MET OPERA IN LUMINOUS REVIVAL OF VERDI'S OTELLO

 VERDI'S OTELLO IN LUMINOUS REVIVAL ONSTAGE AT THE MET AND LIVE IN HD IN THEATRES WORLDWIDE

by Dwight Casimere

 JOHAN BOTHA AS OTELLO WITH RENEE FLEMIND AS DESDEMONA

 RENEE FLEMING SINGS THE AVE MARIA IN VERDI'S OTELLO

 FALK STRUCKMANN AS IAGO MISLEADS A TRUSTING, BUT FOOLISH OTELLO

 A JEALOUS OTELLO (JOHAN BOTHA) CONFRONTS HIS LOVING DESDEMONA (RENEE FLEMING)

RENEE FLEMING IN ALL HER GLORY AS DESDEMONA IN VERDI'S OTELLO 

Metropolitan Opera photos by Ken Howard

NEW YORK---Audiences around the world were privileged to watch one of the world’s great Desdemona’s perform the role Live in HD, as Renee Fleming reprised the role she first performed for her first Met opening night 17 years ago in Verdi’s “Otello.”  The opera runs through March 30 live on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera through March 30, with a rotating cast. Future Encore performances in movie theatres will be announced in the coming months. Check metopera.org or fathomevents.com for dates and details.

Fleming doesn’t just perform the role of Desdemona, she inhabits it, investing herself fully in the drama and pathos of the character and lending a soft, velvety tone to such gentle arias as the “Willow Song” and the ravishingly dramatic “Ave Maria” which precedes her doom at the hands of the maddened Otello in his rage which is fueled by jealousy.

Tenor Johan Botha is most convincing as the headlong Moor, applying both the lumbering movements of his massive physique and the immense power of his burnished mahogany voice to convey the gradually unraveling emotional threads of Otello as he descends into madness.

Bass-baritone Falk Struckmann nearly stole the show, however, as the cunning Iago, chillingly portraying his ruthless nature in an aria that almost makes the blood curdle. His “Era la Notte” ends on an ominous note.

Conductor Semyon Bychkov kept the tension building during Verdi’s lush, dense score, maintaining a taut energy that underscored the opera’s mounting sense of tragedy. Verdi’s “Otello” is perhaps the greatest example of the composer’s dramatic genius. The Met’s absorbing remounting of this classic tale of deception and jealousy is one worth revisiting time and again.

Philharmonia of London on triumphant North American tour with Esa-Pekka Salonen at the helm

FAMED PHILHARMONIA ORCHESTRA EXCITES AUDIENCES ON NORTH AMERICAN TOUR

 Esa-Pekka Salonen at the Philharmonia's podium is their Principal Conductor

by Dwight Casimere

CHICAGO—It has been decades since the famed Philharmonia Orchestra of London has graced the stage of the Armour Stage at Chicago’s Symphony Center although its current principal conductor, Esa-Pekka Salonen has been a frequent favorite guest conductor since his splashy debut there nearly 25 years ago.

The Philharmonia stopped in the Windy City during an eight-city North American tour that included a program of tried and true audience favorites, Beethoven’s pensive Second Symphony and Berlioz’s showy Symphony fantastique. The orchestra’s tour began in downstate Champaign-Urbana near the University of Illinois and ended in New York City in the Lincoln Center presents Great Performers series, November 18 & 19 at Avery Fisher Hall.

The legendary Finnish conductor displayed his prowess and mastery of tempo from the very outset. His ability to turn a phrase from thundering crescendo to pianissimo on a dime was a marvel to behold. Strings were especially prominent in the Larghetto with their deep, burnished tone and free-flowing rubato. At times, Salonen elicited a sweetened tone that balanced the sometimes-blaring tones of the brass. The timpanist was noteworthy with his exceptional tone and forthright playing. Salonen’s overall approach to the work brought it into focus, improving the pace and performance as it went along in spite of a few awkward moments at the outset.

