Arranging to soar
Maria Schneider has to admit it; she was not quite the average child when it came to music. It may have been normal to dance around the room when her mother put on a Duke Ellington or Artie Shaw record. But then there was that time when she was 7… “My mom had…
Who are these guys?
Read on for City Newspaper’s profiles of the acts in this year’s Rochester International Jazz Festival. Friday, June 6 George Benson George Benson had firmly established his career as a jazz guitarist when he began to highlight a unique method of scat-singing along with his solos. Before long, his voice took center stage. In the…
Tailoring a sound
Watching Keter Betts’ fingers glide effortlessly over the strings of the bass, you might think that a pint-size bass awaited him in his cradle when he was born. But Betts began his musical life as a drummer. It’s just that there was this problem. “I’d worked my way up to the Gene Krupa…
Transatlantic translation of the caper flick
As the history of the form demonstrates, and The Italian Job nicely illustrates, the big caper flick, depending which side of the Atlantic it hails from, generally moves in one of two different cinematic directions. In Europe, the film about some carefully planned, immensely complicated, and highly lucrative theft usually takes on comic overtones, with…
Teens and sex, but no pastries
Raising Victor Vargas (opens Friday, May 30, at the Little) is equal parts George Washington, Our Song,and Kids. So if you’re a fan of American independent films with no-name, inexperienced, yet completely convincing adolescent acting talent, do yourself a favor and check it out pronto. Like those three pictures, Vargas features a large cast of…
Cramp Stomp!
I stumbled from Water Street Music Hall last Thursday night with a renewed faith in this jerk-water burg after seeing rock ‘n’ roll legends The Cramps with local garage darlings The Priests. The night turned out to be everything I’d hoped: loud and lewd, with wild behavior centered around songs of lust, death, sexual fetish,…
Lights, camera, action?
I agree wholeheartedly with Republican County Clerk/Executive candidate Maggie Brooks. “We’ve had enough studies, enough conferences, and enough meetings,” Brooks has declared on several campaign occasions. “Now is the time to roll up our sleeves, bring people together, and get the job done.” Amen, Maggie. And to that, I would add that I’ve had…
News Briefs 5.28.03
Not dumped on yet After years of uproar within the community, the Albion (Orleans County) town board last week voted unanimously against a Waste Management Inc. dump proposal. The company had been wanting to re-open and expand an existing dump that lies dormant. The new operation, picturesquely dubbed the “Towpath Landfill,” would sit practically beside…
Welcome to the machine
by Chris Busby At least three Democratic candidates for seats on the Rochester City School Board will continue their campaigns, despite failing to get the party’s endorsement at its May 17 convention. Howard Eagle, Jim Greco, and Woody Hammond say they’ll gather petition signatures to force a primary this September, in hopes of running on…
Strong minus Stein
Almost exactly two years ago, Dr. Jay Stein, CEO of the University of Rochester Medical Center, joined a group of notables on the Hochstein Music School stage to discuss socioeconomic change in Rochester. Under the baton of visiting National Public Radio host Juan Williams, Stein said “the key” to our future “is academic institutions.”…
Go figure
Common sense suggests respected incumbents won’t lose the endorsement of their party unless something goes really wrong. But common sense and politics don’t always mix. When South District City Councilmember Tony Thompson recently failed to gain the Democratic Party’s nomination to run for a second term, it wasn’t by a sliver. It was…
Reader Feedback 5.28.03
Defending the war In regard to your response to Mr. Pritchard in the May 7 issue: Many of your statements are without merit. First: The war was not a violation of the UN Charter and other international agreements. The UN Charter allows for self defense. And the prior UN resolution, passed without dissent, stated…
Take two
When the Rochester International Jazz Festival debuted last year with an aesthetic triumph and a financial loss, there were questions about whether the festival could be sustained. Looking at this year’s expanded program, the questions have disappeared. Top-name performers — Tony Bennett, George Benson, Spyro Gyra — may lean to the pop side, but…
Finding a groove
In a music industry that insists on categorization, Medeski Martin & Wood have successfully refused to be pigeonholed. With very little radio airplay, they have built a following across the country and around the world. Perhaps most surprisingly, they have managed to combine borderline avant-garde jazz with catchy grooves, drawing fans from all over the…
Pacin’ the Trane
When Rashied Ali was growing up in North Philadelphia in the 1940s and 1950s, he may have occupied the most fertile ground for the development of jazz talent anywhere on earth. His second cousins, Charlie and Bernard Rice, were both drummers playing gigs with an up-and-coming local saxophonist. “I grew up on his music…
