felt that Rilke especially spoke to him when he lived in Provincetown in the summer of 1940 and several summers after that. Rilke’s themes found their way into some of his one-act plays. He used the first “Duino Elegy” as a framework for one of his plays, about two lovers being torn apart. There’s enough of a connection that Rilke can be considered a strong influence on Tennessee Williams.

Last year I learned that the theme of the 2012 Tennessee Williams Festival would be “Tennessee Williams and Music.” This set the stage for Jef and I to develop a conversation between Tennessee and Rilke, through their poetry. They sing to each other through the poetry.

I’ve also set two Tennessee Williams poems to music. One is “Across the Space Between a Bed and a Chair.” The other is “Request,” the poem he wrote to the only woman he was ever in a relationship with. We split up some of Rilke’s poetry so some of the lines are sung by Tennessee. He asks the questions Rilke asks in his poems.

How does it work?

It works great. I’ve always said the music serves to illuminate the poetry and has never gotten in the way. Yet I’ve been able to work improv sections into some of these songs. The music is totally original, melding together the jazz influences, the music theater influences, and the orchestrations I’ve been doing for other projects. The melodies are a blend of jazz, gospel, and art song.

And we’ve added visuals. Chuck Norwood, someone I’ve worked with for many years at the Paramount Theater in St. Cloud, designed the lighting. The stage is a thrust stage, with the audience on three sides and the musicians off to one side, in black, not highlighted. The focus is on two platforms in the center – one is Rilke’s, the other Tennessee’s – and the interaction between them.

You don't just read a poem once and get it right away. It's something you have to reflect on, ponder, and linger over. We're asking people to listen, experience phrases and textures, and not try and grasp everything too fast. Whether they grasp it or not, they'll feel it. It's rare to match poetry to music in this way.

Just to be clear, Rilke and Tennessee Williams never actually met in real life.

“Autumn Song” is their first opportunity to meet each other.

______________________

Upcoming performances of "Autumn Song," composed by George Maurer, poems by Rainer Maria Rilke and Tennessee Williams, directed by Jef Hall-Flavin:

• 7:30 p.m. Monday, July 23, 2012, St. Joan of Arc Church, Minneapolis, MN. Tickets here.

• 7:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 21, 2012, Town Hall, Provincetown, MA. Tickets here.

• 2 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 22, Town Hall, Provincetown, MA. Tickets here.

• 8 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 22, Town Hall, Provincetown, MA. Tickets here.

2013 NEA Jazz Masters Announced

This just in from the NEA. Recall that proposed funding cuts in 2011 almost ended this prestigious and important program. Instead, it continues in an unbroken line since 1982, each year calling national and international attention to men and women whose artistry and advocacy sustain and support this vital American art form.

I had the pleasure of interviewing Mose Allison in late 2008. See the links under Interviews in the column at the right.

National Endowment for the Arts Announces the 2013 NEA Jazz Masters, Nation's Highest Honor in Jazz

Washington, DC – Dizzy Gillespie. Count Basie. Ella Fitzgerald. Herbie Hancock. Names of the greatest purveyors of America's homegrown art form, jazz -- and all NEA Jazz Masters. Today, the National Endowment for the Arts adds four new names to the list with the announcement of the 2013 NEA Jazz Masters. Like the 124 honorees who came before them, these four individuals are recognized for their lifetime achievements and significant contributions to the development and performance of jazz. They will each receive a one-time award of $25,000.

The 2013 NEA Jazz Masters are:

Mose Allison, pianist, vocalist, composer
      Born in Tippo, Mississippi, currently lives in Long Island, New York

Lou Donaldson, saxophonist
       Born in Badin, North Carolina, currently lives in New York, New York

*Lorraine Gordon, jazz club owner
       Born in Newark, New Jersey, currently lives in New York, New York

Eddie Palmieri, pianist, bandleader, arranger, composer
       Born in New York, New York, currently lives in Las Vegas, Nevada

* Lorraine Gordon is the recipient of the 2013 A.B. Spellman NEA Jazz Masters Award for Jazz Advocacy, which is bestowed upon an individual who has contributed significantly to the appreciation, knowledge, and advancement of the art form of jazz.

Full profiles of the 2013 NEA Jazz Masters are available on the NEA's website.

