NYPL Blogs: Duke Jazz Series

Fun facts about Jane Ira Bloom!

Sarah Ziebell — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 18:08:43 -0500

Did you know that jazz musician Jane Ira Bloom...

...prodded by her friend, the actor Brian Dennehy, wrote a letter to NASA to ask what they thought about the future of the arts in space and ended up as the first musician ever commissioned by the NASA space program and with an asteriod (6083janeirabloom) named in her honor?

...had to relearn the saxophone while studying as a girl with Joe Viola at Berklee College? ("My embouchure was all wrong!")

...while walking around the dicey neighborhoods surrounding the New England Conservatory in the early 1970s, carried her alto sax in one hand, soprano in the other, and a chain attached between them? "I don't know what I thought, but nobody was gonna get those instruments!"

...was in the fourth class of women at Yale in 1972 and was part of the "The New Haven Renaissance" of jazz improvisers?

...found inspiration in the work of both top fuel race car driver Shirley Muldowney and British ice dancers Torvill and Dean?

Oh, there is so much more! Jane Ira Bloom recently sat down with Lara Pellegrinelli for a three-hour, two-part interview here at The Library for the Performing Arts as part of our Duke Jazz Series concert and oral history program, and the two had fascinating and, as you can see, wide-ranging conversations about the nature of her work as a jazz saxophonist. The interview should be available for listening to here at the Library within the next month or so, and I highly recommend it!

But, even sooner, you can see Jane Ira Bloom perform at the Library for the Performing Arts' Bruno Walter Auditorium, free of charge, with her Quartet, next Friday, February 20 at 7:30 p.m. as part of our Duke Jazz Series. The Bruno Walter Auditorium is located at 111 Amsterdam Avenue (at 65th Street). Doors open at 7:00. Hope you can join us!

Duke Jazz Talk with Bucky and John Pizzarelli. Wednesday, Feburary 11, 8pm

Katrina Dixon — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 11:12:55 -0500

Photo by Jens PalmPlease join us for our next Duke Jazz Talk featuring father/son artists Bucky and John Pizzarelli on Wednesday, February 11 at 8:00 p.m. Duke Jazz Talks put the spotlight on four GRAMMY® -nominated and -award winning jazz artists. Bucky and John will discuss their lives and work with Bob Santelli, Executive Director of The GRAMMY MuseumSM; following the dialogue will be a brief performance.

Duke Jazz Talks are part of the two-year Library for the Performing Arts’ project funded by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation to present, document, and preserve jazz, contemporary dance, and theater performances and related oral histories.

These oral histories are offering the chance to be connected to times we can never know - times we can only miss. I encourage you all to be a part of celebrating a generation of musicians whose schooling was backing Billie for a week as she passed through town - whose best education was piling into Coltrane's station wagon and traveling across the country and back. Be a part of appreciating your primary resources. Further, be a part of the movement to document, preserve, and provide access to these rich histories.

The Pizzarellis:

Bucky Pizzarelli has been playing professional jazz music for over sixty years. His extraordinary skill as a rhythm guitar player places him in the company of other jazz greats like Freddie Greene and Barry Galbraith. He has pioneered the great chord solo tradition begun by George Van Eps and Dick McDonough. For many years, Eps and Pizzarelli were considered the only guitarists to play the seven-string guitar exclusively.

John Pizzarelli has followed in the footsteps of his father, and has been playing the guitar since he was six years old. He began playing alongside his father at age 20, and has since gone on to have his own prolific career as a jazz guitarist, vocalist and bandleader. Internationally known for classic standards, late-night ballads, and the cool jazz flavor he brings to his performances and recordings, John Pizzarelli also hosts the nationally syndicated radio program “Radio Deluxe with John Pizzarelli.”

There is an admission charge of $10 or $5 for students for Duke Jazz Talks programs. For ticket reservations, please call 212.870.1793, or to charge by phone, call 212-245-5440. We also accept TDF vouchers for this event.

This event will be held in the Bruno Walter Auditorium at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center, 111 Amsterdam Avenue @ 65th Street. For more information, please call 212.870.1793 or visit LPA's events calendar. Hope to see you there!

