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PINE BLUFF SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA SHARES ‘ADVENTURES IN JAZZ’

By Marty Sewald/SPECIAL TO THE COMMERCIAL
Monday, February 11, 2008 10:03 AM CST

Ed Polcer and the Jazz All-Stars got the third concert of the Pine Bluff Symphony’s season, “Adventures in Symphonic Jazz,” off to a rollicking good start Sunday afternoon.

The Jazz All-Stars dedicated their music to jazz greats Lionel Hampton, Red Norvo and Bunny Barrigan on the centennial year of their births.

Polcer, a 1958 Princeton graduate, is often heralded as one of this country’s “national treasures.” In addition to Polcer on the cornet, the ensemble includes Tom Fischer, clarinet and tenor sax; Tom Artin, trombone; John Concuzzi, piano and vibes; Frank Tate, bass; and Joe Ascione, drums.

The first set included selections “The King Porter Stomp” and “Stompin’ at the Savoy,” which featured Concuzzi on the vibraphone and Fischer on the clarinet and their version of the 1910 favorite, “Let Me Call You Sweetheart.” The band did what they do best, they entertained the audience with exceptional jazz.

The second set was played by the Pine Bluff Symphony, under the direction of Charles Jones Evans, and began with George Gershwin’s “Cuban Overture” written in 1932. Gershwin, was born Jacob Gershowitz to Russian emigrant parents September 26, 1898, in Brooklyn, N.Y. By 1916 he had published his first song. Two years later “Swanee” debuted and brought him recognition as a composer and launched his professional music career. He was one of the first to introduce jazz melodies and rhythms into popular music.

Among his best-known and loved songs are, “The Man I Love,” “I Got Rhythm,” and “Someone to Watch Over Me.” The lyrics for nearly all his songs were written by his brother, Ira, who was also his collaborator in the political satire, “Of Thee I Sing” (1931), the first musical comedy to win a Pulitzer Prize.

“Cuban Overture” (first titled “Rumba”) was the result of Gershwin’s visit to Havana in 1932. While there on vacation he became very interested in the Cuban music, particularly the percussion. Shortly thereafter, these same rhythms were popularized in the music of Xavier Cugat. The symphony, while a little “rhythmically stiff,” played with a brilliance and vitality associated with the Latin genre. The slower middle section featured principal clarinetist, Steven Becraft on a beautiful melancholy solo.

Next, the symphony presented Leonard Bernstein’s “On the Town: Three Dance Episodes.” “On the Town” was expanded and developed from an earlier ballet, “Fancy Free,” composed by Bernstein and choreographed by his friend, Jerome Robbins. The wartime adventure focuses on three sailors and the three girls they meet while on leave.

Episode 1, “The Great Lover,” recalls the scene where one of the sailors falls asleep in the subway and dreams of Ivy Smith, whose picture he has just seen posted in the subway wall as the winner of the subway-sponsored “Miss Turnstiles” pageant. The music reflects the loud and busy-ness of the subway.

Episode 2, “Lonely Town,” is a short duet, originally danced by a sailor and a teenage girl who meet in Central Park.

The final episode, “Times Square,” opens in true jazz combo fashion, clarinet solo and rhythm section leading the ensemble. The scene includes the three sailors roaming Times Square in search of more fun and adventure. The symphony experienced minor rhythmic precision difficulties in this obviously more complex music but they were only fleeting moments and did not detract from the whole.

The third set combined the Jazz All-Stars with the Pine Bluff Symphony playing “Friendly Conversation for Jazz Band” and “Symphony Orchestra” by Dick Hyman and “Harlem” written by Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington and arranged by Luther Henderson and Maurice Peress.

As the title suggests, the piece offered a lively interplay between the two ensembles, which was easily and delightfully handled in the jazz style.

Ellington’s “Harlem” rounded off an afternoon of exceptional jazz combo and orchestral jazz. Ellington was one of the leading figures in jazz history and some of his more famous compositions include “Mood Indigo” and “Sophisticated Lady.” In the program notes, arranger Luther Henderson depicts Harlem as “a kind of ‘travelogue,’ full of the bustle and clamor of hip chicks, street vendors, civil rights marchers, and the various sights and sounds of Harlem.”

Once again, the orchestra and jazz ensemble combined beautifully to engage the audience in a back and forth interplay and sometime almost raucous “wall of sound” depicting the Harlem scene in 1950.

The residents of the Pine Bluff-Jefferson County area were treated to a very entertaining afternoon by two professional, and incredibly competent ensembles.

The next concert, “Great Russian Masters,” is scheduled for 4 p.m. March 30.

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