We are lucky people living in Middletown Connecticut in that we have a vibrant arts scene, we have Wesleyan University and its concerts spaces, galleries, and theaters, we have the Russell Library, and we have Noah Baerman (pictured left). Mr. Baerman is a composer, educator, pianist, author, and the creator of Resonant Motion. Resonant Motion is a record label, a place for visual artists, for writers, for performance artists, and for collaborations. Noah is artistic director and the producer of Jazz Up Close, a series of concerts presented in the Hubbard Room of the Russell Library, 123 Broad Street in Middletown. Now in its fifth season, the series has brought world-renowned artists to perform, talk about their work, and to answer questions from the audience. It's a win-win situation in that the musicians and composers can explain the impetus to create their works and the audience members get to understand what goes into the creative process. The artists usually are joined by the pianist/curator along with his longtime collaborator, bassist Henry Lugo.
This coming Thursday August 22, Jazz Up Close welcomes bass clarinetist, composer, and social activist Todd Marcus. Mr. Marcus, a native of New Jersey, has lived in Baltimore, MD, for over two decades and works tirelessly in the Sandtown-Winchester/Upton section of the city to bring about positive change. You may recognize that area because it's where Freddie Gray died in police custody in 2015 and where massive riots followed in the wake of the event. Mr. Marcus, who is half-Egyptian, had moved to Baltimore to go to college but left after two years, settled down in the community and went to work with the non-profit organization Intersection of Change – click on the name to see all that the organization does to help its community.
In early 2018, Todd Marcus released "On These Streets (a Baltimore Story)", an instrumental recording interspersed with audio clips from those very streets. While the clips present a neighborhood in the midst of exploding and trying to deal with the eruptions of emotions, you also hear how community members turn to prayer and also remember what the area was like in its heyday. At one time, the community's main thoroughfare, Pennsylvania Avenue, was alive with nightclubs, concert halls, theaters, and businesses, a hub of and for the African American families and working people. Many Black artists played there, influencing generations of musicians and artists. Mr. Marcus takes his compositional cues from the socially conscious music of Max Roach, Charles Mingus, Sonny Rollins, and Duke Ellington. On previous recordings, he has explored Middle Eastern music , especially on his 2014 Jazz Orchestra recording "Blues For Tahrir", and he will several of those compositions to the Hubbard Room.
The program starts at 7 p.m. and is free and open to the public. Bring open ears and a curious mind; Jazz Up Close will do the rest.
Here's one of the audio clips and the musical story that follows:
While you're at it, check out the bass clarinetist's website @ toddmarcusjazz.com.
Check out his nine-piece Jazz Orchestra (this video is from 2013):
"Jazz Up Close", the series that pianist, composer, and educator Noah Baerman has produced at The Russell Library, 123 Broad Street in Middletown over the past several years, continues on Thursday June 1 with guests Meg Okura (violin) and Sam Newsome (soprano) joining Mr. Baerman, bassist Henry Lugo, and drummer Paul Wells. Over the past two decades, Ms. Okura has been busy playing in multiple ensembles and multiple genres, from composing string quartets to performing with Cirque du Soleil to being a featured soloist with artists such as Dianne Reeves and Lee Konitz. She's also the leader of the Pan Asian Jazz Ensemble (an ensemble with 2 CDs released so far), a Trio, and the J Orchestra, a big band dedicated to playing the music of Japanese and Jewish composers (the latter two ensembles have yet to record).
Mr. Newsome first came to critical in the late 1980s when he joined trumpeter and compose Terence Blanchard's group. He went off on his own in 1995 and also decided to concentrate on soprano saxophone. Mr. Newsome is now considered one of the masters of the instrument. His solo concerts and recordings are brilliant, each in their own right. His breath control, intelligent use of amplification and prepared saxophone, plus the various ways he employs the saxophone keys, stand out. Since 2007, he has released six CDs of solo performances with performances that are as musical as they are challenging, amazing and earthy music that defies labels. Sam Newsome is also a fine blogger; on his "Soprano Sax Talk", he writes about many aspects of his chosen instrument and some of the people who play it. Go to sopranosaxtalk.blogspot.com to check it out.
