A behind-the-scenes look at
NJPAC’s most dazzling season ever!
The Manhattan Transfer
George Benson
Terence Blanchard
Paquito D’Rivera
David Sanborn
A week-long celebration of jazz and Newark’s own music master, James Moody Sponsored by
Co-presented by
Christian McBride Artistic Advisor
Interviews, profiles, and a full calendar of our 2012–2013 season!
NEW JERSEY PERFORMING ARTS CENTER
Whoopi Goldberg
William Shatner
George Clinton
Barbara Cook
Yo-Yo Ma
Diana Krall
In the Mood for Jazz
October 15th –21st, NJPAC’s TD James Moody Democracy of Jazz Festival brings a celebration of jazz and the legacy of Newark’s own James Moody by George Varga
Christian McBride
Sponsored by
Co-presented by
Newark is surely not the only city to claim James Moody as its own, as demonstrated by the numerous proclamations from around the world that were presented to this timeless jazz saxophone icon, composer and band leader during his 60-year-plus career. But his former hometown is the ideal location to host the TD James Moody Democracy of Jazz Festival, which takes place October 15th–21st at NJPAC. Like few other artists, Moody both defined and transcended jazz, the music to which he devoted his life as a performer, teacher, mentor and tireless champion. In the process, he attracted multigenerational audiences with his sublime artistry, puckish humor and indomitable spirit. Moody also had a unique ability to touch even those listeners whose appreciation for jazz may not extend much past “Moody’s Mood for Love,” his timeless 1949 alto saxfueled reinvention of “I’m in the Mood for Love,” which longtime Moody friend Bill Cosby has hailed as “a national anthem.” Dozens of artists have since lovingly recorded their versions of “Moody’s Mood for Love,” including Aretha Franklin, Van Morrison, Amy Winehouse, Smokey Robinson, Rod Stewart, TD Moody Festival performer George Benson, and Newark native Queen Latifah. “As a non-musician, one of the things I love about Moody—and the reason why we wanted to name a festival after him—is Moody’s sense of joy,” says John Schreiber, NJPAC’s President and CEO. “That joy, combined with his extraordinary talent, is what can take a civilian and turn that person into a jazz fan. We wanted to create a festival in his honor that would have a really authentic resonance with New Jersey and, especially, Newark.” It was in Newark, the third oldest city in the U.S., that the Georgia-born Moody came of age as an aspiring musician. At the age of 16, he began playing alto sax, a gift from an uncle, while attending Newark Arts High School. It was also in Newark that the then-teenaged Moody first saw the Count Basie Orchestra perform at the nowdefunct Adams Theater. Hearing tenor sax stars Don Byas and Buddy Tate play in the Basie band was an epiphany for Moody, who soon switched from alto to tenor. Once his career was underway, he expanded his instrumental repertoire even further. “Tenor was his greatest vehicle, but he was a wonderful 2 New Jersey Performing Arts Center
Lisa Tanner
Artistic Advisor
James Moody
One of the things I love about Moody— and the reason why we wanted to name a festival after him—is his sense of joy. That joy, combined with his extraordinary talent, is what can take a civilian and turn that person into a jazz fan… —John Schreiber President & CEO, NJPAC flute player and he had a beautiful sound on alto,” says Dan Morgenstern, the recently retired director of the Institute of Jazz Studies at Rutgers University. “Whatever he picked up, he was great on and had his own personality.” Moody’s ascent in the jazz world began in 1946. It was then that he joined bebop trumpet dynamo Dizzy Gillespie’s big band, which at the time featured such budding greats as Thelonious Monk, Milt Jackson and Ray Brown. His first solo album, 1947’s James Moody and His Bebop Men on Blue Note Records, featured members of Gillespie’s band. A subsequent one-month visit to Europe lasted two
years and, in 1949 in Sweden, saw Moody record the song that would become synonymous with his name. Never mind that he had never before done a recording session playing alto sax (he used a borrowed alto for the session). Moody’s recording was originally released as “I’m in the Mood for Love” and his remarkably earthy and eloquent performance later prompted Weather Report co-founder Joe Zawinul to declare: “The solo Moody played on that is one of the rare masterpieces in jazz.” “Moody is one of the patron saints of Newark,” says Cephas Bowles, the longtime President and CEO of award-winning Newark jazz radio station WBGO-FM, a co-sponsor of the Moody Festival. “By virtue of his international celebrity, he showed Newark to be a great jazz incubator and a great jazz town.” Moody’s discography includes more than 50 solo albums as a band leader, and he was featured on dozens more recordings alongside Gillespie, Quincy Jones, Miles Davis, Lionel Hampton, Charles Mingus, and others. In 2001, his quintessential “Moody’s Mood for Love” recording received a 2001 Grammy Hall of Fame Award for “its lasting qualitative and historical significance.” In 2011, Moody—who died in late 2010 at the age of 85—posthumously won a Grammy Award for Best Jazz Instrumental Album for 4B. It was a long-overdue accolade, but the oft-honored musician paid it little mind. “My goal is that I want to play better tomorrow than I did today, because I’m not in competition with anyone else,” Moody said in a 2005 interview at the San Diego home he shared with his devoted wife, Linda. “If you try to compete, you’d better give up, because there’s always somebody, somewhere, who has more going on. And that’s what makes jazz so beautiful, that’s what makes the world beautiful.” Yet, no matter how many times Moody traveled around the world, this ebullient music master never forgot the city in which he grew up. “We went to Newark together many times,” says Linda Moody. “He was so happy to see that the city was coming back with new residences and buildings, a resurgence that for many people started with NJPAC. “At one point, Newark was his whole life. He’d stand at one end of Broadway in Newark as a kid, and say: ‘Someday, I’m going to go to the end of this street.’ It was a big deal for him. Little did he know he’d join the U.S. Air Force, then go all around the globe with Dizzy and many more times with his own band. At one point, going to the end of Broadway in Newark was the be-all and end-all for him.” George Varga is the music critic for U-T San Diego (formerly The San Diego Union-Tribune) and a contributing writer at Jazz Times magazine.
