The Gilmore 2006, Day 8: Sambia!
Leif Ove Andsnes taught the master class this morning. While he's not anywhere near as animated as Lori Sims (is anybody?), he still plays incredibly and he had some great ideas for his students. I've been waiting all week to hear the Ravel Ondine that his first student performed and was amazed at how expressive he got it to sound by the end of the lesson. There was one bass note in particular that he managed to pick out--just one single note at the end of a watery, sweeping arpeggio in the last few phrases of the piece--and the way he drew attention to it in his demonstration gave an incredible depth to the whole phrase. Quite amazing! Mr. Andsnes had only two students today, but the second one played two movements of the Schubert Sonata in C Minor, D. 958. Again, wow. We left right after we heard the student play the second movement as we still had to get to our noon event and we were a bit pressed for time--the K-Zoo Saga opens late on Saturday for brunch.
The last Noon Series jazz event in the Civic was Lil' Brian and the Zydeco Travelers. If you're not familiar with zydeco... don't ask me to try to define it for you. *laughs* You kind of have to hear it and then you'll go "Ooooh, so that's zydeco!" The best I can do is to say it's very creole, and it's what you hear when you watch those movies where Ma and Pa Jode are jamming down in the bayou on their washerboards and guitars. Lil' Brian put quite a bit of funk into it, he had great energy and presence, so I really liked the concert. It was incredibly loud, too, and for once I didn't have to strain to hear the bass. *BONUS!* Oh, and Lil' Brian should be hosting the next episode of Pimp My Accordion, too. ;) His instrument was so totally blinged out, and you know how I am with shiny objects. Good music, unending visual stimulation. Hooray!
I skipped the rush event at the Wellspring. I did want to hear Lori Sims play, but I hate trying to get into the Wellspring and Tony, Kilday, Ann, Laura and I all carpooled to hear Lil' Brian. I was definitely sitting bitch on the way back and didn't really feel like crawling all over people to get to the event, or trying to secure a ride back to campus afterwards, for that matter. That said, I enjoyed a leisurely afternoon by the K-College reflecting pool before we headed back to Chenery to hear the Lincoln Center Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra. They were incredible! Big band jazz and amazing soloists... at one point, the lead alto saxophonist and one of the trumpetists even got out of their seats and danced on stage at the audience's behest. Yeah, they improvised and played a duet together while dancing their sexy little Latin steps... that trumpet player was mighty good-looking, too, I must admit. *grins* At about this point, Brett offered to massage my hand, too, which improved my less-than-stellar mood about a zillion times over since my arms and back have been really tight and sore lately. Yeah, I was pretty much in heaven for a good portion of the second set, and when the show finally wound down, Arturo O'Farrill (the pianist and director of the band) told us that he wanted to see the audience moving during the encore. So when Katie extended her hand, I couldn't refuse her invitation and disappoint Mr. O'Farrill--I went to the front of the auditorium and I danced with the rest of the Gilmore Girls. ^_^ They thought that was a real hoot... I forget that the people at Alma don't know that I like to dance. I forget that I haven't really done anything to shake off the prudish reputation I've earned during my time there, either. Quelle mysterieuse, non? Oooooh.
Apparently there's a big party going on at one of the homestays tonight, complete with live music. Earlier I was really hoping to go and hang out for a bit, but it doesn't look like that is going to happen. Honestly, right now I'm feeling better than I have in days and I'm not even exceptionally bummed out that I'm missing the fun. I'll probably chat with Laura and Ann a bit, and there's no master class tomorrow morning, so I'll probably get a ridiculous amount of sleep to boot. And on that note, it's sign-off time!
The last Noon Series jazz event in the Civic was Lil' Brian and the Zydeco Travelers. If you're not familiar with zydeco... don't ask me to try to define it for you. *laughs* You kind of have to hear it and then you'll go "Ooooh, so that's zydeco!" The best I can do is to say it's very creole, and it's what you hear when you watch those movies where Ma and Pa Jode are jamming down in the bayou on their washerboards and guitars. Lil' Brian put quite a bit of funk into it, he had great energy and presence, so I really liked the concert. It was incredibly loud, too, and for once I didn't have to strain to hear the bass. *BONUS!* Oh, and Lil' Brian should be hosting the next episode of Pimp My Accordion, too. ;) His instrument was so totally blinged out, and you know how I am with shiny objects. Good music, unending visual stimulation. Hooray!
I skipped the rush event at the Wellspring. I did want to hear Lori Sims play, but I hate trying to get into the Wellspring and Tony, Kilday, Ann, Laura and I all carpooled to hear Lil' Brian. I was definitely sitting bitch on the way back and didn't really feel like crawling all over people to get to the event, or trying to secure a ride back to campus afterwards, for that matter. That said, I enjoyed a leisurely afternoon by the K-College reflecting pool before we headed back to Chenery to hear the Lincoln Center Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra. They were incredible! Big band jazz and amazing soloists... at one point, the lead alto saxophonist and one of the trumpetists even got out of their seats and danced on stage at the audience's behest. Yeah, they improvised and played a duet together while dancing their sexy little Latin steps... that trumpet player was mighty good-looking, too, I must admit. *grins* At about this point, Brett offered to massage my hand, too, which improved my less-than-stellar mood about a zillion times over since my arms and back have been really tight and sore lately. Yeah, I was pretty much in heaven for a good portion of the second set, and when the show finally wound down, Arturo O'Farrill (the pianist and director of the band) told us that he wanted to see the audience moving during the encore. So when Katie extended her hand, I couldn't refuse her invitation and disappoint Mr. O'Farrill--I went to the front of the auditorium and I danced with the rest of the Gilmore Girls. ^_^ They thought that was a real hoot... I forget that the people at Alma don't know that I like to dance. I forget that I haven't really done anything to shake off the prudish reputation I've earned during my time there, either. Quelle mysterieuse, non? Oooooh.
Apparently there's a big party going on at one of the homestays tonight, complete with live music. Earlier I was really hoping to go and hang out for a bit, but it doesn't look like that is going to happen. Honestly, right now I'm feeling better than I have in days and I'm not even exceptionally bummed out that I'm missing the fun. I'll probably chat with Laura and Ann a bit, and there's no master class tomorrow morning, so I'll probably get a ridiculous amount of sleep to boot. And on that note, it's sign-off time!