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March 25, 2007
The Ann Arbor Dance Classics Benefit Show
What is pretty amazing is what we do when we are not feeling very confident out our skills. When I speak on library issues, I can go on forever without a script and I have the confidence what I am saying is pretty close to the truth! OK, maybe a bit better than that.
I was working with my sister-in-law's dance studio (Ann Arbor Dance Classics) for their annual benefit show. For the first time, she had some live musicals (my brother in law Steve) and a narrator to tie to story of Jazz together. What is just amazing is when you do not have the confidence in the subject, it is just harder to pull off! I have also played in the Nutcracker three years in a row as Droselmeyer (which has been a blast). Somehow, I had the confidence to do that!
The script is in the extended entry.
Benefit Show Concept – Jazz: An American Art Form - Narration - Modified
Steve Playing - Cross SL to SR $1 to Steve
A saxophone…just love that sound…it’s the sound of Jazz. We’ve got so much great music here…so many great jazz artists and songs. But its roots, well, that is from the other side of the world. We call it American music, but it was blended from the sounds that started over 400 years ago on the plains of Africa. For the musician in Africa in the 1600s…little did he know that his music would be the core rhythm of a new art form, long before the saxophone came along…
Malfuf, Fast Ayuub (All YDE)
Like nothing else, Jazz musicians used their gift to combine complex rhythms with complex melodies. Jazz musicians took the sounds they knew and combined these with other influences, like majestic music coming from European churches. At the same time, these musicians could show power and emotion, hope and sorrow, work and loss, and the other sounds from the heart.
Trouble of the World (Group A)
Around 1850 here in America, popular music was changing. Starting as jigs and marches, a new type of music for the dance hall grew and it was known as ‘Ragtime.’ Piano players grabbed these sounds and soon we were all dancing. For Ragtime, New Orleans was home. Its king was Scott Joplin, who’s Entertainer and Maple Leaf Rag serve as the soundtrack of the times.
Maple Leaf Rag (Group E)
Life wasn’t easy at the turn of the century. Working people labored long hours in horrible conditions. From this tough life, primarily in the South, came a new type of music, called the Blues. While it symbolizes the hard life, the Blues became the people’s clarion call. Instead of thinking about lost souls, lost wages, and lost love, people instead were dreaming about better times ahead. As the man said, “Nobody gets out of this place without singing the blues.�
Love in Vain (1937) (Group B)
A hundred years ago, music was changing all over the country and they called it the Jazz Age. While Jazz was played all over, it was symbolized by one man in one city, New Orleans. That man was “Jelly Roll� Morton, the great piano player. “Jelly Roll� claimed to have invented Jazz, but he could no more claim that he invented the jelly roll! But he did give us some amazing music, including his “The Original Jelly Roll Blues.�
Original Jelly Roll Blues (1905) (3 from Group A)
The Great Depression of the 1930s put people on the skids. We needed anything to keep our minds off soup lines, ‘Hoover Ville’ shanty towns and closed factories. The music that took our minds off our troubles was Swing. We danced as much as we could the sounds of Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong. Thanks to the radio, Jazz left the dance hall and entered our living rooms …taking it into the mainstream. Across America, in New York, Chicago, Kansas City, San Francisco, or wherever, it didn’t mean a thing…if it ain’t got that Swing
It Don’t Mean a Thing (1932) (Group D)
Heading up to World War II, Jazz was the music of the times and the Big Bands were the people who made it happen. Band leaders like Glenn Miller and Benny Goodman popularized songs that sound as fresh as when they first burst onto the scene. One of the most popular was written by Joe Garland, and it always got us in the mood.
In the Mood (1940) (Group E)
If Glen Miller and Benny Goodman were the face of Jazz before the war, Louis Armstrong was the heart and soul right after it. “Satchmo� was not only known for mastery of the cornet and trumpet, but also for his ability to improvise, with words and music. You’d have to say that Satchmo had a great set of pipes, whether playing or singing. A once in a lifetime talent, we haven’t seen anything like him since.
Kiss to Build a Dream On (Groups C & D)
In the 1950s, influences from the coasts had an impact on Jazz like never before. Musicians developed a lighter, more romantic, style of Jazz with new styles from New York and California. San Francisco’s Fillmore District was an integrated neighborhood that could count two dozen active nightclubs and music halls within one square mile. In this environment, musicians like Miles Davis, Lester Young, and Chet Baker created the ‘Cool Jazz ‘sound. The great saxophonist, John Coltrane would call New York home and developed a sound known as Free Jazz. In the sprit of pure improvisation, Free Jazz allowed the musician free reign with tonality and chord sequences. Two pieces that symbolize these new Jazz sounds were Lullaby of Birdland and Paul Desmond’s classic ‘Take Five,’ made famous by Dave Brubeck.
Lullaby of Birdland (1952) & Take Five(1959) (3 From Group A & Group A)
In the 70s, jazz musicians borrowed many of the themes from Rock-n-Roll, Folk, Reggae, Rhythm and Blues and just about every kind of music out there. Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, and Chick Corea continued the revolution and brought in influences from Latin music, while using new instruments like synthesizers. While it sounded very different from the New Orleans sound, Chick Corea’s Armando’s Rhumba� was still all Jazz.
Armando’s Rhumba (1976) (Group C)
Jazz has a great story. It’s been cutting edge, controversial, cool, smooth, free, popular, impulsive, and, we could go on for a while. Musicians continue to bring other sounds and modern music to Jazz, but keeping the spirit of improvisation that can be traced back 400 years. Not that long ago in the Heart of Brooklyn, the trio Medeski Martin & Wood showed us where Jazz has been, and where it can go.
Lifeblood (Group B / all)
Writer Gerald Early said that America would be known for only three things when they study our civilization 2000 years from now: the Constitution, Baseball and Jazz. We don’t know what Jazz will sound like in 2000 years. How will other music influence it? How will our lifestyle have an impact on those who perform? How will our population change the way that it sounds? While we won’t know what it will sound like that far into the future, there is one thing that we can be sure of. We will know it when we hear it.
(saxophone starts again immediately, and narrator exits).
Posted by cseeman at 09:13 PM | Comments (0)
March 13, 2007
Innovative Interfaces Academic Library Directors Symposium
For the Innovative Academic Library Directors Symposium, I appeared on the following panel discussion:
The ILS and Discovery-to-Delivery: An Innovative panel of senior managers providing insights into how Innovative's current product lines and development plans provide opportunities for libraries to enhance their user's discovery experience.
Panelists include:
Neil Block, VP Worldwide Sales (Innovative)
Corey Seeman, Kresge Business Administration Library, University of Michigan
This is the presentation topic I came up with: "The ILS and Discovery-to-Delivery: Late Night Thoughts on Silos, Scope, Sodoku and Simplicity"
Really do not have an abstract, but if I did, it would be about how we can promote creativity in the library and use our ILS (catalog) in ways that allow us to easily extend our reach to the patrons. I will try to expand on this theme later.
This entry was posted in the following categories: Conference Presentations , Integrated Library Systems , University of Michigan TopicsPosted by cseeman at 07:31 AM | Comments (1)