The Fine Arts Center

The amazing sounds of jazz vocalists and instrumentalists filling the campus air with the flair of improvisation. Cash bar and complimentary table snacks.

July 16, 7:00 PM – 10:00 PM
Marriott Center/ 11th Floor Campus Center
$5 Cover Charge

Monday, July 14
“Playing the History of Jazz” – Through performance and demonstration, the Tillis-Holmes Duo (Frederick Tillis, saxophone; Jeffrey Holmes, piano) will be tracing the history of jazz from its New Orleans origins to the modern day.

 
Tuesday, July 15
“Keeping Up With The Changes” – Vocalist Catherine Jensen-Hole and her Jazz In July Trio (Ray Gallon, piano; Mark Holovnia, drums; Genevieve Rose, bass) with guest vocalist Sheila Jordan, demonstrate to vocalist and instrumentalists alike, various approaches to bringing new life to the standards.

 
Wednesday, July 16
“Jazz In July’s Tribute to Max Roach” – A Jazz In July percussion ensemble led by Winard Harper, plus music and reflections of Max Roach’s legacy by members of the Billy Taylor Trio (Billy Taylor, piano; Chip Jackson, bass; Winard Harper, drums.)

 
Thursday, July 17 (SOM 133)
“The Evolution of the Groove” – Direct from his presentation at the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival, Jazz In July
Director Mark Baszak will reveal more results of interviews conducted with jazz musicians (Russell Gunn, Dana Leong, Wallace Roney) and hip-hop musicians (Napoleon Maddox, Easy Mo Bee.)

July 14 – 17, 3:15 PM – 4:30 PM
Bowker Auditorium
$10 per lecture, $50 for all eight

Monday, July 7
“Jazz in July Showcase: Personal Approaches To Improvisation” – It’s an hour plus 15 minute jazz festival Jazz In July style featuring performances by: Geri Allen, piano; John Blake, violin; Gregory Caputo, drums; Bruce Diehl, saxophone; Bob Ferrier, guitar; Catherine Jenson-Hole, vocals; Jeff Holmes, trumpet/piano; Dana Leong, trombone/cello; Avery Sharpe, bass; Ralph Whittle, piano; Steve Johns, drums; Sheila Jordan, vocals; Genevieve Rose, bass; Billy Taylor, piano; and Frederick Tillis, saxophone.

 
Tuesday, July 8
“The Epic Ebony Journey Continues” – Based on the title of their duo recording of the same name, violinist John Blake and bassist Avery Sharpe (both former members of McCoy Tyner’s Ensemble) are all about the strings.

 
Wednesday, July 9
“Flavors of New Jazz” – Through the conversation and some digitally twisted tastes of jazz, rock, and hip-hop, prepare for a feast of crunchy grooves presented by trombonist and cellist Dana Leong, with special guest: Geri Allen, piano.

 
Thursday, July 10 (SOM 133)
“The Best of CBS Sunday Morning Jazz” – Billy Taylor’s acclaimed interviews with various jazz legends. Dr. Taylor will also be providing live commentary!

July 7 – July 10, 3:15 PM – 4:30 PM
Bowker Auditorium
$10 per lecture, $50 for all eight

One of the pillars of Jazz in July’s cirriculum is each week’s final concert featuring participants who attend from around the world. Parents, family members, alumni, and other friends of Jazz in July return each summer to groove to the musicianship of our latest graduating class and tomorrow’s top jazz talent.

July 11, 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM
Bowker Auditorium
Free Admission

The Con Alma Trio Featuring The Five College All Stars (Jeff Holmes, piano; Genevieve Rose, bass; Gregory Caputo, drums; with Frederick Tillis, saxophone; Bob Ferrier, guitar; and Bruce Diehl, saxophon), and The Geri Allen Trio (Geri Allen, piano; Avery Sharpe, bass; Steve Johns drums; with Yamaha-sponsored trombonist and cellist Dana Leong).

July 10, 7:30 PM – 10:00 PM
Bowker Auditorium
$20 General Public (a $5 discount is available if you purchase tickets to both shows at the same time), $10 Students and Seniors Tickets are available in advance from the FAC Box Office, 545-2511 or 1-800-999-UMAS, and at the door.

The amazing sounds of jazz vocalists and instrumentalists filling the campus air with the flair of improvisation. Cash bar and complimentary table snacks.

July 9, 7:00 PM – 10:00 PM
Marriott Center/ 11th Floor Campus Center
$5 Cover Charge

Come dance with the best of salsa in the Pioneer Valley as we host our First NWT Salsa Party Fundraiser- proceeds to benefit New WORLD Theater’s community-centered programs, including
Project 2050, the Community Spirit Showcase, and more.

Come to the early for SALSA LESSONS 6 PM – 7 PM with Elizabeth Fernandes-O’Brien
DANCE PARTY 7:30 PM – 10 PM with LIVE MUSIC by Jay Borges y Kultura Borikua, with special guest percussionist Angel Rodriguez

Dance Party Admission: Adults $15; $12 for Youth ( 6 years and older); Children 5 years and under free. Dance Party & Lesson Package: $30 Individual, $45 Couple

Ticket price includes food, generously provided by Salsarengue Restaurant. Cash bar available.
For tickets, call the Fine Arts Center Box Office at 413-545-2511.