NEA Chairman Rocco Landesman said, "Each of the 2013 NEA Jazz Masters has made an indelible mark on jazz as we know it today. Mose Allison's fusion of jazz and blues has created a new sound uniquely his own, influencing scores of musicians and songwriters after him. Lou Donaldson has been a major force not just as a musician but also as a scout for new talent for the Blue Note label. Eddie Palmieri successfully combines the sounds of his Puerto Rican heritage with the jazz music he grew up with as a first-generation American. And Lorraine Gordon continues to provide a haven for jazz musicians to present their art at the Village Vanguard. I look forward to celebrating their achievements and contributions to this important American art form."

Each member of the 2013 NEA Jazz Masters class is a distinguished artist whose significant lifetime contributions have helped to enrich jazz and further the growth of the art form:

• Mose Allison is not just a superior talent as an instrumentalist and singer, but also as a songwriter. Adept in both the blues and jazz, he defies categorization and has been a major influence on musicians, regardless of genre, for more than 50 years.

• Lou Donaldson's distinctive blues-drenched alto saxophone has been a bopping force in jazz for more than six decades. His early work with trumpeter Clifford Brown is considered one of the first forays into hard bop, and his recordings with organist and NEA Jazz Master Jimmy Smith led to the groove-filled jazz of the 1960s and '70s.

• A jazz haven for more than 55 years, the Village Vanguard is the longest-running jazz club in New York City and is still going strong under the ownership of Lorraine Gordon. Since 1957, when NEA Jazz Master Sonny Rollins recorded one of the first recording sessions at the club, the Vanguard has been the place to record a live jazz album, with its exceptional acoustics and intimate space.
  
• Known as one of the finest Latin jazz pianists of the past 50 years, Eddie Palmieri is also known as a bandleader of both salsa and Latin jazz orchestras. His playing skillfully fuses the rhythm of Puerto Rico with the melody and complexity of his jazz influences: Thelonious Monk and NEA Jazz Masters Herbie Hancock and McCoy Tyner.

The NEA will again partner with Jazz at Lincoln Center to produce an awards ceremony and concert in honor of the 2013 NEA Jazz Masters,  that will be webcast live on Monday, January 14, 2013 on arts.gov and jalc.org/neajazzmasters. The ceremony will also be simulcast on SiriusXM Satellite Radio.

Nomad Jazz Series ends this month, Icehouse adds improvised/creative music shows

Bassist/composer/bandleader James Buckley, curator of the latest installment of the Nomad Jazz Series since August 2011, has announced that the series will end at the close of this month (July 2012). Two shows remain, each demonstrating the imagination with which the series has been programmed.

• July 19: Leisure Valley: Bruce Thornton (clarinet), Patrick Harison (accordion), Chris Bates (bass), Joey Van Phillips (drums)

• July 25: Deconunisms: Luke Polipnick (guitar), Devin Drobka (drums), John Christiansen (bass)

Music starts at 10. No cover.

(Local music trivia: I learned the other day that "Van" is actually Joey Phillips' middle name, not a nobiliary particle, the technical term for those odd little bits in names like "van," "von," "de" and "d'." Anyway, I thought that was interesting. Moving on.)

Meanwhile, Buckley has a brand-new gig: booking several shows each week at Icehouse, the new very hot spot on Eat Street. These are the times and events he's programming:

• Wednesdays from 10:30 p.m. - close (World Beat Wednesdays)
• Thursdays from 10:30 p.m. - close (Showcase Night; team effort with Brian Liebeck)
• Fridays from 6:30 - 9:30 p.m. (dinner set; piano/bass duo)
• Fridays from 11 p.m. - close (Lounge Night; with Brian Liebeck)
• Saturdays from 6:30 - 9:30 p.m. (dinner set; piano/bass duo)
• Saturdays from 11 p.m. - close (Lounge Night; with Brian Liebeck)
• Sundays from 11 a.m. - 2 p.m. (Revival Brunch)

Check the online events calendar for specifics.

Add these dates to JT Bates's Monday-night Jazz Implosion (sets at 9:30 p.m. and 11:30 p.m.) and the music at Icehouse is looking very good for fans of improvised/creative music. Some might call it jazz, and some will, but let's not get too hung up on terminology, especially with a word that carries so much baggage these days it would not be allowed on most commercial airlines. What I've seen so far at Icehouse is music I enjoy by some of the finest musicians in the Twin Cities, all of whom can play pretty much anything. That's what keeps me coming back for more.

