JazzOrchestra

A Cole Christmas with Philly’s Jazz Orchestra

 Trumpeter Terell Stafford & Jazz Orchestra of Philadelphia

 

JOP director Terell Stafford & Freddy Cole reunite in holiday concert

Kimmel Center, Philadelphia

Dec. 15

www.jophilly.org

Trumpeter Terell Stafford founded The Jazz Orchestra of Philadelphia in 2014 and in five years they have covered a lot of musical ground with concerts that have represented every era of jazz- From the heyday of the big-bands, bebop, cool, progressive and contemporary compositions.

Every December though they revisit Duke Ellington/Billy Strayhorn holiday classic The Harlem Nutcracker. Philly Jazz legend Jimmy Heath so admired what Stafford and the JOP orchestra was bringing the piece that they should include it every year. Indeed, it is vintage Ellington magic, with jazz and blues riffs on Tchaikovsky’s classic ballet score.  But at key points JOP swings it more like the Basie Band.   The year, The Harlem Nutcracker is the opening act ‘A Cole Christmas’ with guest vocalist and pianist Freddy Cole, the latest in the orchestra’s stellar line-up of jazz giants to perform with the orchestra. Stafford said he has wanted to perform with Cole since JOP launched.

“Freddy’s worked with everyone and he is such a legend,” Stafford said in a phone interview earlier this month. “I first worked with him in Dizzy Gillespie’s band. And we’ve done recordings together.” Freddy Cole is among a handful of veteran jazz musicians who emerged after WWII as the great big-band era was coming to an end. Cole whose career spans 65 years and he still records and sings with jazz and symphonic orchestras around the world.  Cole is one of the standard-bearers of classic jazz vocal style, with indelible blues and jazz artistry. His brother was jazz titan Nat King Cole, who of course, sang the definite jazz Xmas classic version of Mel Torme’s ‘A Christmas Song.’

Cole is added to the list of jazz virtuosos who have performed with JOP so far including Wynton Marsalis, Jon Faddis and Philly vanguards The Heath Brothers, Larry McKenna, Bootsie Barnes, Benny Golson, Pat Martino. Add to that list Freddy Cole. “Yes, Freddy can do everything and more than anything if any pianist wants to know what the artistry of accompaniment is, they should listen to Freddy sing and accompany himself,” Stafford commented.

Jazz Orchestra of Philadelphia continues to refine their sound. They regularly create new works for big-band and re-envisioned arrangements of standard repertoire. Most of the 17 musicians have been on the roster since the beginning and the line-up includes three generations of stellar musicians, mostly Philly-based musician-composers, all with their own separate careers. Trumpeter Brandon Lee is newest musician on the JOP roster that includes such heavyweight players as virtuoso saxophonists Dick Oates and Tim Warfield.  Stafford has limited tours with the band and several of the players perform with him as part of the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra regularly at their regular Monday night sets at the Village Vanguard

JOP has limited tours, and their last performance in the Kimmel’s Verizon Hall was the premiere of a jazz adaptation of Gustav Holst’s ‘The Planets’ with each movement inspired by the Holst’s themes as jazz orchestral jumping off point. The event was in collaboration with NASA scientists and filmmakers, who screened live footage from space and the Mars landrover.

The performance was by all accounts one of the jazz highlights of the musical year in Philly. Stafford said “I have two recordings I really want to do. ‘The Planets’ would be great to record and document,” he said, but his first priority dream is to get all of the guest artists in the studio with the band and “to celebrate Philly jazz legends with all of those artists. “That is my top (recording) priority. I’m going to be optimistic about the funding.”

Meanwhile, Stafford, the virtuoso trumpeter is very much in demand. In JOP concerts he often doesn’t pick up his horn until the last numbers in the show.  Yet his solos are as warm and commanding as if he has been performing throughout the concert. Stafford will admit “yes, it’s easier actually to be playing all night when you have a solo. But I get so inspired by just listening to the improvisations of these musicians during our concerts together. It always a joy to listen to their artistry.”

The spotlight will be on Stafford’s solo playing when he performs as solo guest artist in with the 65-piece Philly POPS Orchestra, January 18-21 (www.phillypops.org).  Stafford and POPS Musical Director Michael Krajewski are creating an overture homage toDizzy Gillespie’s music and Stafford will be the led trumpet on tributes to Philly jazz titans John Coltrane and Lee Morgan. Jazz vocalist Dee DeeBridgewater will join Stafford onstage for a set from the Billie Holiday songbook.     

