Tag Archives: Wynton Marsalis

RONALD K. BROWN, EVIDENCE: DEN OF DREAMS / DANCING SPIRIT

Ronald K. Brown returns to the stage in a special duet in upcoming Joyce season (photo © Julieta Cervantes)

The Joyce Theater
175 Eighth Ave. at 19th St.
February 6-11, $10-$46
212-242-0800
www.joyce.org
www.evidencedance.com

It’s always a thrill to see Ronald K. Brown’s Evidence, a Dance Company, bring its electrifying work to the Joyce, or anywhere, for that matter. Founded by Brown in 1985, the Brooklyn-based troupe dazzles audiences with its unique and inspired integration of traditional African dance with contemporary movement while emphasizing a strong sense of community and a social conscience. Evidence will be at the Joyce February 6-11, highlighted by the world premiere of Den of Dreams, a duet performed by Brown and Bessie winner Arcell Cabuag in celebration of Cabuag’s twentieth anniversary as associate artistic director, a job that includes teaching master classes and working with dance schools around the globe. Evidence will also present the company premiere of Dancing Spirit, a 2009 work Brown choreographed for the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in honor of Judith Jamison’s twentieth anniversary as AAADT artistic director, featuring music by Duke Ellington, Wynton Marsalis, Radiohead, and War and melding Afro-Cuban and Brazilian styles. Also on the bill are 2002’s Come Ye, a call for peace set to the music of Nina Simone and Fela Kuti, and March, a duet, excerpted from 1995’s Lessons, set to a speech by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., being performed as a tribute to the fiftieth anniversary of the reverend’s assassination. Opening night will also feature Upside Down, an excerpt from Brown’s 1998 Destiny, with music by Wunmi. The season is part of Carnegie Hall’s wide-ranging festival “The ’60s: The Years that Changed America” and will include a curtain chat following the February 7 show, a master class on February 9, and a family matinee on February 10. The dynamic company includes rehearsal director Annique Roberts, assistant rehearsal director Keon Thoulouis, Shayla Caldwell, Kevyn Ryan Butler, Courtney Paige, Demetrius Burns, and Janeill Cooper.

THE PULITZER AT 100

Junot Diaz talks about winning the Pulitzer in documentary about the coveted prize

THE PULITZER AT 100 (Kirk Simon, 2016)
Lincoln Plaza Cinema
1886 Broadway at 63rd St.
Opens Friday, July 21
212-757-2280
www.thepulitzerat100.com
www.lincolnplazacinema.com

Oscar- and Emmy-winning director Kirk Simon’s The Pulitzer at 100 boasts a remarkable cast and some of the best lines ever written in the history of American arts and letters. It’s also a self-congratulatory bore. Simon celebrates the centennial of the Pulitzer Prize, first awarded by Columbia University in four categories in 1917, by speaking with a vast array of winners from the worlds of journalism (Carl Bernstein, Martin Baron, Thomas Friedman, Nicholas Kristof, Sheri Fink, David Remnick), fiction (Toni Morrison, Michael Chabon, Junot Díaz, Jeffrey Eugenides), drama (Tony Kushner, Paula Vogel, Ayad Akhtar), music (Wynton Marsalis, John Adams), biography (Robert A. Caro), poetry (Yusef Komunyakaa), photography (John Filo, Nick Ut), and more. He also films Martin Scorsese, Helen Mirren, Natalie Portman, Liev Schreiber, John Lithgow, and Yara Shahidi performing selections from the works of some of their favorite writers, including Philip Roth, Harper Lee, and Eugene O’Neill. Interspersed between all of the literary lathering are interesting tidbits — delivered by such historians as Cyrus Patell, Theodore L. Glasser, Roy Harris, and James McGrath Morris — from the life and times of one Joseph Pulitzer, an Austro-Hungarian merchant’s son who came to America as a mercenary to fight in the Civil War. Pulitzer eventually got involved in newspaper publishing, had yellow-journalism battles with William Randolph Hearst, and left money for Columbia to start the Graduate School of Journalism.