Jovino Santos Neto Quinteto performing in NYPL Duke Jazz Series, November 21, FREE

Tiffany Nixon — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 16:54:51 -0500

The Duke Project team -- consisting of Sarah Ziebell (middle), Flordalisa "Lisa" Lopez (right), and myself (left) -- are gearing up for the second concert in the Duke Jazz Series.

For those of you who missed September's show, the wonderfully talented Dafnis Prieto Sextet were featured, filling the Bruno Auditorium with Cuban-infused jazz. We had an excellent turn out for the event -- despite having to compete with presidential debates and pouring rain -- and hope to match the turn out next week with the sounds of Brazilian pianist/flutist/composer Jovino Santos Neto and his Quintet. In addition to the quintet (traveling to NY from Seattle to perform) are special guests Harvey Wainapel and Felipe Salles.

Jovino and his band were in New York during the summer as part of the River to River festivities, and the Duke team caught his set. Jovino and his band mates are excellent musicians and the danceable Brazilian rhythms make the music irresistible.

We were fortunate to include this program in the Third Annual Latin American Cultural Week (LACW), which is a celebration of Latin American arts and artists throughout New York City from November 5 through 21. LACW is a program of PAMAR (Pan American Musical Art Research), founded and directed by Uruguayan pianist Polly Ferman. For more information, visit www.pamar.org.

Please join us for this free, first-come, first-served show on November 21st at the Bruno Walter Auditorium, 111 Amsterdam Ave. @ 65th Street. Doors open at 7:00. If you have any questions, give us a call at (212) 870-1793.

The Duke Project has many outstanding musicians scheduled throughout 2009 -- both as part of the Duke Jazz Series and Duke Jazz Talks -- so please check back often to find out who is performing next at the LPA.

We'll look for you there! See the attached flyer for more information.

McCoy Tyner at The Library for the Performing Arts!

Sarah Ziebell — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 12:32:02 -0400

Through the exceptional generosity of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, the Library for the Performing Arts’ Music and Dance Divisions and the Theatre on Film and Tape Archive have been awarded two years of funding to present, document, and preserve jazz, contemporary dance, and theater performances and related oral histories. Those of us on the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation Project have the distinct pleasure of leading these efforts.

Doris Duke was an avid jazz fan. In her honor, the Library is kicking off this fall a run of exciting programs focused on jazz, the Duke Jazz Series, Duke Jazz Talks, and Duke Jazz Histories. The Duke Jazz Series features eight live jazz performances from Chamber Music America award-winning ensembles and oral histories with each ensemble leader. Duke Jazz Talks put the spotlight on four GRAMMY-nominated and -award winning jazz artists and are hosted live by music curator and scholar Bob Santelli, Executive Director of The GRAMMY Museum. Jazz at Lincoln Center is our partner in producing the Duke Jazz Histories, private interviews with ten musicians performing in the 2008-2009 and 2009-2010 Jazz at Lincoln Center seasons.

Most of our energy over the past few weeks has been directed toward preparing for jazz icon McCoy Tyner’s Duke Jazz Talks program here this coming Wednesday, October 29. Tyner will be discussing his career with Bob Santelli and then performing on the piano. His blues-based piano style, replete with sophisticated chords and an explosively percussive left hand has transcended conventional styles to become one of the most identifiable sounds in improvised music. McCoy Tyner achieved fame playing alongside John Coltrane in the famed John Coltrane Quartet. After leaving the band, he went on to have major success as a solo artist. He has released over 80 albums, won four GRAMMYs, and was named a Jazz Master from the National Endowment for the Arts in 2002.

This is not the first time that Mr. Tyner has given of his time to The New York Public Library; Billy Taylor conducted a private video interview with him in 1995 for the Schomburg Center's Louis Armstrong Jazz Oral History Project. But McCoy Tyner has been quite busy these 13 years hence, and we are eager to catch up with and continue to document this living jazz legend!

McCoy Tyner’s program will be held on Wednesday, October 29 at 8:00 p.m. in the Bruno Walter Auditorium at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center, 111 Amsterdam Avenue @ 65th Street. Doors open at 7:30 p.m., and the program begins at 8:00 p.m. There is an admission charge; for ticket reservations, email RSVP_ny@grammy.com, or call 212-245-5440. I hope to see you there!

Related: McCoy Tyner, NYPL Schomburg Center jazz oral history, interviewed 24 April 1995: