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Shanti Music Productions is giving away a special 3rd party internet platform that we endorse for your own enjoyment and benefit! Please see below the details on how you may access our FREE GIFT to earn Passive Income!

Smart Media Technology
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Smart Media Magazine

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A Music Holidays Weekend for Enthusiasts!

We offer the two-day Music Weekend as an opportunity to improve your musical skills, knowledge and creativity. Enrich your experience of music making in a group coached by star coaches and experts.

Hang out with your new colleagues and coaches during meals or enjoy a peaceful solitude in your own comfortable hotel haven.

Book your Music Holidays NOW for the October season in 2012.

Band 2: Easy Jazz Standards

Written by Will Friedwald. Published in the Wall Street Journal.

The idea of a jazz-Broadway recording in which a single artist (or duo or band) devotes a whole album to music from a single show goes back at least as far as 1944. That’s when trumpeter and bandleader Charlie Spivak, on a set of 78 rpm records, played four selections from “Porgy & Bess” (even then regarded as an American classic). And in the decades since, which have seen the breakout success of “Porgy” albums by the combinations of Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald (1957) and Miles Davis and Gil Evans (1958), the “folk opera” by George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin and DuBose Heyward is almost certainly the most covered score in jazz history. So it’s not altogether surprising that the latest jazz-show album to cross the doorstep is “A Different Porgy & Another Bess” by the Brussels Jazz Orchestra.

The jazz-Broadway vogue began properly in 1956 with “Shelly Manne & His Friends: Modern Jazz Performances of Songs From ‘My Fair Lady,’” a best-selling LP that launched an entire cottage industry of jazz-show hybrids, many by the drummer Manne himself and his No. 1 “friend,” the pianist André Previn. The new Brussels Jazz Orchestra release joins last year’s “Fleet Street” by Terry Vosbein and the Knoxville Jazz Orchestra (featuring music from Stephen Sondheim’s “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street”), and “Three Penny Opera Live in Aarau” by the Renolds Jazz Orchestra, in showing that jazz interpretations of Broadway scores by full-sized orchestras is thriving.

“A Different Porgy & Another Bess” comes out of the long history of vocal-driven interpretations of the folk opera, which often involve juxtapositions of elements from classical and pop music, as well as jazz and Broadway. As in the versions by, say, Ray Charles and Cleo Laine or Harry Belafonte and Lena Horne, all the songs written for male characters are sung by David Linx and the female parts are handled by Portuguese singer Maria João. But that is the only way this version is in the least traditional: The 11 orchestrations, each by a different arranger, paint an array of tonal pictures behind and around the singers, including lots of funk backbeats.

“I Love You, Porgy” (the Catfish Row ebonics having now been dropped) immerses both singers in a dizzying backdrop of swirling counterpoint; the melody and the narrative would be hard to follow if we didn’t know the material so well. “Clara, Clara, Don’t Be Downhearted,” one of Heyward’s gospel-styled texts, achieves an entirely different and more secular feel from the prayer it usually is. Sung by Ms. João in a tight, pinched voice, it’s now more swinger than spiritual. At different points, a Fender Rhodes piano takes a solo, and Ms. João harmonizes wordlessly with the horns. Like most jazz-show albums, “A Different Porgy & Another Bess” picks and chooses from the full score, and reorders the songs for its own purposes.

“Three Penny Opera Live in Aarau” by the Renolds Jazz Orchestra, however, offers the complete Kurt Weill score from beginning to end, rendered instrumentally, with an all-star orchestra that includes such American headliners as the trumpeter Randy Brecker, saxophonist Bobby Watson, trombonist Buster Cooper and drummer Victor Lewis. Given the completeness of the project—a full two hours long—it is especially puzzling that the Weill estate decided to suppress the recording. The double album was taped live in Switzerland in 2000. But, according to a press release from the Shanti Records label, the estate decided after the concert was finally released in 2011 that it didn’t approve of the “rearrangements” (by pianist Christian Jacob) and demanded that the CDs be withdrawn from the market. In addition to following the show order, Mr. Jacob’s charts generally retain the tempos and moods of each piece—very effectively in the “The Jealous Duet,” where Polly Peachum and Lucy Brown are played instrumentally by a feuding trumpet and trombone, their animosity resolved by an alto saxophone that takes the ballad part of the melody. It’s impossible to understand the rationale of the composer’s estate—this is an inspired interpretation of a work by a composer who was a major jazz fan himself. Surely Weill would have wanted it to be heard.

“Fleet Street” is another stunner, the work of Mr. Vosbein, a composer and arranger who teaches composition at Washington and Lee University and is far from a household name. This full-length instrumental treatment of “Sweeney Todd,” Mr. Sondheim’s 1979 masterpiece, is not only a tribute to Mr. Sondheim, but also to bandleader Stan Kenton; the overall groove and tonal colors of “Fleet Street” owe much to Kenton’s classic 1962 jazz version of “West Side Story” (with lyrics also by Mr. Sondheim).

Like Kenton’s arranger Johnny Richards, Mr. Vosbein relies heavily on deeply voiced trombones to paint a dark, somber portrait—highly suited to a heavy melodrama about serial killing and cannibalism. But while “West Side Story” is a dance-oriented show with lots of songs in tempo, Mr. Vosbein has to look hard for lighter moments in the “Sweeney Todd” score, and he makes the most of them. “Green Finch and Linnet Bird” is almost a throwaway on stage, but it now becomes a major part of “Fleet Street,” as do the two versions of “Johanna” (reflecting the way it’s sung in Act 1, as a ballad, and Act 2, much more upbeat).

One can only hope that this is hardly the conclusion of the tradition: I’d love to hear the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra commission an interpretation of “The Book of Mormon” or the Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra’s takes on “Evita” and “In the Heights.” The combination of jazz and musical theater proves that there’s more than one way to tell a story.

Read the Wall Street Journal article here.

Die Plätze haben ausgereicht, und der Saal brodelt, als ungefähr jede der 14 Nummern bejubelt wird, und das mit bestem Grund, denn das mit 18 Musikern (davon nur zwei junge Damen) fast kammermusikalisch besetzte Orchester soundet mit seinem Durchschnittsalter von 18 Jahren (!) daher wie alte Jazzhasen, ist exakt vorbereitet, konzentriert, diszipliniert und dennoch losgelassen.

Richtig sympathisch

Nichts an diesem Orchester ist in die Jahre gekommen, auch nicht Professor Bernd Konrad, Leiter seit Gründung 1981, der diesen Geburtstag auch in seiner eigentlichen Heimatstadt Konstanz feiern wollte. Im Gegenteil: Die musikalischen Qualitäten der jungen Jazzer nehmen zu, da die „Jazz-Pädagogik“ diesen Musikstil in professionelle Höhen emporhebt. Und „da oben“ wird unter Bernd Konrads eher zurückhaltendem Dirigat musiziert. Dass Konrad die Stücke anmoderiert, aus der Jazzschule plaudert und seine Schüler namentlich vorstellt, macht die Sache richtig sympathisch und der Saal applaudiert ermunternd, als der Leiter meint, man würde künftig gerne eher alle fünf Jahre in Konstanz spielen als nur wie bisher einmal in jedem der drei Jahrzehnte.

„The New Song“ (Fritz Renold) gibt die Richtung vor: Kaum Standards, viel Neues, Gewagtes, höllisch Schwieriges, Herausforderndes, jazzsymphonisch Zündendes.

Und immer die treibende Kraft der Spannung von Bigband-Tutti und Solo-Chorus, wo sich die jungen Leute die musikalische Klinke in die Hand geben: Satte Saxofonsoli vom kleinen Einwurf bis zur ausgewachsenen Solo-Impro, atemberaubend virtuos mit Snaps und Glissandi („Channel One Suite“ von Bill Raddie); Posaunen- und Trompetenquartett in samtenem Wohlklang und brandheißem Ekstaseschrei und sanft-elegischem Trompeten-Trauersolo in Peter Herbolzheimers „Ballad for a friend“ mit schleppenden Blues-Klängen; ein Vibrafonsolo von enormer Schlagwucht und Treffsicherheit („Count Bubba“ von Gordon Goodwin mit E-Gitarren-Riff); ein Drumssolo überhitzter Ekstase („Channel One“); das Piano-Management vom Akkordspiel bis zum hervortretenden Solo (am Flügel der Konstanzer David Schuckart).

Als ein Vokalterzett von liebenswürdig und schmeichelnd bluesig über rauchig balladesk bis jazzröhrig geben sich Katharina Grebitz aus Kreuzlingen mit sonorer Tiefe und explosivem Stimmtemperament in „Don’t Know Why“ und dem wilden „I’m gonna life“; die Deutschamerikanerin Denise Taylor mit angenehmem Tremolo und feinem Pep im Bossanova „Chega de saudade“ und „Orange Colored Sky“: Philip Braun mit liedhaftem Bariton-Schmelz, aber auch explosivem Fortissimo in „Birds flying“, „Moondance“ und Roger Ciceros flippigem „Frauen regier’n die Welt“-Swing.

Da war im Jubiläumskonzert alles zu hören und zu fühlen, was „gehobenen“ Jazz ausmacht: Glänzende Spieltechnik, groovende Stimmung, satt abgehende Stücke, U-Musik auf E-Musik-Qualität poliert. Unverzichtbar, dieses Orchester, wie das Kultusministerium des Landes anmerkt!

Konstanz/Weikersheim. Gleich nach Ostern ging es in der Musikalischen Bildungsstätte Weikersheim (Main-Tauber-Kreis) mit frommen Tönen und vielen „bluenotes“ weiter. Erstmals kooperierten zwei baden-württembergische Elite-Ensembles, die auf afroamerikanische Musik ausgerichtet sind, miteinander. Dies sind das Landesjugendjazzorchester unter der Leitung von Professor Bernd Konrad (Konstanz)und der von Jörg (alias „York“)Sommer angeführte Landesjugendgospelchor namens Gospelicious.

Als gemeinsames Projekt hatte man sich ein Gospel-Oratorium des Schweizer Saxophonisten und Komponisten Fritz Renold (52) vorgenommen. Renold musizierte bereits vor über einem Jahrzehnt mit seinem deutschen Instrumentalkollegen Konrad zusammen und hatte dessen Jugendjazzorchester schon im Jahre 2001 bei seinem „Jazzaar Festival“ zu Gast. 2007 fand bei dieser Festivität im nordschweizerischen Kanton Aargau die Uraufführung von „The New Song“, gestaltet von Künstlern aus Europa und den USA, statt. Renolds Ehefrau Helen Savari-Renold hatte nach der neutestamentarischen „Offenbarung des Johannes“ die englischsprachigen Texte verfasst, die beiden Amerikaner Adi Yeshaya und Barrie Lee Hall Jr. halfen bei der Feinarbeit der Arrangements aus. „Die Uraufführung erhielt eine 45-minütige Standing Ovation, die Presse war begeistert“, erinnert sich Renold.

Nun also das mehr als eineinhalb Stunden dauernde apokalyptische Opus in ganz anderer und junger Besetzung. „Wir haben keine Überarbeitung gemacht“, erläuterte der Eidgenosse, „allfällige Abweichungen wären nur interpretatorischer Natur“.

Dem pflichtete Professor Bernd Konrad, der die über 70 Sänger und Instrumentalisten dirigierte, ausdrücklich bereits Ende Januar bei und erwartete jazzgemäß kreative Prozesse: „Das Stück ist zwar keine Uraufführung, aber es klingt trotzdem immer frisch und neu, weil sehr viele Möglichkeiten in der Improvisation noch drin sind.“ Nach einer instrumentalen Ouvertüre bringen dreizehn Songs die weite Bandbreite moderner Bigband- und Gospelmusik zur Geltung, hier und dort eingefärbt durch Einflüsse aus Blues sowie afrikanischer als auch südamerikanischer und orientalischer Musik.

Jedes Mal klingt dieses Werk anders. Wahrhaft „einmalige“Konzertemit rasant aufspielenden Instrumentalisten und hochemotional agierenden Sängern ereigneten sich Mitte April zunächst in Weikersheim und dann in Nürtingen. Damit feierte der in Karlsruhe residierende Landesmusikrat Baden-Württemberg mit der projektbezogenen Kooperation dieser beiden jugendlichen Klangkörper eine glanzvolle Premiere, auf die er stolz sein darf.

Professor Bernd Konrad konnte 2011 pompös den 30. Geburtstag „seines“ Landesjugendjazzorchesters feiern. Am 20. Juli wird der Konstanzer selbst 65 – und muss als Professor an der Stuttgarter Musikhochschule in Pension gehen. Doch dem swingenden Elite-Nachwuchs möchte Bernd Konrad noch lange erhalten bleiben. „Gesundheitlich fühle ich mich fit“, erklärt der nimmermüde Jazzer.