For a full listing of TD Moody Jazz Festival events, visit njpac.org
All for One, One for All–For Love of Moody Over a dozen of James Moody’s favorite musicians and friends share the stage for a one-night-only concert celebration
Kwaku Alston
by Tim Wilkins
George Benson
On Friday, October 19th, For Love of Moody will feature George Benson, The Manhattan Transfer and David Sanborn as well as special guests Kenny Barron, Jon Faddis, Jimmy Heath, John Lee, Paquito D’Rivera, Christian McBride, Paul Lieberman, and Todd Coolman, plus Adam Nussbaum and Music Director Renee Rosnes (both longtime members of Moody’s group).
The Manhattan Transfer
“I want to be like him when I grow up,” says pianist Kenny Barron of his friend and mentor, James Moody. “He was an eternal student of music, and a real openminded cat.” Barron continues to be inspired by Moody’s warmth and optimism, two years after the saxophonist’s death at age 85. When Moody made friends, they became friends for life: The pair first played together in the 1960s and afterwards became lifelong collaborators. Barron now joins other musicians for a special performance called For Love of Moody, coming to NJPAC’s Prudential Hall on October 19th as part of the TD James Moody Democracy of Jazz Festival. Many of these friends met Moody during his years as Dizzy Gillespie’s musical partner. Barron was just 19-years-old when he and Moody met in 1962, then they played together in Dizzy’s quintet for four years. The pair reunited and recorded dozens of times after that. Among these sessions is Moody 4B, the 2010 CD which earned Moody a posthumous Grammy Award. Moody first joined Gillespie’s band in 1946, when he was fresh out of the U.S. Air Force and scarcely 21-yearsold. That’s when the young Jimmy Heath met him, too. Heath and his brother Percy, who played bass, were an opening act for Dizzy’s group, and when Moody moved to Europe in 1949, Jimmy took over the tenor sax chair in Gillespie’s big band. While living in Europe, Moody unexpectedly recorded one of his most enduring hits. Visiting Sweden in 1949, he recorded an improvisation to Jimmy McHugh and Deborah Fields’ pop song, “I’m In the Mood for Love.” Young jazz musicians, who were just becoming aware of the bebop style Moody and Gillespie had pioneered, were dazzled by the saxophonist’s inventive use of harmony and phrasing, and many memorized the solo note-for-note. Vocalist Eddie Jefferson was so inspired by the performance that he wrote lyrics to Moody’s improvised line, creating a style called vocalese. Much to Moody’s astonishment, when he returned from Europe in 1952, he discovered that the song had become a hit, retiled “Moody’s Mood for Love.” It became a hit once again in 1980, when guitarist and vocalist George Benson earned a Grammy Award for his version of the song on his platinum-selling album, Give Me the Night. Moody earned his own Grammy nomination for a
performance on the 1985 album Vocalese by the vocal quartet The Manhattan Transfer. He also played one of his last sessions in 2009 with the group’s soprano, Cheryl Bentyne. That session of Cole Porter songs, which has just been released as Let’s Misbehave, has special meaning to Bentyne, because at the time both she and Moody were enduring treatment for cancer. “James was one of the sweetest souls there ever was, and one of the most powerful legends of jazz,” she recalls. “He was just a dear, dear man.” In 1989, Moody rejoined Gillespie to tour with Dizzy’s last great big band, the United Nation Orchestra, in which he played with alto saxophonist Paquito D’Rivera and bassist John Lee. After Dizzy’s death in 1993, these musicians regularly reunited with Heath and others to perform as the Dizzy Gillespie All-Stars. Pianist Renee Rosnes, the musical director of For Love of Moody, was a key part of the saxophonist’s core group in the last two decades of his life, with bassist Todd Coolman and drummer Adam Nussbaum. The quartet was frequently joined onstage by Jon Faddis, a Gillespie protégé and trumpet master in his own right. Faddis and alto saxophonist David Sanborn have been key supporters of the James Moody Scholarship for Newark Youth, a beneficiary of the TD James Moody Democracy of Jazz Festival. This pair and dozens of other friends of Moody first came together for a concert to support the scholarship fund for youth in Newark, Moody’s hometown, at New York’s Blue Note Jazz Club in March of 2011, and again in March of this year. “You know what’s a nice feeling? To see a light come on in a kid’s face,” Moody said in a 1993 interview for the Smithsonian Institution. “Anytime I can make a light come on, not only for music, but any other kind of way, it really makes me feel good.” Moody made lights come on for so many of us, for each of these musicians who pays tribute to him at NJPAC on October 19th, and for the young people who continue to be inspired by the example he set. Long live Moody! Tim Wilkins writes the weekly “On Jazz” column for The Star-Ledger and is the digital content manager for Newark’s award-winning jazz radio station, WBGO-88.3 FM.
