Madison Music Collective Announces Fall 2009 Concert Series

by Howard Landsman

Cole Porter co-exists with music made on laptop as the Madison Music Collective launches the kind of eclectic concert series for which it has come to be known.  The Collective’s Fall 2009 series will range from the classic to the avant-garde, solo performances to ensemble works, vocal jazz to instrumental, acoustic sounds to advanced electronics.   The series will also be moving to weekends from its former Thursday night perch.

New Faces of Madison Jazz: Patrick Breiner (tenor saxophone) and Luke Polipnick (guitar)

September 18th, 8:00 PM, Capitol Lakes Grand Hall, 333 West Main Street in Downtown Madison, $10 general admission, $8 members of the Madison Music Collective and Madison Jazz Society 

Fans of the New Breed Quintet will see a new side of saxophonist Patrick Breiner as he inhabits the persona of Vartan Mamigonian for his solo set on September 18th.

Saxophonist Patrick Breiner and guitarist Luke Polipnick are remarkably mature and sensitive young players who are full of fresh ideas.  Breiner moved to Madison last year from New York City, and has quickly developed a strong local following through performances at the 2009 Isthmus Jazz Festival and weekly gigs with the New Breed Quintet at the Cabana Room’s Wednesday night jam sessions.  Breiner improvises in a wide range of musical styles and contexts, and returns frequently to New York where he gigs with the likes of renowned drummer Billy Hart. 

Guitarist Luke Polipnick will perform a solo set and then join saxophonist Patrick Breiner for a duo performance to close out the Collective's September 18th concert.

Luke Polipnick moved to Madison earlier this summer from Lincoln NE.  He has been active in the Twin Cities creative music scene and performed in Madison earlier this year as part of a nation-wide tour with renowned Japanese percussionist Tatsuya Nakatani.  His music incorporates computer-based electronics and often has a dark, brooding spaciousness that evokes the vast mysterious depths of the Great Plains.

For their MMC concert, Breiner and Polipnick will each perform a solo set, unaccompanied by other musicians, and then close with a duo performance.

 

 

 

 

The Music of Cole Porter: Vocalists Kelly DeHaven, Gerri DiMaggio and Marilyn Fisher

Saturday, October 10^th, 8:00 PM, Top of the Park at the Best Western on the Capitol Square, 22 South Carroll Street, $15 general admission, $12 members of the Madison Music Collective and Madison Jazz Society

The featured vocalists for the Collective's Cole Porter concert (left to right): Kelly DeHaven, Gerri DiMaggio, and Marilyn Fisher

With its panoramic view of the Capitol and its cabaret atmosphere, the Top of the Park will offer the perfect setting for for an evening of the sophisticated “uptown” music of the legendary American songwriter, Cole Porter.

Porter’s pieces are noted for their clever rhymes, complex forms and sophisticated sexual innuendos, all of which are evident in classics like “Night and Day,” “Anything Goes,” “I’ve Got You Under My Skin,” “Don’t Fence Me In,” and so many more.   He and Irving Berlin stand alone as the two giants of the Great American Songbook who wrote both the words and music.

Performing in solo, duo and trio settings with pianist Paul Hastil, bassist John Mesoloras, and drummer John Becker, celebrated local vocalists Kelly DeHaven, Gerri DiMaggio and Marilyn Fisher will present two sets of Porter’s popular and lesser-known songs.   Along with the music, this vocal trio will also provide background and insight into Porter’s life and works.

Electro-Acoustic Music: The Desert Fathers (Gregory Taylor on laptop computer and Jeff Kaiser on quarter-tone trumpet and laptop)

Friday, November 13th, 8:00 PM, Capitol Lakes Grand Hall, 333 West Main Street in Downtown Madison, $10 general admission, $8 members of the Madison Music Collective and Madison Jazz Society 

The Desert Fathers are a duo comprised of WORT-FM host Gregory Taylor (R.T.Q.E., Sundays at 9:00 PM) on laptop computer and the highly-accomplished composer and music technologist Jeff Kaiser of LaJolla CA playing quarter-tone trumpet and laptop.  They use an expansive array of electronics and effects to spontaneously generate music that is complex, layered and other-worldly.  The sinuous sound of Mr. Kaiser’s trumpet will snake its way through this aural landscape while being subjected to a variety of electronic manipulations including delays, pitch shifting, and much else.  At the same time, listeners will also hear more sustained, melodic playing, making the trumpet’s quarter-tone capability apparent.