Simon lets the prize winners glory in their success, explaining what winning the award meant for their careers; the journalism awardees also delve into the stories they covered to win the trophy, including Kent State, Watergate, Hurricane Katrina, the Vietnam War, Tiananmen Square, and 9/11. While there are some fascinating revelations — particularly by Ut, describing how he took the famous photo of young Vietnamese girl Kim Phuc running from a napalm blast, then poured water over her back to help her (Kim also appears in the film) — most of the news stories are already overly familiar to the viewer, with not enough time to really tackle the subjects properly here. Of course, that’s not really what the film is centrally about, anyway. And it gets especially glib when several of the winners poke fun at the physical award itself, as if it’s really no big deal. Meanwhile, the performances by the stellar actors are far too serious and feel like their readings are just time fillers. Simon (Chimps: So Like Us, Strangers No More) can’t seem to decide what kind of film he’s making. It would have been more interesting learning further about Pulitzer himself rather than listening to terrific writers lavish praise on themselves, their colleagues, and their forebears. Oh, the film, which has no voice-over narration, does put to rest one important part of the Pulitzer legacy: Only one of the speakers says “Pyew-litzer,” while all the others pronounce Joseph’s last name as “Pull-itzer.” The Pulitzer at 100 opens July 21 at Lincoln Plaza, with Simon participating in Q&As at the 7:00 shows on Friday and Saturday night.

WINTER JAZZFEST 2016

James “Blood” Ulmer will be part of the Winter Jazzfest marathon this week

Multiple venues in downtown Manhattan
January 13-17, single-day marathon pass $45, two-day pass $75, full festival pass $145
www.winterjazzfest.com

While such January performance festivals as COIL, Under the Radar, Prototype, and American Realness go the multidisciplinary route, mixing things up with dance, experimental theater, installation art, opera, music, and various hybrids, Winter Jazzfest sticks to exactly what its name says it is: a winter festival of jazz music. The 2016 Winter Jazzfest takes place January 13-17, featuring more than 120 musicians, DJs, and bands playing at a dozen venues in downtown Manhattan, including the twelfth annual jazz marathon spread over two days. Below is a guide to help navigate some of the hottest shows.

Wednesday, January 13
The Ex, Bill Laswell, Colin Stetson, Happy Apple, (le) poisson rouge, $20-$25, 8:00

Thursday, January 14
Jazz Legends for Disability Pride, with Wynton Marsalis, Benny Golson, Christian McBride, Jimmy Cobb, Harold Mabern, George Coleman, Buster Williams, Louis Hayes, Bill Charlap, Monty Alexander, and others, the Quaker’s Friends Meeting House, $100, 6:30

Friday, January 15: Winter Jazzfest Marathon
Joey Arias: Basic Black, (le) poisson rouge, 6:20
Roy Hargrove, the New School Auditorium, 7:40
James “Blood” Ulmer, the New School Auditorium, 9:00
Dr. Lonnie Smith’s Evolution, Judson Memorial Church, 9:20
The Ex, the Greene Space, 11:00
Vijay Iyer Trio, the New School Tishman Auditorium, 11:20
Jeff Lederer’s Brooklyn Blowhard, Subculture, 12:20 am
Theo Croker, the Bitter End, 1:40 am

Saturday, January 16: Winter Jazzfest Marathon
Don Byron Quartet, the New School Auditorium, 6:20
Theo Bleckmann Elegy, the New School Tishman Auditorium, 7:20
Cyrus Chestnut’s African Reflections, the Greene Space, 8:20
Will Calhoun Celebrating Elvin Jones, New School Jazz Building Fifth Floor Theater, 9:40
Samy Daussat “Gypsy Tribute to Serge Gainsbourg,” the Django at the Roxy Hotel, 11:00
Sun Ra Arkestra directed by Marshall Allen, Judson Memorial Church, 12 midnight

Sunday, January 17
Channeling Coltrane: Rova’s Electric Ascension, with Nels Cline, Charles Burnham, Gerald Cleaver, Trevor Dunn, Jason Kao Hwang, Ikue Mori, Zeena Parkins, and Nate Wooley and an opening set by Julian Lag, (le) poisson rouge, $25-$30, 6:00