Don’t miss this once-in-a-lifetime concert on Friday, October 19th! Get your seats now at njpac.org or at 1-888-GO-NJPAC David Sanborn njpac.org 3
Miles Davis and Gil Evans: Still Ahead Three Masterpieces, Two Legends, One Night Only by Larry Hicock On Saturday, October 20th, the TD James Moody Democracy of Jazz Festival presents an all-star recreation of the landmark original Gil Evans arrangements of three classic Miles Davis recordings—Porgy and Bess, Sketches of Spain and Miles Ahead—performed by a unique cast of jazz greats, including trumpeters Terence Blanchard and Sean Jones, bassist Christian McBride, drummers Peter Erskine and Jimmy Cobb, tuba master Howard Johnson, and a jazz orchestra under the direction of Vince Mendoza.
the improviser. There are a lot of details involved with the proper performance of this music—dynamics, phrasing, ensemble playing—but in the end the music needs to remain spiritually exciting and fresh for the soloist. With these arrangements it happens every time, and the energy is different every time.” In much the same way, Terence Blanchard took his cue from Miles Davis. “Miles was my hero, of course. But the way to pay homage to Miles is not to play like Miles. Miles’ whole thing was, do your own thing, be yourself.” Best of all, Terence adds, the energy that animates this music is a two-way street: “It was special not only for the musicians but for the audience as well. The audience was really enthusiastic, which propelled our energy and helped us put more energy into it, so it was a beautiful thing all around.”
The way to pay homage to Miles is not to play like Miles. Miles’ whole thing was, do your own thing, be yourself... Few jazz artists manage to produce a true break-out recording—something that transcends jazz and connects with diverse audiences the world over. But in the 1950s, with the help of his friend Gil Evans, Miles Davis did just that—three times in a row. Miles and Gil were consummate artists but also great innovators: once these recordings were done they moved on and never looked back. Consequently, except for one concert (Carnegie Hall, 1961), they were never to perform this music together again. Decades later, it would take no less a figure than Quincy Jones to get Miles to finally reconsider. For these reasons alone, getting to actually hear this music now, performed in its original form, is an opportunity that’s about as rare as it gets. There would be other landmark achievements from this dashing, daring trumpeter—that’s why he was honored earlier this year with a commemorative stamp by the U.S. Postal Service. Likewise there is much more to the Evans legacy, as evidenced this year by the many tribute concerts celebrating the centennial of Gil’s birth in 1912. But that’s another story. Let us concern ourselves with Miles Ahead (1957), Porgy and Bess (1958) and Sketches of Spain (1959–60): Let us consider what makes this music so special, and what you can expect to experience— emotionally, spiritually, intellectually, viscerally—come this magical night in October. Long before words like “fusion” or “world music” became fashionable, Gil Evans had mastered the art of listening, synthesizing and reinventing. He ignored all labels and boundaries, looking only for what he called the music’s “living spirit.” He drew freely, and with impeccable
taste, from Duke Ellington and Joaquín Rodrigo, George Gershwin and Kurt Weill and Charlie Parker. He transported us from 19th-century Europe to post-war 52nd Street, from Catfish Row to the Royal Palace of Aranjuez. As elaborate and breathtakingly beautiful as these orchestral settings are, they are just the beginning. All three works were conceived as concertos, in which the orchestra’s primary role is to spotlight a single voice, in this case the trumpet, and to showcase not only these great melodies but also the melodic variations of a true jazz master. Enter Miles Davis, the foremost improviser of his time. For countless musicians, and millions of listeners around the world, the love affair with Miles’ sound began right here—and to many ears, he never sounded better than he did in these spectacular Gil Evans arrangements. This concert was developed with the original Gil Evans charts. Its music director is Vince Mendoza, a six-time Grammy-winner often cited as “the clear and natural successor to Gil Evans.” The featured trumpeters are Terence Blanchard, another Grammy-winner (known to many for his numerous Spike Lee film scores) and Sean Jones, one of today’s fast-rising “young lions.” Two other guests were there at the beginning: drummer Jimmy Cobb played on both Porgy and Bess and Sketches of Spain; and tuba virtuoso Howard Johnson was with Gil for over two decades, including Gil’s work with Miles in the late 1960s. All the other players, too, were hand-picked not just for their technical ability but for their attitude and their energy. Such energy, as Vince Mendoza found, starts right in the charts. “What’s most striking to me is how Gil’s treatment of the orchestra continues to be inspiring to
