N INET Y-THI R D SEASON Friday, February 2, 2024, at 8:00
Jazz Series CHRISTIAN MCBRIDE’S THE MOVEMENT REVISITED: A MUSICAL PORTRAIT OF FOUR ICONS Christian McBride Bass JD Steele Musical Director Keith Loftis Tenor Saxophone Steve Wilson Alto Saxophone Frank Greene Trumpet Michael Dease Trombone Sasha Berliner Vibraphone Geoffrey Keezer Piano Terreon Gully Drums Chicago Jazz Orchestra Uniting Voices Chicago Josephine Lee President and Artistic Director Students from The Theatre School at DePaul University Chris Anthony Director MCBRIDE
The Movement Revisited: A Musical Portrait
of Four Icons
Overture Sister Rosa Brother Malcolm Ali Speaks Rumble in the Jungle Soldiers (I Have a Dream) A View from the Mountaintop Apotheosis, November 4, 2008
(continued)
Students from The Theatre School at DePaul University Chris Anthony Director CAST
Isaiah Boozer Malcolm X DeVaughn Loman Muhammad Ali Tyshaun Meekie Martin Luther King, Jr. Alexis Primus Rosa Parks
UNDERSTUDIES
Jamille Callixte Malcolm X, King, Ali Ta’liyah Robinson Rosa Parks
Chicago Jazz Orchestra
Jeff Lindberg Artistic Director Ahmed Benbayla Associate Artistic Administrator S A XO P H O N E S
John Wojciechowski Alto Scott Burns Tenor Bill Overton Baritone
TRUMPETS
Roger Ingram Victor Garcia John Moore, Jr.
TROMBONES
Luke Malewicz Norman Palm, Jr. John Blane Bass
Uniting Voices Chicago
Josephine Lee President and Artistic Director Christabel Abiola-Fagba Ella Anello Ryan Antoine Sofia Bondurant Ameeor Bunkley Rishi Chandra Jamion Cotten Lauren Cusick Jack DeKoker Tobin Ferrall Victoria Gekker Christian Hampton Tori Hampton Andrea Hernandez
Theo Hinerfeld Mira Jain Hana Javed Camille Kejo Lydia Kuhr Isamary Medina-Marrero Charlotte Miller Tori Mooney Olivia Nach Sydney Nelkin Claire Nitzsche Jackson O’Brien Wyatt Parr Abby Rades
Richard Ramirez Lucia Ross Nathan Ruger Myra Sahai Samantha Schulz Annika Sevig Sophia Smith Gabrielle Sneed Katherine Talmers Laelia van der Bijl Matilde Velez Lauria Eliot Warren Tramaine Parker Soloist
This concert is sponsored by McDermott Will & Emery LLP. This evening’s concert has been made possible through a generous grant from Dan J. Epstein, Judith Guitelman, and the Epstein Family Foundation. The CSOA thanks the Epstein Family Foundation for ten consecutive years of generous, innovative support for the SCP Jazz Education program. DownBeat magazine, WDCB, and WBEZ Chicago are media partners for this program.
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The Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association is grateful to
McDermott Will & Emery LLP
for its generous support.
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PROFILES Christian McBride Bass Raised in Philadelphia, a city steeped in soul, McBride moved to New York in 1989 to pursue classical studies at the Juilliard School. There, he was promptly recruited to the road by saxophonist Bobby Watson. Call it a change in curriculum: a decade’s worth of study through hundreds of recording sessions and countless gigs with an ever-expanding circle of musicians. He was finding his voice, and others were learning to listen to it. In 2000 the lessons of the road came together in the formation of what would become his longest-running project, the Christian McBride Band (CMB). The CMB—saxophonist Ron Blake, keyboardist Geoffrey Keezer, and drummer Terreon Gully—have been collectively evolving McBride’s all-inclusive, forward-thinking outlook on music through their incendiary live shows, as chronicled on 2006’s Live at Tonic. Part excursion, part education, the CMB is a vehicle built on a framework of experience and powered by unfettered creativity: a mesmerizing dance on the edge of an electro-acoustic fault line. In 2009 McBride began focusing this same energy through a more traditional lens with the debut of his critically acclaimed Inside Straight quintet and again with the Christian McBride Big Band, whose 2012 The Good Feeling won a Grammy Award for Best Large Ensemble Jazz Album. As his career
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entered its third decade, McBride added the role of mentor, tapping rising stars pianist Christian Sands and drummer Ulysses Owens, Jr., for the Christian McBride Trio’s Grammy-nominated album Out Here. He is also a respected educator and advocate, first noted when he spoke on racism in the performing arts at former President Bill Clinton’s town hall meeting in 1997. He has since been named artistic director of the Jazz Aspen Snowmass Summer Sessions (2000), codirector of the National Jazz Museum in Harlem (2005), and the second creative chair for jazz of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association (2005). In 1998 he combined roles, composing The Movement Revisited, dedicated to four of the major figures of the civil rights movement: Rosa Parks, Malcolm X, Muhammad Ali, and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The piece was commissioned by the Portland, Maine, Arts Society and the National Endowment for the Arts and performed throughout New England in the fall of 1998 with McBride’s quartet and a thirty-piece gospel choir. For its tenth anniversary, The Movement Revisited was expanded, rewritten, and revamped to feature an eighteen-piece big band and four actors/speakers in addition to the gospel choir. Currently, he hosts and produces The Lowdown: Conversations with Christian on SiriusXM satellite radio and National Public Radio’s Jazz Night in America, a weekly radio show and multimedia collaboration between WBGO, NPR, and Jazz at Lincoln Center, showcasing