July 11
Fine Arts Center Lobby
Dance Party Admission: Adults $15; $12 for Youth ( 6 years and older); Children 5 years and under free. Dance Party & Lesson Package: $30 Individual, $45 Couple

Thomas Matsuda, Mohammad Abu El Naga, Lyndmita Dakhova, Hakim Ghazali, Linda Gordon, Thaier Helal, Padungsak Kochsomrong, Talal Moualla, Silvio Ploto, Andra Samelson, Takata Yoshikik, Dang Anh Tuan

Artists from USA, Egypt, Ukraine, Morocco, England, Syria, Thailand, Dubai, Brazil, Germany, Romani, Vietnam, and Poland collaborate as participants in TransCultural Exchange’s
Here, There, and Everywhere: Anticipating The Future of Art (in partnership with Hampden Gallery)

April 1 – 30 (tentative)
Hampden Gallery Studio Gallery
Free and open to the public

The sad confluence of Max Roach’s death, August 16, and Warren Smith’s September 26 appearance at UMass, Amherst, afforded us a beautiful opportunity to witness the uncoiling ribbon of jazz drumming history. As the years go by, the fact that Roach earned his doctorate from UMass and taught and lived in Amherst throughout the 1970s and beyond, will become increasingly important to the cultural history of the University and the Pioneer Valley. Of all of Max’s “disciples”, Warren Smith is king. King – not only because of his age (75), and his elevated status among musicians (find me another musician whom everyone likes and admires) – but because he most fully embraces Max’s concept of the percussive arts.

The percussive arts were front and center as Smith initiated the 6th annual FAC Solos & Duos Series at Bezanson Recital Hall before 165 enthusiastic patrons. Surrounded by marimba, three tympani, drum kit, a home-made cymbal set-up and gongs (along with an assortment of whistles and shakers), Warren moved seamlessly through two sets of moving percussion music.

Warren was a founding member of Max’s groundbreaking percussion ensemble, M’Boom, a 6-8 person group of world-class drummers who, between them, played all the percussion instruments. The respect, from an early age, that Warren had for Max permeated his entire trip to UMass. Warren began the concert by dedicating the performance to his mentor, speaking with an easy articulateness; it was easy to see his big, generous spirit. He talked about being a kid, looking up to Max. Yes, Max was playing with Bird and Dizzy. But he was also speaking up, making albums like “Freedom Now Suite”, starting his own label (Debut), lending his voice to the struggle.

Warren linked Max to Papa Jo Jones (Count Basie’s drummer), and told the story (often related by Max when he’d play his solo at the Bright Moments Festival each July), about how, after a number of drum heavyweights took the stage, saying all there was to say on the drums in honor of an ailing Gene Krupa, Papa Jo came on stage with only a high-hat cymbal and brought the house down. Warren began his Solos & Duos concert on a home-made cymbal set-up by Jackson Krall. Krall, a fabulous percussionist in his own right, takes pieces of broken cymbals and bolts them together. Strung together, the effect was electrifying. It was a highlight of the concert.

Smith shared his reverence for Roach and the history of the music for about 15 UMass Music students hours before the concert. He was “old school” in all the good ways. He talked about how to be a professional musician – be on time, be prepared musically, understand what the person hiring you wants, be sober (said with a little laugh). He talked behind a drum kit the whole time, and played it a little bit. But mostly he reminisced, answered questions and shared lessons learned over the most varied 50 year career in music history (Harry Partch, Barbara Streisand, Julius Hemphill, Gladys Knight, William Parker and years of Broadway pit band work.)

With his long time friend and helper, Anton Reid, Smith drove up from New York the night before his gig with his kit, cymbals and gongs. We supplied the tympani and marimba, which was taken apart and reassembled in Bezanson-and back again, by graduate student Ian Hale and his undergraduate minions. They did a really good deed. But then again, they got to hang with Warren for awhile. Many of them came to the show. In fact, we had an unprecedented ratio of students to general public for the performance. It’s usually around half and half; over 70% of this audience was students.

Warren also participated in a somewhat misguided (by me) experiment , the afternoon of the concert. In response to a funder’s request to get more students involved with the project, we set up shop around noon, first on the Campus Center concourse, then at Earthfoods, for a “public art display”. Warren brought part of Krall’s cymbal contraption and some great whistles and shakers. He started to play. There was some uncertainty – from artist, producer and passers by – about what it was that was happening. Within a minute of beginning on the concourse, some dude picked up a rattle and joined in. Smith, non plussed, tried to lead him along. Unfortunately he had no more skill than lots of other dudes, so the music didn’t necessarily take off. But it was cool just the same- the unpredictability of it. One problem ultimately was that he didn’t generate enough sound to captivate much public space. I had thought about asking him to bring his snare drum, but didn’t. Oh well. But I could tell the music made some friends that day, mostly because Warren was humble and good natured throughout the “event”. I think that’s why so many students showed up to the concert.

