WGBH - Music RSS

Celtic Wonder Carlos Nu�ez Visits Somerville

Mon, 15 Oct 2012 23:08 PM +0000

Born in Galicia, Spain, Carlos Nuñez began playing the bagpipes at the age of eight. He met Paddy Moloney of The Chieftains (now celebrating 50 years as a group) when he was a teenager . He later became known as the "7th member" of the band. He travels worldwide, sharing Celtic, Berber, Flamenco and Breton music with his audiences and he has collaborated with legendary musicians like Ry Cooder, Sharon Shannon, Sinéad O'Connor and Altan. In Europe, Nuñez plays to sold out stadiums and arenas. He has toured throughout the world and continues to wow audiences with his high-spirited music.

Nunez included a stop at The Burren Irish Pub in Somerville, Mass., hosted by WGBH's Brian O'Donovan, as part of his first major US tour.

Performers
Carlos Nuñez -- Galician piper
Xurxo Nuñez -- Percussion
Katie McNally -- Fiddle
Pancho Álvarez -- Guitar

Of Monsters and Men appear on Sound Tracks

Thu, 04 Oct 2012 01:40 AM +0000

The Nordic pop group Of Monsters and Men performs their smash hit, "Little Talks", for the new World music show on PBS: Sound Tracks. Presenting stirring performances and soulful interviews, this is music without borders from across the globe. Watch online or on WGBH 2 this Friday at 9pm.

Liz Longley Sings in Harvard Square

Mon, 01 Oct 2012 17:32 PM +0000

John Mayer describes her music as, "gorgeous, just gorgeous." With a voice that will stop you in your tracks, Liz Longley is an undeniable "rising acoustic sensation" according to Dig Boston. The Washington Post declares she is "destined for a bigger audience."

Longley is a recent graduate of the world renowned Berklee College of Music in Boston. She now lives in Nashville, TN, and is working on a new album scheduled to be released in early 2013.

She stopped by Harvard Square in Cambridge, MA, on a gorgeous late summer afternoon to perform her award winning song "When You've Got Trouble".

See more music videos of music made here in Boston on the WGBH Music channel.

The good life returns to Prowse Farm

Thu, 20 Sep 2012 14:23 PM +0000

Michael Franti (photo by Rich Gaswirt.)

September 20, 2012

The Life is good Festival just doesn’t make sense. Or more correctly, the success of the Life is good Festival just doesn’t make sense.

For starters, the two-day music festival created by the Life is good clothing company and staged at Prowse Farm in Canton defies easy genre categorization. This year, jam-band dynamic duo Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds, soul queen Sharon Jones, funketeer Trombone Shorty, contemporary pop songstress Sara Bareilles, and hip-hop rooted singer Michael Franti are part of the mix. But festival’s biggest buzz-generator is the Fresh Beat Band from its namesake children’s television show.

Yup, Life is good presents the best in kids and family music alongside marquee names in pop and rock.

Tim Reynolds and Dave Matthews (photo by Danny Clinch.)

The Life is good Festival started as a kids music fest held on Boston Common. When festival organizers began plotting something bigger two years ago, they visited other successful fests around the country.

“We went to Bonnaroo and Austin City Limits, and they told us. ‘You guys have a good thing with the kids festival, stick to that.’ But we believed we could have a mixed audience,” recalls James Macdonald, Life is good’s director of good vibes (really, that’s his job). “But you know, in our first year when you had Ziggy Marley playing and you saw 20-something hippies side-by-side with button-down parents who drove in with their kids, we knew you could mix the audiences. I mean everyone loves when a little kid is rocking out, and that’s what you saw.”

Linking the festival’s three stages of music are a variety of kid-friendly games and activities ranging from beanbag tosses to this year’s addition of disc golf.

The other pleasant surprise the Life is good Festival organizers discovered was just how much money it could raise for kids in need by switching from a free event to a paid, ticketed event.

“When something is free, I think people try and make it as free as possible,” Macdonald says.

Last year, the festival generated more than $1 million for Playmakers, which works with kids facing various hardships. Macdonald says the fundraising has become so successful because rather than treat the festival as a benefit concert, Life is good models itself after events such as the Pan-Mass Challenge and the Avon Walk, encouraging a more participatory form of fundraising.

Anyone can embark on a fundraising campaign for Playmakers, and the more money someone raises, the more benefits he or she can enjoy at the show. The backstage hospitality tents at Life is good, for example, are full of people who raised lots of money for the charity and find themselves mingling with likeminded fans and festival artists.

Life is good also does a good job presenting breakout artists, and this year people should be on the lookout for Sarah Jarosz, the fiery mandolin, guitar, and banjo player who earned a Grammy nomination in 2009, the same year she enrolled in the New England Conservatory of Music, where she recently returned for the fall semester.

Sarah Jarosz (photo source: sarahjarosz.com/photos.)

Even though the NEC is not that far from Life is good’s offices in the Back Bay, the festival team didn’t know about Jarosz until seeing her perform this year in Tennessee at Bonnaroo.

Like others encountering Jarosz for the first time, the Life is gooders were knocked off base by her crafty blend of traditional and contemporary influences.

“At this point, I don’t even consider my songs to be bluegrass anymore,” she says.

Raised near Austin in Wimberley, Texas, Jarosz got her first mandolin when she was 10 years old. She learned from old-timers, as young people just weren’t that involved in traditional music

Jarosz has since become part of an acoustic renaissance that involves a variety of young talent from the Carolina Chocolate Drops to Old Crow Medicine Show. There’s an especially vibrant scene around Boston, as seen when Jarosz was among those who hopped on stage with Crooked Still when that acoustic band celebrated its 10th anniversary at Somerville Theater last year.

“People don’t always think of Boston as a place with a big traditional or acoustic scene, but I’d put it near the top of the list,” Jarosz says.

Sort of like nobody thinking that a multi-generational music festival would be such a hit.

The Life is good Festival runs 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sept. 22 and 23 at Prowse Farm in Canton, MA. For tickets and performance schedules, go online to www.lifeisgood.com.

Preview: Jamaica Plain Music Festival

Wed, 05 Sep 2012 17:24 PM +0000

Amelia Emmet in 2011 peforming under the name Mr. Sister. This year the band
is called Thick Wild. (Photo credit: Adam Wells)

September 6, 2012

Scott Thompson says that about once a month he’s sure to hear, “Hey, I saw you at the JP Music Fest,” while riding to work on the Orange Line.

“I guess that makes me a minor local celebrity,” says Thompson, guitarist for the band Tallahassee. And he had better get used to the attention as Tallahassee will be back at the Jamaica Plain Music Festival this year.

The JP Music Fest popped up last year after a few plugged-in residents of this musically rich Boston neighborhood decided it was time to show off the talent making its home in Jamaica Plain.

Nearly 2,000 people attended the inaugural JP Music Fest, and organizers are expecting even more this year when the event returns to Pinebank baseball field on September 8th . To perform, a band must have at least one member who works or lives in Jamaica Plain. And bands must play original music in their sets. The festival runs noon to 7 p.m. and involves 25 performances, culled from 150 applications.

“The festival is eclectic enough that you end up meeting people you’ve maybe heard about but never met,” says Lenny Lashley, another returning performer. “We’re all traveling the same circles, playing the different clubs and different bills. This is throwing it all together.”

This year’s mash-up includes the rustic rock of Tallahassee and Lashley’s Gang of One; Mariachi Mexamerica; Irish singer Eamonn Bonner; members of the Jamaica Plain Symphony Orchestra and the Cambridge Symphony Orchestra; and esteemed songwriter Dennis Brennan.

Musician Rick Berlin and Midway Café owner Shamus Moynihan triggered the fest after a chance meeting in a laundromat where they posed the musical question: “Why isn’t there a music festival showcasing JP artists?”

Rick Berlin performs in 2011. (Photo credit: Adam Wells)

They pulled together a committee with community members who had expertise in navigating city permitting, marketing, setting up a sustainable not-for-profit business model, and handling technical logistics, (not to mention possessing a general enthusiasm for making the festival a success). Even the bands play for free.

Through local sponsorships, fundraising concerts and events, and online Kickstarter campaigns, the JP Music Fest has gathered enough dough to set up twin stages, so as one band plays, another gets ready to.

“Everyone plays from five–25 minutes, so it’s not a lot of songs,” says Berlin, who will be performing with the Nickel and Dime Band. “But if you don’t like something, it changes pretty quickly.”

And if you do like something, Tres Gatos, a JP eatery and music store, will have a mobile record store on hand selling CDs by the day’s performers.

Learning from experience, the JP music crew this year changed the orientation of the stages so sound doesn’t carry too far out of the fest grounds (while still taking advantage of what Berlin calls a “Lord of the Rings setting” on Jamaica Pond). They have also enlisted four food trucks as opposed to last years one.