—Terence Blanchard
Terence Blanchard
Beautiful indeed, and very rare. “This music becomes more precious with time,” says Howard Johnson. “It’s never been equalled, really, and the way to celebrate it is to keep it being played.” We are fortunate that musicians of this calibre will go out of their way to do just that. They do it because it matters so much to them personally. And, as Terence Blanchard puts it, because it matters so much to all of us: “This music is a part of Americana. It’s part of American history. It’s one of the great moments in time that makes the rest of the world respect our artistry.” Larry Hicock is the author of Castles Made of Sound: The Story of Gil Evans, being released in an eBook version this November.
Choose your seats online at njpac.org or order by phone at 1-888-GO-NJPAC! 4 New Jersey Performing Arts Center
Feeling Good with Christian McBride The Grammy-winning bassist, sideman and leader takes on his newest role, as Artistic Advisor to NJPAC’s TD James Moody Democracy of Jazz Festival by Tad Hendrickson Even though he’s just turned 40, Christian McBride has been a leading light in jazz for more than two decades now. A versatile bassist who’s played with countless legends and young lions, McBride has also led several critically acclaimed bands over the years. He recently released two albums—Conversations with Christian, a collection of duets with a wide variety of players, and The Good Feeling, a 2012 Grammy Award winner that features McBride’s 18-piece big band—and he can also be found touring with Inside Straight, his acoustic jazz quintet. But his interest in music goes beyond playing and writing it. McBride has also worked as the Carolyn and Bill Powers Creative Chair for Jazz for the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Co-Director of the National Jazz Museum in Harlem, and Artistic Director of the Jazz Aspen Snowmass Summer Sessions. Now he can add Artistic Advisor to NJPAC’s TD James Moody Democracy of Jazz Festival to his lengthy résumé. But this is not the Montclair resident’s first time performing at NJPAC: McBride played as part of the arts center’s inaugural season in 1997, in trio with Joshua Redman and Brian Blade. McBride even played with James Moody himself a couple of times, once as part of an all-star tribute to Quincy Jones in Central Park, with Moody as well as Benny Golson, Illinois Jacquet, Phil Woods and Jerome Richardson. What McBride remembers most about Moody is what a lot of his fans saw on stage that night and countless others. “James Moody was one of the nicest, most jovial souls,” McBride recalls. “It made sense that he and Dizzy Gillespie were partners in crime. They always believed that not only did the music have to be serious, but there also had to be a showbiz aspect to it. Sadly, I think that’s all but disappeared from the world of jazz. I feel like you almost get points against you if you are entertaining.” McBride also has ties to NJPAC’s new President and CEO, John Schreiber, whom the bassist first met as a
promising 14-year-old player. At the time, Schreiber worked for the legendary jazz impresario George Wein. Since those days, Schreiber and McBride have stayed in touch. One of the first Festival events that McBride suggested was the Saturday, October 20th performance entitled Miles Davis and Gil Evans: Still Ahead (see feature on page 4), which will feature highlights from the trumpeter and the arranger’s landmark collaboration on three LPs: Miles Ahead, Sketches of Spain and Porgy and Bess. McBride first programmed a similar concert that was enthusiastically received at L.A.’s Hollywood Bowl, performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. “How often do you get to hear those great Miles Davis orchestral recordings done live—or any jazz orchestral recordings, for that matter?” McBride asks. “It’s a real big production to bring together such a large ensemble, so I think it’s going to be a big thrill for anybody who attends.” Miles Ahead, Sketches of Spain and Porgy and Bess are all classics, not only of the Miles Davis oeuvre but of jazz in general. With the roster of musicians who will perform at NJPAC—an all-star group that includes trumpeters Terence Blanchard and Sean Jones, drummers Peter Erskine and Jimmy Cobb, tuba player Howard Johnson, and a jazz orchestra under the direction of Vince Mendoza—there is no doubt that the listener will get to experience the passion and sheer beauty of this music. “For a vast majority of people who don’t know a lot about jazz, they are going to learn about it through Miles Davis,” McBride points out. “It’s hard to pick an era to start with, but for someone who doesn’t know a lot about jazz, I think the stuff Davis created with Gil is a great starting point.” A beneficiary of lots of great teaching in his time, McBride will also be deeply involved in education elements of the TD Moody Festival, working in part with vocalist-educator Melissa Walker and her Jazz House Kids, the largest jazz education organization in Northern New Jersey (see page 6).
