Author: JM

The Saturday evening performance by Chick Corea Trilogy at Hill Auditorium featured jazz legend Chick Corea (the fourth most nominated artist in GRAMMY history) on piano, Brian Blade on drums, and Christian McBride on bass, and it left no doubts that all three musicians have more than earned their place among jazz greats.

Christian McBride shone on the bass, garnering fervent applause from the audience every time he had a solo. In fact, he appeared to steal the show; as his hands flew across the instrument’s fingerboard, audience members shook their heads in disbelief that what they were witnessing was, in fact, real. When he pulled out his bow – which wasn’t until the third piece of the evening, Duke Ellington’s “In a Sentimental Mood” – the sound that rung from the stage was rich and warm, before he deftly slipped it back into its pocket and returned to playing pizzicato (plucking the strings). I, too, found myself smiling in awe each time McBride demonstrated his versatility and virtuosic skill.

While the trio performed several timeless works by the likes of Duke Ellington and Thelonious Monk, much of the set list comprised of arrangements by Chick Corea himself, including “La Fiesta,” “Windows,” “Spanish Song,” and what I found to be the evening’s most fascinating piece, “Scarlatti Intro Improvisation.” Performed as a lead-in to a keyboard sonata by 18^th-century baroque composer Domenico Scarlatti, it pushed the boundaries of what was expected (in introducing the pieces, Mr. Corea remarked that he “tried to invite Scarlatti out for coffee, but it didn’t work out,” much to the audience’s amusement). In the first place, a keyboard sonata from the 1700s isn’t what one usually expects to hear in a jazz concert. However, Chick Corea’s ingenious lead-in capitalized further on this challenging of norms and included him playing the piano in unconventional ways. He plucked the strings of the open grand piano, and then ran his hand across the strings, creating new and creative sounds, and the audience loved it.

After several returns to the stage at the conclusion of the show, the trio performed “Blue Monk” by Thelonious Monk as an encore, and Chick Corea engaged the audience in the music. He would play a one of the piece’s short motifs on the piano, and then point at the audience to sing it back during the piece. The brief licks increased in complexity until by the end, all we could do was laugh when Mr. Corea pointed for us to sing. It was a memorable end to an evening of unforgettable jazz – when I walked down the sidewalk from Hill Auditorium a short while later, I was still humming those little tunes from “Blue Monk” to myself.

If you are a fan of jazz music, you won’t want to miss the star-studded Chick Corea Trilogy on Saturday, October 19 at 8 pm at Hill Auditorium! The ensemble, which includes pianist Chick Corea, bassist Christian McBride, and drummer Brian Blade, first collaborated together on their 2014 album Trilogy, which won two GRAMMY awards. All three members also boast impressive lists of achievements throughout their musical careers: Chick Corea, who started his career as a member of Miles Davis’s band, has won over 20 GRAMMYs. Brian Blade has performed with the likes of Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, Wayne Shorter, Seal, Bill Frisell, and Emmylou Harris. among other accomplishments. Christian McBride has appeared on over 300 recordings, played with musicans such as Paul McCartney, Celine Dion, Queen Letifah, and Renee Fleming, and won several GRAMMY awards.

Tickets can be purchased at the Michigan League Ticket Office or online. Since this is a UMS performance, student tickets are $12 or $20, depending on seat location!

Once again, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center did not disappoint. It is a joy to witness performances where those onstage are truly enjoying themselves, and this was one. The thirteen performers, in different combinations of instrumentation for each of the four pieces on the program, managed to effortlessly convey the character and emotions of the music, allowing the audience to get lost from reality outside the walls of Rackham Auditorium.

The first piece on the program was Henry T. Burleigh’s Southland Sketches for Violin and Piano, with Mr. Chad Hoopes on violin and Ms. Gloria Chien on piano. The piece was at times whimsical, serious, or soulful, and I was captivated by Mr. Hoopes’s ability to (seemingly effortlessly) draw a matching range of sound colors from his violin. His sound and his playing were flexible in a way that allowed the audience to experience the full range of the piece, and for this reason it was one of my favorites on the program.

Next up was Antonín Dvořák’s Quintet in E-flat Major for Two Violins, Two Violas, and Cello, Op. 9, followed by Leonard Bernstein’s Sonata for Clarinet and Piano. Both were flawlessly executed, and the Bernstein Sonata was fascinating in that is was his first published piece.

That said, for me, the real culmination of the evening was the final piece: Appalachian Spring Suite for Ensemble by Aaron Copland. Often hailed as one of the most quintessential works by an American composer, Copland in fact won the 1945 Pulitzer Prize for his efforts. While Appalachian Spring was originally premiered in 1944 as a ballet commissioned for Martha Graham scored for thirteen instruments, Copland wrote an orchestral suite version the following year, removing about eight minutes of the original music. The version performed by the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center was completed by Copland in 1958, and it is an arrangement of the 1945 orchestral suite, but with the original instrumentation. For me, it was particularly interesting to hear this version after the Ann Arbor Symphony’s recent performance of the orchestral version, because I somehow expected that orchestration in my head. Instead, each entrance was a new surprise. I especially enjoyed the chords in piano during the opening of the first movement, and how it fit with the scoring of the chamber version. Although it is not Copland’s original version, this 1958 version gives a sense of how the music must have sounded when the ballet premiered at the Library of Congress. For me, it is impossible to hear Appalachian Spring (in any version) without conjuring images of frosted landscapes, sunrises over the mountains, and running streams. It is a true musical escape, just like the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s Friday evening performance of it.

On Friday, October 11, members of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center (CMS) will be performing at Rackham Auditorium! The program focuses on the “intrepid American spirit,” featuring works by Harry T. Burleigh, Aaron Copland, Leonard Berstein, and Antonín Dvořák (although he was Czech, he taught in New York).

If the Chamber Music Society’s appearance with UMS earlier this year was any indication, audiences can expect a technically pristine and spirited performance. The concert will take place at 8 pm, with a pre-concert talk presented by University of Michigan professor Dr. Mark Clague at 7 pm in the Rackham assembly hall. Tickets may be purchased at the Michigan League Ticket Office, or online at https://ums.org/performance/chamber-music-society-of-lincoln-center-2019/