Moynihan books eight shows a week into the Midway, but says setting up the fest is a whole other kind of project.

“At the club, you expect an off night. But there are seven nights of music,” he says. “With the festival, there’s one shot to get it right.”

For a sampling of the “right” music you’ll hear at the JP Music Fest, simply click the link for a digital mix tape of this year’s performers:

http://soundcloud.com/jpmusicfestival/jpmusicfestival2012

WGBH Opera Bash: Niobe, Regina di Tebe

Fri, 31 Aug 2012 10:42 AM +0000

This weekend is the annual WGBH Opera Bash, featuring some of today's biggest opera stars and incredible masterpieces, on WGBH 2 and 44, and on Classical New England.

French countertenor Philippe Jaroussky as Anfione, the King of Thebes. (Boston Early Music Festival)

Classical New England is proud to present the world broadcast premiere of what you could call a “screwball tragedy,” Agostino Steffani’s 1688 Opera Niobe: Regina di Tebe (“Niobe, Queen of Thebes”), a work that lay forgotten until its revival in 2008, and subsequent North American premiere at the 2011 Boston Early Music Festival.

The opera opens with Anfione, the King of Thebes (sung brilliantly by the emerging French countertenor Philippe Jaroussky), who wants nothing more than to hang up his scepter and immerse himself in metaphysical contemplation of the harmony of the spheres. But Anfione’s celestial ambitions are dashed by a litany of earthly troubles: a foreign invasion, a kidnapping, adultery by enchantment, a dancing bear and some very angry gods.

In Steffani's opera, the King of Thebes is at turns an enlightened demi-god, an enraged, jealous husband and a bellicose warrior-king…and that's just one of many complex characters in this spectacular opera, bringing to life Ovid's timeless tale of love, pride and divided loyalties. We also get Queen-with-attitude, Niobe herself (sung by Boston favorite Amanda Forsythe), the lovesick courtier Clearte (Kevin Skelton), who pines for Niobe, the enemy prince of Thessaly (Matthew White), who also has designs on the haughty Queen; Jose Lemos is the wisecracking nurse Nerea, Colin Balzer and Yulia Van Doren as the young lovers Tibernio and Manto; Charles Robert Stephens as Manto’s father, the blind soothsayer Tiresia; and Jesse Blumberg in a crackling role as the evil magician Poliferno. Stephen Stubbs and Paul O’Dette co-direct the Boston Early Music Festival Orchestra in a production recorded by WGBH engineers at the Cutler Majestic Theatre in Boston.

Niobe, Regina di Tebe Act I

Niobe, Regina di Tebe Act II

Niobe, Regina di Tebe Act III

Download program notes and libretto

Tanglewood: The Music Mecca of Western Mass.

Fri, 24 Aug 2012 14:16 PM +0000

August 24, 2012

It took a determined Russian, an insatiable audience and one very fierce storm to create the New England music festival that now ranks among the world’s greatest. Located in the foothills of the Berkshires of Western Massachusetts, the site's vistas are sublime, the pace is a slow tempo and there is literally music in the breeze. For 75 years, this has been the home of Tanglewood, America’s summer musical oasis.

“To be able to come here in the summer and hear the crickets at night and the wind in the trees during the day and think about music is a dream,” says laureate conductor and famed composer John Williams.

During the summer of 2012, Tanglewood celebrates its 75^th anniversary and a legacy that has evolved from a simple summer music festival into what Williams calls “the spiritual home of music in America.”

“It is a precious spot in our country. It is one of those magical places where you can come sit….and music one is writing is more than conducive. It’s very, very helpful,” Williams said.

Tanglewood was created in 1937 by Boston Symphony Orchestra music director Serge Koussevitzky. It was composed out of a promise and a problem, says BSO managing director Mark Volpe.

Koussevitzky "wanted a place to train the next generation of musicians," Volpe explains. "Another reason for Tanglewood is much more pragmatic. You had this orchestra which at that point was very gender-specific (it was all men), and the men would all go back to Europe because they were almost all European. Then they’d meet a fraulein and they wouldn’t come back, so you never knew in October what orchestra you’d have." So Koussevitzky wanted a way to employ the musicians year-round so he could keep and build an orchestra.

So Koussevitzky made Lenox, Mass., the BSO’s summer home. It had already been a literary retreat for writers like Hawthorne and Melville, and on that first summer season, well-heeled concert-goers were bowled over — almost literally.

“We had a tent up here and the tent got blown away by a big storm and hence within a few months they raised enough money to build a shed,” Volpe says.

The Shed, as it’s affectionately known is the centerpiece of the Tanglewood campus today, a complex that features stately homes, rehearsal “huts” and the majestic Ozawa Hall. But the Shed is where hundreds of thousands of people settle into seats or on the sprawling lawn every summer — as drawn to the place as to the staggering array of international artists who’ve insisted they appear here for 75 years, says Boston Pops conductor Keith Lockhart.

“From the very first couple of years when Koussevitzky was here and young people by the name of Copeland and Bernstein were studying with him, it really has become something beyond a music institute where people come and hear a bunch of concerts. It stands for an approach to music that’s grounded in a place of great natural beauty that is away from the rapid-fire way in which our urban lives tend to work,” Lockhart says.

“I do walk the grounds often,” says Williams. “Since I’m writing music, I’m sitting down all the time, and to get up and walk for an hour or so everyday is something that I’ve found is essential for me.”

Many of Williams’ historic Hollywood scores were composed at least in part on the campus. It is also fertile ground for young 20-something musicians who train and perform here each summer as part of the Tanglewood Music Center, a prestigious fellowship organization directed by Ellen Highstein and founded by Koussevitzky.

“There’s something to be said for the fact that if you have people who are really excellent and really devoted, something will continue. They’ll make it continue because they have to express it,” Highstein says.

“The best of what we are you can see in [the young musicians],” says Williams. “And the best of what we can become we see in these kids that come here and study. They have the same idealism in them.”

Tanglewood truly is its own symphony: a blend of dreams and conviction, of talent and beauty. It is an American music mecca whose pilgrims and preachers are unwavering.

Watch Jared's broadcast on Greater Boston

VIDEO: Lunasa at The Burren Irish Pub

Tue, 21 Aug 2012 16:18 PM +0000

Watch Lunasa perform "The Merry Sisters of Fate" at The Burren.

BOSTON — Earlier this month Lunasa, called "the hottest Irish acoustic band on the planet" by the Irish Times, joined Brian O'Donovan, host of A Celtic Sojourn on WGBH Radio, at The Burren Irish Pub in Somerville. O'Donovan hosts a regular feature there called The Burren Backroom Series, and has presented Celtic artists from Fiddler Winifred Horan to Solas to Frankie Gavin & De Dannan and Brid Harper.

Lunasa is named for an ancient Celtic harvest festival in honor of the Irish god Lugh, patron of the arts. The band includes some of the top musical talents in Ireland:

Seán Smyth -- Fiddle, Whistles
Kevin Crawford -- Flutes, Whistles
Trevor Hutchinson -- Double Bass
Cillian Vallely - Uillean pipes, Whistles
Ed Boyd - Guitar

Watch Lunasa perform ""Fleur de Mandragore /Ashplant"

Eric Jackson on Listening to Jazz

Mon, 20 Aug 2012 18:41 PM +0000

WGBH Jazz Host Eric Jackson at the Newport Jazz Festival. (Photo: Craig Harris)

WGBH's own "Dean of Boston Jazz Radio" Eric Jackson stopped by the Boston Public Radio soundbooth to discuss his recent experience at the Newport Jazz Festival, the concerts he's most looking forward to and what he listens to when he isn't listening to Jazz.

"Keep a paper and pencil handy. When you hear something you like, write that down and build a library of music you like," says Jackson about his curation of Jazz music on 89.7 FM and why he doesn't presume that he can give listeners a Top Ten list.

Listen to Eric talk with Boston Public Radio's Edgar B. Herwick III.

Music: Gregory Porter and "Be Good"

Mon, 20 Aug 2012 18:05 PM +0000

August 21, 2012

Gregory Porter (image source: www.gregoryporter.com.)

When Gregory Porter was a boy he was so infatuated by Nat King Cole that he imagined him to be his father.

Years later, as a professional singer, he would write a drama called “Nat King Cole and Me,” about growing up without a father yet finding solace in Cole’s soft and sultry voice.

Today, Porter is a Grammy nominated jazz vocalist with musical accents of gospel and soul. This deep baritone voice was supposed to be a football star; after an accident in college ended his football career, he turned to singing in school groups and at jazz clubs in San Diego.

Porter has had a theater career and two very successful CDs; both India Arie and Erykah Badu have invited him to collaborate. One of his personal goals is to work with the musician Herbie Hancock, which might just happen because Porter is just that good.

Porter will be performing at Scullers on Thursday, August 23. He spoke to me while in Oslo, via Skype, about his singing career and his personal relationship to music.