Trumpeter Terell Stafford (courtesy of Kimmel Center) 

PhillyDanceMetros

BalletX dances for Spring

It still might be cold outside but BalletX dancers are already burning the floor at the Wilma Theater in an otherwise chilly Philly. Where else but BalletX can you hear the sizzling mambo of Tito Puente, Marvin Gaye’s ultimate 70s dance groove “Got to Give It Up” and the classical fire of live musicians from the Curtis Institute performing onstage with the dancers.

Opening the concert is choreographer Darrell Grande Moultrie ‘Vivir’ scored to Latin jazz and salsa music that he loved hearing growing up in Spanish Harlem. From the driving acoustic guitar of Rodrigo y Gabriela to the sultriest orchestrals by Tito Puente, Grand Moultrie fusion of ballet pointe work and salsa.

(All photos by Bill Hebert)

Gary W. Jeter in Gran Moultrie’s ‘Vivir’

Dancers fly on and offstage, joining each other in pulsing ensemble configurations, trio and duets. Gary Jeter remains onstage and dancing a soul searching solo to Bebo B. Cigala’s bittersweet ballade Eu Sei Que Vou Te Amar. Gary Jeter and Francesca Forcella frequent partners lead the sensual, fluid motion duets

Matt Neenan’s premiered ‘Increasing’ in 2014 at Vail International Dance Festival with the company joined by New York City Ballet guest stars Tiler Peck and Robert Fairchild. The ballet looks just as good in its Philadelphia premier with the BX roster dancing those solo sections and joined by the stellar musicians from the Curtis Institute of Music on stage with them performing Schubert’s String Quintet C Major.

In flamenco it is called duende and the synergy when dancers are in the direct zone of live musicians, and the ballet is exemplar of the potential of that dynamic as well.  Neenan’s choreography so inspired by the propulsion and introspection of Schubert’s chamber music, more than any implied narrative. The ensemble in quicksilver configurations that flock and scatter. Neenan punctuating with aerial variations and liberated pointe work.

Jenny Winton & Zachary Kapeluck  Neenan’s ‘Increasing’

Caili Quan’s mach speed pirouette entrance with her arms sculpted close to her sides. Quan and Skyler Lubin in a jaunty balletic unison duet and Richard Walters and Roderick Phifer in their own mirroring duet. The push-pulls of the violin interplays of Eunic Kim and Piotr Filochowski as hypnotic as the dancing. And this is a Neenan signature to keep the music an equal element on the dance stage.

Flash dance partnering spring from the taut string dialogue between the violins, then another dancer may fly on and pick up the undercurrent bassline by cellists Glenn Fischbach and Branson Yeast, or the counterpoint of violist Yoshihika Nakano. Kudos to former Pennsylvania Ballet II and Joffrey dancer Jenny Winton for subbing for company member Chloe Perkes who is recovering from an injury.

Roderick Phifer in McIntyre’s ‘Boogeyman’

Trey McIntire scored a huge hit “Big Ones” set to a song cycle by the late R&B singer Amy Winehouse, but as cleverly idiosyncratic his choreography was, it didn’t emotionally connect to the music in key ways. McIntyre’s “Boogeyman” does. There is an esprit, wit and a floating narrative of a young man expressing himself via the music to 70s pop hits. Roderick Phifer is alone in his bedroom plugged into his bulky headphones (I know, who would have guessed that they would be back) that turns into a witty, joyous, bittersweet drama of a breakup between enacted by dancers Roderick Phifer and Andrea Yorka.
Phifer has period headphones on hunched over and start some unhooked moves to one of the club megahits starting with Gaye’s ‘Got to Give it Up.

‘Boogeyman’ BXers

Phifer explodes into full on funk moves punctuated with vaults and somersaults over his bed. A quartet of partiers saunter on, they are dressed in 70s show drag and McIntyre revives Soul Train dance line moves with witty samplings of proto-break, robotic and wave choreo and who can forget those deep plié gyrations. As they funk down the line, Andrea Yorita and Phifer circle a phonebooth that might be the scene of their breakup. off and Andrea Yorita is in a state of catatonia in the bed but starts to express the angst sung out by Leo Sayer’s heartbreaker ‘Alone Again Naturally.’ Later Phifer and Yorita dance their fated lover’s tale to Stevie Wonder’s soul search lovers’ ballade ‘Never Dreamed You’d Leave Me In Summer.’ Earth, Wind and Fire’s ‘September’ party on luster  is McIntyre’s liberated dancing that soars in the bodies of this ensemble.

