Story and photographs by Rudy Lu
Based upon the recent choir rehearsal held at Union College’s Memorial Chapel, the second annual Gospel Jubilee will certainly be a roof-raising evening at Proctors in Schenectady on Friday night. The Jubilee Mass Choir is composed of singers from a variety of local churches, while Union College’s Heavenly Voices Gospel Choir will perform under the direction of the Reverend Elgin J. Taylor Sr. of Sweet Missionary Baptist Church of Albany.
Story by J Hunter
My first Second Line happened in 1996 at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, known forevermore and worldwide as “Jazzfest.” The band that led the way was a local outfit whose name escapes me, but they’re actually not important. What was important was the Second Line, which is essentially ongoing musical permission for anyone to join the band in the street (or the aisle, or – in the case of Jazzfest – the race track) and march, dance, laugh and generally make a full-on public spectacle of themselves. One Second Line and I was hooked; every time I’ve had the chance to take part in one, I’ve jumped on it, whether it was at SPAC with the venerable Preservation Hall Jazz Band or at Lake George Jazz Weekend with Jazz2K monsters John Ellis & Double-Wide.
But here’s the thing: All my opportunities have only come when a New Orleans band has ventured into Greater Nippertown. As far as the Empire State is concerned, a Second Line is a foreign thing, because nobody in this neck of the woods practiced this form of cathartic celebration. Thanks to trombonist Joe Scatassa and the Outer Borough Brass Band, that situation is changing. Scatassa is an alumnus of Loyola University in New Orleans, a former member of the NOLA party outfit Bonerama, and he also plays guitar in several NYC bands. But a couple of years ago, he realized there was a void in his musical life.
Review by Greg Haymes
BOOM!
Clad only in a loincloth and headband, he is poised in front of a gigantic odaiko drum. The drum head is four feet in diameter, and the drum itself weighs more than 800 pounds.
BOOM!
He holds two handcrafted sticks, each four or five times thicker than the average drumstick.
BOOM!
He isn’t merely beating the drum. He is hurling himself forward, pounding the drum with every ounce of strength.
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
Welcome to the world of Kodo, the world-renowned Japanese taiko drum troupe that made a tour stop at Proctors in Schenectady recently for an evening of pulse-pounding percussion unlike anything you’ve heard before.
In concert, Kodo isn’t an ensemble that you merely listen to or watch. A Kodo concert is something that you feel – literally.
It’s time once again for authentic all-girl roller derby mayhem!
The Hellions of Troy Roller Derby season rolls along as The Herculadies (The Hellions’ B-team) meet The North Country Lumber Jills in their first bout of the year. We’re talking fun, fishnets and flying elbows.
Arturo Sandoval
Review by J Hunter
Photographs by Rudy Lu
Arturo Sandoval was wearing an untucked black t-shirt and loose-fitting black pants as he worked over the timbale with an Allen wrench, occasionally hitting the instrument with a drum stick to see if the sound and tightness was anywhere near what he wanted; when it wasn’t, he went right back to work with the wrench, looking for all the world like a guy in a garage on a Saturday afternoon. The trouble was that it was Friday night, he was on the Mainstage at Proctors, his quintet was in full-tilt Latin Jazz mode, and his pianist Kemuel Roig was halfway through a pretty hot solo.
As it turned out, Sandoval’s drummer Alexis Arce usually tightens Sandoval’s timbale after the band finishes their sound-check… except there had been no sound-check that afternoon, because Arce developed chest pains on the way to the gig, and was currently under observation at a local hospital. Nate Coyne was truly a local hero when he subbed for Arce at the last minute. “We’re gonna do our regular show,” Sandoval told us after admitting he’d just learned his new drummer’s name. “Nate, you play what you can…”
Coyne smiled back at his new leader as the crowd laughed, but you knew the drummer (who’d subbed for Joe Barna while he was recovering from carpal-tunnel syndrome) had to be thinking, “Holy shit! This is REALLY HAPPENING!” Happily, Coyne caught everything Sandoval threw at him over the 90-minute set, and bassist Dennis Marks kept Coyne filled with information as Sandoval knocked us all out with a mix of Latin standards and jazz classics either recorded or inspired by his beloved mentor, the late John Birks “Dizzy” Gillespie. “We owe him a lot of respect,” Sandoval told us before performing the title track from his new Concord release Dear Diz (Every Day I Think of You).
Michael Benedict
Review by J Hunter
Photographs by Rudy Lu
A JazzApril story
Given a choice, I’ll take new jazz over old jazz. To my mind, anything that moves the music forward should get all the love it can. But last Saturday night, I needed to get back to the basics, to the roots, and get a big juicy cleansing shot of the pure. For me, that’s hard bop, which added nice sharp teeth to a sub-genre that reflected this country’s energized post-World War II mentality. Thankfully, Michael Benedict & Bopitude are dedicated to not only showcasing this music, but also making it as electrifying as it was back in the day.
Besides my need to flush out the avant-garde rubbish that had clogged up my soul the night before, there were two other reasons for checking out Bopitude’s latest appearance. First, this group sounds big at festivals and concert halls; in a small venue like the Van Dyck’s upstairs concert space, they’re absolutely massive – and that was before they added the second reason for seeing this band: Baritone sax master Gary Smulyan, who’s got a sound that shakes whatever floor he’s standing on. Benedict’s sextet has a weapons-grade front line, and I had a front row seat. What’s more, when I came in off the street, people who’d attended the first set were buying tickets for the second set, so I knew this was going to be a sweet time.
Arturo Sandoval
A JazzApril story
“Oh my goodness, no. I can’t remember the first record album that I bought.
But the first jazz record that I ever heard was by Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker. Oh, yeah. That was my very first encounter with jazz. I had never heard any jazz before, and, my goodness, that record made the biggest impression on me that I’ve ever had in my life.
Before that, I had only heard Cuban traditional music because I grew up in the middle of the countryside on the island. And when somebody played for me the Dizzy and Charlie Parker album, I thought, ‘Oh, wow. What is this?’
And I’m still trying to figure it out. All these years later, it still sounds so fresh.”
Charismatic Cuban trumpeter and composer Arturo Sandoval leads his high energy Latin jazz band into Proctors in Schenectady at 8pm on Friday (April 5). Tickets are $20, $25, $30, $35 & $40.
For the third year in a row, WAM Theatre and The Mop & Bucket Improv Company (MopCo) will bring together over 50 theatre artists from the Berkshire and Capital Region areas to produce the 24hr Theatre Project. Together, these artists will mount five short works; all written, rehearsed, and performed in 24 hours. The third annual 24hr Berkshires/Capital Region Theatre is hosted by Proctors in Schenectady, NY, with a public performance taking place on Saturday, May 18 at 8pm.
Tickets are now available for purchase by calling Proctors at (518) 346-6204 or visiting www.proctors.org/events/berkshire-capreg-theatre-project.
Tony nominated actress Jayne Atkinson (Berkshire Theatre Group, TV’s House of Cards and 24) joins the project as a director this year. Also directing will be Michael Burns (Artistic Director of the Mop & Bucket Company), Dina Janis (Artistic Director of the Dorset Theatre Festival), Maggie Mancinelli-Cahill (Artistic Director of Capital Repertory Theatre) and Kristen van Ginhoven (Artistic Director of WAM Theatre).
Click to read the rest at Berkshire on Stage.
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