Do you write most of your songs?

I do write most of them, and I like to sing about love and all of its forms. The confused love. The backwards love. The clandestine love. Sometimes hate is a confused love. It’s saying, “I hate those people because I love those people so much.” That’s a confused love, but it’s still love. Hate stems from love.

I feel like I write best from my own emotions and my own experiences. Eventually, maybe I’ll run out of life experiences to sing about or talk about. But I get inspiration from the simplest of things. I was in a new relationship, and I remember the person being so brave with me. She took me to a garden party. She grabbed my hand and we just walked through the crowd of her friends, and she was proud to have me beside her. That inspired me to sing, “When did you learn the rules of love’s game…” Beautiful moments move me to feel musical moments. Something brought me to internal tears the other day. Some young people were being abused, and it came out as a musical moment, and I started to write something about it. I think if I stay that way, I’ll be okay. Whether it will be accepted by people or not, I write from my heart.

“Be Good” is a beautiful song. Is there a personal story behind it?

Yes. I remember riding home on my bike from the breakup with this woman who I call Be Good, and I was feeling like I needed a consoling lullaby, which is what “Be Good” is, a grown man’s lullaby. I was still strong, but in a way I was vulnerable. As soon as I got home, I started to write the song. She admired me as you would a lion at the circus, and she marveled at me, and she always told me I was great, but she kept me in this friend cage. She admired my mane and my roar, but never enough so that she allowed me to roam around and be free and love her like I wanted to when I wanted to. It was always when it was convenient for her, during visiting hours at the zoo.

Who directed the lovely video for the song?

Pierre Bennu directed the video for “Be Good.” It’s so amazing because all the people in the video are from my neighborhood of Bedford Stuyvesant. The dancer is from DC. The little girl lives one block away from me. The male actor is a friend of ours who lives a couple of blocks away. The producer is my brother. Pierre used to live a couple of blocks away. We’re all professionals, but were also a community of people. I love the way the video came out. It’s colorful and visual and interesting. It doesn’t completely follow the story of the song. In the song, I never get to dance with this girl who’s constantly dancing around me.

“1960 What?” was obviously inspired by that decade, but what else are you trying to say in this song?

I remember thinking about the Civil Rights Movement when I wrote it. We look at it in black and white pictures, literally, and we think it was so long ago. I was born in 1971, and 1968 was three years before I was born. I got to thinking, my mother died 20 years ago and it’s so fresh and so painful for me today. The emotions and feelings of that time not only existed at that time but they carry on for life. Martin Luther King wasn’t just assassinated in 1968, the pain from that lasted for a while, up until the time that I was born and even now, but 1960, what? 1960, who? Who? Who? Who was assassinated in the1960s? So many people were and it was happening in so many places, all over the country, and so a song about when and where and who? You pick a date. Some people think I’m saying 1961, but I’m talking about all of the years within that decade. I’m also talking about the absurdity and the pain of treating one part of your society unjustly. It’s like cutting off your hand. Why would you cut off your hand? Why would you cut off your foot? Where do you think those people are going to go?

It’s only smart to treat your neighbor right because they live next door to you. So it’s a song about the absurdity of treating people wrong, and the absurdity of the people who have been treated unjustly. Generally, we burn our neighborhoods and our own stores and I know what it is. It’s self-mutilation, and it’s not just an American phenomenon, which should make people think that these people are in pain; these are people setting themselves on fire are hurting and it’s not right.

Scullers Jazz Club
400 Soldiers Field Road
Boston, MA 02134

The Boston Globe and WGBH Summer Arts Weekend Roundup

Fri, 17 Aug 2012 17:13 PM +0000

View the story "Boston Summer Arts Weekend 2012 in Copley Square" on StorifyBoston Summer Arts Weekend 2012 in Copley SquareWGBH and The Boston Globe partnered to present the first Summer Arts Weekend. All the events were free to the public and took place over the weekend of July 27th in the heart of Copley Square. Storified by · Fri, Aug 10 2012 16:01:50Governor Deval Patrick is helping to kick-off #BosSummerArtsWknd! http://pic.twitter.com/Ws99tZ47Erin CallananFRIDAY, JULY 27, 2012
#BosSummerArtsWknd in T-minus 3 hours!WGBHFollow our contributors @StacyJJBuchanan @bridgitbrown @kriswilton @marytinti & @ScottMcLennan1 at #BosSummerArtsWknd http://ow.ly/cw5E1WGBHArtsOn the #9 & heading to Copley, let the good times roll w/ @sierrahull @PresHall @delmccouryband @IrmaTHomasNOLA @WGBHArts #BosSummerArtsWkndMary M. TintiIf you remembet the old Concerts on the Common you'll love Summer Arts in Copley Square #WGBHArtsScott McLennanBoston! http://instagr.am/p/NjesuWNnXn/Sierra HullRT @wgbharts: Follow our contributors @StacyJJBuchanan @bridgitbrown @kriswilton @marytinti & @ScottMcLennan1 at #BosSummerArtsWkndBoston Globe EventsFriday July 27 marked the kick-off of the first ever WGBH/Boston Globe Summer Arts Weekend. WGBHArts contributors enthusiastically gathered on Copley Square to cover the weekend for arts fans. Despite the threat of rain, a large audience jammed Copley Square armed with umbrellas, blankets, and lawn chairs. Follow the storytelling via Twitter, photo, and video from: Bridgit Brown, Stacy Buchanan, Scott McLennan, Mary Tinti, and Kris Wilton.
So looking forward to ending this LONG week w/the sweet sounds of PHJB @PresHall @WGBHArts free+live in Copley tonight! #BosSummerArtsWkndMary M. Tinti@marytinti wears the coolest shoes! http://pic.twitter.com/CVQbNSqyBridgitThe stage is getting set for some killer bands to play in Copley this weekend! #BosSummerArtswknd #wgbharts http://pic.twitter.com/NRgaZwctMary M. TintiPerformers looked forward to the weekend as well, tweeting from the scene as Sierra Hull (@sierrahull) did above, and in more tweets below.
We're back in the U.S. and ready to get down in Boston TOMORROW at the Summer Arts Festival! Showtime: 9:15pmThe Soul RebelsCan't wait to meet and hear the great @IrmaThomasNOLA at #BosSummerArtsWknd this evening.BridgitBrian O'Donovan is kicking off the festival - no rain!WGBHArtsBrian O'Donovan giving his intro #WGBHArts #BosSummerArtsWknd http://pic.twitter.com/Bj3m3bMNBridgitAudience arrives for Summer Arts Weekend - July 27, 2012basicblacknowMandolin fan Michael Ball sporting some fabulously jazzy eyewear at #bossummerartswknd love those yellow gla http://instagr.am/p/Nmo1tLJlw1/Mary M. TintiSierra Hull and Highway 111 opened the Arts Weekend. WGBHArts Blogger Kris Wilton had the chance to talk with Hull before the festival: "We'll be doing a couple of configurations. We'll be doing more of a traditional set, and I think Del McCoury is going to sit in with us along with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band. That should be really fun. We're all big fans of Del, and he's been a hero of ours for a really long time. And we'll also be doing stuff off of my albums and some other things people may recognize as well." said Hull.
Sierra Hull & Highway 111 http://pic.twitter.com/NTRAuNGsWGBHArtsSierra Hull & Highway 111 "Easy Come Easy Go"WGBHArtsNothing better than some rockin' mandolin...I dare you not to shimmy in your seat #bossummerartswknd @WGBHArtsMary M. TintiSierra Hull 2bbrowngirlMobilePhoto.jpgAdrienneLBSierra Hull fying on mandolin. What a mix.of Berklee training and heartfelt tradition.#WGBHArtsScott McLennanScott later told us that he'd gotten a new phone and was trying to get use to the keyboard; so of course he meant Sierra Hull was "flying" on mandolin:)
Oh yeah, and sorry for all the crappy phone typing in mobile tweets. Me write gooder on Saturday with Suzanne Vega et al #BosSummerArtsWkndScott McLennanA great crowd tappin' their toes to the tunes of @sierrahull #bossummerartswknd #wgbharts http://instagr.am/p/Nmj98DJl9V/Mary M. TintiTom was passing through and thinks this this is quite fun and "cooly chill." #BosSummerArtsWknd http://pic.twitter.com/C2agyc1IBridgitDel McCoury is in the square. Prez Hall setting up, chatting with fans stage side. Good vibe at Summer Arts Weekend. #WGBHArtsScott McLennanNext on the bill were the self-proclaimed ambassadors of New Orleans jazz, the Preservation Hall Jazz Band. Creative Director Ben Jaffe told WGBH "the music we play was handed down to us from the generation before and the generation before that, all the way back to before there was jazz! We're proud of our history, our community, our traditions&there's no place on earth like New Orleans." Check out Mary Tinti's full preview. PHJB was later joined by bluegrass icon Del McCoury, who was looking forward to the collaboration: "There is a lot of common language between New Orleans jazz and bluegrass. When we got in the recording studio we just came up with things as we went along,"LIVE! TONIGHT! PHJB w/ Special Guest Del McCoury WGBH / Boston Globe Summer Arts Weekend, Copley Square, Boston, MA! http://ow.ly/aamk6Preservation HallBombastic @presshall brass! The Peservation Hall Jazz Band totally bringin' it! @wgbharts http://instagr.am/p/NmqwwZJlyF/Mary M. Tintithe tuba player in @PresHall is like a party unto himself #wgbharts #bossummerartswkndKris WiltonWe defy you to stand still during @PresHall rendition of "I'll Fly Away" #BosSummerArtsWknd #jazz #WGBHArtsWhen I was in jazz band, our director used to say "blow my face off." pres hall totally blowing faces off. @PresHall #bossummerartswkndKris WiltonBrass! McCoury! @PresHall @delmccoury #bossumartswkend http://pic.twitter.com/zmUSNTeYKris WiltonPrez, Del and Sierra off on gospel tear iIl Fly AwayScott McLennanSwing dancing to the Preservation Hall Jazz Band in Copley SquarebasicblacknowAll of Copley Square is "flying away" with @PresHall right about now. Nowhere else i'd rather be... @wgbharts #bossummerartswkndMary M. TintiBrian O'Donovan the MC "Is it gonna be an early night?" Crowd says "No!" #BosSummerArtsWkndWGBHArtsIrma Thomas, Soul Queen of New Orleans closed the outdoor concert. It was also fun to know the Soul Queen of New Orleans joined Twitter just as Summer Arts Weekend kicked off!
Spread the word, Irma Thomas is now on twitter!Irma_thomas_OfficialEvery bit the soul queen of new orleans! @IrmaTHomasNOLA @wgbharts #bossummerartswknd http://instagr.am/p/Nm1EKIpl69/Mary M. TintiIrma Thomas bringing whole other dimension of the New Orleans soundScott McLennanTaking requests and taking no prisoners! You can have my husband but please don't mess with my man...@irmath http://instagr.am/p/Nm3PL-pl8o/Mary M. TintiIrma Thomas' voice is filling up Copley Square on a beautiful July night #WGBHArts #BosSummerArtsWknd @IrmaThomasNOLAWGBHArtsIrma just dedicated last song to Helen, a waitress at Charlie's Kitchen in Cambridge. Helen in front row, over the moon. #bossummerartswkndKris WiltonCan't wait for the After Hours Club - holla! #BosSummerArtsWkndWGBHArtsSUMMER ARTS WEEKEND: AFTER HOURS - FRIDAY JULY 27, 2012