 

DanceMetros

Cracking the Nutcrackers

Russian expat George Balanchine choreographed The Nutcracker for New York City Ballet in 1954. Balanchine danced several roles in the ballet at the Maryinsky Theater created by Lev Ivanov’s 1892. He streamlined the story with a mix of neoclassic balletics and pantomime dance for American audiences. The Balanchine artistic trust only permits certain companies permission to dance Balanchine’s Nutcracker and there are plenty of other interpretations that re-imagining the story, some sticking closer to the ballet’s Russian origins.

When The Moscow Ballet’s ‘Great Russian Nutcracker’ swung into Philly for two nights at the Annenberg Center in Philly just nights after the Pennsylvania Ballet’s Balanchine production opened, I thought it would be interesting to compare the choreographic templates, lineage and impact on contemporary audiences.

PB principal Alexander Peters leads the Candy Canes

PB Principals Ian Hussey & Amy Aldridge as Sugar Plum & her Cavalier

PB Corp de Ballet in Snowflake scene

MoscowBallet Arabian Variation Sergey Chumakov & Elena Pretrachenko

MB’s Harlequin scene

Pennsylvania Ballet’s production of George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker

Academy of Music, Dec. 9-31

Pennsylvania Ballet Artistic Director Angel Corella continues to sharpen the company’s production of George Balanchine’s Nutcracker and since the Balanchine trust keeps tight reins on the few companies that are licensed to perform Mr. B’s, PAB’s attention to the smallest details make all of the difference, dusting off ACT I of ballet, which is can drag on if not fueled with enough performance energy.

Child dancers Claire Smith and Rowan Duffy as siblings Marie and Fritz, Both young dancers have natural stage presence and are strong dancer-actors, a key element in focusing the opening scenes. And this energy extends to all of the children at the Holiday party, which can often look like seasonal pageantry.

Corella is making sure that both the children and adult dancers are defining characters in their pedestrian and gestural movement.

PAB’s new dance master Charles Askgard portrays Herr Drosselmeir, and is a study of detailed pantomime dance. Even Balanchine’s lumbering mouse battle moves swiftly along.

The Act I solos commence when Drosselmeir animates the Harlequin dolls in their cute pointe patterns, but Balanchine saves the fireworks for the toy soldier solo, a precision dance, with precision flatfooted jumps and limb moving in sharp opposite angles- In this performance danced by Peter Weil with haunted eyes executing the drill steps.

After the faux mouse battle, Marie and the Nutcracker Prince are transported to the snowy forest where Snowflakes perform vintage Balanchine choreography full of geometric configurations and requiring tight esprit de corps. At this performance the corps’ ensemble had the pulse but veered off with some blurry unison pacing and scrambled transitions.

Amy Aldridge as the Sugar Plum Fairy among the little angel gliding over the floor to open Act two and Aldridge who has danced this role many times and this performance can be counted as among her most radiant performances.

In the Act II divertissment Lillian DiPiazza smolders as Coffee in the Arabian Dance and Jermel Johnson slices through the air with saber leg splits for Tea. Alexander Peters and his battalion of Candy Canes getting through those hoops with jaunty flair. Making the most of their flash tarantella in the Spanish Dance are newcomers Sterling Baca and Nayara Lopes.

But it was Dayesi Torriente dancing the lead in Marzapan Shepardess that stood out. This is a deceptively simple looking mid-tempo choreography, is actually very tricky and easily scuttled. Balanchine’s counterpoint patterning can loose technical clarity and merely look pretty. In this performance Torriente commanded with thrilling artistry and her Shepardesses- Adrianna deSvastich, Jacqueline Callahan, Yuka Iseda and Ana Calderan, were completely in sync.

The corp de ballet looked sharper than in the Snowflake scene, with precision and attack in Dewdrop Flowers dance. Principal Mayara Pineiro set the highest mark with her fiery lead solo. Pineiro can just hang on point arabesque and her transition steps flawless entrances and exits to diamond centered turns, airy jetes and luminous pointe work.

The finale pas de deux is all Balanchine fireworks and tests the mettle of even the most technically proficient dancers. Aldridge not missing a moment to thrill with her solid technical prowess from every angle. Aldridge and principal dancer Ian Hussey as her Cavalier with palpable chemistry throughout highlighted by their consistent fluency Balanchine’s difficult lift sequences. Hussey’s solos highlighted with centered turns and solid tours en l’air.