“Summer Music Summit” Set for August 8th

by Howard Landsman

The Hanah Jon Taylor Artet, a quartet including several adventurous Chicago-based musicians, will headline an evening of free/avant-garde jazz on Saturday, August 8th, at the beautiful Grand Hall of Capitol Lakes, 333 West Main Street, in Downtown Madison.  Read Kevin Lynch’s preview essay about this concert.

The Artet features players associated with the world-renowned Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) including Taylor on saxophone and flute, Kirk Brown on piano, Yosef Ben Israel on bass, and drummer Vincent Davis. 

Sponsored by the Madison Music Collective, the “Summer Music Summit” begins at 7:00 PM with a set by the Tom Hamer – Tom Lachmund Duo, followed around 8:00 PM by the JoAnne Pow!ers Quartet.  The Taylor Artet’s set will begin around 9:15 PM.

Hanah Jon Taylor leads a quartet of AACM-affiliated players at Madison Music Collective's "Summer Jazz Summit" on August 8th

 Tickets will be available at the door, at $12.00 for the general public and $10 for Collective members.  Ample free parking is available in the ramp across the street from the concert hall. 

For more information about the concert, call 513-3314.   For more information about the Madison Music Collective, including a membership form, visit www.mmcmusic.org.

Joan Wildman “Improvisations with Animations”

On Thursday April 2,  the Madison Music Collective presents Joan Wildman’s “Improvisations with Animations”with Joe Fonda, bass & Ben Karetnick, drums. See Special Events for time, place, etc.

Joan Wildman, emeritus professor of Jazz Studies at the UW School of Music, will present “Improvisations with Animations,” a series of original animations projected on a large screen (some with their own soundtracks) which are used both as notation and as inspiration for the performers. Here, rather than relegating sounds to background music, the purpose is to “hear” and “see” on an equally important basis

Joan has brought performances of this sort to such events as the Wisconsin Film Festival, several UW concerts, the Isthmus Jazz Festival, and the opening festivities of the Overture Center.  In 2002 she was invited to do a lecture/demonstration on “Animated Music” at the Guelph Jazz Festival in Canada and this past year she was a featured animator in Corinne Heath’s multimedia installation, “The Drawing of Ghosts” at the Overture Center.

The music will be performed by an ensemble consisting of Joan on piano and synthesizer, internationally acclaimed bassist Joe Fonda from New York City, and Medford, Oregon-based percussionist Benjamin Karetnick. This concert marks the reunion of Joan and Joe after more than 30 years. Joe was a member of Joan’s Quartet in Maine and the group came out to Madison to join her in her first Madison concert at Bunkys in 1977, when she first arrived here. Karetnick has recorded with Fonda for the German label Konnex, and together have received critical acclaim for their CD “Heat Suite”.

Musician Backgrounds

Poetry and jazz next Thursday

On Thursday, March 19^th, the Madison Music Collective will present a program of poetry and music dedicated to the life and music of Mary Lou Williams. (see special events for details). The program will feature Madison Poet Laureate Fabu Carter Brisco and Madison-based pianist/composer/teacher Jane Reynolds. Inspired by the Williams biography, “Morning Glory,” Fabu has written poetry about the people and events in Mary Lou’s life as an African-American woman and artist, with each poem taking the title of a different Williams composition, while Reynolds will be playing a wide variety of Williams compositions representing the many styles that she embraced over the course of a career that spanned nearly 60 years, from the 1920s into the 1980s.  Together, Fabu and Jane will tell part of the wonderful musical adventures of Mary Lou Williams while paying tribute, duringWomen’s History Month, to arguably the greatest female musician in the history of jazz.

El Clan Destino heats up Capitol Lakes

Like everyone else I don’t like to look foolish. That’s why I rarely write reviews. I’m not a professional musician or writer, and my listening skills are not much better than average, especially with Cuban and other types of Latin music. Keep that disclaimer in mind because I’m wading in anyway. The El Clan Destino concert at Capitol Lakes last Thursday deserves the spotlight. It was a night of exciting music, outstanding musicianship, and educational discussion, all at a great venue that deserves the spotlight itself.

So back to that disclaimer, I wish I were more familiar with Latin song forms. I have a friend who spent years competing in dance contests. She loves to hear Madisalsa play and knows exactly what kind of dance goes with each song. I’ll confess that when I hear Latin music it reminds me of my early experiences listening to bebop, it sounds a bit like a foreign language. I haven’t listened to it enough to have an adequate frame of reference. 