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outstanding live jazz from across the country. With his staggering body of work, McBride is the ideal host, drawing on history, experience, and a gift for storytelling to bridge the gap between artist, music, and audience. He brings that same breadth of experience to bear as artistic advisor for Jazz Programming at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center. Completing the circle is his work with Jazz House Kids, the nationally recognized community arts organization founded by his wife, vocalist Melissa Walker. Exclusively dedicated to educating children through jazz, the Jazz House concept brings internationally renowned jazz performers to teach alongside a professional staff, offering students a wide range of creative programming that develops musical potential, enhances leadership skills, and strengthens academic performance. This shared celebration of America’s original musical art form cultivates tomorrow’s community leaders and global citizens while preserving its rich legacy for future generations. Whether behind the bass or away from it, Christian McBride is always of the music. From jazz (Freddie Hubbard, Sonny Rollins, J.J. Johnson, Ray Brown, Milt Jackson, McCoy Tyner, Roy Haynes, Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock, Pat Metheny) to R&B (Isaac Hayes, Chaka Khan, Natalie Cole, Lalah Hathaway, and the one and only Godfather of Soul himself, James Brown) to pop/rock (Sting, Paul McCartney, Carly Simon, Don Henley, Bruce Hornsby) to hip-hop/neo-soul (the Roots, D’Angelo, Queen Latifah) to
classical (Kathleen Battle, Edgar Meyer, Shanghai Quartet, Sonus Quartet), he is a luminary, with one hand ever reaching for new heights and the other extended in fellowship—and perhaps the hint of a challenge—inviting us to join him.
J.D. Steele Musical Director J.D. Steele exploded onto the Minnesota music scene in the mid-1980s along with Prince, Jimmy Jam, Terry Lewis, Soul Asylum, and the Steeles. In 2000 he was commissioned by the Center for Cultural Exchange in Portland, Maine, to cocreate The Movement Revisited along with world-renowned jazz bassist Christian McBride. Other credits include songwriting and arranging for Corrina, Corrina, Blankman, and the award-winning documentary Hoop Dreams. He was nominated for an Emmy Award for the PBS version of The Gospel at Colonus.
Keith Loftis Tenor Saxophone Keith Loftis has been described as one of the most lyrical and compelling jazz saxophonist of today. A native of Dallas, Texas, he received his CS O.O RG
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bachelor’s degree in music from the New School and his master’s in composition and film scoring from New York University. Loftis has performed with jazz legends Benny Carter, Cedar Walton, Nancy Wilson, Frank Foster, Alvin Batiste, Clark Terry, Bobby Shew, and Ray Charles to name a few. Other collaborators include Michael Carvin, Roy Hargrove, Mary J. Blige, Chris Gillespie, Christian McBride, and Jean and Marcus Baylor.
Steve Wilson Alto Saxophone Steve Wilson has attained ubiquitous status in the studio and on the stage with the greatest names in jazz, as well as critical acclaim as a bandleader in his own right. A musician’s musician, Wilson has brought his distinctive sound to more than 100 recordings led by such celebrated and wide-ranging artists as Chick Corea, George Duke, Michael Brecker, Dave Holland, Dianne Reeves, Bill Bruford, Gerald Wilson, Maria Schneider, Joe Henderson, Charlie Byrd, Billy Childs, and Karrin Allyson, among many others, in addition to seven recordings under his own name.
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Frank Greene Trumpet A native of Northern California, Frank Greene has long since been one of New York’s most in-demand lead trumpet players. Frank has performed lead trumpet in performances and on recordings with the Christian McBride Big Band, Jimmy Heath Band, Maynard Ferguson, Bob Mintzer, Frank Foster, the Nicholas Payton Big Band, the Frank Wess Nonette, the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, the Dizzy Gillespie All-Star Big Band, the Clark Terry Big Band, and the Roy Hargrove Band, to name a few. He can also be heard on soundtracks for Netflix and NFL Films.