Berlioz’s Symphony fantastique was obviously the orchestra’s strong point. Salonen realized the French composer’s volatile vision with a firm hand, placing sharply defined emphasis on the most adventurous measures, yet allowing the individual components of the orchestra to express their individuality. There were some exquisite moments, beginning with the achingly lyrical playing of the strings in the opening measures, through the dancelike airiness of the waltz movement, Un Bal that saw the conductor almost dance ‘en pointe’ on the podium.  The tension he built during the “March to the Scaffold” erupted in a fiery conclusion that brought the audience to its feet.  The Prelude to Act III of Wagner’s Lohengrin provided an explosive display of virtuosity by the Philharmonia’s exceptional brass section. 

17 year old pianist in dramatic New York Philharmonic debut

 Jan Lisiecki in a flight of ecstasy at the keyboard

Guest Conductort Daniel Harding at the podium

New York Philharmonic presents two Sibelius symphonies, Schumann piano concerto

By Dwight Casimere

NEW YORK—The New York Philharmonic debut of 17-year-old pianist Jan Lisiecki in the challenging Piano Concerto in A minor by Robert Schumann was a symphonic event of monumental proportions. The young pianists precise attack in the opening bars set the tone for the inspired performance that would unfold over the next 30 minutes.

Guest Conductor Daniel Harding, the music director of the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, is a British conductor of considerable renown, having been recently elected a member of The Royal Swedish Academy of Music. His simpatico with the soloist produced some ravishing moments of interplay, particularly among members of the woodwind section and the brass.

Lisiecki’s delicate approach to the slow movement was particularly revealing. His handling of the demanding fingering in the declamations of the movement was dazzling as he navigated rapidly descending runs to explode into the final climactic theme without hesitation. It was a transcendent moment.

Schumann’s highly energized concerto was sandwiched by a pair of Jean Sibelius’s most programmatic symphonies, the No. 3 in C major and No 7, also in C major, which represented snapshots of both his earliest work and his later swan song. Sibelius is best known as a fierce nationalist, whose works celebrated the folk traditions of his native Finland. His most famous composition is his stirring patriotic composition Finlandia, composed in 1900. Yet the Symphony No. 3 belies his deep rooting in the symphonic traditions of the late Romantic period. It is here that conductor Harding and the Philharmonic truly shined. His illuminating and pensive approache to the intertwining thematic material gradually evolved into a highly emotive finale that wrapped the auditorium in a hushed reverence. By contrast, the tension created in the final movement of the Seventh Symphony erupted in a fantastic conclusion, which displayed the composer’s spirituality. Daniel Harding and the New York Philharmonic paid a stirring homage to Sibelius’s legacy as a true musical visionary.

MET LIVE IN HD AIDA A CINEMATIC AND DRAMATIC TRIUMPH

MET LIVE HD: AIDA REACHES CINEMATIC HEIGHTS

By Dwight Casimere

Metropolitan Opera photos by Marty Sohl and Ken Howard

NEW YORK—While audiences flocked to see the premiere of Peter Jackson’s prequel to The Ring trilogy, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, audiences around the globe crowded into theatres to see the Metropolitan Opera’s Live in HD transmission of Verdi’s masterpiece, Aida. The opera incorporated a stellar cast of top-notch singers, a battalion of chorus members, dancers, onstage musicians and live horses to produce a spectacle that rivaled the impact of Jackson’s 3-D epic.

Directed for the Metropolitan Opera stage by Emmy Award-winning stage director Sonja Frisell (La Scala, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Covent Garden) for Live in HD Cinema by Emmy Award-winning television director Gary Halvorson (Friends, Two and a Half Men, The Drew Carey Show), the sweeping drama of Verdi’s depiction of ancient Egypt was elevated to cinematic proportions. Halvorson and his crack camera team swept the audience into the vortex of Verdi’s all-consuming drama with imaginative overhead, close-up and side camera angles that brought the viewer into intimate contact with the singers and the action, creating a powerful dramatic and visual experience. The setting inside the Temple of Isis, in particular, seemed more likes scenes from a movie than action onstage with detailed depictions of rituals at the altar. Particularly telling was the scene showing the adornment of Radames as the new commander of Egypt’s army by the High Priest, Ramfis (Stefan Kocan).