El Clan Destino in performance

  Despite this lack of familiarity El Clan Destino’s music was easy for me to get into because it is all about percussion. Between Frank Martinez on the drum kit, and Jamie Ryan on the hand drums every song has a lively bed of rhythm, sometimes almost a wall of rhythm. The bottom is anchored by Nick Moran on bass while Vince Fuh’s keyboard fireworks explode over the top. All are experts on their instruments and on Thursday all sang, with everyone except Vince taking a turn as the lead singer. Frank is a powerful baritone, and I was surprised that Nick and Jamie sing equally well since I don’t usually think of them as singers.

Jazz events the rest of the week

What a beautiful day yesterday! The weather is warming up and so is the Madison jazz scene. Here are the highlights for the rest of the week:

Wednesday, February 11: The New Breed Jazz Jam at the Cabana Room. Have you figured out that I like the jam? Nothing to say here, I’ve said it all before (click the New Breed tag at the end of the article for previous posts). 

Thursday, February 12: El Clan Destino Concert and Lecture 7:30 at Capitol Lakes. See my previous post. I haven’t heard them yet, but my friend raves about them. I will be there.

Friday, February 13: Andy Bey 8:00 at the Memorial Union Theater. I never heard of Andy Bey until seeing him on the bill for this concert. If you haven’t either, a good place to start is with this print and audio NPR profile. Better yet see this video:

 Dave Stoler was handing out flyers for this concert at last week’s jam. I’m not sure what connection Dave has to this performance, but the last time I received an email about a concert he was pushing it turned out to be my favorite concert of the year. See special events for ticket prices, etc.

Saturday, February14: The Stellanovas are doing their “cafe jazz” thing at Talula’s. Talula’s is a newish restaurant (since last summer) that has received positive reviews and now has music every weekend with Harmonious Wail, The Stellanovas, and others. Better call now if you want reservations for Valentine’s Day.

As always, for more information on other Madison jazz events check out Crazeology’s Jazz Calendar.

Jazz at Capitol Lakes

One of the more unusual jazz venues in Madison is the Grand Hall just inside Capitol Lakes on 333 W. Main Street. Over the past year the Madison Music Collective (MMC) has been sponsoring concerts inside this spacious room by a variety of MMC members and outside guests. The venue is unusual because Capitol Lakes is a retirement community, and the MMC is a strong proponent of creative, improvised music – sometimes known as free jazz. These are some hip seniors!

 

Capitol Lakes is easy to find. I attended several events this last year and parked in their parking structure directly across the street. I’m not sure if this can be counted on, but there wasn’t an attendant so parking was free. The Grand Hall is located just inside the doors on Main Street.  

 

Capitol Lakes includes independent living, assisted living, and a full nursing home. The Grand Hall is in the independent living part of the building – it does not look or smell medical. The room is large with high ceilings, wood floors, and wainscoted paneled walls creating pleasing acoustics. You will think you are in a well appointed hotel hall, except that much of the audience is elderly. In exchange for free use of the room MMC has agreed to reserve a certain portion of the seats for Capitol Lakes residents. The rest of us have to pay, although if you are a MMC member ($20 to join) you’ll get a few dollars off the admission rate.

 

The MMC likes this venue because of its concert setting. There are no blenders, loud conversations, or other distractions. Wine and cheese are available by donation, but the focus is on maintaining a respectful setting rather than selling alcohol.The audience actually listens…..unless the music gets too adventuresome.

The MMC says in it’s mission statement that it aims to present improvised music music without compromising artistic integrity or creativity. If you are expecting the music to match the sedateness of it’s surroundings you might be surprised. The musicians have been top caliber (Dave Stoler, Paul Hastil, Jane Reynolds, et al), and much of the music is readily accessible to the serious listener, but expect some curve balls too. I didn’t attend the concert by Joanne Pow!ers (of State Street busking fame), but I can bet her performance roused a few sleepy souls.

There are few jazz venues left, and fewer yet with good acoustics, attentive audiences, and the freedom to perform without commercial considerations. Capitol Lakes is the only area venue like this. Kudos to their management and residents for being open to this, and to the MMC for making it happen.

This Thursday at 7:30 the MMC presents, “The Active Percussion Duo,” featuring Geoff Brady & Michael Brenneis. For more information go to the MMC website:  http://www.mmcmusic.org/