National Jazz Museum in Harlem Events

May, 2009

Jazz for Curious Listeners: How to Listen to Jazz: The Rhythm Section

Harlem Speaks: Marty Napoleon and Lloyd Williams

Jazz for Curious Readers: Carol Friedman

Harlem in the Himalayas: Billy Bang and William Parker

Saturday Panel: Afro-Cuban Jazz: A journey with Bobby Sanabria

Jazz in the Parks: Take the A Train

Special Event: NJMH All-Stars at Bronx Community College

The National Jazz Museum in Harlem enters the warmth of spring with a cool yet hot set of programs for your listening and learning delight.

Join us as we investigate how to listen to jazz, focusing especially on the role of the rhythm section; have conversations with pianist Marty Napoleon, Harlem business leader Lloyd Williams and photographer Carol Friedman; swing with an all-star ensemble indoors in the Bronx and outdoors in Manhattan, and take in a duo performance by Billy Bang and William Parker at the Rubin Museum of Art celebrating freedom in sound; and go on an Afro-Cuban jazz journey with percussionist Bobby Sanabria.

This month there’s everything from mainstream and Afro-Cuban swing to avant garde experimentation, and, as always, we’ve got classes and live events that will expand your appreciation for the profound depth and infinite fun that is jazz. Bring someone with you (do a good deed and bring a teenager!) and share the musical wealth.

Monday, May 4, 2009

JAZZ FOR CURIOUS READERS
Carol Friedman

7:00 – 8:30pm
Location: NJMH Visitors Center
(104 E. 126th Street, Suite 2C)
FREE

A New York portrait photographer who has photographed icons of the art and music worlds for more than two decades, Carol Friedman's classic images of jazz, soul and classical recording artists have been published in books and magazines worldwide and may be seen on hundreds of album and CD covers. An avowed music lover, her early photo sessions with jazz masters, "the irreplaceable ones," defined and still inspire her work. Her process, rooted in her love of the music and a determination to reveal the depth of her subjects, was largely influenced by her teacher, Life Magazine photographer Philippe Halsman. Halsman's primary tenet—that a portrait is only successful if it reveals the inner emotional life of its subject—continues to inform her work. (click here to read more)

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

JAZZ FOR CURIOUS LISTENERS
How to Listen to Jazz: The Rhythm Section

7:00 – 8:30pm
Location: NJMH Visitors Center
(104 E. 126th Street, Suite 2C)
FREE | register online

Jazz incorporates musical elements in a uniquely American fashion that exemplifies the nation’s ideals and aspirations in sound. America itself is a land of multiple tributaries of influence – European, African, Latin, Native American, and so on – and these streams find their way into the music.

Executive director Loren Schoenberg and special guests invite you each of the Jazz for Curious Listeners sessions to discover how to identify the various musical components that make up the fine art called jazz.

Thursday, May 7, 2009

HARLEM SPEAKS
6:30pm - 8:30pm
Marty Napoleon, pianist

Location: NJMH Visitors Center
(104 E. 126th Street, Suite 2C)
FREE | For more info: 212-348-8300

Marty Napoleon’s greatest claim to fame is his tenure with the Louis Armstrong All-Stars, but his musical experience has been broad and deep for more than six decades. A versatile pianist, Napoleon’s early career included stints with Chico Marx, Joe Venuti, Lee Castle, Charlie Barnet, and, in 1945, Gene Krupa. (click here to read more)

Friday, May 8, 2009

HARLEM IN THE HIMALAYAS
7:00pm
Billy Bang and William Parker

Location: Rubin Museum of Art
(150 West 17th Street)
$18 in advance | $20 at door |
Box Office: 212.620.5000 ext. 344

The violin is hardly the first instrument that comes to mind when you think about jazz, but that's never daunted Billy Bang, one of the instrument's most adventurous exponents.

Over the past 26 years Bang's hard-edged tone, soulful sense of traditional swing and evocatively expressive style has enhanced over two dozen albums by top names in a variety of genres, from the blistering funk of Bootsy Collins and the harmolodic groove of Ronald Shannon Jackson's Decoding Society to the intergalactic uproar of Sun Ra...

...

After three decades of performing with the world's leading improvising musicians, William Parker has been called "the greatest bassist ever to have played avant-garde jazz," by Pete Gershon at the Soundboard website. He was a key member of the Cecil Taylor Unit in the 1980s and has also played with luminaries of free jazz such as Peter Brötzmann, David S. Ware, Roscoe Mitchell, Fred Anderson, and Hamid Drake. He has fronted groups of his own--most notably, his In Order To Survive Quartet and the Little Huey Creative Music Orchestra--which have brought him increased recognition among critics and jazz listeners.

In addition to being an accomplished musician, Parker is also an activist on behalf of avant-garde jazz musicians. His efforts to organize festivals like the Sound Unity Festival and the Vision Festival have been first steps in breaking the control of promoters and corporations and enabling musicians to determine for themselves where and how they will play. Parker's artistic interests extend beyond music, however. He is a published poet, and he writes stories, draws, and paints. Parker sees the purpose of his music in this broader creative context. "My job as organizer," he wrote in the liner notes to his album Flowers Grow In My Room, "is to bring about the optimum setting for dreams, visions and prophecies to come into being." (click here to read more)

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

SPECIAL EVENT

NJMH All-Stars led by trumpeter Dominick Farinacci

3:00pm
Location: Bronx Community College, Gould Memorial Library Auditorium, 2155 University Avenue

Free | For more information: 212-348-8300

Don’t miss the National Jazz Museum in Harlem All-Stars in the Bronx, with a band of brilliant, young musicians taking the music straight into the 21^st century.