As Irma Thomas closed her set in Copley Square the audience for the "After Hours Club" moved to The Copley Club in the Fairmont Copley Hotel.
Intimate after hours serenade by @sierrahull at the Copley Club. Beautiful hymn, beautiful voice #bossummerartswknd @WGBHArtsMary M. TintiSierra Hull and Del McCoury bridging generations of bluebrass in Copley Club havimg Bill Monroe lovefest #WGBHArtsScott McLennanAt the after-hours: swanky hotel, down-home bluegrass. @sierrahull #bossummerartswkend http://pic.twitter.com/ebk4K80fKris WiltonIrma Thomas simply sparkles at Copley Club + the audience can't believe their luck. What a voice, what a presence, what a night! #wgbhartsMary M. TintiIrma Thomas bringing old-school soul & R&B to Boston #WGBHArts #BosSummerArtsWknd @BostonDotComWGBHArtsSoul queen just blazed the stage at the Copley Club. Love her!!!BridgitCan hardly contain my excitement for @PresHall to take the floor at the Copley Club...they're gonna blow the roof off this place! #wgbhartsMary M. TintiHot *amn the trumpeter for @PresHall is BRINGING IT! #BosSummerArtsWknd #WGBHArts @BostonDotComWGBHArtsDid I mention it's my birthday? Every birthday should include dancing and music like this! Thanks @PresHall #bossummerartswkndKris WiltonDay 1 of the Summer Arts Fest killed. Great blending of traditions with Prez Hall, Del McCoury, Irma Thomas, Sierra Hull #BosSummerArtsWkndScott McLennan6000 people came to Copley Square today for inaugural Boston Summer Arts Weekend. Now that's a BIG deal. Were U there??? #BosSummerArtsWkndBridgitPhotos & video from Friday night swinging in Copley Square. Were you among the dancers? #BosSummerArtsWknd http://ow.ly/czh4dWGBHArtsTo all my peeps: I want to make #BosSummerArtsWknd a trend 2day so please retweet where ever u are & if u'r in #Boston, come 2 #CopleySquareBridgitSATURDAY JULY 28, 2012

