Interlude - June 16
June 16, 2020
Civil rights songs, virtual orchestra camp, classic jazz albums and more
Welcome back to Interlude, a cheery hello coming to your inbox twice a week from the local and global world of the performing arts.
"We Shall Overcome": Music's Role in Social Justice
Many important voices have led the struggle for social justice in our nation’s decades-long civil rights movement: Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks and Malcolm X among others. In honor of African-American Music Appreciation Month, our friends at the Great American Songbook Foundation are taking a look at the music behind the movement – music that provided a collective voice of comfort and courage and brought people together to work for change.
With resources from the Library of Congress, the National Museum of African American History and Culture, the Smithsonian and elsewhere, this educational blog offers a history of music’s role in the civil rights movement with a deep dive into select songs that took center stage in the fight for justice. Click here to read more.
CSO launches Virtual Summer Camp
With many camps for children on hold this summer, the Center’s resident Carmel Symphony Orchestra has launched its first Virtual Summer Camp, a series of eight videos premiering each week through Aug. 3. Available free on the orchestra’s Facebook and YouTube pages, each video features a CSO member or special guest sharing musical knowledge and ideas for at-home activities.
In this week’s inaugural video for early elementary-age kids, CSO flutist Laura Recendez introduces her instrument with a taste of Brazilian choro music, playing a duet with her prerecorded self and showing how to construct maracas from household objects and join in the groove. Watch it here.
Usher Spotlight: Jerome and Jennie LaReau
It’s Tuesday and time for another Usher Spotlight, where we recognize the dedicated members of The National Bank of Indianapolis Usher Corps. More than 300 volunteers devote thousands of hours each year to serve the community through the Center and the Great American Songbook Foundation.
This week’s spotlight falls on Jerome and Jennie LaReau, who began volunteering at the Center last fall in anticipation of becoming empty nesters. Read it here.
Bookies' next target combines memoir and music history
The Palladium Bookies had a lively online discussion last week about Finding Dorothy by Elizabeth Letts. For the next meeting of the Center’s performing arts book club, the chosen tome is The Piano Shop on the Left Bank by Thad Carhart, in which the American expat author’s conversations at a Paris music studio provide the basis for a personal memoir, a history of the piano and an appreciation for his adopted city.
The New York Times bestseller was named a Washington Post Best Book of the Year and also won praise from the San Francisco Chronicle for writing that is “fluid and lovely enough to lure the rustiest plunker back to the piano bench and the most jaded traveler back to Paris.”
The next Palladium Bookies gathering is currently scheduled for 7 p.m. Aug. 10 at the Palladium, with an accompanying Zoom stream so others can participate remotely.
12 answers to the question "What is jazz?"
Many people (though not usually the musicians themselves) have wondered and pontificated over the years about the true definition of jazz, with much discussion about the top recordings in the genre.
Trumpeter and bandleader Wynton Marsalis – the unofficial ambassador of jazz history who has visited the Palladium a few times with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra – took a different approach last year when he gave Rolling Stone magazine his list of “12 Essential Jazz Recordings.” The collection highlights songs and albums that exemplify different aspects of what is often considered America’s greatest homegrown art form, with entries from Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman, John Coltrane and other legendary artists.
Check out the list here, and if you dig that, the Jazz at Lincoln Center blog offers Marsalis’ extended list of 50 essential jazz recordings.