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

JAZZ FOR CURIOUS LISTENERS
How to Listen to Jazz: The Rhythm Section

What does the piano do?
7:00 – 8:30pm
Location: NJMH Visitors Center
(104 E. 126th Street, Suite 2C)
FREE

The piano is a percussive, melodic and harmonic instrument, all-in-one. As musicians improvise, the piano comps (accompanies) by laying down the chords of a song. But there’s a whole lot more that jazz pianists do, as you will find out at this session for beginners and veteran jazz lovers alike.

Thursday, May 14, 2009

HARLEM SPEAKS
6:30pm - 8:30pm
Lloyd Williams, President/CEO, Greater Harlem Chamber of Commerce

Location: NJMH Visitors Center
(104 E. 126th Street, Suite 2C)
FREE | For more info: 212-348-8300

From the harlem is . . . exhibit of Community Works:

If the business of America is business, then Harlem Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Lloyd Williams applies this truism to a tee. For over a quarter century Williams has led the Chamber, pinpointing its focus on business development and increasing tourism. To this end, Williams co-founded HARLEM WEEK and the Harlem Jazz & Music Festival 35 years ago.

HARLEM WEEK began as a one-day event, and has expanded to the entire month of August, annually attracting over 3 million people and generating entrepreneurial and job opportunities for hundreds. He is also the co-founder and co-chairperson of the National Black Sports & Entertainment Hall of Fame and Museum, based in Harlem. (click here to read more)

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

JAZZ FOR CURIOUS LISTENERS
How to Listen to Jazz: The Rhythm Section

What do the drums do?

7:00 – 8:30pm
Location: NJMH Visitors Center
(104 E. 126th Street, Suite 2C)
FREE | register online

Come join us at The Charles A. Dana Discovery Center at the Harlem Meer in Central Park to hear how the swing rhythm in jazz is generated by the rhythm section where the drums lead the way in generating the grooves beloved by jazz fans around the world. Come discover how jazz drums drive, coax, and support the jazz ensemble’s rhythmic (and sometimes melodic) feel.

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

JAZZ FOR CURIOUS LISTENERS
How to Listen to Jazz: The Rhythm Section

What does the bass do?

7:00 – 8:30pm
Location: NJMH Visitors Center
(104 E. 126th Street, Suite 2C)
FREE | register online

The heart of the jazz rhythm section is the bass, which walks the bottom notes of chord progressions as a foundation for melodies and improvisation. Bass greats such as Milt Hinton, Oscar Pettiford, and Ray Brown defined the role of the bass in jazz ensembles, and today, Christian McBride, co-director of the National Jazz Museum in Harlem, carries on that legacy on both electric and acoustic bass.

The centrality of the bass is our focus tonight, so walk on in to the Visitor’s Center for some swing.

Thursday, May 28, 2009

JAZZ IN THE PARKS

Take the A Train

6:30pm
Location: Roof of the Hansborough Recreation Center
(35 West 134th Street)
FREE | For more information: 212-348-8300

Come tap your feet, or get up and swing with friends on the festive occasion of the National Jazz Museum in Harlem’s first Jazz in the Parks event in spring of 2009. The title of this free event is of course taken from Billy Strayhorn’s “Take the A Train,” for decades the theme song of the Duke Ellington Orchestra. The music of Ellington, born 110 years ago, will be well-represented as will that of other greats of small and big band jazz.

Saturday, May 30, 2009

Saturday Panels
Afro-Cuban Jazz: A Journey with Bobby Sanabria
10:00am – 4:00pm
Location: NJMH Visitors Center
(104 E. 126th Street, Suite 2C)
FREE | For More Info: 212-348-8300

Spend a day with film and musicians discussing the legacy of Afro-Cuban Jazz - a combination of jazz improvising and rhythms from Cuba and Africa; it is also known as Latin jazz. There were some hints of Afro-Cuban jazz in isolated cases during the 1920s and '30s — Jelly Roll Morton's "Spanish tinge" in some of his more rhythmic piano solos, a few Gene Krupa performances where he sought to include South American rhythms, and even in the Latin pop music of Xavier Cugat. However, the true birth of Afro-Cuban jazz can be traced to trumpeter-arranger Mario Bauza, who introduced trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie to the masterful Cuban percussionist Chano Pozo (they teamed up in 1947-48 to create innovative music before Pozo's death) and also persuaded Latin bandleader Machito to use jazz soloists. During the late '40s, Stan Kenton began to integrate Latin rhythms in his music, and with the rising popularity of Tito Puente and Cal Tjader during the 1950s, Afro-Cuban jazz caught on as one of the most popular jazz styles. In more recent times some groups have developed Afro-Cuban jazz beyond its boppish roots, performing Thelonious Monk and John Coltrane tunes, adding funk to the mixture, and having more adventurous solos. The spirit of the music — a true fusion between North, South, and Central America — and an emphasis on infectious rhythms are the keys, as you will discover today with guest Bobby Sanabria.

Sanabria is multiple Grammy nominated as a leader and, on numerous other projects, as a sideman - drummer, percussionist, composer, arranger, conductor, producer, educator, film-maker, bandleader, and multi-cultural warrior. (click here to read more)

Visitors Center

104 East 126^th Street, Suite 2C

Monday through Friday 10 a.m. - 4 p.m

close to 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 trains to 125th Street

We’re waiting for you! Yes, that’s right. Our new Visitors Center is now open Monday through Friday (10 a.m. – 4 p.m.) and chock full of books, CDs and DVDs for your perusal. There is also a first-class exhibit of photos on the walls, so we hope you will come up and see us and also spread the word to any other curious folk who want to spend some time getting jazzed in Harlem.

Also, to find audio and video clips, event summaries, program updates and photographs galore from our previous events, venture here: