CATSKILL MOUNTAINS

September 30tgh - October 7th

The beauty of the Catskills when the leaves are changing...

Please, go to...

Album of Dinner in the Catskills

 GREELEY PLAZA

32nd & Broadway - Just below our apartment

Jazz Ensemble

A bonus picture of this morning from my desk...

 BROADWAY

The Piano Lesson

Barrymore Theater

 CARNEGIE HALL

After two and one-half years we finally got back to Carnegie Hall!  It's been a long drought in terms of music.

American Symphony by Jon Batiste

https://thegrio.com/2022/09/23/jon-batiste-masterfully-incorporates-elements-of-the-diaspora-in-his-premiere-of-american-symphony-at-carnegie-hall/

Jon Batiste is one of the world's greatest musicians, and one of the most celebrated and limitless creative forces of his generation. Batiste has won both an Academy Award and a Golden Globe for scoring the Disney/Pixar film Soul. To date, he has received 14 Grammy nominations-11 in one year, which is the second most in history- and several honorary doctorate and lifetime achievement awards. At the most recent Grammy ceremony, Batiste earned five awards, including Album of the Year for We Are. He has performed to acclaim around the world and is premiering his American Symphony in May as a part of his 2021-2022 Carnegie Hall Perspectives series. Batiste is grateful to put on display his artistic philosophy of "social music, , which is about bringing music back to its roots within community, defying genre constructs and live performance as a spiritual practice.

American Symphony

(2022; World Premiere, commissioned by Carnegie Hall)

Overture

Capitalism

Integrity

Globalism

Majesty

In the Artist's Own Words

What would a reimagined and redefined symphonic composition and what r experience be in th 21st contury? What if the symphony wad ivented today in America? Who would participate in the modern uneral orchestra? bar would in couralitied American. sin years 380, same I so bring this vision to life and it birthed American Symphony.

My compositional process always begins with a vision. The vision is an Ar come in this case ifS the objective to icimacimpositiond efine symphonie objec. But in order for me to actually create a composition with heart, ampi, and presence, there needs to be a guiding nuestion:. That question is dept the motivation of the piece comes from. The question chat drove mis in this process is, "What does it actually mean to be an American?" The late Albert Murray said in his book The Omni Americans that we live Ina patently and irrevocably composite" culture. This kind of thinking and also the work of many like-minded composers inspired my approach to creating American Symphony, chiefly among them is the work of both Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn. They consistently synthesized cultural lineages through the lense of a pluralistic and noble world view to create their timeless art.

American Symphony begins with an overture and is organized into four movements thereafter--mythological anchors for the piece: Capitalism, Integrity, Globalism, Majesty.

As a conceptual guide for this composition, I've chosen to incorporate essential elements of the American democratic system as philosophical frameworks within the structure. For example, using the US Constitution as a reference point, we can explore the complexity and diversity of American life and history.

This score is a living document that will evolve over time. Each musician who takes part in it will have the opportunity to improve upon and amend it based on the collective conditions of the performing ensemble.

Within the four movements, there are several interludes and preludes.

Most everything you hear is written--even musical passages that "fee!" improvisatory are in fact composed. The few moments that are left to the interpretation of the player are very clearly presented to the listener as Such. In these distinct instances- and more idealistically throughout the entire piece- the musician is to look at the musical score as we see the Constitution of United States of America.

American Symphony has o main melodic themes in E-Rat minor and P Ano, themes of day and ight, sunrise and sunset, former amino and I no fealities at play at once. Throughout the composition, these cunterin themes are utilized as counterpoints to each other. Both are stated me tyriad of ways, akin to the plurality of American life.

The opening overture begins by blending the tunes of seminal American anthems to create a counterpoint that evokes the complexities or American Tre. These national anthems are embedded throughout the piece inmercat compositional ways. The weaving of these anthems is interwoven wick the main themes of American Symphony, representing the birth of a new American theme out of the conditions of the prior lineage. This overture represents both pain and discovery. You can hear ships.

Capitalism. We hear the construction of a system in real time. It evokes the building of cities and structures that have long since shaped the way we relate to one another and to the land. Titans of industry.

Integrity represents the ideals and heroism of the everyday citizen, the unsung heroes and inheritors of this way of life. They believe in it so much that they are willing to sacrifice for the common good.

Globalism puts on display the culture bearers and the reality of where American culture is headed. This always evokes the ancestral lineage of where all culture originates.