For a full listing of TD Moody Jazz Festival events, visit njpac.org
Christian McBride performs as part of the TD Moody Jazz Festival on October 19th in the all-star For Love of Moody concert, and on October 20th as part of Miles Davis & Gil Evans: Still Ahead
All That Jazz: More of the World’s Best, Coming Soon to NJPAC Sat, December 1 at 8:00 Keith Jarrett, piano Gary Peacock, bass Jack DeJohnette, drums The New York Times classifies this trio as “the standout jazz piano trio of the last 25 years.”
Presented in association with
Fri, March 29 at 8:00
Fri, April 12 at 8:00
Take 6 and Hezekiah Walker
Diana Krall
Jazz Meets Gospel
The 10-time Grammy-winning a cappella group Take 6 joins fellow Grammy winner Hezekiah Walker.
Live in Concert One of today’s best-selling jazz artists brings an evening of unmistakably sophisticated “song and dance” standards. njpac.org 5
Spreading the Joy of Jazz
NJPAC premieres a new family musical, A Night in New Orleans On Saturday, October 20th, NJPAC premieres A Night in New Orleans: A Magic Tree House Adventure, a new musical for young audiences based on Mary Pope Osborne’s A Good Night for Ghosts. Here, one of the show’s creators, Murray Horwitz, shares the story behind the creation of this musical adaptation.
Shrieking, hollering, applause—jazz musicians seldom get rock star treatment, and I imagine it’s even rarer for children’s book authors. But there I was, in an elementary school in New Orleans’ Eighth Ward, watching hundreds of screaming seven and eight-year-olds mob Mary Pope Osborne. Happily, the kids were well behaved (not to mention tiny), so the fan riot was easily controlled. Why this spontaneous demonstration of joyous affection? In a way, it had less to do with what Mary had done (she had written one of the most wonderful series in the history of children’s literature, the Magic Tree House collection) than with what the kids had done. They had actually read the books. The one being celebrated that day had a special relationship to those students—and to jazz music. In A Good Night For Ghosts (book #42 in the series), the Magic Tree House transports its heroes, Jack and Annie, to 1915 New Orleans, to save the young Louis Armstrong from giving up the trumpet. In the process, the brotherand-sister team encounters the ghosts of Jean Lafitte and his pirate crew, and learns the power of blues-based improvisational American music—jazz. Reading a passage from the book for those schoolchildren
was Mary’s husband, Will Osborne. He’s a marvelous actor, musician, and all-around man of the theater, but I already knew that. Some months before, Will, Mary, and I had been brought together in the fall of 2009 by John Schreiber (now the President and CEO of NJPAC). The four of us talked on the phone about the possibility of a musical adaptation of A Good Night for Ghosts, and we hit it off immediately. After two or three months of reading, writing, and Skype chats, Will and I finally met in person, in the most convenient place we could find: my son’s apartment in East Harlem. We immediately started mapping out the play (the “book” of the musical), identifying where the songs should go and what they should do. It was important to us that the show stay true to the Magic Tree House conventions and characters, but still be able to hold the interest of young people (and their adult companions) who might not be familiar with the books. Osborne’s original structure was so inherently dramatic that we hardly made any changes at all to her narrative. From the beginning of our collaboration, Will and I had talked about the music. Whom could we get to write compositions with a real New Orleans flavor? Always one to miss the obvious, during one conversation I started listing musicians who I thought weren’t right for the job. All of a sudden, Will said, “I know who my first choice would be—Allen Toussaint.” Why hadn’t I thought of that? As it happened, I had worked with Maestro Toussaint a few years before. He was the musical entertainer and I was one of the writers for the Mark Twain Prize ceremony (another Schreiber project) celebrating playwright Neil Simon. We met with Allen in New York, and he was instantly interested in the project. Will and I got started on the lyrics, and, after a couple of trips to Allen’s studio in New Orleans (stopping for that school visit on the way), we had a working draft of A Night in New Orleans: A Magic Tree House
Jazz Education @ NJPAC NJPAC’S Wells Fargo Jazz for Teens In this acclaimed program, advanced students work with professional musicians, led by master jazz artist and educator, Don Braden. Instrumentalists and vocalists deepen their understanding of jazz music and history— exploring new styles and improvisational techniques as they jam alongside jazz artists in classes, performances, and demos. Students have the opportunity to write music and perform at various events, all while learning and playing directly with working jazz musicians. Young Artist Institute: Jazz After-school classes allow beginning and intermediate level students to develop their skills with accomplished jazz musicians. Fun practice sessions use the latest technology to help young musicians become better listeners, build their own individual style through improvisation, and learn to work as a part of a team as well as a soloist.