Michael Dease Trombone Michael Dease is one of the world’s eminent trombonists, lending his versatile sound and signature improvisations to over 200 recordings and groups as diverse as Grammy–winning artists David Sanborn, Christian McBride, Michel Camilo, and Alicia Keys. Born in Augusta, Georgia, Dease moved to New York City in 2001 to become part of the historic first class of jazz students at the Juilliard School, earning both bachelor’s and master’s degrees, and quickly
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established a reputation as a brilliant soloist, side person, and bandleader. Dease is a Yamaha Performing Artist and uses Pickett Brass and Vandoren mouthpieces exclusively.
Sasha Berliner Vibraphone Sasha Berliner is a musician, composer, producer, and band leader from San Francisco. A rock drummer turned vibraphonist, she was the first U.S. recipient of the LetterOne “Rising Stars” Jazz Award in 2019 and was named the 2020 DownBeat Critics’ Poll winner of the Rising Star in the vibraphone category— the first woman and the youngest individual in the poll’s history to be granted the win. She was also voted in the top ten vibraphonists in the 2021 and 2022 DownBeat Reader’s Polls. In 2024, Berliner releases a new quintet and septet album, Jinx!
Geoffrey Keezer Piano Geoffrey Keezer is a Grammy-winning pianist, composer, arranger, and producer based in New York City. A native of Eau Claire, Wisconsin, Keezer moved to New York in 1989, becoming
the last pianist with the legendary Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers. Keezer has toured and recorded with Ray Brown, Roy Hargrove, Joshua Redman, Diana Krall, Art Farmer, Benny Golson, Barbara Hendricks, Wayne Shorter, Dianne Reeves, David Sanborn, Chris Botti, Sting, Joe Locke, Denise Donatelli, and Christian McBride. Keezer is a faculty member of the Juilliard School and a Yamaha artist.
Terreon Gully Drums Grammy winning, musician extraordinaire, Terreon Gully is one of the most influential artists of his generation. His innovative and distinct sound has inspired artists such as Dianne Reeves, Christian McBride, Stefon Harris, as well as John Beasley’s Monk’estra to make him a member of their bands. Terreon’s passion for excellence led to his endorsements from Yamaha, Sabian, Remo, Vic Firth, Latin Percussion (LP), and Protection Racket. Originally from East St. Louis, Illinois, Terreon now makes Atlanta, Georgia, his home, where he continues to enhance and develop his craft.
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Chicago Jazz Orchestra
Cofounded in 1978 by Jeff Lindberg and the late Steve Jensen, the Chicago Jazz Orchestra (CJO) is the oldest continuously operating professional jazz orchestra in Chicago. Now in its fifth decade, the CJO is firmly established as the city’s premier professional jazz orchestra and one of the top repertory ensembles in the world. The CJO celebrates and perpetuates jazz orchestra music—an original American art form—for all audiences through performance, collaboration, and education. The orchestra strives to develop and promote appreciation and understanding of music for the American jazz orchestra as it was originally conceived, performed, and recorded by jazz master composers and soloists. When Jeff Lindberg and the late Steve Jensen first developed their big-band concept in 1978 (founded as the Jazz Members Big Band), they could not have predicted that their group of first-call musicians would become the now-celebrated Chicago Jazz Orchestra, an organization that
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has garnered national and international recognition. Since its founding, the CJO has toured Europe twice and served as resident orchestra for the Kennedy Center Honors Awards Dinner in Washington (D.C.) for twenty-six consecutive years. Guest artists have included Clark Terry, Dizzy Gillespie, Stevie Wonder, Herbie Hancock, Slide Hampton, Quincy Jones, Joe Williams, and many others. The orchestra appears at venues and institutions across the Chicago metropolitan area, leading educational programs with students performing alongside CJO members, master classes led by renowned guest artists, and open rehearsals. Jeff Lindberg, the CJO conductor and artistic director, is one of the world’s foremost jazz transcriptionists. His vast library, to which the CJO has unique access, includes works of Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Dizzy Gillespie, Lionel Hampton, Benny Carter, Oliver Nelson, Ray Charles, Nat King Cole, and many others. The CJO also performs compositions and arrangements by orchestra members, including trombonist Tom Garling. Loyal fans of the CJO are regularly treated to live performances of unique transcriptions, compositions, and arrangements that cannot be heard anywhere else. The CJO’s recently recorded album, More Love (for Wes), is a tribute to Wes Montgomery in collaboration with the brilliant jazz guitarist Bobby Broom. It is expected to be released in the fall of 2024.