If you have attended these events in the past, you know the host leaves time inside the concert and after for the audience to ask questions of the artists. In that way (and others), Mr. Baerman does much to demystify the music, making it accessible to those who shy away from what they consider a challenge.
The concert takes place at 7 p.m. in the Hubbard Room. Best of all, the event is free and open to the public. For more information, go to www.russelllibrary.org.
Here's a taste of Ms. Okura's wonderful violin work:
Here's Sam Newsome from his 2014 album, "The Straight Horn of Africa":
Pianist, composer, educator, and author Noah Baerman hosts the Jazz Up Close series at the Russell Library in Middletown approximately four times a year. This Thursday (June 16) as part of the "Spanning Generations Up Close", Noah and bassist Henry Lugo will perform with guest artist guitarist Monnette Sudler, the Philadelphia, PA native and still a resident.
Here's how the pianist described his guest in his promotional material. "Forty years after recording "Time for a Change", her debut as a bandleader for SteepleChase Records, Monnette Sudler is still a potent force in music. Adept at straight-ahead jazz, avant-garde music and R&B, she has collaborated with a comparably diverse cast of musicians, including Grover Washington, Jr., Hugh Masekela, Sam Rivers, 'Philly” Joe Jones, Kenny Barron, Khan Jamal, Cedar Walton, Shirley Scott, Byard Lancaster, Steve Turre, Sunny Murray, and rapper Erik Honesty (Ms. Sudler’s son). Her current projects include Sisters in Poetry (in collaboration with poet Trapeta B. Mason), the Ladies Night Out quartet, and the Monnette Sudler World Music Ensemble featuring Liberian vocalist Fatu Gayflor, as well as serving as the organizer of the annual Philadelphia Guitar Summit. Ms. Sudler is a graduate of Temple University and is active as an educator, having recently authored the instructional book "Motif Mojo Jazz Guitar."
Ms. Sudler has issued six CDs since her debut, the latest being 2012's collaboration with Ladies Night Out titled "First Born." The album is a delightful blend of vocals and instrumentals, with a clean sound all around and several gospel-flavored tracks.
If you are a regular attendee of these concerts, you know that the artists take time to answer questions from the audience. It's .amazing what one can learn and how the artists give a glimpse into the creative process.
The concert begins at 7 p.m. and takes place in the Hubbard Room. As always at the Library, the show is free and open to the public. For more information, go to resonantmotion.org/jazz-up-close/.
The Russell Library, 123 Broad Street in Middletown, presents the second installment of "Jazz Up Close", a series cured by pianist, composer and educator Noah Baerman and supported by Resonant Motion Inc., this Thursday at 6:30 p.m. in the Hubbard Room. In case you have never attended, Mr. B brings guest artists in to not only play jazz but also to talk about what and why they do what they do. This month, drummer/composer Johnathan Blake (pictured above) will join the pianist plus bassist Henry Lugo for a program that will surprise and move you. Mr. Blake, the son of the late violinist John Blake, Jr., had worked with such fine musicians as trumpeter Tom Harrell, in the Mingus Big Band, the Kenny Barron Trio and with the 3 Cohens, is a dynamic drummer and maturing into an excellent composer.
The event is free and open to the public. For more information, go to www.russelllibrary.org. To find out Johnathan Blake, go to his website at www.johnathanblake.com. To check out Professor Baerman's Top 10 Favorite tracks by father and son Blake, go to blog.noahjazz.com.
Here's a piece from the younger Mr. Blake's 2012 Sunnyside release "The Eleventh Hour." The hard-driving piece features saxophonists Jaleel Shaw (alto) and Mark Turner (tenor) plus bassist Ben Street.
This Saturday (5/16), the Library presents the Tesla Quartet in concert at 2 p.m. in the Hubbard Room. TQ is composed of violinists Ross Snyder and Michelle Lie, violist Edwin Kaplan plus the Russian-born cellist Serafim Smigelskly and have been together (with a few personnel changes) since forming in 2008 while attending the Julliard School in New York City. The group's repertoire ranges from Haydn to Schubert to Mendelssohn to modern composers such as Matthew Browne.
The concert, free and open to the public, is co-sponsored by the Library and the Edythe & Arthur Director Family Music Fund of Congregation Adath Israel. To find out more about the Tesla Quartet, go to www.teslaquartet.com.
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