The Triumphal March, perhaps the most famous instrumental piece in all opera, was vividly depicted by squadrons of uniformed soldiers and phalanxes of slaves, superbly costumed by Dada Saligeri and a cadre of dancers choreographed by Alexei Ratmansky.  Onstage trumpets were led by Emmy Award-winning Principal Trumpet Billy Hunter, also Principal Trumpet for the Grant Park Symphony Orchestra in Chicago, who appeared onstage in full costume, taking direction from Conductor at Met Opera Music Director Fabio Luisi and the superb orchestra in the pit.

Beyond the towering sets, which employed every lift and truck at the Met’s disposal, including hundreds of stagehands, the bottom line is Bel Canto, or beautiful singing. The front-line cast was exceptional. Liudmyla Monastyrska was mesmerizing as the Aida, the enslaved Ethiopian princess. Her luminous, supple voice wove an hypnotic spell as she forcefully expressed her anguish. Conflicted by her devotion to her embattled country and her devotion to her father, the Ethiopian King Amonasro, sung majestically by George Gagnidze, and her guilt-ridden, head-over-heels love for her nation’s conqueror, General Radames, hers was a Met debut that will mark her as one of the reigning Aida’s in the Met’s storied history of the role. Such greats as Leontyne Price, Kirsten Flagstad and Gloria Davy, the first African American to sing the role at the Met, who died at the age of 81, just days after the Met’s 2012 season premiere, similarly graced the stage in this powerful production, the name of Liudmyla Monastyrska has rightfully earned its place alongside them.

The Ukrainian soprano, in a backstage interview with Live HD Host and Met star Renee Fleming, spoke in translation of the challenges of her role and her delivery, which Fleming described as “extremely polished.” She revealed that she relaxes during intermissions by playing traditional folk songs from her native land on the piano. She then delivered a heartfelt greeting to her fans who might be watching the live movie cast in theatres around the world, although her native Kiev has yet to receive them in movie theatres.

The role of Radames was sung with stentorian clarity by tenor Roberto Alagna. Just in from a critically acclaimed performance of Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore at Covent Garden, Alagna spoke of the challenges of singing the famous aria “Celeste Aida” in the first act. "You just have to relax and let the music come," he said of the demanding aira. "All the while, I was thinking of the very first tenors who sang this role and tried to honor them."

Veteran Mezzo-soprano Olga Borodina, who has sung the role of Amneris countless times at the Met, gave a master class in dramatic operatic singing. Her denouncement of Radames/Alagna in Act IV after he refuses her offer of amnesty was particularly spine chilling. In close up, one could visibly see a tear fall from her eye at the end of her emotional aria.

 Inside the Temple of Isis

 Liudnyla Monastyrska as Aida with Olga Borodina asAmneris in a confrontational scene

 Stefan Kocan as the vengeful High Priest

Olga Gorodina delivers a dramatic aria as Amneris

Roberto Alagna in the starring role of Radames

Aida is one of the Met’s biggest and splashiest productions and this season’s Live in HD presentation is breathtaking to behold. It will be seen in an Encore performance Wednesday, January 16, 2013 at 6:30pm. I plan to be there. Check local listings for theatre locations or visit www.metopera.org or fathomevents.com.

MET LIVE HD: AIDA TO BE SEEN WORLDWIDE

Metropolitan Opera Photos by Ken Howard and Marty Sohl

1. Roberto Alagna as Radames
2. Liudmyla Monastyrska as Aida

MET LIVE HD: AIDA TO BE SEEN WORLDWIDE

MET LIVE HD: AIDA A SPECTACULAR DEBUT

By Dwight Casimere

Metropolitan Opera Photos by Ken Howard and Marty Sohl

NEW YORK--Movie theatre audiences around the globe will have an opportunity to see a truly spectacular breakout Met Opera debut performance when soprano Liudmyla Monastyrska stars as AIDA in this Saturday's MET LIVE HD presentation at 12:55 Eastern Time.