Day Two of Summer Arts Weekend was devoted to high-flying energetic music for big and little kids. WGBHArts contributor Stacy Buchanan enjoyed the family festivities with her intrepid and discerning son, Liam. Stacy previewed these headliners in advance: Flooky and The Beans, Bonaparte, and Dan Zanes and Friends.
#BosSummerArtsWknd, or bust. Could use some of Bonaparte's magic right about now, I haven't seen a 57 bus in over 30 minutes.Stacy BuchananIt's all about balance with Flooky and the Beans! #bossummerartswknd http://instagr.am/p/NoQqYLOue8/Stacy BuchananOops, Flooky's rockin out so hard I think he blew out a speaker. #BosSummerArtsWkndStacy BuchananThey're back! #BosSummerArtsWknd http://pic.twitter.com/J31cmWc6Stacy BuchananSticking grass up my son's nose, family fun! #BosSummerArtsWknd http://instagr.am/p/NoU7KZOuRl/Stacy BuchananBonaparte is soooo charming the young kids! And by 'young kids', I mean everyone here. #BosSummerArtsWkndStacy Buchanan@RadioBDC's @adamxii is getting ready to bring Dan Zanes and friends out. #BosSummerArtsWknd #TeamDelFuegosStacy BuchananAfrican Gospel Artists, Dinka Group joining Zanes & Friends for family boogiethon on Copley Square #WGBHArts http://pic.twitter.com/vBzJr8f4Scott McLennanRT @emcallanan: Look who has just joined Dan Zanes on stage at #BosSummerArtsWknd! http://pic.twitter.com/ZQNkxn5qWGBHArtsSuch a beautiful day. #bossummerartswknd http://instagr.am/p/NohYMAuua8/Stacy BuchananLiam's getting a face painting, courtesy of @CitizensBank. #BosSummerArtsWknd http://pic.twitter.com/hJ0ritEAStacy BuchananHis name is 'Fireball'. #bossummerartswknd http://instagr.am/p/NokjD3uud7/Stacy BuchananMe and WGBHs Fetch star @ #bossummerartswknd http://pic.twitter.com/vorykzIXBridgitEven Arthur has shown up to enjoy #BosSummerArtsWknd! http://pic.twitter.com/9r0WgrRuErin CallananTo double the fun, festival organizers had a second stage running for several local performances.
Wolftones rocking outkast hey yeah a cappella at fountain stage boston summer arts #WGBHArts http://pic.twitter.com/7WDsThS2Scott McLennanHarney Acacemy Irish dancers.on Copley Fountain Stage #WGBHArts http://pic.twitter.com/6Fq3OD5SScott McLennanLuminariumbbrowngirlSharon Shannon Band setting up. Summer Arts getting ready for grown up music (still family friendly tho) #WGBHArts http://pic.twitter.com/AYrlQkIKScott McLennanHot tip Sharon Shannon says she ia sitting in with Suzanne Vega @ 7ish in Copley Square #WGBHArtsScott McLennanCool breeze, jigs, waltzes kinda perfecr on Copley Squarw rigjt now #WGBHArtsScott McLennanSharon Shannon bringing Boston on a Celtic sojourn. Her playing is full of flavors from classical to folk #WGBHArts http://pic.twitter.com/csL1FVAdScott McLennanPlaying the free summer arts fest at Copley sq boston today at 4! Hanging at @Newportfolkfest tmr!The Low AnthemBen from The Low Anthem getting ready for their set. You have about 20 minutes to get to Copley Plaza to check it out. http://pic.twitter.com/wMSKsAHwEdgar B Herwick IIIAnd the saw and bow have their moment, too...just exquisite #wgbharts #bossummerartswknd http://instagr.am/p/No4Cu9Jlz_/Mary M. TintiThe Low Anthem sounding - by turns - both large and intimate down on Copley Square. @wgbh #WGBHArts http://pic.twitter.com/mWP1MhTIEdgar B Herwick IIIEasily 10 different instruments played by The Low Anthem already. Such deep, rich, eclectic & haunting sounds. #wgbharts #bossummerartswkndMary M. Tinti#Lowanthem sending cool vibes out to Copley Square. #bossummerartswknd http://pic.twitter.com/GN0xD0XiBridgitHorn, saw, flute keys blues_ must be Low Anthem #WGBHArtsScott McLennanFinal song of the set, "Charlie Darwin" = perfection with @thelowanthem #wgbharts #bossummerartswknd http://instagr.am/p/No6N04pl2F/Mary M. TintiMe and Poncho #bosSummerartswknd http://pic.twitter.com/ru8fFfQABridgitPoncho Sanchez practicing backstagebbrowngirlPancho Sanchez takea stage, rain getting chaaed off. Now that is powerful music #WGBHArts http://pic.twitter.com/7g3VAeeqScott McLennanA hearty, umbrella clad crowd loving the groove of the Poncho Sanchez Latin Jazz Band! #wgbharts #bossummerartswkndmarymtintiPancho Sanchez is putting the hurt on those congas #WGBHArtsScott McLennanBrass and bongos...is there anything better? Poncho Sanchez Latin Jazz Band is heating thing up in Copley! #wgbharts #bossummerartswkndMary M. TintiWhen others ran for cover, Marilyn Bluestein and Vinny Hennessy of Braintree excitedly waited out the rain a http://instagr.am/p/NpCwEGJl8m/Mary M. Tinti25 years since Solitude Standing...still as raw and honest as ever, Suzanne Vega #wgbharts #bossummerartswkndMary M. TintiSuzanne Vega tophatted and ready to go opened with toms diner#WGBHArts http://pic.twitter.com/fhesJHcZScott McLennanThe highlight of Summer Arts Weekend was the 25th Anniversary celebration of Suzanne Vega's Grammy-nominated album, Solitude Standing. Scott McLennan previewed her Boston performance.
First of just three Solitude Standing shows this year! Lucky, lucky Boston! #wgbharts #bossummerartswkndMary M. TintiSuzanne Vega's trip back to Solitude Standing reaffirms it as an essential from the 80s. Her first full airing went down in Boston #WGBHArtsScott McLennanSuzanne Vega's killer setlist from #BosSummerArtsWknd http://pic.twitter.com/qN5vb4pwScott McLennanVega says a lot of these songs are kind of watery, anyway, so they fit right in with the weather-Enjoy, Boston! #wgbharts #bossummerartswkndMary M. TintiAnd Sharon Shannon joins the set with her amazing accordian stylings! #wgbharts #bossummerartswkndMary M. TintiSoul Rebels andAlison Balsom waiting to join Suzanne Vega #WGBHArts http://pic.twitter.com/XRe7WfPZScott McLennanSuzanne Vega finale with Soul Rebels and Alison Balsom...killer rendition of Tom's Diner #wgbharts. #bossumm http://instagr.am/p/NpUNNdJl6L/Mary M. TintiBackstage view of Boston Summer Arts WeekendbasicblacknowSoul Rebels hitting Summer Arts stage#WGBHArts http://pic.twitter.com/ixnLWKRdScott McLennanWhat do you get when you combine pop, rap, five horns, go-go-swing, two sets of drums, and a New Orleans flavor??? Soul RebelsBridgitBig time brass of Soul Rebels wowing the crowds in Copley! #wgbharts #bossummerartswknd http://instagr.am/p/NpXOe3pl8i/Mary M. TintiSoul Rebels is doing a cover of Michael Jackson's Off the Wall - FIRM!!!!BridgitThose who tougjed out the weathet got something special from suzanne vega and soul rebels at Boston Summer Arts #WGBHArtsScott McLennanAfter an incredible day, why not more music? The party went inside the Fairmont Copley Hotel for more after-hours music.
Sharon Shannon in the Copley Club - great acoustic in here. http://pic.twitter.com/3dbOwc2mBridgitGareth Naher big ups singing Galway Girl with Sharon Shannon inside and out Boston Summer Arts #WGBHArtsScott McLennanJazzy piccolo and piano from the Pacho Sanchez Latin Jazz Band...Love it! #wgbharts #bossummerartswkndMary M. TintiPancho Sanchez at Boston Summer Arts After Hours ClubbasicblacknowPoncho Sanchez making folks get outta their seats; couples on the dance floor swinging to "Watermelon Man" #WGBHArts #BosSummerArtsWkndWGBHArtsAs a special treat, the Copley Club After Hours audience was given a preview of some of the classical performers on the bill for the final day of Summer Arts Weekend, which was devoted to Classical music and hosted by several of WGBH Classical New England personalities. Anderson and Roe; and Igudesman and Joo had the audience captured and ready for more the next day.
Anderson and Roe...4 hands, one piano! Seering friction and musical danger on 88 keys = awesome. A & R are sparkly and fantastic! #wgbhartsMary M. TintiI <3 these two: Anderson & Roe @ Copley Club #bossummerartswknd http://www.andersonroe.com/news/BridgitGetting first look at Anderson & Roe. Fout hands 88 keys one enthusiastic grasp on classical. Check em Sunday at Summer Arts #WGBHArtsScott McLennanIgudesman & Joo turn "I Will Survive" into a Russian classic - catch them again on Sunday #WGBHArts #BosSummerArtsWkndWGBHArtsIgudesman and Joo at the Boston Summer Arts After Hours ClubbasicblacknowNext up on the After Hours Club, The Low Anthem.
Low Anthem covering Leonard Cohen's Bird on a Wire at the Copley Club - masterful! #BosSummerArtsWkndBridgitLow Anthem Sings Bird on a Wire at Boston Summer Arts After HoursbasicblacknowThe Low Anthem sound is made for spaces like the Copley Club so saturated, textured, complex + beautiful #wgbharts #bossummerartswkndMary M. Tinti@thelowanthem kicking it up a notch with funky rendition of "Hang On Sloopy" audience singing along! #WGBHArts #BosSummerArtsWkndWGBHArtsSuzanne Vega about to take the stage; can't wait to hear her incredible voice in this space! #WGBHArts #BosSummerArtsWknd @suzyvWGBHArtsSuzanne Vega wows at Copley Club #wgbharts #bossummerartswknd http://instagr.am/p/Npv3Pkpl-u/Mary M. TintiSuzanne Vega channels Carson McCullers - very cheeky! #WGBHArts #BosSummerArtsWkndWGBHArtsSoul Rebels closing things out at the Copley Club with big time New Orleans brass and a bouncing crowd! #wgbharts #bossummerartswkndMary M. TintiPlus, gotta love the Paul Pierce jersey on the sousaphone player! Way to be man, go Celtics! #wgbharts #bossummerartswkndMary M. TintiSoul Rebels Play at the Boston Summer Arts After Hours ClubbasicblacknowTotally dance tweeting to Soul Rebels! #wgbharts These guys rule!Mary M. TintiBos. Landmarks Orchestra performance 4:45 has moved to Old S. Church at 645 Boylston St. All others will go as planned.#BosSummerArtsWknd.BridgitI saw Dan Zanes, Sharon Shannon, Low Anthem, Poncho Sanchez, Suzanne Vega, and Soul Rebels on Saturday and not Coldplay. That's a great day.Scott McLennanCongratulations--you've made it to the end of our detailed list. Now you know what a summer weekend in Boston, packed with some of the best musical talent from around the U.S. and abroad, can deliver. WGBHArts speaks confidently for the entire group of festival organizers and friends when we say everyone we met had a great time and we look forward to doing it all over again next year.

Music And Art: O'Keefe and Still (from the CNE Journal)

Wed, 15 Aug 2012 12:56 PM +0000

Nobody sees a flower - really - it is so small - we haven’t time - and to see takes time, like to have a friend takes time. If I could paint the flower exactly as I see it no one would see what I see because I would paint it small like the flower is small.

So I said to myself - I’ll paint what I see - what the flower is to me, but I’ll paint it big and they will be surprised into taking time to look at it - I will make even busy New Yorkers take time to see what I see of flowers.

These thoughts appeared in a letter written by Georgia O’Keeffe, whose painted flowers overwhelm their canvases with her marvelous, signature style.

Born in Wisconsin in 1887, O’Keeffe studied in Chicago and New York. There was a time of discouragement, though -- a point when she realized that she was seeing in her art an unhealthy sense of obligation to please the public. She began creating abstract charcoal drawings. In 1916 the American photographer and art gallery director Alfred Stieglitz (whom she married in 1924) became interested in those drawings and exhibited them at his gallery in New York City; her work was shown annually in Stieglitz's galleries until his death in 1946. She moved to New Mexico in 1949, a place that attracted her deeply and felt like home.

