For the past dozen years I’ve been curating a Spring series at Tribeca Performing Arts Center that celebrates historic, now-lost jazz venues around Manhattan. This Spring our focus lands on the legendary Birdland. We’ve viewing Birdland through the prism of the enormous legacy of the man after whom that jazz haunt was named, Charlie “Yardbird” Parker. Our first concert was Friday, May 3 as alto man TK Blue recalled Bird’s experimentations with Afro-Caribbean rhythms and textures. Here’s more on our 2013 series…
Downtown Performing Arts for All New York
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Allyson Morgan
Publicity Associate, BMCC Tribeca Performing Arts Center
Phone: (212) 220–1459 / Email: amorgan@tribecapac.org
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
BMCC Tribeca Performing Arts Center Presents
Lost Jazz Shrines 2013: Bird – A World’s Eye View
(New York, NY) – BMCC Tribeca PAC’s Lost Jazz Shrines series is dedicated to restoring the memory of legendary New York City jazz venues to the consciousness of the world with a thorough remembrance and celebration. In celebration of the resonant history of Birdland, join us on May 3, May 17, and May 31, as we will examine the musical and stylistic legacy of Charlie Parker through three completely different lenses and cultural perspectives. This will be achieved through the efforts of three exceptional alto saxophonists (TK BLUE, MARTY EHRLICH & RUDRESH MAHANTHAPPA) who have expanded the lessons of Bird. Each saxophonist will bring elements of his diverse backgrounds to our stage for fresh interpretations of the oeuvre of Bird. Each saxophonist will include their own combo.
Each concert will be preceded by a FREE Humanities program at 7PM with live panel discussions or film that showcase some of the celebrated figures associated with this year’s honorees, followed by the concert at 8:30PM. Tickets are $25 for each concert. Tickets can be purchased by calling Ticketing Services at (212) 220-1460 or online at www.tribecapac.org.
Schedule:
Latin Bird
TK BLUE – Musical Director
Friday, May 3
Concert at 8:30PM
$25 / students, seniors $15
Saxophonist/flutist-composer-educator TK Blue, whose family heritage is from the Caribbean (Jamaica and Trinidad), explores the Latin influenced rhythms and melodies of the great Charlie “Yardbird” Parker, the legendary Bird. In the 40s and 50s Charlie Parker had a number of fruitful interactions with such Latin music legends as Machito, Mario Bauza, and Chano Pozo. TK Blue’s concert will reflect that rich vein of Parker’s experience.
Performers:
T.K.Blue–flute, soprano and alto sax
James Weidman–piano.
Essiet Essiet–bass
Winard Harper–drums and
Steve Turre–shells and trombone
Birdland: Reminiscing in Tempo
Panel Discussion with NEA Jazz Masters Randy Weston and Dan Morgenstern
Moderated by Willard Jenkins
7PM – FREE
Charlie Parker: Timeless Innovation
RUDRESH MAHANTHAPPA – Musical Director
Friday, May 17
Concert at 8:30PM
$25 / students, seniors $15
Rudresh Mahanthappa will present recontextualizations of Charlie Parker’s work as well as new material based on extractions of Bird’s vocabulary as both composer and improviser. Mahanthappa’s celebrated groundbreaking approach of synthesizing the traditions of jazz with modern musical concepts exemplifies the spirit of Bird. With some of NYC’s finest instrumentalists as a rhythm section, this evening will highlight the relevancy of Parker as a contemporary and timeless icon of modern music.
Performers:
Rudresh Mahanthappa – alto saxophone
Matt Mitchell – Piano
François Moutin – Acoustic Bass
Rudy Royston – Drums
Film screening: Celebrating Bird: The Triumph of Charlie Parker
Celebrating Bird is a revealing look at an enigmatic yet endlessly appealing man, who soared to the heights of creative freedom but couldn’t beat a lifelong addiction to heroin. It includes a TV appearance with Dizzy Gillespie and rare footage with jazz greats including Billy Eckstine, Count Basie, Art Tatum, Thelonious Monk, Louis Armstrong, Kenny Clarke and Lucky Thompson, Lester Young, among others.
7PM – FREE
The Cartographies of Flight
MARTY EHRLICH – Musical Director
Friday, May 31
Concert at 8:30PM
$25 / students, seniors $15
“Charlie Parker Place. That’s my corner, just down from Bird’s house, now a historic landmark in the East Village. At times I imagine hearing him practice as I go by, infusing each rhythmic step and melodic turn with his characteristic sense of exaltation. “Bluing a new cartography of flight” is how poet Arthur Brown put it. Tonight’s concert will celebrate that Bird’s music points us forward, combining music with the images and syntax that he and his compatriots inspired in poets, then and now. “ – Marty Ehrlich
Performers:
THE MARTY EHRLICH ENSEMBLE
Marty Ehrlich – woodwinds
James Zollar – trumpet
Marc Ribot – guitar
Michael Formanek – bass
Nasheet Waits- drums
Erica Hunt – poet and reader
Charles Bernstein – poet and reader
The Impact of Charlie Parker
Panel Discussion with TK Blue and Marty Ehrlich.
Moderated by Willard Jenkins
7PM – FREE
Performers Subject to change.
BMCC Tribeca PAC is Downtown Manhattan’s premier presenter of the arts, reaching audiences from the college community, downtown residential and business communities, local schools, families, and audiences of all ages. BMCC Tribeca PAC strives to present a broad global perspective through the presentation of high-quality artistic work in music, theatre, dance, film and visual arts. BMCC Tribeca PAC is located on the Borough of Manhattan Community College campus, 199 Chambers Street (between Greenwich Avenue & West Street) and is convenient to the 2/3, A/C/E and R/W subway lines and the New Jersey Path Train. For more information please visit our website, www.tribecapac.org.