BTW, Buckley needs a website.

Chrysler named 2012 Detroit Jazz Festival Presenting Sponsor

This press release from DL Media made me happy. Reminded me of back when there was a Mercedes-Benz Stage at the Twin Cities Jazz Festival, when it was held in Minneapolis. Congratulations and thanks to Chrysler for supporting this worthy cause.

Chrysler named 2012 Detroit Jazz Festival Presenting Sponsor

The world's largest free jazz festival branded "Imported from Detroit"

Today the Detroit Jazz Festival announced that the Chrysler brand will be the official presenting sponsor for the 2012 festival. The sponsorship is an extension of its successful "Imported from Detroit" campaign, celebrating the spirit and determination of Detroit and its residents.

"The automotive industry and jazz music both have rich histories in the city of Detroit. The partnership between Chrysler and the Detroit Jazz Festival bridges these great histories and brings key elements of our city together," said Gretchen Valade, chair of the Detroit Jazz Festival Foundation board of directors. "Welcoming Chrysler as a presenting sponsor, and hosting its vehicles for a ride and drive, further proves this year will be the best festival we've seen yet."

The Chrysler brand is also the exclusive ride and drive sponsor participating with a unique activation at the festival, offering attendees the chance to test-drive some of the top vehicles on the road. On-site, Chrysler will offer attendees the chance to drive the 2012 product lineup that includes the Chrysler 200, Chrysler 300 and the Chrysler Town & Country minivan.

"The Detroit Jazz Festival is just one of the many jewels of this city, it draws international acclaim and lets Detroit shine," said Saad Chehab, President and CEO - Chrysler Brand, Chrysler Group LLC. "The Chrysler brand is proud to be a part of this celebration of music and people, which imports a little bit of Detroit to the rest of the world."

The 33rd annual Detroit Jazz Festival will feature a one-of-a-kind lineup of today's greatest jazz performers. The artists at this year's festival have been nominated for more than 200 and won more than 100 Grammy Awards, composed film scores and traveled the world to perform. The 2012 headliners include:

• Sonny Rollins

• Wynton Marsalis

• Chick Corea and Gary Burton, with strings

• Wayne Shorter

• Pat Metheny

• And, 2012 Artist in Residence, Terence Blanchard

Live jazz calendar to continue on Jazz Police website

Earlier this month, I posted that the Live Jazz in the Twin Cities calendar would end on August 1. Several people wrote that they were sad to see it go. Thanks to all of you for your kind words and your close attention over the years.

Today I'm pleased to announce that the calendar will continue on the Jazz Police website, under the direction of founder and webmaster Don Berryman. As many of you know, Don has long been a great friend and supporter of jazz in the Twin Cities. Jazz Police is national in scope, but those of us who live in and around the Twin Cities (or travel here) appreciate the thoroughness with which it covers the local jazz scene. With Don at the helm, the calendar will continue to be a comprehensive guide to live jazz in our area. I plan to visit it often.

It's my understanding that Don will launch his calendar sometime during the last week in July. Check the Jazz Police site as that time approaches.

Musicians, keep reading.

• Starting today, send your news about upcoming gigs to tc@jazzpolice.com. Any jazz calendar-related email sent to bebopified@gmail.com will be forwarded to that address.

• If you value the live jazz calendar — which is free publicity for all of you — I strongly encourage you to make Don's job a little easier by letting him know about your gigs. Drop him an email once or twice a month telling him when and where you're playing, with whom, and for how much (cover charge, ticket price, tip jar?). If you think you don't have time for this, imagine how much time it takes to check the calendars on venues' websites, the calendars on individual artists' and bands' websites, and (more recently) Facebook postings and tweets. Seriously, sending Don an email won't kill you, and it will help to keep the calendar alive.

P.S. Although I will no longer be the keeper of the live jazz calendar, I write this blog (probably more often now), I write a twice-weekly arts column for MinnPost.com (it's called Artspace, and it runs on Tuesdays and Fridays), and jazz is still my first love. So feel free to keep me on your email list.