The painting White Rose with Larkspur, No. 2 is a product of 1927 and hangs in the Art of the Americas wing at Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts. Delicate and powerful, I love its color and size. Its uncountable petals seem to crowd out the rest of the world. Busy Bostonians, like the New Yorkers O’Keeffe gently scolds, need to take time, too. I hope you can find some time for it.
Here in our Host Notes, I’m bringing you art in pairs: a piece of music paired with one of the pieces of art in the Art of the Americas Wing. I’m finding pairs that were created in the same year. Even artists with opposing approaches, I’ve found, compel us to find connections.

Today I’ve got a couple of pieces to share with you. The first was composed by William Grant Still in the year that O’Keeffe painted her White Rose. Still was an extraordinary man – the first African-American to conduct a major American symphony orchestra, the first to have a symphony of his own performed by a leading orchestra, the first to have an opera performed by a major opera company, and the first to have an opera performed on national television. He’s known as "the dean" of African-American composers. Below is a clip from his ballet score “La Guiablesse”, a ballet commissioned by Chicago Allied Arts with a story based on a legend of Martinique.

Still: La Guiablesse - Final Scene (excerpt)

The second is a setting of the excerpts from the O’Keeffe letter above. Contralto Elizabeth Anker sent that excerpt to her friend, the composer Francine Trester asking her to turn it into a song. Elizabeth sang the result with pianist John McDonald, and here is a clip from that studio performance:

Trester: Nobody Sees a Flower (excerpt)

Music and Art: Homer and MacDowell (from the CNE Journal)

Tue, 14 Aug 2012 14:55 PM +0000

When the Museum of Fine Arts opened its new Art of the Americas Wing in November 2010, the vibrancy of that collection in its new space inspired thoughts about the music written at the same time as these incredible artworks were created. So I decided to experiment and look at specific pieces from the collection with music written around the same time.

This installment focuses on Winslow Homer, who was born here in Boston and spent his adolescence in Cambridge. His father disappeared to California to pan for gold, and when Homer was 19 when he began creating illustrations for sheet music covers at John H. Bufford’s lithography shop, one of which is at the bottom of this page.

At 21 he moved to New York and worked for Harper’s magazine as a “special artist” documenting the civil war. By the end of his life, he was capturing the serenity and drama of the Maine Coast with oils. His uncanny ability to convey the complex and stirring nature of the sea has made him one of the world’s most recognizable artists, and one of the most dramatic of those paintings is "The Fog Warning."

This painting puts you so close to the fisherman’s world, it feels as though you’re tipping the boat. The horizon threatens with fog and nightfall and the fisherman lifts his head to make the sensory calculations that a life at sea has taught him to make to get himself home.

"The Fog Warning" was finished in 1885, the same year that the American composer Edward MacDowell finished his Piano Concerto No. 1. It took two slightly desperate weeks to get it done. MacDowell’s teacher, Joachim Raff, had asked what music he’d written, and apparently, out of sheer intimidation, MacDowell blurted out that he had a piano concerto. (He hadn’t even thought about a concerto at that point!) Raff asked to see it the next Sunday. MacDowell finished only the first movement and managed to evade meeting his teacher. He put him off the next Sunday, too, and finally by the Tuesday after that, he had a piano concerto. Raff loved it, and sent MacDowell to Weimar to play it for Franz Liszt.

It’s not his finest – but it’s his first. And well worth hearing. Below is a clip from Seta Tanyel’s performance of MacDowell’s A minor Concerto with the BBC Scottish Symphony and conductor Martyn Brabbins.

MacDowell: Piano Concerto No. I, I: Maestoto - Allegro con Fuoco (excerpt)

Music: The Naukabout Music Festival

Fri, 10 Aug 2012 10:59 AM +0000

August 10, 2012

Ryan Monbleau Band

The Naukabout Music Festival in East Falmouth is testament to how fertile our musical fields are here in the Bay State.

First there is the festival itself, which has blossomed over the past five years into a nice regional attraction, boasting two stages of music, tie-ins with other Cape Cod cultural organizations, such as the Woods Hole Film Festival and Little Beach art gallery, and a growing roster of affiliated musicians.

Ryan Montbleau has been there just about every step of the way. Like the festival itself, Montbleau has made artistic leaps over the past five years. He is now a well-qualified Naukabout headliner, taking on the role for the second straight year.

“Now it’s like family. I think I’m grandfathered in,” says Montbleau, laughing when asked if he would be offended if the festival didn’t call. “It feels good to see how they’ve grown as we’ve grown. It’s a great vibe every year.”

The Naukabout Festival takes place Saturday, August 11, at Barnstable County Fairgrounds in East Falmouth. In addition to the Ryan Montbleau Band, the festival features John Brown’s Body, the Adam Ezra Group, Dune Billy All-Stars, Will Evans of Barefoot Truth, Will Dailey, Tall Heights, Jeff Conley Band, and Baker Thomas Band featuring Danielle Miraglia; in other words, it’s a smorgasbord of Mass-bred rock with reggae, folk, chamber-pop, funk and R&B coloring the mix.

“In past years we had Bela Fleck and Rusted Root come in as headliners, but we really want to showcase what’s happening right around here,” says Peter Murner, one of Naukabout Festival’s directors.

Naukabout is a Cape-based lifestyle brand responsible for both the festival and a line of craft beers. One of the festival’s green initiatives this year is the use of solar energy to power the side stage. The second stage was previously more of busking enclave on the fest grounds, but this year will it have a bit more juice to amp up sets by Evans (OK, he’s from Connecticut, but has certainly been lighting up local stages with Barefoot Truth in the past few years), Conley, Tall Heights, and the Thomas band.

Montbleau arrives at Naukabout with the new album For Higher in tow. It’s a project he recorded in New Orleans with some of that city’s hottest players, including guitarist Anders Osborne, keyboard player Ivan Neville, drummer Simon Lott and bassist George Porter Jr. from the legendary Meters.

“I was dancing in the vocal booth,” Montbleau says. “I’m just a kid from Peabody. What am I doing in New Orleans making a record with a member of the Meters?”

Well, for one thing, capitalizing on a ton of hard work. The Ryan Montbleau Band has been a grass roots phenomenon, getting better every year at honing its funky, R&B pop tunes. Word-of-mouth raves fuel the fan-base expansion, which really revealed itself when Montbleau made an online appeal for funds to make For Higher. Montbleau reached his goal 30 days into a 60-day PledgeMusic campaign.

For Higher sprung from Montbleau’s songwriting contributions to a Trombone Shorty album produced by Galactic’s Ben Ellman. Ellman then lined up recording sessions for Montbleau and some NOLA elites, knocking out two days of studio work after the 2011 Jazz Fest in New Orleans.

Montbleau says his regular band was supportive of the solo project and it is interesting watching the tunes take new shapes now the he is playing them with the guys he has been with for years.

“We have something I couldn’t just pull off on the fly,” he says. “We’re digging deep into this material, and we’ve started working on new stuff too.”

So when Naukabout checks in for year six, Montbleau will likely be ready with fresh goods.

Tickets are on sale at www.naukabout.com for $29 and will be $39 at the gate. Kids under 12 and with an adult get in for free, and there is a whole area of kids activities at the fest, which runs noon to 10 p.m.

Music: The Heart of Metal Beats in Worcester

Thu, 09 Aug 2012 17:38 PM +0000

August 10, 2012

Cannibal Corpse

There was a palpitation in the Heart of the Commonwealth when it looked like not just a great old building but a whole thriving musical subculture faced the wrecking ball.

Aggravated by a sharp increase in their property taxes, owners of the Worcester Palladium began the process of seeking demolition permits to take down the theater erected in 1928 as part of the E.M. Loew’s chain. The Worcester Historical Commission in July refused to fast-track the process, citing the Palladium’s historical and cultural significance to the city.

And why the Palladium matters so much will be on display tonight when the Summer Slaughter tour rolls into the building with nationally touring acts Cannibal Corpse, Between the Buried and Me, The Faceless and others, plus a whole second stage of heavy metal bands from Massachusetts and neighboring locales. It’s classic Palladium, turning a tour into an event, one that brings in bands defining a genre–in this case extreme heavy metal–and nurturing the ones who are constantly reshaping the genre. It’s a dynamic no different than the one I saw last week at the Newport Jazz Festival.

It’s an especially interesting time for aggressive music right now, as the gunman accused of opening fire this week in a Sikh temple has been identified as being part of the “hate metal” movement. Metal of all stripes is brutal, aggressive music. However, I have never seen outright “hate” pouring from the stage or stewing in the crowd as I’ve covered the metal scene for nearly 20 years. The metal world is certainly a bit removed from mainstream cultural spotlights, and it’s easy to see how bad things can foment in those shadows. Yet hate is not an aesthetic value among serious musicians, and the metal mavens driving the genre are as serious as the musicians working other types of purer, less commercially conscious strains of music, from jazz to folk.

In the mid ’90s, the Palladium underwent a rebirth when independent concert producer MassConcerts set up shop in the building. At the time, Boston venues ignored metal bands, focusing instead on the various waves of grunge and alternative rock that were far more popular. A casual observer would have surmised that metal was dead.