SELECTED SHORTS / CELEBRATE YOUR VILLAGE! GREENWICH VILLAGE STORIES

SELECTED SHORTS
Symphony Space, Peter Jay Sharp Theatre
2537 Broadway at 95th St.
Wednesday, April 23, $28, 7:30
212-864-5400
www.symphonyspace.org
www.gvshp.org

CELEBRATE YOUR VILLAGE!
Three Lives & Company
154 West Tenth St.
Tuesday, April 29, free, 6:00
212-741-2069
www.threelives.com

“My mother used to say, ‘If you want to be young forever, move to the Village,’” Isaac Mizrahi writes in his contribution to the new book Greenwich Village Stories: A Collection of Memories (Universe, March 2014, $29.95), continuing, “I arrived more than twenty years ago and have lived here ever since. I will probably move out feet first.” A lot of people feel that way about Greenwich Village, one of the most famous and fanciful locations in the world. The book features brief recollections by more than sixty downtown New Yorkers, from fashion designers and musicians to poets and actors, from writers and politicians to newscasters and local business owners. Edited by Judith Stonehill, co-owner of the New York Bound Bookshop, which opened in 1976 at the South Street Seaport and closed in 1997 at its later home in Rockefeller Center, the book, a project of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation contains pieces by Wynton Marsalis, Malcolm Gladwell, Patricia Clarkson, Calvin Trillin, Linda Ellerbee, Nat Hentoff, Donna Karan, Lou Reed, Mimi Sheraton, Mario Batali, Karen Finley, and Ed Koch, among many others, each memory accompanied by a related photograph or painting. “Walking through the Village is to brush against immortality,” Stonehill writes in the foreword. “Our cherished neighborhood is no longer as creative and raffish these days, or so it’s said, but there are many things that seem unchanged in the Village.” On April 23, contributors Dave Hill, Penny Arcade, Simon Doonan, Ralph Lee, and Mizrahi will gather at Symphony Space for a special Selected Shorts presentation, reading their pieces, joined by Village residents Parker Posey and Jane Curtin, who will read Village-set fiction, in an evening hosted by BD Wong. In addition, on April 29 at 6:00, Three Lives & Company invites people to “Come Celebrate Your Village!,” a reception, meet and greet, and book signing with Greenwich Village Stories contributors Lauren Belfer, Karen Cooper, Tony Hiss, Bob Holman, Anita Lo, Matt Umanov, and Trillin.

ALVIN AILEY AMERICAN DANCE THEATER

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater will honor Judith Jamison’s long service with special programs at annual City Center season (photo by Jack Mitchell)

New York City Center
130 West 56th St. between Sixth & Seventh Aves.
December 1 – January 2
Tickets: $25-$150
212-581-1212
www.alvinailey.org
www.nycitycenter.org

Philly-born dancer and choreographer Judith Jamison performed with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater from 1965 to 1980, returning in December 1989 to become the artistic director of the company. After twenty-one years in that role, Jamison is stepping down, and Ailey’s annual winter season at City Center will be honoring her throughout its run, beginning with an opening night gala December 1 featuring the company premiere of Robert Battle’s “The Hunt,” Ailey’s “Cry,” and Sweet Honey in the Rock singing live to “Revelations,” and culminating in a special farewell tribute on January 2 that will include excerpts from many of the works most closely associated with her, from “Cry” (performed by three different dancers) and “Pas de Duke” to “Reminiscin’” and “Firebird.” (Battle will take over as artistic director in July 2011.) The season will also feature specially priced family matinees that will include “Revelations” performed by a cast of fifty; All Ailey programs, with such pieces as “Night Creature,” “Memoria,” “Mary Lou’s Mass,” and “Revelations”; All New programs, introducing world or company premieres and/or new productions of Christopher Huggins’s “Anointed,” Geoffrey Holder’s “The Prodigal Prince,” Camille A. Brown’s “The Evolution of a Secured Feminine,” Jamison’s “Forgotten Time,” and other works; and performances accompanied by the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis (Ailey’s “Three Black Kings,” Hans Van Manen’s “Solo,” Ulysses Dove’s “Vespers” and “Episodes,” Battle’s “In/Side,” Billy Wilson’s “The Winter in Lisbon”) and other groups.