September 2012
Dear fellow music lovers,
Honestly I didn’t think I’d be writing for several months after August’s newsletter. However, things have happened – in a great way! …Street Beat has really taken off, picking up gigs and even the attention of the NY Times! …The giant Locating the Sacred festival is just over a week away, when Project Hansori makes its long-anticipated return to the stage. …I’ll make guest panelist appearance on a Korean music forum. …And to top it all off, fresh off the heels of my Con-Ed residency award, I was chosen exclusively for a major national composing award! First, these upcoming appearances:
9/16/12: PROJECT HANSORI WITH SOH DAIKO @ LTS FESTIVAL
Sunday September 16, 2012 at 2pm
New York Buddhist Church
331-332 Riverside Drive
New York, NY 10025
Next weekend! This not-to-be-missed, epic collaboration of close to 30 musicians (Jazz and Taiko), playing independently in five different rooms at the same time will be unlike anything I’ve ever done. In fact, no one knows exactly what the full assembly will sound like until, well, when it happens. Check out the event page on the LTS website, and join the Facebook event page here.
10/7/12: STREET BEAT @ ANS FESTIVAL
Sunday, October 7, 2012. Admission: $25. *Update: our time slot = midnight*
St Peter’s Church
619 Lexington Avenue at 54th Street New York, NY 10022
Street Beat is excited about our appearance at the 42nd annual All Nite Soul Festival. Like all bands in this festival, we have a short, 15 minute slot. Unlike the rest of the bands, though, this slot might be creatively split into multiple surprise entrances in impromptu physical locations. You’ve been warned. Did I mention the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra is opening this? Of course, they start five hours before us — but hey, staying that whole time is the best opportunity to show what a die-hard fan you are! And then, if you choose, you can stay until 4am or so when the whole festival closes. It is “All Nite” Soul after all.
10/17/12: JEFF PANELS @ KOREAN CULTURE FORUM
Wednesday, October 17 @ 6-10pm. Suggested admission $10/ members free.
Flushing Town Hall
137-35 Northern Blvd Flushing, New York 11354
The Korean Culture Forum: Korean Traditional Music, Today, Tomorrow includes mini performance by Sonagi, resident Korean percussion ensemble while in tour in the U.S. I’ve been asked to appear as a a guest panelist on a discussion of the state of Korean music now and in the future. I hope to add to the discussion some insight from my experiences with fusing some of these traditions into my own music.
10/26/12: JEFF CONDUCTS USAF AIRMEN OF NOTE @ JAZZ HERITAGE SERIES
8pm @ Lisner Auditorium at George Washington University. Washington, D.C. Free.
730 21st Street, NW Washington, DC 20052
This performance is in conjunction with the major announcement just below. I’m guest conducting my original piece Mulberry Street with the Airmen of Note on one of their Jazz Heritage Series concerts. Portions of these are nationally broadcast on NPR, though it’s unclear whether are not my portion will be. Nonetheless this will be quite an honor to appear with the top Jazz band in the Air Force. I’ll have more info as it becomes available.
SAMMY NESTICO AWARD
I’ve just been named winner of the 2012 Sammy Nestico Award, hosted by the US Air Force’s premiere Jazz band, the “Airmen of Note”. There is only one winner each year for this national Jazz composer competition. The award comes with a commission to compose a new piece for the band to be premiered in 2013. Each year during their Jazz Heritage series the band performs the piece by whom they chose the winning composer. As I mentioned above, the band will perform Mulberry Street on October 26th in Washington, D.C.
STREET BEAT IN NEW YORK TIMES
Unbeknownst to us, while Street Beat was performing in a massive funeral on 8/30/12 (under “Follow Ups” below), the NY Times’ renowned fashion photographer Bill Cunningham was on the scene covering it. For good reason. The 300-plus crowd at iconic Riverside Church in upper Manhattan created quite a public and fashionable spectacle when we led them on a celebratory, New Orleans-style ‘second line’ procession through the surrounding streets. Here’s a link to Cunningham’s photo collage and blurb about the event. Our pic is in the middle, second line (no pun intended) from bottom. Also, the photo atop of this letter was taken on site, immediately after this event.
FOLLOW UPS
8/18/12: Street Beat’s performance (pictured above) at the annual Fly New York kite flying festival, part of the NYC Parks Department’s Summer on the Hudson series, was a (pun alert) breeze. The perfect weather on this summer day felt like a cool October one, helping us enjoy the sun for our whole three hour engagement. Pier 70 on Manhattan’s West shore made a beautiful setting on the Hudson for the crowd, which probably approached 1000.
8/30/12: Referred to above, this was Street Beat’s appearance at the funeral of Lloyd Sherman at Riverside Church in Manhattan. Though it was a private event, it’s really worth mentioning here. Dr. Sherman’s family honored his expressed wish to be led on a New Orleans-style funeral procession, complete with a band celebrating his life with New Orleans Jazz. And celebrate they did. Joyful whoops and hollers followed our rhythmic renditions of hymns as the crowd of over 300 danced behind us through the streets. After we played “I’ll Fly Away” per the family’s request, I heard shouts of “That’s for you, Dad!”. I love being able to provide moments like this for people. Also, you might guess which song I picked for us to play as we rounded Riverside Drive on our way to the procession’s end at Riverside Church. How could I pick anything other than Down by the Riverside? The family approved.
COMPOSER RESIDENCY UPDATE
I officially begin my Fall composer residency at Flushing Town Hall this month. In my last newsletter I mentioned being chosen for this opportunity from Exploring the Metropolis and sponsored by Con Edison. Now that this Fall has become much busier (which is good), the Hall will really become a refuge from all the commotion, to find my muse.
OTHER NEWS
Francesca Han (PH pianist) has relocated for now to her native South Korea to pursue some tempting opportunities there. She has a busy Fall touring Korea and elsewhere in Asia, and just signed a deal with a Korean label for her next album. Not a bad move. However, Project Hansori and New York will miss her!
Linda Oh (PH bassist) continues to make waves through the Jazz world, now with a new release of her own on Greenleaf, appearances on other recordings, and tours with Dave Douglas and more. See her website for details.
I hope to see our locals and any Washingtonians at one of these upcoming events.
Thanks for reading,
Jeff Fairbanks
www.fairbanksmusic.com www.reverbnation.com/jefffairbanks