A funny thing happened on the way to finishing this article.
It was interrupted by genius on a stage and excellence on a football field.
The assignment was to report on the Oak Park Public Library’s six-week appreciation of jazz, titled, “Looking at Jazz; America’s Art Form.” From Jan. 31 to March 7 the library will present two concomitant programs-a joyous and bluesy mix, including portions of two Ken Burns jazz documentaries, additional rare jazz films, recordings, lectures, book discussions and free live concert performances.
On consecutive Wednesdays at 7 p.m., George Bailey, Ph.D., creative writing professor at Columbia College, will host and moderate six weekly, two-hour sessions in the second floor Veterans Room. Utilizing the documentary approach, Bailey will show archival footage and play quality (sometimes poor quality) recordings to punctuate audience discussions. His presentations will range from slave songs and pre-1917 New Orleans “Gumbo” to late Dizzy Gillespie and Latin jazz, with an awful lot in between. (Go to www.oppl.org for details.)
Meanwhile, on non-conflicting dates, the library will offer a separate program over the same six weeks featuring live jazz by some noteworthy musicians, along with occasional talkfests and lectures. A couple of book discussions-on Tony Morrison’s Jazz, and The Great Gatsby by the Jazz Age icon himself-are also scheduled.
On Feb. 22 a lively panel will explore the subject, “The Media and Jazz,” at 7 p.m. Participants will be former Downbeat editor Art Lange, legendary Jazz exponent Dick (“I thought you had to be dead to be a legend”) Buckley and photographer Jeff Lowenthal. (Again, go to www.oppl.org.)
Speaking of Lowenthal, after 10 years as a staff photograper for Newsweek, he’s enjoyed 40 years of freelance writing and editing, while still shooting. He has photographed musicians, people in business, politics, sports and the arts, daybreaks and sunsets-anything that moves or doesn’t move. An exhibit of his photos are right around the corner from the Veterans Room throughout February.
Did someone mention “genius?”
What’s this about “excellence?”
And who got “interrupted?”
First things first. I left off writing this piece Sunday the 21st and took the Blue Line with my wife to Symphony Center. The illustrious Wynton Marsalis and the exciting, unpredictable Chicago Bears were both performing that afternoon-at different venues and with different purposes, yet at the same time!-Orchestrus interruptus. Vexed by the dilemma, cursing the conflict and still wanting to keep our marriage intact, I said I’d go and not grouse, was only a little consoled by being an ardent jazz buff.
We disembarked at Monroe. The street traffic-pedestrian and vehicular-was thin and downtown reluctantly quiet. Still, a number of orange and blue knit hats could be seen. At a few minutes past two I became acutely aware that Robbie Gould, at that instant, could be kicking off.
Thirty minutes later, we arrived at Symphony Center and turned in our tickets-she expectantly, I half-sullenly. Seated inside, it approached 3 p.m. and the full CSO, its 140-member chorus and an imbedded contingent of 14 from the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra seemed settled and ready to go. Marsalis’ highly touted, epic orchestral suite, All Rise-first presented in 1999 by Kurt Masur and the New York Philharmonic-was about to premier in Chicago!
Well sir, I’m no critic, and I’m no musician, so you’ll get no technical critique from me. But I know what I like when I like it. What was performed that Sunday was well … we’ve already used the word-Excellence. Or Genius. Or just Sublime. Adjectives are cheap; a masterwork like this is rare.
A promising start became, movement after movement, a growing suspicion, then a happy realization, that all present might be witnessing greatness. It may be fanciful, but I felt we were in the presence of something true, new, inspiring and lasting; that it was happening “now,” and that we were privileged to be on the ground floor. I caught myself once or twice projecting backward in my imagination to what it must have been like in New York’s Aeolian Hall in February 1924 when young Gershwin first performed his Rhapsody.
Hardly into “Go Slow,” the third of 12 movements in this two-hour suite, Soldier Field began to recede a little in my consciousness. I was hearing something that was more than good, and sensed the affirmation around me. Normally, applause is taboo following any concerto or symphony movement except the last. Yet this crowd applauded every movement, and even (jazz fashion) expressed sprinklings of spontaneous appreciation following and during particular hot licks, happy riffs or cool solos.