The concert was great, but for my taste, I wish he had played more drum kit and less tympani and marimba. When I asked him after the show why he didn’t let loose on the kit more, he answered that Max had already made that history and he didn’t want to merely imitate it. One high point was his “Improvision for UMass”, where he flitted from instrument to instrument, playing without pause to create a really fresh splattering of sounds and rhythm. Warren had also written “An Open Letter to the People” for the occasion. He played gongs and kit, while local poet/performance artist, Eddie Bartok-Barratta recited the words. The letter expressed his heart-felt disgust with the Bush war in Iraq, the strain it is putting on military families (including Smith’s) and the lack of funding for domestic needs because of the war. The screed was simply stated, very well read and a little long.

In its short history, the Solos & Duos Series has presented some of the most important drummers to emerge since the 60s: Sunny Murray, Rashied Ali, Milford Graves, Andrew Cyrille, Hamid Drake. Warren Smith sits rightfully among them.

Written by Glenn Siegel

Drummer Chad Taylor had to wake up before dawn on consecutive days and travel twice across the continental United States to play this concert with Fred Anderson. The 40 year old percussionist took a night off from his tour with the rock band Iron & Wine to make this gig. I imagine the reason had little to do with the commitment he had made to the Solos & Duos Series and nothing to do with the artist fee (which was largely eaten up by the airplane), and everything to do with Fred Anderson.

The 78 year old tenor saxophonist is a revered figure in the music. Taylor is one of a number of musicians who have profited from the informal tutelage of this icon of the Chicago creative music scene. An original member of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), and a diehard Midwesterner, Anderson’s principal gift to the windy city has been his proprietorship of The Velvet Lounge, a south side drinking establishment which has nurtured generations of improvising musicians, including Chad Taylor.

This concert had a tight schedule and a large carbon footprint. Anderson and his friend and helper, Andy Pierce, flew from Chicago the day of the concert (their 1:30 Bradley arrival delayed over two hours). Taylor touched down at 4:30. We raced back to campus (in two cars, mine and Steve Hart’s) with time for hotel check in, sound check and little else.

Fred had surgery within the last nine months and Chad must have been worn from his west coast touring, but their UMass concert bristled with energy. Through two ample sets of music, they ripped 185 listeners out of their everyday lives to a place of awe and beauty. Fred assumed his firmly rooted, trade-marked lean, and Chad was in closed eyed revelry, as they launched into chartless improvising of the highest order. When I asked Fred later about the source of all his energy, he said, “I’m just trying to stay in the game.”

Chad confided in Michael Ehlers afterwards that he thought by the end, he “couldn’t hang with Fred.” The implication, in my mind, was that weeks of rigid “rock” drumming had made his ideas soft. (Iron & Wine, Sam Beam’s band, is booked through 2008; Chad was doubtful he’d last that long.) The proposition that Chad couldn’t hang with anyone was laughable to me. I had been blown away by his playing. Using sticks, mallets, brushes and his hands, Taylor laid it down all night. At one point I leaned to Hank Berry (another beautiful job with sound reinforcement) and thought, “This is like hearing Elvin and Blakey.” His deep African rhythms also recalled Ed Blackwell. (And drum kit is just the beginning. Chad is also a masterful vibes and marimba player, and is advancing the music made on African thumb piano. Maybe next time.)

I had met Fred in 1999 when he performed at a Magic Triangle concert with Kidd Jordan, William Parker and Hamid Drake (caught on the acclaimed Eremite recording, “Two Days in April”). Health problems and the intervening years had removed some of his stockiness, but his spirit and attitude were strong. Fred impresses me as a worker. Since the early 1980s he’s operated a nightclub in Chicago, and earlier in life, did lots of jobs outside of music. He can fix things, provide for his family, and play the tenor saxophone. Before the old Velvet would open for its regular day time clientele, Fred would put in 2-3 hours of practice on the only horn he plays, then do all the things a small businessman does. Above all, he created a venue where newcomers and masters alike would take the stage without pretension and try to say something on their chosen instrument.

While we chatted about different musicians, he seemed proud to tell me which of them had played his club. (The outpouring of love and support for Fred, and the institution he’s created, made the recent relocation of the Velvet possible.) Speaking of love and support, Fred is lucky to have Andy Pierce in his corner. A Chicago city employee (housing and building inspections), Andy is a true friend of the music. He handled all the details and was a big help to Fred.

So I’m driving Fred and Andy along some very small road in Montague on the way to dinner after the show. I can tell these two city slickers have noticed that we are in rural America. Just as Fred was telling me why my side car windows keep fogging up, a large deer leaps in front of the car (maybe a foot from my headlight) and bounds into the woods. The car is stopped and we all take a deep breath before Andy and I start chatting excitedly about our near miss. Fred is quiet in the front seat. When we finally ask if he’s alright, Fred chuckles and gives us a simple “yeah, man.”

Written by Glenn Siegel