Jazz Infusion Energize your school through interactive jazz performances and classroom instruction by professional musicians. This program is available to all NJ schools. For more on jazz training at NJPAC, including information on how young musicians can apply, visit artseducation.njpac.org or (973) 353-8009
6 New Jersey Performing Arts Center
Illustration: Sal Murdocca
by Murray Horwitz
Adventure—book and lyrics by Will Osborne and Murray Horwitz, music and additional lyrics by Allen Toussaint. In the meantime, John Schreiber had taken the reins at NJPAC and announced the inaugural TD James Moody Democracy of Jazz Festival. John had asked Will, Mary, Jack Desroches (the Magic Tree House live production guru), and me to visit New Jersey’s crown jewel of the performing arts, and we all did so. It became clear that NJPAC was indeed the place to give A Night in New Orleans its first performances. The real clincher was NJPAC’s terrific record of working with young people. Long a leader in arts education, NJPAC even has its own Wells Fargo Jazz for Teens program along with a host of other efforts that enrich the lives of youngsters. Suddenly, we realized that it might be possible to cast A Night in New Orleans entirely with young performers. Now Will, Allen, Mary, and I had an extraordinary opportunity—to invite children to hear the story of jazz from other children. I don’t know that it’s ever been done before. Like jazz musicians beginning a piece, we can’t wait to see how it turns out—and we hope your children and grandchildren will bring you along, too.
Hitting the High Notes Jazz House Kids Turns 10 On Wednesday, October 17th, the TD James Moody Democracy of Jazz Festival hosts Hitting the High Notes, an all-star concert and celebrity dinner to benefit New Jersey’s Jazz House Kids, a community-based arts organization that provides musical, educational, and cultural programs to students, teachers, and families from diverse backgrounds. For this event, former James Brown and George Clinton alumni Maceo Parker and Fred Wesley will shake things up with the Christian McBride Big Band featuring vocalist Melissa Walker, Beninoise singer Angelique Kidjo, jazz fusion pioneer George Duke, and more. This soul-powered concert will honor singer and humanitarian Harry Belafonte, and real estate developer and philanthropist John J. Cali. S. Epatha Merkerson and Jesse L. Martin (of Law and Order) will host the evening’s festivities. Tickets are available at njpac.org, via phone at (888) 466-5722, or at the NJPAC Box Office. To purchase VIP Packages, which also include a celebrity dinner, visit jazzhousekids.org or call (908) 322-1100.
Celebrating The Divine One
From the time she emerged in the mid-1940s, at barely twenty years old, Sarah Vaughan immediately joined the pantheon of great jazz singers. Ella Fitzgerald was the voice of pure melody, Dinah Washington the voice of the blues, and Billie Holiday the voice of human experience, but Sarah Vaughan was the voice of the angels. She represented the closest that jazz ever came to an artist with grandly operatic chops—she took a technique you’d expect to associate with Verdi and Puccini and brought it to bear on Gershwin and Ellington—and with pure power and passion to equal any of the great gospel singers, used it to sing of earthly matters, like the blues, rather than of God and Heaven. Hers was a
technique that often seemed to be more than merely human. And yet her greatest strength was not the purely rapturous quality of said voice but her down-to-earth nature; not her divinity but her humanity. She was also the spirit of human playfulness, of melodic invention, of effortless swing. Sarah Vaughan was well on the road to immortality even before she left her native Newark. Born on March 27th, 1924, Vaughan grew up immersed both in the church (where she sang and played keyboards) and in the exploding jazz and African-American music scene of the New York area. At age 18, she followed in the footsteps of Ella Fitzgerald as a winner of the amateur contest at Harlem’s Apollo Theater, and then rose to the top of the jazz and big band world in two legendary jazz orchestras, that of pianist Earl “Fatha” Hines (who kept her along as a deputy keyboardist) and singer Billy Eckstine (who served as big brother and career mentor). Following the swing era, Vaughan became one of the foremost vocalists involved in the modern jazz movement. In the 1950s she expanded on all fronts: singing with string orchestras, she made epic albums of classic show tunes, and at the same time she teamed in more intimate settings with jazz legends like trumpeter Clifford Brown. By the 1980s, Vaughan was truly larger-than-life, both in the scope of her music and the sheer size of her voice. Whether known as “The Divine One” or simply “Sassy,” when she was at her greatest—and she never was anything less—she could literally do no wrong. You’d be forgiven for thinking that she was divine instead of human. —Will Friedwald
