Wall to Wall Harlem Renaissance (5/11/13)

{{Why, yes, this slightly out of order. Some blog posts write themselves more easily than others.}}

Saturday, May 11, brought my second Wall to Wall at Symphony Space. This is always an ambitious program—varied programming from 11:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. You can see it all or come and go as you please. For free! The overall arc was Harlem Prelude (10:30a–11:00a); Next Stop, Harlem (11:00a–2:00p); Here in Harlem (2:00p–5:00p); Harlem Speaks (5:00p–8:00p); and Harlem Nights (8:00p–11:00p).

I arrived around noon and stayed till about 5:00. I had thought about returning for the 8:00 session, but I was pretty tuckered out by then and the weather didn’t seem too encouraging for making another round trip to the West Side. However, what I saw was enjoyable, fun, and quite varied.

Once inside the theater, I was listening to the US premiere of a song cycle by Laura Kaminsky (1956–), Five Songs on Texts by Fauset and Grimké—music and texts by women writers. The cycle was a little esoteric for my taste and it was good that the English texts were shown on a screen. Even though tenor Christopher Preston Thompson’s diction was good, the actual setting of the texts made them difficult to hear and understand clearly. Margaret Kampmeier’s accompaniment was strong and supportive. Not my favorite work but still it’s good to hear works by living composers.

A series of poetry and prose from women writers followed, performed by Francois Battiste, Chuck Cooper, Adriane Lenox, and Sonia Manzano. Some powerful words and powerful performances. A trio of Spirituals was next, arranged by Margaret Bonds and further arranged for harp by Ashley Jackson (the harpist here) and sung by La-Rose Saxon (soprano). I liked the arrangements. The range was a little bit of a problem for Ms. Saxon, but when she was able to soar, there were some very pretty sounds.

The Mimi Jones Quintet (Ms. Jones, bass; Camille Thurman, sax and reeds; a substitute trumpeter, who was spot on; Luis Perdomo, piano; and Allison Miller, drums) put on quite a solid show. The five songs they did were also woven into a little story of steppin’ out for an evening in Harlem. This was deftly done, with great sounds from all five individually and as a quintet.

We then saw a segment of the film St. Louis Blues (1929) with Bessie Smith. Another powerful performance by a powerful actress/singer.

Here in Harlem started almost on the dot of two o’clock with Julie Bullock, soprano, accompanied by Bretton Brown on the piano, with “Summertime” (1935, Gershwin) from Porgy and Bess and a trio of songs from Genius Child (1993, Ricky Ian Gordon). This woman can sing. “Summertime” was straightforward and beautifully sung, and “Border Line,”
“My People,” and “Joy” by Gordon were songs that made me sit up and take note. You know how there’s always some person who jumps the gun and starts the applause a fraction of a second too soon? That was me. I want to hear all of Genius Child some day.

The spoken word was next, introduced by Walter Dean Myers, author of Here in Harlem: Poems in Many Voices (2008), his riff on Spoon River Anthology, by Edgar Lee Masters. As
Mr. Myers said, he wanted to tell the stories of the people he knew. Portions of his poems were interspersed with poems commissioned by Symphony Space. These vignettes were funny, boisterous, introspective, and very interestingly put together. As I wrote in my
notes—“... we need to remember that there’s music in the words, too.”

The next segment featured piano rags—three by Scott Joplin (1867–1917) and one three-movement work by Darius Milhaud (1892–1974). Joplin’s “Pine Apple Rag” (1908) was gentle, with a nice contrasting second section. “Rose Leaf Rag” (1907) was a bit more florid—as if written by Chopin, with more filigree than rhythmic drive, though it perked up toward the end. (As a side note, I am currently reading a novel where Scott Joplin is a character and I’ve learned a few facts about him, including that he really saw his ragtime music as an extension of American classical music.) “Scott Joplin’s New Rag” (1912) was much more energetic. The Milhaud “Trois Rag-Caprices” (1922) were sort of like ragtime music deconstructed. The pianist Cheryl Seltzer played a nice set.

More jazz followed from the Columbia University Jazz Ensemble, with Duke Ellington’s
(1899–1974) “Sophisticated Lady,” Reid Jenkins’ (1991–) “Seek and You Shall Find,” and Ellington’s “The Star-Crossed Lovers.” These students played jazz pretty well, but they’re students playing jazz. I’m pretty sure that they’ll grow into it a little more with a little more experience. And it’s great that they had this experience—that’s how you get experience and break out of the Catch-22. Been there, done that.

What followed was a few sections from a play, Renaissance in the Belly of the Whale. Here, as in other spoken portions of the part of the day that I saw, there was a fine line between reflecting credible street/Harlem talk and parody or stereotype. In general, I think the balance was handled pretty well. I’m paraphrasing my trusty Strunk and White, but while dialect is to be avoided, sometimes it’s exactly what’s needed. Whew! Off of my soapbox.

The last portion that I saw presented a real stylist—Dee Daniels, piano and vocals. The segment was titled Singing the Blues and Jazz, and she did just that. “I Ain’t Got Nothin’ but the Blues,” Ellington), truly bluesy; “Almost Like Being in Love” (Lerner & Loewe), truly jazzy; (Lost in) “This Masquerade” (Leon Russell), truly both; and “What Is This?” (Rance Allen), gospel—real gospel—I mean, stand up, shout along, clap your hands, real gospel. This gal knew exactly what she was doing and how to really do it.

These Wall to Walls seem to come around once a year. I’ll be on the lookout for the next one.

ConcertMeister