It can’t be understated how vibrant conductor Beatrice Jona Affron’s tempos, detailing and orchestral thrust of Tchaikovsky score are key. In Act I, among the outstanding soloists are Luigi Mazzocchi’s violin solo just engulfing the Academy and harpist Mindy Cutcher floating gorgeously crystal strings first as the first snowflake piques on the floor.

Moscow Ballet’s Great Russian Nutcracker

Annenberg Center, Philadelphia

Dec. 12-13

The Moscow Ballet version of the Nutcracker is a more classic Russian version, without doubt and is a choreographic update by the directors after Imperial Ballet period versions by Russian choreographic masters Vaganova, Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov.

At the Moscow Ballet’s Great Russian Nutcracker, you pick up right away that the story is much different, with Uncle Drosselmeyer, in a wonderfully danseur lead character part performed by Maksim Bernadskyl. Uncle is Christmas Eve magician who conjures the young girl Masha’s Nutcracker dream escorts us through the whole ballet.

Drosselmeyer Anastasiya Terada is hypnotic in her mechanical moves in a multi-colored ribbon tutu ‘Kissy Doll’ and Konstantin Vinovoy’s Harlequin (the prototype for Balanchine’s Soldier) equally spellbinding. Not transcribed by Balanchine are the Moor Dolls.

Where Balanchine leans heavily on just pantomime and gestural acting to carry Act I, here there is much more dancing including a waltz for the adults, and an officer saber dance.

The Nutcracker Doll & Prince is danced by Mykhailo Syniavskyl throughout (Balanchine turned it into a mostly pantomime role for a young male dancer).

The mice battle is a much more interesting scene, than Balanchine’s limp and comedic version. Here Sergyl Merzlyakov is not a fat cartoon rat, but a scary Rat King in red and black dyed tights stylishly sinister headpiece. The fight choreography has Merzlyakov slicing through the air or in thrilling sword dances with Nutcracker Prince.

Elena Petrichenko and Sergey Chumakov were flash dancing ‘Moor Dolls’ in the first act, but they emerge as virtuoso dance – acrobats to open Act 2 as the Dove of Peace, each with a majestic wing and they cleave together in a series of lifts that keep moving to various symbolic and sculpted positions. Later, the couple appears in an even more dramatic tableau in the Arabian Dance (a lengthier transcription of the Arabian music from Tchaikovsky’s score.)

Balanchine made this a solo dance and one of the highlights of his version for a smoldering solo for a principal ballerina. This has an equally entrancing quality and these two make the most of it.

Balanchine was skimpy on his version of The Spanish Dance even though he has four couples animated in a stylized tarantella, with fancier footwork for the leads pair. Moscow Ballet’s duet for Boris Yastrub and Olga Aru is more interesting in its variation; this couple has wonderful presence and flair in this dance, though their technique flagged.

Moscow Ballet’s ‘Chinese Variation’ (Tea) is much more developed than Balanchine’s flash dance version with glittering repeated phrases. MB’s is much more a character dance, however un-pc with ‘Orientalism.’ Juliya Verian and (stealing the show again) Sergyl Merziyakov’s playful patterns transition steps to technically dazzling double tempo grand pirouette and razor sharp aerial splits.

The reverse is true in The Snowflake ensemble dance at the end of Act I, Moscow’s Snowflakes are exemplar of Russian ballet decorousness, whereas in Balanchine’s turns the heat way up for the Snowflake scene to cap off Act I.

Moscow Ballet’s ‘Russian Variation’ is an expanded Czardas dance with Anton Romashkevych and Anna Bogatyr in traditional Ukrainian dress exuberant in high stepping patterns. Romashkevych in robust barrel rolls and Cossack plies, around Bogatyr, who is twirling like a top. Balanchine turned this into the Candy Canes hoop dance, which is just as effective as a scene, but doesn’t have this folkloric flavor.

Mykhilo Syniavskyi and Veronika Hordina have great chemistry and refinement in the central pas deux that define their characters and unfolds in dramatic finales for both acts.

So Moscow Ballet’s Great Russian Nutcracker has a lot to offer in contrast to Balanchine’s distillation of Russian aesthetics. Even with techniques among this large cast erratic, particularly in the corp de ballet scenes, it should be noted that dance schools and companies in Russia have gone through drastic reduction of state sponsorship over the last 20 years and that is a classic Russian story for another cold winter’s dance night.