From Sarah to Whitney, Newark has been the birthplace and proving ground for great jazz vocalists. As a tribute to jazz legend Sarah Vaughan, the TD James Moody Democracy of Jazz Festival recently conducted its inaugural Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition. On Sunday, October 21st, this international talent search will culminate with a special concert in NJPAC’s Victoria Theater, featuring performances by the finalists as well as rare concert footage of Vaughan in performance. Presented in association with
Dorthaan’s Place: A New Series of Jazz Brunches
Geri Allen • Sun, Oct 21
Don Braden • Sun, Jan 20
Houston Person • Sun, Dec 16
Cyrus Chestnut • Sun, Feb 17
Newark once bubbled with live jazz on every street corner, nearly every night of the week. Sparky J’s, the Key Club, and the Picadilly Lounge are just a few of the hotspots which showcased both local and national talent. Though the city still brims with musicians, there are few places where live jazz can be heard. Dorthaan Kirk— Newark’s “First Lady of Jazz”—plans to change all of that this season with Dorthaan’s Place, a series of Sunday brunches at NICO Kitchen + Bar, the on-site restaurant at NJPAC. “I’m hoping it’s going to bring people out in Newark, and bring them out of their shells,” says Kirk. “This can be the start of a more visible social kind of life here, and people can experience their hometown, and NJPAC, in a new way.” Dorthaan has programmed events for Newark’s awardwinning jazz radio station WBGO-88.3 FM since 1979, and the Jazz Vespers series at Bethany Baptist Church for the past twelve years. The widow of the great saxophonist Rahsaan Roland Kirk, she has many friends in the jazz world. “We have the best musicians in the world living right here,” she says, “so we have our pick of who we would like to ask to participate.” Dorthaan’s Place opens on October 21st with a trio led by Montclair pianist Geri Allen, followed by saxophonist
Houston Person’s Quartet on December 16th, Don Braden’s Organix Trio on January 20th, and the Cyrus Chestnut Trio on February 17th. Kirk has known NJPAC’s new President and CEO, John Schreiber, since the 1970s, when he was fresh out of college and working as an assistant to legendary jazz producer George Wein. Wein regularly booked Rahsaan Kirk to play his European festivals—and Rahsaan always traveled with Dorthaan. “I knew the first time I met Dorthaan that she was a keeper,” Schreiber recalls with a smile. When he thought of creating the TD James Moody Democracy of Jazz Festival, he immediately thought of getting Dorthaan involved, and approached her to create this brand new series of live events. “If you know Dorthaan, you know she knows her onions when it comes to jazz,” says Schreiber. “Just by calling it Dorthaan’s Place, people are already going to know that they’ll have a good time even before they show up.” —Tim Wilkins Tickets for Dorthaan’s Place are $45 per person and $15 for children under 12. Price includes brunch and concert. Each group will perform two sets, at 12:00pm and 1:30pm.
Additional support for the TD James Moody Democracy of Jazz Festival has been provided by njpac.org 7
Calendar of Events All events and programs subject to change without notice
NEW JERSEY PERFORMING ARTS CENTER
Sat, October 20 at 1:00 & 4:00
Sat, October 6 at 7:00
A Night in Motown
NJPAC Spotlight Gala with En Vogue, The Four Tops, Darlene Love, Valerie Simpson, and Musical Director Ray Chew
See page 15
A new jazz musical based on Mary Pope Osborne’s A Good Night for Ghosts
See page 6 Sat, October 20 at 8:00
Sun, October 7 at 7:30
Jethro Tull’s Ian Anderson Plays Thick as a Brick 1 & 2
Thu, October 11–Sun, October 14
The Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival
Miles Davis and Gil Evans: Still Ahead
with Terence Blanchard, Peter Erskine, Howard Johnson, Sean Jones, and more
See page 4 Sun, October 21 at 12:00 & 1:30
Mon, October 15 at 7:00
Free event at Bethany Baptist Church, 275 W. Market St., Newark Tue, October 16 at 7:00
An Evening of Jazz at the Newark Museum Wed, October 17 at 7:00
Hitting the High Notes: Jazz House Kids Turns 10
All-Star Concert and Celebrity Dinner
See page 6 Fri, October 19 at 8:00
See page 3
featuring Redman, EMPD, Das EFX, K-Solo, Keith Murray, and DJ Scratch
See page 14
On Earth Together/Everybody at the Table Set to music of Stevie Wonder
Sun, December 2 at 7:30
Sun, December 16 at 12:00 & 1:30
Sat, November 10 at 6:00 & 8:30
Betty Buckley
Ah, Men! The Boys of Broadway
Sat, November 10 at 8:00
Aretha Franklin
Sun, November 11 at 2:00 & 7:00
Classic Albums Live: Beatles Marathon – Part 1 Thu, November 15 at 1:00
Sun, October 21 at 3:00
Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition
Ben Vereen
Fri, November 16 at 8:00
Lisa Lampanelli
Renaissance
Fri, October 26 at 8:00
Drumline Live!