Having already seen the production twice on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera House, I can attest to the fact that this is an unforgettable production with massive sets, elaborate costumes and fantastic singing. Roberto Alagna is commanding as the doomed general Radames. Olga Borodina is the vengeful Amneris in a bravura performance. 

Verdi's sweeping panoramic drama of ancient Egypt literally thunders across the stage with live galloping horses, a huge chorus, dancers and, of course, Verdi's magnificent score played as only the Metropolitan Opera orchestra can.

Check local listings for theatre locations or visit metopera.org or fathomevents.com.

Carnegie Hall Voices From Latin America celebrates piano legends

 A Latin jazz piano summit at Carnegie Hall

 Chucho Valdes sets the keyboard on fire

 Danilo Perez emotes at the keyboard

Co-curator Gustavo Dudamel

Four Latin Piano Masters Ignite Carnegie Hall

Reviewed by Dwight Casimere December 4, 2012

NEW YORK---An harmonic conversion of four of the greatest Latin voices in piano jazz appeared in the Isaac Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall. Sounds of Cuba, Brazil and the furthest ancestral reaches of Africa  and South American tribalism intermingled with strains of Debussy and modern African American jazz as Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Chuchjo Valdes, Egberto Gismonti and Danilo perez launched into a largely improvised program that both showcased their considerable pianistic prowess and the transcendent power of Latin music.

Gonzalo Rubalcaba was the first to mount the Steinway, weaving etherial threads of old Cuban salon music, which somehow, in its own way,  channeled the spirit of Chopin, intermingled

with the avant garde flashes of  Cecil Taylor and Muhal Richard Abrahms and somehow settled on an eclectic reading of Sousa's "Stars and Stripes Forever" somehow echoing a languid, slow-grind dance on a rum-stained, dust floor parlor along Calle Neptuno in Old Havana.

Indeed, dance rhythms were as much a part of the music as shades of European classical and American jazz influences that included penetrating solo performances by each of the artists, followed by duets and then a rousing quartet appearance that was historic and epic in both occurrence and proportion.

Part of Carnegie Hall's Voice From Latin America series, it was a night that brought together the lions of Latin American piano artistry by a tapestry of the greater new York metropolitan area's diverse Latino community and others who appreciate its all-encompassing music. The series is curated by the esteemed conductor Gustao Dudamel, among other celebrated Latin musical icons.

The final piano quartet served as both a showcase for the individual talents of each of the artists, but a collective overview of their contrasting approaches to a music that defies category.
By concert's conclusion, at least two of the the pianists abandoned any pretense of playing synchronized music and began using their pianos as percussion instruments that celebrated the dance. The overflow, standing room crowd gladly followed along, nearly dancing the samba out of the exits into the chilly night air.

Met Live HD Un Ballo in Maschera: Solid Cast, Singing

 Dmitri Hvrostovsky and Sondra Radvanovsky as Anckerstrom and Amelia in Un Ballo in Maschera

Dmitri Hvorostovsky and Marcelo Alvarez as Gustavo in Verdi's Un Ballo in Maschera

Met Opera brings Verdi's story of conflicted King to life

 Transmitted Live in HD from the stage of the Metropolitan Opera House, Lincoln Center, in movie theatres worldwide Saturday, December 8

Reviewed By Dwight Casimere

Photos by Ken Howard for Metropolitan Opera

NEW YORK---A stellar cast and superb singing and an imaginative twist in superb storytelling and stagecraft transformed the Metropolitan Opera's production of Verdi's Un Ballo in Maschera (The Masked Ball) into a timeless drama of political intrigue, love-triangle jealousy and existential angst.