Majesty. Our empowering supernatural folkloric belief sounds like this.

Another part of the anatomy of American Symphony is the consistent dialogue and inherent tension between African and European theoretical approaches to music. The back and forth throughout the piece creates a conversation that helps both to evolve and consequently innovate the standard symphonic context.

The rhythm section expresses the range of African diasporic traditional drumming, including the permutations of it found in the Caribbean, New Orleans, Brazil, Yoruba, Haitian Creole, and contemporary avant garde jazz traditions, synthesized to create the percussion section. There's also the use of steel pan and ceramic bowls to function both rhythmically, harmonically, and symbolically. At the center of the percussion section is the grand piano as the anchor of all these disparate worlds.

Another important element to American Symphony is the digital orchestral section that is embedded within the acoustic instrumentation. Through the use of modular and analog synthesizers, sampling and programming software, Max MSP, and drum-machine technology, we have infinitely

extended the timbral range and creative possibility of the standard orchestra by including the most contemporary tonal palettes. Matt Wong and I wanted to solve some of the contemporary orchestrational challenges of recent generations of musicians.

In American Symphony we recognized that certain timbres can be replaced with others that serve a similar purpose but that are more evocative of the mythology we are presenting. Many musical traditions have a standard drum, horn, and stringed instrument that is prevalent in the music, and these are what I drew inspiration from.

This approach posed a great challenge in rehearsal because many of the musicians process music very differently. When drawing from a cultural milieu that is unusual to the European symphonic context, many challenges in balance, orchestration, alignment, and cues are presented. There was not only one score, there had to be many. There was not only one string section or brass section or percussion section or rhythm section, but many.

E pluribus unum, "out of many, one."

For many decades, artists of color, indigenous artists, and others have been underrepresented in the classical music space. The symphonic experience has become something ripe for reinvention and classical music ready for its reckoning.

When experiencing American Symphony in the concert hall, there will be musicians placed throughout the space, immersed within the audience as well as on the stage. We must continue to liberate the creative spaces for all artists, and build more equitable and excellent compositional vehicles to accommodate the variety of genius.

 

We have been quarantined for the past 8 months.  It hasn't been so bad because we love reading and we enjoy being with each other.

At the same time, everything we came to New York City is closed now.  There is no music, no theater, no dance, reduced dining and museums.   We no longer ride the subway but ride Lyft of Uber to get around town.

We still love being here and have no plans to leave.

We'll see... ?

Covid-19 Rules!

We have been self-quarantined just under 100 hundred days now.  We are doing well physically and emotionally.  Our lives have centered around reading, eating, and watching documentaries.  We're learning a lot!

Our Spring 2020 season for all performing arts has been closed and now we learn that the Fall 2020 season is now also cancelled.  All performing arts organizations are taking a big hit.  On the personal level, our sadness is with the musicians and actors.  This is devastating for them.  All restaurants are closed for dining and many stalwarts are saying they are now closed permanently.  Another tragedy.

Layered on top of the pandemic, we've also suffered in NYC through the killing of George Floyd and then the riots and demonstrations that have followed.  NYC has been tragically shaken for almost half a year with no end in sight.

Here is a link to a site showing much of what we've seen over these past several months...

https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0GGQOeMmJFIGEB

These are tough times for our country.  Knowing that, we remain optimistic and hopeful for our country.

COVID-19 NYC 2020

Today is our 29th day of being self-quarantined.

Or as I say, it’s the same day for the 29th time!

I take the trash across the hall, I go to the lobby late in the evening to get the mail and deliveries, and we occasionally go to the high terrace.

Other than that, we, haven’t left the apartment.

We have Fresh Direct for our food, Epic Spirits for our wine and Gin, and Amazon for all the rest.

We read books, papers and computers and we watch a movie or documentary together every day.

We climb 4 flights of stairs in the stairwell every day.

Emotionally and physically we are doing very well.

We consider ourselves as being among the fortunate ones.

We are doing this because I do not want to get sick.

Being healthy and confined to our apartment is so much better than being sick and sent to a hospital which is over whelmed, over run, and over crowded.

Our belief is that the worst is yet to come for all of us.

We’re hunkered down and, hopefully, ready.

Below is a site with some images from our apartment that will give you a sense of what’s going on.

https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0GGQOeMmJFIGEB

images from our apartment during our self-quarantinement...