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Uniting Voices Chicago
Uniting Voices Chicago (formerly Chicago Children’s Choir) is a nonprofit organization that empowers and unites youth from diverse backgrounds to find their voice and celebrate their common humanity through the power of music. Founded in 1956 and inspired by the civil rights movement, Uniting Voices Chicago offers school-based and after-school choral music education programs serving thousands of youth ages six through eighteen from every zip code of Chicago. Eighty percent of the youth it serves are from low- to moderate-income households, and most students participate free of charge. As a local civic treasure and a national and international touring ensemble, Uniting Voices has performed for dignitaries such as former President Barack Obama, Nelson Mandela, former Chinese President Hu Jintao, and the Dalai Lama, and with artists such as Karol G, Chance the Rapper, Bobby McFerrin, Common, Yo-Yo Ma, and Andrea Bocelli.
Josephine Lee Artistic Director Lee recently sang in the world premiere of Pulitzer Prize finalist Ted Hearne’s Place, receiving a Grammy nomination for best small ensemble performance and played to critical acclaim at the Brooklyn Academy of Music festival, Next Wave. Lee received the Kennedy Center’s National Committee for the Performing Arts Award for Arts Advocacy in 2018 and the Jesse L. Rosenberger Medal in 2014 from the University of Chicago. She was recently featured in “The Transformative Power of Music” on Oprah Winfrey Network’s series Super Soul Sunday.
unitingvoiceschicago.org
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The Theatre School at DePaul University The Theatre School at DePaul University, founded in 1925 as the Goodman School of Drama, is one of the nation’s oldest conservatory training institutions. With more than fifteen undergraduate degree programs across three departments (design/technology, performance, and theater studies) and two master’s degrees in acting and arts leadership, students combine rigorous coursework with continuous production practice to hone their skills. This hands-on approach equips students with practical problem-solving experience not just in theater but in a variety of artistic and business pursuits. All students receive a scholarship to help support artists from a variety of backgrounds and to encourage quality and accessible education for all. theatre.depaul.edu @theatreschooldepaul
Chris Anthony Director Chris Anthony is cohead of BFA Acting at The Theatre School. Professional directing credits include Theatre for One (Court Theatre, The Tempest (Illinois Shakespeare Festival), Romeo and Juliet (Notre Dame Shakespeare), Crumbs from the Table of Joy (Theater at
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Monmouth), as well as productions for Native Voices at the Autry, Cornerstone Theater, the St. Louis Black Rep, and Shakespeare Center of Los Angeles.
Isaiah Zavion Boozer Malcolm X Isaiah Zavion Boozer is a multifaceted artist, playwright, director, actor, videographer, filmmaker, accolade achieving screenwriter, a 2021 United States Presidential Scholar semifinalist (appointed by the White House), alumnus of the South Carolina Governor’s School for the Arts and Humanities, a 2021 National Young Arts winner as an actor, a 2022 TED speaker, a 2022 Kennedy Center Directing and Playwriting Intensive graduate, a 2023 Broadway Advocacy Coalition Cody Renard Richard scholar, a 2023 Sundance Young Arts Fellow, and among other things, current playwriting student at DePaul University.
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DeVaughn Loman Muhammad Ali DeVaughn Loman is from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Theatre School credits include Antigone (Kreon), Eurydice (Orpheus), Unaccompanied (Aiden), and Is God Is (Man). Other credits include Circe (Helios, Daedalus, Trygon) at Hydrama Theatre and The Bacchae (Ensemble) at Hydrama Theatre.
Tyshaun Meekie Martin Luther King, Jr.
Alexis Primus Rosa Parks Alexis Primus (she/ they) is from Washington (D.C.) and is an MFA acting candidate at the Theatre School at DePaul University. They graduated from the University of Pittsburgh in 2019 and have since performed in musicals, plays, operas, films, television shows, and self-generated work. She is excited about the opportunity to be a part of The Movement Revisited and looks forward to becoming more involved in the arts community in Chicago.
Tyshaun Meekie (he, him) is an actor and a poet from Grand Rapids, Michigan. He is currently seeking his BFA in acting at the Theatre School at DePaul University. Theatre School credits include You Got Older (cowboy), Monster (Victor), The Royale (Jay). Meekie hopes to create art that people can relate to and be inspired by.
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This evening’s concert has been made possible through a generous grant from Dan J. Epstein, Judith Guitelman, and the Epstein Family Foundation.
The CSOA thanks the Epstein Family Foundation for ten consecutive years of generous, innovative support for the SCP Jazz Education program.