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Archive for the ‘Princeton University Concerts’ Category

Stanley Jordan Masterclass (Lee Rehearsal Room, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, April 21, 2022)

Posted in Lee Rehearsal Room, Princeton University Concerts, Princeton, NJ, Rudresh Mahanthappa, Stanley Jordan on April 21, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: April 21, 2022] Stanley Jordan Masterclass

Several years ago, I watched a Tiny Desk Concert from Rudresh Mahanthappa and then I found out he is a teacher at Princeton.   So I joined his email list and I get all kinds of updates about jazz and jazz adjacent things going on on campus.

But I was super surprised to get this one

We are very excited to have the legendary jazz guitarist and Princeton alum Stanley Jordan in the house this coming Thursday.  Please join us for a masterclass and Q&A this coming Thursday in the Lee Rehearsal Room at 4:30 PM.

My friend Al introduced me to him back in the 1990s and while I’m not going to say I was a huge fan, I was intrigued enough to go to this event.  I also had no idea he went to Princeton.

Stanley Jordan was born in Chicago, Illinois, and grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area.  In 1981 he earned a BA in music from Princeton University, where he studied theory and composition with composer Milton Babbitt and computer music with composer Paul Lansky. While still at Princeton, Jordan performed with Benny Carter and Dizzy Gillespie.

I also didn’t know he more or less invented tapping

key to Jordan’s fast-track acclaim was his mastery of a special technique on the guitar’s fretboard. Instead of conventional strumming and picking, Jordan’s innovative “touch technique” is an advanced form of two-handed tapping.  A classically trained pianist before playing guitar, Jordan wanted greater freedom in voicing chords on his guitar, so he applied piano principles to do so. Jordan’s touch technique allows the guitarist to play melody and chords simultaneously with an unprecedented level of independence. It also allows Jordan to play simultaneously on two different guitars, or even on guitar and piano. He says that “I think of it as a single instrument, but one with a wide range of tonal colors-that’s why I do it.”

This session was really fantastic.  Jordan talked about his childhood and about his luck in attending Princeton and getting to go to New York City.  I was fascinated to hear just how intellectual he was about the music–it’s not just about feel and vibe, he analyzes it as well.

I didn’t get to stay for the jazz program, which Mahanthappa says was great, but I did get to see Jordan giving feeding back to some of the individual players.

 

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Jim Shepard–“Our Day of Grace” [The 2020 Short Story Advent Calendar #21] (2018)

Posted in Canadian Content, Christmas, Civil War, Coronavirus, Death, Hingston & Olsen, Jim Shepard, Joyce DiDonato, Letters, Princeton University Concerts, Quarantine, Racism, Short Story, The Short Story Advent Calendar on December 21, 2020| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: JOYCE DiDONATO-“Silent Night” (#SingForToday, Princeton University Concerts, December 21, 2020).

I first heard of Joyce DiDonato from an NPR session many years ago.  I loved that she had a gorgeous voice but was not too precious about herself or her music.  She had a lot of fun.

I can’t imagine the chills you would feel hearing her live.

Here’s the next best thing.  In conjunction with Princeton University Concerts and University Musical Society of the University of Michigan, Joyce created the #SingForToday series.

The third entry is this gorgeous version of “Silent Night,” performed by Joyce DiDonato and Àlex Garrobé on guitar.

Joyce has a lovely mezzo-soprano voice and the accompanying guitar by Garrobé  sounds classical in its soft resonance without being fast or complicated.

She sings the songs straight through.  Then for a second round, she changes  the words: “peace, peace, peace on earth…”  I’ve never heard this before and I don’t think it’s part of the song normally.

For the final sing thorough, she she sings over herself with both voices doing the different lyrics in a kind of fugue.  She also adds in some harmony.

This has always been one of my favorite Christmas songs, i think it is so beautiful.  This version is just amazing.

[READ: December 21, 2020] “Our Day of Grace”

This year, S. ordered me The Short Story Advent Calendar.  This is my fifth time reading the Calendar.  I didn’t know about the first one until it was long out of print (sigh), but each year since has been very enjoyable.  Here’s what they say this year

You know the drill by now. The 2020 Short Story Advent Calendar is a deluxe box set of individually bound short stories from some of the best writers in North America.

This year’s slipcase is a thing of beauty, too, with electric-yellow lining and spot-glossed lettering. It also comes wrapped in two rubber bands to keep those booklets snug in their beds.

As always, each story is a surprise, so you won’t know what you’re getting until you crack the seal every morning starting December 1. Once you’ve read that day’s story, check back here to read an exclusive interview with the author.

It’s December 21.  Jim Shepard, author of The Book of Aron, cannot find a stamp. [Click the link to the H&O extras for the story].

This story is a series of letters written near the end of the Civil War.  There is a Southern woman and her beau–a soldier on the front.  They write to each other although their letters do not always overlap.  He references another soldier, C.W.  We see the letters that C.W.’s wife writes to him and we see in her letters that he does not write back–as she gets more and more dismayed. (more…)

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