David Aiden's production set the action of the story surrounding the assassination of King Gustav III of Sweden in 1792 into the tumultuous years of early twentieth century Europe. The costumes, in particular, in David Aiden's masterful production, allude to the Russia's post-Revolutionary years, sometime around the 1920s. The set, consisting primarily of a polished stainless-steel vault that practically surrounds the singers on all sides, except, of course, facing the audience, is dominated by a giant bas relief portrait of Icharus, falling away from the sun.

"The symbolism of Icarus is quite significant to the action of the drama," director Aiden tells Met General Manager Peter Gelb in a backstage interview. "As is also the portrait of the King that hangs in Anckerstrom's study, who is the King's consular and personal friend-turned-assassin, sung forcefully by Dmitri Hvorostovsky. The set for the study becomes the claustrophobic room that is less of a real space than a dream that's being enacted inside King Gustav's mind. We see how the librettist takes the story the story of King Gustave III (Gustavo in Verdi's opera), and taken into the abstract to make him a sort of everyman, who is conflicted by his sense of duty and his personal desire to rid himself entirely of it. He is desperate to the point of putting himself in constant danger, almost willing to risk death, in order to rid himself of his obligations. 

We also see Anckerstrom disintegrate right before our eyes. He goes completely mad, evening to the point of almost killing his wife, before making the ultimate decision to seek revenge by killing the king."

Met Live HD director Matthew Diamond did a superb job of realizing Verdi's sweeping epic on the big screen.

The singing is brilliant throughout, particularly that of soprano Sondra Radvanovsky as Amelia, the wife of the king's counselor and friend and the focus of the love triangle and mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe as  the flask-swigging gypsy-seer Ulrica. Majestic tenor Marcelo Alvarez is the star-crossed King. Coloratura soprano Kathleen Kim nearly steals the show in the trouser role of Oscar. 

Radvanovsky's ravishing voice and exquisite acting ability filled the screen with a magnetic presence. The parlor scene between she and Hvrostovsky/Ackerstrom was among the most riveting dramatic scenes of this opera season.

An encore performance plays in theatres Wednesday, January 9 at 6:30pm local time. Check local listings for locations or visit www.metopera.org or www.fathomevents.com.

'

New York Philharmonic hosts young conductor's dazzling debut and a piano titan's 50th anniversary

 Andre Watts emotes during the Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 2

Juraj Valcuha at the podium

Conductor Juraj Valcuha and piano soloist Andre Watts spark fireworks Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 2

NEW YORK---It has been 50 years since piano giant Andre Watts made his New York Philharmonic debut at the tender age of 16. His appearance this past week as guest soloist with young Slovakian conductor Juraj Valcuha, in his New York Philharmonic debut, could not have been more revelatory. Their pairing in the Piano Concerto No. 2 by Sergei Rachmaninoff as the centerpiece of a program dominated by operatic themes by Carl Maria Von Weber (Overture to Oberon)  and Richard Strauss (Symphony Fantasy on Die Frau ohne Schatten and Suite from Der Rosenkavalier) showcased both the work of a seasoned professional and that of a meteoric talent on the rise.

Valcuha is currently the chief conductor of the Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI in Torino, Italy and has debuted to critical acclaim with such prestigious orchestral bodies as the Berlin Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony and Filarmonica della Scala in Milan. Watt's current tour schedule includes the majority of the great orchestras and concert halls of the globe.

Weber's sprightly Overture to Oberon opened the program on a good humored note, allowing both the conductor and the orchestra to flex their tonal muscles in advance of the heavy musical lifting that would follow. Valcuha even got in a bit of podium aerobics, nimbly bouncing on tip-toe to the music and bending deeply into the front row of violins as he coaxed them to greater sonic emphasis.