But there is no killing this beast as long as there are guitars that plug into amplifiers and people who like to vent. MassConcerts worked closely with metal bands, bringing them into the centrally located Palladium and slowly fostering a scene that blossomed into the New England Metal and Hardcore Festival, an annual barometer of all things heavy, which draws an international audience to the venue. This year alone, I met fans from England and Australia.

Nobody travels that far for hate. They come for release.

Heavy metal music fans at the Palladium (photo by Sam McLennan.)

Sure, Cannibal Corpse sings horrifying lyrics, but the presentation is akin to a horror movie, not a manifesto. Musically the metal bands are forever pushing the boundaries. Between the Buried and Me plays the sort of intricate, multi-tiered music that pulls the Berklee kids to the edges of the mosh pit.

And, yes, those slam-dancing DMZs at a metal show do look dangerous, but again, it’s a controlled aggression. Bodies collide, but punches are rarely thrown, and when it does look like something is turning into trouble, fans themselves inevitably step in to stop it. I’ve seen a singer dive into the crowd, lose his wallet in the process, crawl back to the stage, sheepishly ask if someone found it, and get it returned a few minutes later.

My falling into the metal world still perplexes those who knew me back when I blasted Grateful Dead all day and all night (still much love for Jerry and the boys). But covering music for a newspaper in Worcester for so long unwittingly led me into one of metal’s primo cauldrons. It did not take long to find the brains and beauty belied by the outwardly brawny and thuggish characteristics of the music. It’s almost like the music taunts you to turn away, unless you are willing to really listen to what’s going on¬–the writing, the arranging, the technicality of it all. And like any good art form, those willing to take the risk are often met with a satisfying reward. This reward here just happens to be very loud.

Summer Slaughter begins at 2:00 p.m. today. For ticket information, go online to tickets.com.

Celebrating Tanglewood

Wed, 08 Aug 2012 14:50 PM +0000

Western Massachusetts is the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra where music, nature and personalities are brought together in a legendary setting. Here is a rundown from the WGBH's Classical New England staff on the ongoing celebration of 75 years of Tanglewood.

Watch Tanglewood 75th Anniversary Celebration Preview on PBS. See more from Great Performances.

In the 1930's, a vision of classical music among the rolling hills and beautiful lakes of wester Massachusetts emerged in the minds of the residents of Berkshire County, especially Miss Gertrude Robinson Smith. The Boston Symphony Orchestra and Music Director Serge Koussevitzky eventually came on the scene to provide that music, and the seeds of Tanglewood were sown.

Now, 75 years after its founding, Classical New England, WGBH, and PBS celebrate that original vision and its modern manifestation with a full weekend of special programs.

Listen throughout the weekend for Tanglewood Tales on Classical New England. These personal memories and stories come from our listeners and reflect both a broad range of experiences as well as the singular magical quality of Tanglewood.

Broadcast Schedule (all programs on Classical New England except where noted)

Friday, Aug. 10
3pm Tanglewood Turnpike
BSO broadcast host Ron Della Chiesa joins Cathy Fuller for a preview of our weekend of live concert broadcasts and a look back, with music from the previous weekend.

7pm Tanglewood Today
Host James David Jacobs brings you an in-depth preview of our Friday night concert.

8pm Live from Tanglewood
Pinchas Zukerman leads the BSO in an All-Bach program in the roles of both violin soloist and conductor, with additional solo contributions from the BSO's Concertmaster Malcolm Lowe, Principal Oboist John Ferrillo, and Principal Flutist Elizabeth Rowe.

9pm on WGBH 2 Great Performances: Tanglewood 75th Anniversary Celebration
Watch a gala performance celebrating Tanglewood, with conductors Keith Lockhart, Andris Nelsons, John Williams, and David Zinman, and pianists Emanuel Ax and Peter Serkin, cellist Yo-Yo Ma, violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter, vocalist James Taylor, the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, and more. (Watch a preview above, and see our broadcast schedule for more airings.)

Saturday, Aug. 11
5pm Gala Opening of Seijii Ozawa Hall
For the first time ever Classical New England brings you the opening concert of Ozawa Hall, recorded on July 7, 1994, with former BSO Music Director Seiji Ozawa, members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra, cellist Yo-Yo Ma, pianist Peter Serkin, and members of the Bernstein family.

7pm Tanglewood Today
Host Larry King brings you an in-depth preview of our Saturday night concert.

8pm Live from Tanglewood
Yo-Yo Ma is the soloist in Elgar's Cello Concerto, and Stéphane Denève conducts the world premiere of André Previn's Music for Boston and Shostakovich's Symphony No. 5.

Sunday, Aug. 12
6am The Bach Hour: Bach in the Berkshires
Host Brian McCreath brings you performances of Bach's music from Tanglewood, with the BSO and the Tanglewood Festival Chorus.

Noon Boston Pops on New England Summer Festivals
Keith Lockhart leads the Boston Pops in a program that includes Duke Ellington's Harlem, and the evocative score to Taxi Driver by Bernard Hermann.

1pm Tanglewood Today
Host Rani Schloss brings you an in-depth preview of our Sunday afternoon concert.

2pm Live from Tanglewood
Paul Lewis is the soloist in Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 23, and Christoph von Dohnányi conducts Beethoven's Symphony No. 4 and Richard Strauss' Til Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks.

5pm The Bach Hour: Bach in the Berkshires
Host Brian McCreath brings you performances of Bach's music from Tanglewood, with the BSO and the Tanglewood Festival Chorus.

6pm Arias and Barcarolles: Elly Ameling at Tanglewood
Host Cathy Fuller shares highlights from an all-Schubert recital with pianist Rudolf Jansen at Tanglewood's Theatre Concert Hall in July of 1987.

6:30pm Tanglewood 75th Anniversary Celebration
Co-hosts Ron Della Chiesa and Fred Child of Performance Today bring you all the music from Tanglewood's gala celebration of its 75th birthday, with three orchestras, five conductors, including Keith Lockhart, John Williams, and Andris Nelsons, and guests artists including cellist Yo-Yo Ma, pianists Emanuel Ax and Peter Serkin, violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter, and singer James Taylor.

9pm BSO on Record: Koussevitzky's Final Tanglewood Recordings
Classical New England's BSO broadcast producer Brian Bell brings you the stories and the music from Serge Koussevitzky's final recording sessions with the BSO at Tanglewood.

More from Tanglewood, including the full broadcast schedule and on-demand concerts

Music: Jaimoe, Jazz, and The Allman Brothers

Tue, 07 Aug 2012 10:55 AM +0000

August 7, 2012

Jaimoe with The Allman Brothers Band (l-r: Derek Trucks, Warren Haynes,
Butch Trucks, Gregg Allman, Jaimoe, Marc Quiñones, and Oteil Burbridge.)

When 20-year-old Jai Johanny Johanson was living in California working as a drummer in singer Ted Taylor’s band, he returned home one day with an armful of records.

“They were all records by sax players, and my friend asked, ‘Where are the drummers?’ and I told him, ‘On these records.’ It was like a surprise to him; he thought I would be listening to just drummers, but I’ve never been like that,” recalls the man now better known as Jaimoe.

Sure he’s an unflappable and slinky rhythm keeper, etching little sonic flourishes into the Allman Brothers Band’s music since its founding in 1969, but Jaimoe is also an outright musical omnivore. He’s the guy who instructs young Allman Brothers Band recruits to study Miles Davis’ “All Blues” if they wanted to understand the ABB’s own composition “Dreams.” And he’s the 68-year-old Rock and Roll Hall of Famer who still feels compelled to lead his own group, Jaimoe’s Jasssz Band, whenever the Allmans are off the road.

This summer, we get a Jaimoe double shot. First, he pulls into the Bank of America Pavilion in Boston for a two-night stand with the Allmans on August 7 and 8. Then Jaimoe returns with the Jasssz Band on August 18 for the Salem Jazz and Soul Festival, a free two-day event at the Willows.

Those who’ve seen Jaimoe at work know that he does much with little. Unlike many rock drummers, he keeps a simple kit and a few percussion instruments. Working with fellow drummer Butch Trucks on the Allmans’ signature duel-drummer sound (and since 1991, triple-drummer sound with the addition of percussion player and salsa vet Marc Quiñones), Jaimoe adds the nuance while Trucks forges the grooves. Jaimoe says he first modeled his role after that of an orchestra’s percussion section.

Jaimoe (photo source: www.jaimoe.com.)

Four years ago, he branched out with the Jasssz band, which took shape when Jaimoe met blues guitarist Junior Mack. The Jasssz Band was fleshed out with the addition of keys and a horn section, and late last year released its first studio album, Renaissance Man. The disc is a nice blend of seven originals and fresh arrangements of “Rainy Night in Georgia,” “Leaving Trunk” and the Allmans staple “Melissa.”