with Tito Nieves, Indía, Tito Rojas, and Eddie Santiago
Sun, October 28 at 4:00
Thu, November 29 at 7:30
Mariinsky Orchestra
Valery Gergiev, conductor Denis Matsuev, piano
Dorado Schmitt & Birdland’s Django Reinhardt Festival All-Stars
Lisa Lampanelli Fri, Nov 16
How to Order Tickets
SalsaPalooza
The Moody Blues
Fri, November 30 at 7:00
Third World, Maxi Priest, and Ky-Mani Marley Jamaica at 50
Sat, November 3 at 6:00 & 8:30
Natalie Merchant Sun, Dec 9
Sat, December 1 at 8:00 Keith Jarrett, piano Gary Peacock, bass Jack DeJohnette, drums
Paco Peña Flamenco Ensemble Sun, Jan 27
Choose your own seats online
Groups
Visit njpac.org for in-depth information on artists, events, and programming. Also, join the NJPAC e-mail club for the latest news and special offers.
Groups of 10 or more save! Call 1-888-GO-NJPAC for more information.
By phone
The NJPAC Box Office is located at One Center Street in Newark. The Box Office is open Tuesday through Saturday from noon to 6pm, and Sunday from noon to 5pm. Special $2 parking validations are available when buying tickets at the NJPAC Box Office. Park in Military Park Garage and present your parking stub at the Box Office for validation.
Call 1-888-GO-NJPAC (1-888-466-5722), Mon–Sat 10am to 6pm, Sunday noon to 5pm. (An additional per order phone charge is applicable.)
Please call our ticket services department if you require ADA services.
8 New Jersey Performing Arts Center
Shatner’s World We Just Live In it…
Ronald K. Brown/Evidence
Dorthaan’s Place:
Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra
Houston Person Quartet
Keith Lockhart, conductor with Five By Design and guest narrator Meredith Vieira
Sun, December 16 at 7:00
Buddy Valastro Live!
The Cake Boss Homemade for the Holidays Tour
Fri, December 7 at 8:00
New York Philharmonic
Thu, December 20 at 7:30
Juraj Valcuha, conductor Andre Watts, piano
Holiday Express Christmas Spectacular
See page 10
Fri, December 21 at 8:00
Sat, December 8 at 2:00
Fred Hammond
ScrapArtsMusic
Broadway & Beyond
Sat, November 17 at 8:00
Mike Epps
with George Benson, The Manhattan Transfer, David Sanborn, and more
Sat, December 15 at 7:30
See page 7
Fri, November 2 at 7:00
For Love of Moody: A Jazz Celebration
Sun, December 2 at 2:00
The Hit Squad
Dorthaan’s Place:
Thu, October 25 at 8:00
Free event at the Museum’s Billy Johnson Auditorium
Fri, November 9 at 8:00
2:00 A Hard Day’s Night / Help! 7:00 Rubber Soul / Revolver
Geri Allen Quartet
Rufus Reid Out Front Trio
Ian Anderson Sun, Oct 7
A Night in New Orleans: A Magic Tree House Adventure
Metal, Muscle, Movement
Sat, December 22 at 2:00 & 5:00
Sat, December 8 at 7:30
Illstyle & Peace Productions
The Spirit of Kwanzaa
George Clinton with Parliament Funkadelic
Sat, December 22 at 8:00
Darlene Love and Friends
and special guests
Morris Day & The Time
with special guest
Sun, December 9 at 7:00
Love for the Holidays
Cissy Houston
Natalie Merchant
Thu, January 10 at 7:30 Yo-Yo Ma, cello
of 10,000 Maniacs with symphony
with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra Antoni Wit, conductor
Fri, December 14 at 7:00
An Evening of Stand-Up Comedy with
D.L. Hughley, Adele Givens, Mark Curry and Jay Anthony Brown
Fri, January 18 at 7:00
Sat, December 15 at 7:00 & 9:30
Kim Burrell
Jarrod Spector
Minor Fall, Major Lift
Cinderella Fri, Feb 1
Marvin Sapp
with special guest Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration
La Traviata Fri, Feb 8
On-Site Dining at NJPAC
At the Box Office
“Nico brings a level of dining to Newark that hasn’t been seen here since the early ‘60s...isn’t it nice to know that there is a restaurant worthy of taking a bow right outside the stage door?” —Jersey Bites
“This is not a ‘since we’re going to the theater, we may as well eat here’ place, but a worthwhile destination restaurant…scrumptious and beautifully plated dishes…we loved it…Nico is stunning…” —Table Hopping with Rosie, New Jersey Monthly
For details, hours of operation, or to make a reservation, call 973-642-1226 or visit nicokitchenbar.com