Andre Watts has lost none of the intensity that quickly brought him to the apex of a brilliant career that has survived the test of time. His phrasing from the opening passages was fraught with emotion. His face awash with expression, he caressed the keys in the romantic melody of the famous Adagio sostenuto. Although popularized ad nauseum in the films and pop music of the last century, Watts made it sound anew. A hushed exchange between the woodwinds and Watt's restrained, yet emotive playing was made even more exquisite by Valcuha's sympatico at the podium. At the conclusion of his spine-tingling performance, Watts paused, allowing the resounding chords and depth of emotion to sink in.  Appearing to wipe a tear from his eye, he proceeded to dazzle the audience with his  display of pianistic prowess. He forged into Rachmaninoff's intricate musical maze, dispatching it with ease. Extended runs of 16th notes were precise and articulated. His lengthy, sustained tremello  was a marvel to behold. As orchestra and soloist thundered to crescendo, the audience was brought to its feet in a rapture of sustained applause, acknowledging a landmark performance.

Strauss's frothy, but inspired compositions from his well-known operas were handled with authority and imaginative spurts of brilliance. Valcuha has studied Strauss well and knows how to mine each measure for its finely faceted diamonds of musical sparkle.  The Suite from Der Rosenkavalier, in particular, captured the imagined and fantastic majesty of its stylized grandeur. Its premiere in 1911 was recognized as one of the great events of operatic history. Valcuha and the New York Philharmonic recaptured that festive spirit at this performance in Avery Fisher Hall.

 Dave Brubeck celebrating his 89th birthday after receiving a Kennedy Center honor

 Jeff Lindberg and his Chicago Jazz Orchestra at the post awards ceremony dinner dance at Kennedy Center

The White House reception for the 2009 Kennedy Center Honorees

Remembering Dave Brubeck: A Lifetime of Creativity and Innovation

Story and photos by Dwight Casimere

This morning would have marked the 92nd birthday of one of the greatest jazz legends of our time, Dave Brubeck.  He died at the age of 91, near his home in Wilton, Connecticut.

The Chicago Tribute reports that Brubeck was en route to an appointment with his cardiologist when he was stricken Wednesday morning, said his longtime manager-producer-conductor, Russell Gloyd. The pianist died of heart failure at Norwalk Hospital, in Norwalk, Conn., near his home in Wilton, Conn.

Brubeck was anticipating a birthday concert Thursday, when he would have turned 92. The performance will go on, but in the form of a tribute, in Waterbury, Conn.

New York--I arrived at Reagan International in the midst of a surprise snowstorm and freezing sleet-turned to snow on a chilly December night after a hastily arranged flight from my then-home in Miami, to attend the 32nd Kennedy Center Honors at Kennedy Center. Ironically, just hours before, I was standing outside the Miami Beach Symphony Center, interviewing Sean Penn in 80 degree weather, at a benefit concert he was holding during Art Basel. The trip to D.C. came about because a musician friend of mine, Jeff Lindberg, who is music director of the Chicago Jazz Orchestra, had arranged for a last-minute invitation, actually, a backstage pass, for me to attend the Kennedy Honors awards presentation and subsequent dinner, where his band has provided the music for the past 25 years. I wanted to attend this particular awards ceremony because one of the idols of my youth, Dave Brubeck, was the recipient of  one of the awards. 

On the night of the award, Brubeck was celebrating his 89th birthday.  Hearing of his passing, just short of his 92nd birthday, I began to reflect on my long personal association with the artist and my lingering admiration of him.

I first encountered Dave Brubeck when I was working as a news anchor and reporter at KGO-TV in San Francisco. What a treat it was when I learned that I had been assigned to cover the opening of the Concord Pavilion, an outdoor concert venue, similar to Ravinia Festival in Chicago and Tanglewood in Massachusetts. Dave Brubeck was the headlining act. It was significant because Brubeck was born and raised in Concord and this was a shining example of a "home town boy making good." The crowd was overflowing and effusive in its admiration. It was my privilege to meet Brubeck backstage and to interview him for a TV news feature. As a young music student in Chicago, I had learned to appreciate his artistry and spent many hours practicing the music he had written.

I next encountered Brubeck in my early 30s, when I had moved back to Chicago from San Francisco. I had joined Fourth Presbyterian Church in Chicago's Gold Coast. Coincidentally, at the time, the Music Director and choir Master was Russel Gloyd, who was also the Music Director for Dave Brubeck. Each year, Brubeck and his quartet would travel to the Windy City to give a concert of his religious music with the Fourth Presbyterian Church choir and members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Because of my church membership and media affiliations, I was regularly afforded a seat in one of the the front row pews to witness this extraordinary melding of faith and creativity.