Jaimoe, who makes his home in Connecticut, says that Boston embraced the Allman Brothers Band ever since the group ventured from its Georgia base in the early 1970s. At the time, the band’s interracial lineup was as radical as its sound, and Northern outposts such as Boston and New York City were important incubators and remain strongholds.

Jaimoe, who began his career on the R&B circuit working with the likes of Otis Redding, says that contrary to popular belief, he did not leave his native Mississippi because of racial strife.

“It had nothing to do with ‘back of the bus stuff.’ I was actually making $500 a week in Mississippi, which was great money back then. But all of my friends were leaving for one reason or other. A lot went to Vietnam. One guy told me I should check out Duane Allman who was working at Muscle Shoals [studio in Alabama].” And that is how he encountered the guitar hero who later died in a 1971 motorcycle crash.

And that initial meeting locked in one piece of the puzzle that became the Allman Brothers Band, which today includes founders Gregg Allman, Trucks, and Jaimoe with guitarists Derek Trucks, Warren Haynes, bassist Oteil Burbridge and percussion player Quiñones.

The ever spry Jaimoe says he and the other old-timers in the group will keep playing as long as they have the drive to do so, and he likes to remind people of how he broke into the business.

“People today say, ‘Oh man, you guys play such great shows and the music is so intense,’ but with all due respect to Warren, Derek and Oteil, we used to do that three times a day,” he says, letting a little chuckle punctuate the reminiscence.

Ticket information for the Allman Brothers Band’s concerts is available online at www.livenation.com. Information on the Salem Jazz and Soul Festival is available at www.salemjazzsoul.com.

Music: Boston Landmarks Orchestra Aims For 20/20 Musical Vision

Thu, 02 Aug 2012 13:26 PM +0000

August 2, 2012

Boston Landmarks Orchestra (photo courtesy of Harron & Associates.)

As familiar as I am with the arts scene here in Boston, I’m always impressed how many free offerings there are to take advantage of, and how many include educational or outreach components.

The Boston Landmarks Orchestra [BLO] is a perfect example. A professional orchestra, the ensemble exists to maximize accessibility to music. This year, in addition to its regular series of free performances at the Hatch Shell on the Esplanade, many of them collaborations with other area ensembles, the orchestra is premiering “Notes in the Neighborhoods,” an initiative that dispatches musicians to summer programs and camps in the city’s various neighborhoods, bringing kids to concerts there or at the Hatch Shell.

The goal is “20/20 Vision”: “By the year 2020,” music director Christopher Wilkins writes on the orchestra’s site, the BLO “will provide all residents of Boston’s 20 diverse neighborhoods opportunities to be involved in its programs both at the Hatch Shell and in the neighborhoods.”

On Friday August 3, Wilkins will take students at the Yawkey Club of Roxbury on “a ‘Caribbean Cruise’ through the culture of several Latin American nations,” he told me, giving them “the opportunity to play percussion instruments while exploring countless features of rhythm in music.” Among the works on the program is a commissioned work by Gonzalo Grau called Viaje (Voyage).

“We know that in many cases we are collaborating with children who have no formal musical training,” Wilkins told me. “The wonderful thing about Viaje is that it invites children to bring their own experiences to the music. Some sing, some dance, some play musical instruments. Some are of Dominican or Puerto Rican descent, and know these traditions from their upbringing. And every child can relate to the joy and vitality of these songs and dances, which are now popular throughout the world.”

The Maestro Zone led by Benjamin Vickers
(photo courtesy of Harron & Associates.)

Meanwhile, the regular programming continues. Next Wednesday in the Hatch Shell is a co-production with the Boston Lyric Opera, Around the World in 80 Minutes. A “sweeping operatic journey” with stops in France, Italy, Japan, the U.S. and Sri Lanka, the concert features excerpts of works by Puccini, Wagner, Mozart, and Bernstein, many drawn from the Opera’s upcoming season.

On August 15, the orchestra joins with the Longwood Symphony Orchestra for an all-Mozart program; August 22 it will highlight its own musicians as soloists; and August 29 it will present Symphonic Shakespeare, in which Shakespearean actors perform excerpts from Henry V, Hamlet, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream to music composed for those plays.

For a full concert schedule, go to http://www.landmarksorchestra.org/.

Music Preview: Newport Jazz Festival Flaunts Today's Talent

Wed, 01 Aug 2012 17:09 PM +0000

August 1, 2012

Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi: Tedeschi Tucks Band

At first blush, the venerable Newport Jazz Festival ostensibly looks like a guitar-lover’s dream. Pat Metheny, Bill Frisell, and Derek Trucks, three of the planet’s finest guitar players, are prominently featured at this weekend’s fest.

But in a conversation with Danny Melnick, one of the festival’s producers, he has us rethink the programming, pointing to pianist Jason Moran, drummers Dafnis Prieto and John Hollenbeck, bassist Christian McBride, saxophone player Rudresh Mahanthappa, and singer Kurt Elling.

“We have the legends like Pat Metheny and Dianne Reeves, who are still pushing the boundaries. But we also have many young people, musicians in their 20s through 40s, who are composers, band leaders, and great players. They are bringing their perspectives into what jazz is today,” Melnick says. “The Newport Jazz Festival wants to endorse and embrace what is happening in jazz today and show other venues and festivals that these are the artists that deserve a spot on the big stage.”

The Newport Jazz Festival begins Friday evening in the International Tennis Hall of Fame with a concert featuring New Orleans greats, Dr. John and Preservation Hall Jazz Band, plus their respective guest artists. The action then moves to Rhode Island’s Fort Adams State Park for programs on Saturday and Sunday that run from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Three stages are at the fort, with the main stage facing out toward the ocean, a tented “Quad Stage” inside the fort which mimics a concert hall, and the intimate “Harbor Stage” designed to replicate the night-club vibe. And the cool thing is that artists are creatively distributed among the stages. There are no real pecking orders in play-- you’ll find titans such as sax player Joe Lovano playing on the Harbor Stage and the legendary drummer Jack DeJohnette celebrating his 70th birthday with an all-star band on the Quad Stage, while young gun Darcy James Argue brings his Secret Society big band to the main stage.

Melnick says that assembling the weekend’s jazz jigsaw puzzle takes into account several factors: What kinds of energy do you need on the main stage? Where is the best place to accommodate the big bands? Which bands will benefit from fans packed in close to the stage?

The festival is also rolling the dice, not only having the Tedeschi Trucks Band headline on Sunday, but also giving them a full two-hour set. Led by the husband-and-wife team of Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi, the 11-piece TTB is a juggernaut more commonly found on the jam-band and rock circuits. But there is no mistaking the jazz elements in the Tedeschi Trucks combo, which cushions Trucks’s guitar work in a smartly arranged horn section and features sumptuous vocal parts, led by Tedeschi.

“Derek is one of the great improvisers, and anyone who says otherwise doesn’t know what they are talking about,” Melnick says, noting that George Wein, who founded the jazz festival in 1954, has been championing Trucks’s career and was hoping to land the guitar firebrand at jazz fest. “Derek and Susan met George at his apartment and when they found out he wanted them for Jazz Fest, they called the rest of the band and they couldn’t believe it. These are musicians immersed in jazz and excited to be at a jazz festival.”

Newport Jazz’s close cousin, the Newport Folk Festival, has seen a nice rebirth in recent years with younger crowds and younger bands claiming the historic event as part of their own culture. Newport Jazz seems poised to do the same.

Newport Jazz Festival runs August 3 - 5; ticket and schedule information is available online at newportjazzfest.net.

New Orleans' Queen Fills Boston with Soul

Sun, 29 Jul 2012 15:39 PM +0000

July 28, 2012

Irma Thomas, The Soul Queen of New Orleans, singing “It’s Raining” at the Copley Club.

BOSTON — To put the finishing touch on a spectacular first night of the Boston Summer Arts Festival, Irma Thomas picked up the microphone one more time in the Copley Club and had the audience swooning and swaying through musical history.

Thomas, now 71 and 50+ years into her musical career, talked eariler in the week with WGBHArts contributor Bridgit Brown about what Soul music really is. “Soul,” she said, “is the satisfactory feeling that you get from doing what you love. It has nothing to do with a genre of music, and everybody has it.” (>>Read the full article).

Thomas told Boston Public Radio's Edgar Herwick she found her love for music while waiting tables in New Orleans. She would jump up on stage with the band once in awhile to sing a set. Her boss fired her for not doing her job, and she set out on a path that took her to royal heights.

>>Hear Thomas interviewed on WGBH Boston Public Radio along with, Ben Jaffe, creative director of the Preservation Hall in New Orleans.

Irma Thomas, WGBH host Edgar Herwick and Ben Jaffe in the WGBH radio studios. (Annie Shreffler/WGBH)