All Rise is a rich piece with a lot of everything in it-flashes of brilliance, patches of humor-even a washboard and piano duet. There are stretches of the somber, with dartings of leaping joy. It is shot through with delight and pain, and carries portions of heartfelt humility along with strutting braggadocio. It seems to forever turn and surprise and delight and please. Through it all the CSO, its chorus, the Lincoln Center musicians, their director (Wynton)-and the piece itself-held together beautifully and excelled beyond expectation.
Tribune arts critic Howard Reich enthused, “All Rise is a work without parallel in either the classical or jazz traditions.”
After the final movement, came the crowning applause when all indeed rose for All Rise. A standing “O” without obligation. Maybe five minutes passed, yet one can’t know how many bows and curtain calls there might have been. Guest Conductor Steven Sloane, who had apparently ducked offstage, re-appeared holding high a card, announcing joyfully, “The Bears won, 39-14!” and sporting an orange-and-blue Bears jersey-#54. Anyone who didn’t rise then, apparently couldn’t. The place went up.
A crescendo of cheers split the air, building on those sent up for Marsalis, the musicians and chorus. The Bears had beaten the New Orleans Saints and were going to the Super Bowl! The orchestra and chorus, apparently prepared with words and music, burst forth jubilantly with the Bears Fight Song, (“Bear down Chicago Bears …”). People, already well arisen, kept time, their fists punching the air.
At this point, I chanced a look at Wynton who, you must know, is from New Orleans. From Olympian heights to plunging disappointment, sitting, he touched his hand to his forehead and bowed his head. But Chicago fans, who know a winner, know he’ll rise again.
And one can only hope the upcoming library jazz series, which begins tonight, will create some of that same communal joy.
Jazz films
George Bailey, Ph.D., Creative Writing, and a full-time faculty member at Columbia College in Chicago, will be our scholar. He will introduce and lead discussions following each film. All programs begin at 7 p.m. in the Veterans Room of the Oak Park Public Library.
Jan. 31: New Orleans and the Origins of Jazz Ken Burns’ Jazz, Episode I: Gumbo, Beginnings to 1917
Feb. 7: The Jazz Age and Harlem as a Center for Jazz Harlem Renaissance: The Music & Rhythms That Started a Cultural Revolution, and Ken Burns’ Jazz, Episode 2: The Gift, 1917-1924
Feb. 14: The Jazz Vocalists Lady Day: The Many Faces of Billie Holiday
Feb. 21: The Swing Era
Benny Goodman: Adventures in the Kingdom of Swing
Feb 28: Jazz Innovators: From Bebop, to Hard Bop to Cool and More Celebrating Bird: The Triumph of Charlie Parker
March 7: Latin Jazz and Jazz as an International Music A Night in Havana: Dizzy Gillespie in Cuba
Â
Live Jazz concerts and events
In addition to the film screenings and discussions, you can attend live jazz concerts, and book and panel discussions at the Oak Park Public Library, 834 Lake St. Two concerts will be at Unity Temple, 875 Lake St.
Feb. 1: Jazz pianist Reginald Robinson, winner of a MacArthur Foundation Genius Award in 2004, will perform at 7:30 p.m. at Unity Temple.
Feb. 8: The Peter Budd Jazz Trio will perform at 7:30 p.m.
Feb, 13: Book discussion of Toni Morrison’s Jazz will be led by Sherlynn Reid, former Community Relations director for the Village of Oak Park for 25 years and current president of the Nineteenth Century Club at 7:30 p.m.
Feb. 15: Jazz vocalist Marie Alexandre will perform selections made famous by “Women in Jazz” at 7:30 p.m.
Feb. 17: A quartet of young jazz musicians who lived and worked in New Orleans until Katrina came ashore will perform. Led by Oak Park and River Forest High School graduate and drummer Quin Kirchner, the group includes Matthew Golombisky on bass, Robin Boudreaux on saxophone, and Matthew McClimon on vibraphone. 3 p.m.
Feb. 22: “The Media and Jazz” – Legendary jazz bradcaster Dick Buckley (WBEZ), former Downbeat editor Art Lange and photographer Jeff Lowenthal will share stories of media coverage of jazz in Chicago at 7 p.m.
Feb. 27: Book discussion of “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald, led by Susan Ruffolo of the library staff at 7:30 p.m.
March 1: Composer/musician James “Kimo” Williams will perform. Kimo composed Symphony of Place for the Oak Park Area Arts Council in 2001. He founded the United States Vietnam Arts Program in 1998 and has returned to Vietnam six times. 7:30 p.m. at Unity Temple.