The Fourth Presbyterian Church connection is signigicant, because, as a teenager, I was deeply intrigued by Dave Brubeck's compositions, in which he explored the combination of jazz as it relates to religious themes. Brubeck wrote a number of religious compositions and performed them regularly in benefit concerts around the world. As a teenager, while attending Englewood High School in Chicago, I was inspired by my music teacher and mentor, Harvey Pranien, who is now a Fine Arts dealer in Evanston, Illinois, to write a piano jazz suite based on the Passion of Christ, much in the fashion of music written at the time by Brubeck. Pranien arranged for me and my trio to perform the music I had written at Fourth Presbyterian Church in the very same sanctuary where Brubeck later performed his jazz/religious compositions. Brubeck and I joked about the irony of this during a backstage conversation at one of his last Fourth Pres concerts a few years ago.

Once, in a summertime concert at Ravinia, outside Chicago, I was again afforded backstage access to interview Brubeck and to spend a few moments chatting with the great artist over a bottle of cranberry juice. At the time, he was admiring a bronze-colored velvet sportcoat that I was wearing. I offered to give it to him. He of course, refused. After I insisted, he proposed a deal, he would give me a signed copy of his latest CD, "New Wine," in exchange for the jacket. Deal! I subsequently gave the CD to my daughter as a Christmas present. She still treasures it to this day. Ironically, I had informed Brubeck that I was embarking on a new venture, writing about wine and developing avenues for exposing my newfound passing in the media. After much travail and time, that passion has now become my full-time profession. But, I digress. The real purpose of this treatise is to vent my personal grief at the loss of this  pivotal figure in my life. 

In my formative teen and early adult years, there were two people that I idolized and who shaped my philosophical and intellectual template, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Dave Brubeck. On the surface, these two people could not appear more disparate. But, if you look deep inside them and into their life's body of work, there could not be more commonality betweeen them.

Here now is the text of my post from the 32nd Kennedy Center honors in December, 2009:

Jazz legend Dave Brubeck celebrated his 89^th birthday by receiving his ultimate birthday wish: being named as one of the honorees at the 32^nd Kennedy Center Honors. “I never thought this day would happen,” he said at a star-studded dinner in the rotunda of the Kennedy Center following the three and a half hour tribute program, attended by President Barack Obama and “First Lady Michelle Obama. “I’m still having trouble believing its true!”

Brubeck, who changed the face of jazz fifty years ago with his landmark recording of the composition “Take Five”, written by his alto saxophonist, Paul Desmond. “My label, Columbia, was hesitant to release the album,” he said, “because it broke new ground. Nobody had ever heard a jazz tune in 5/4 time. Everything followed the traditional 4/4/ time. The record company just didn’t think people would accept it.”

Fortunately, for Brubeck and the jazz-listening world, they were wrong. The album, “Time Out,” became the best-selling jazz LP of all time.

Brubeck was among the most stellar collection of honorees assembled in the event’s history, opera great Grace Bumbry, who broke opera’s long-standing color line, actor Robert De Niro, who Meryl Streep credited with “practically creating his own school of acting that we all tried to emulate,” rocker Bruce Springsteen, who received both heartfelt tributes and songs from legends Aretha Franklin, John Mellencamp, Melissa Etheridge and Sting and comedian-actor-director Mel Brooks, who was lionized by protégés Matthew Broderick, Martin Short and Ed Norton.

Chicago Jazz Orchestra, in their 21^st straight year, provided the musical footnote to the elegant dinner following the tribute in the rotunda of Kennedy Center, under the watchful eye of the giant bust of President John F.Kennedy, for whom the arts and entertainment center is named. Vocalist Frieda Lee provided Ella-like song stylings, with jazz greats Herbie Hancock and Terrance Blanchard among the audience.