Live & Local: "Crazy 4 You" with the CJRO and DGMC
A special collaboration is taking place this weekend between two musical organizations in our community. The Colorado Jazz Repertory Orchestra (CJRO) and the Denver Gay Men's Chorus (DGMC) have been working together on a performance called "Crazy 4 You" that highlights the rich LGBTQIA+ culture in jazz, starting in the legendary clubs in Harlem in the 1920's and continuing to present day across the world. This concert reimagines the music that defined an era, honoring the voices that made it unforgettable.
DGMC's Artistic Director Johnny Nichols Jr., and CJRO's Artistic and Music Director Drew Zaremba are leading these performances happening March 28 and 29 at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House. The Morning Set's Abi Clark spoke with Drew and Johnny to learn more on "Live & Local."
The following is an excerpt from the audio above:
Johnny Nichols Jr.: Well, it started in the twenties during the Harlem Renaissance, and around that time there were about two groups that weren't necessarily mainstream or they were kind of pushed out of the mainstream, and that was Black jazz artists and LGBTQ. And so, they started underground speakeasies and started coming together. That's where the Pansy Craze started, which is the very first set of drag performances. Drag balls were created, and that's where we get ballroom culture. LGBTQ Ballroom culture started there as well. Henry Louis Gates said once that "Harlem is just as Black as it is gay." It was a booming community in Harlem, and I felt it was appropriate for us to really explore that and see where we could go with that. That's where a lot of our music is focused, the artists and those who were influenced by the artists of the Harlem Renaissance.
Abi Clark: Wow. So, the catalog for this performance is going to stretch from the twenties onward. In terms of the musicians I see Gershwin and Ellington will be spotlit, their catalogs as well as Porter and Berlin. Can I have a little bit of an idea of what kind of music you're going to be collaborating on?
Drew Zaremba: Yeah, absolutely. Really, we're focusing on Gershwin, but it's also in the spirit of jazz, which is an evolving art form and always changing, we want to celebrate music that is also more recent. So, we're even doing Chick Corea's "Spain," but we're also doing other jazz standards from the era, mostly jazz standards, but then also venturing into the non songbook. I think the chorus is doing Thelonious Monk's "Round Midnight" among others. So, it's a whole array, but definitely with a focus on Gershwin, Ellington, and the music coming out of the Harlem Renaissance and the early jazz age in the 1920s and 30s reflecting everything that Johnny was talking about, which was of course stuff that I didn't know about either. So, I got to learn a lot of this from Johnny in doing my own research as well, and the importance of everything he was discussing.
JNJ: One of the most exciting parts about this, is Drew created some arrangements, I created some arrangements, and the last piece was an arrangement that both he and I collaborated (on) together.. Should I spoil it? Should I tell him what it is?
DZ: Yeah, do it!
JNJ: It's going to be "Rhapsody in Blue." Now you're probably thinking, 'What in the world is a chorus doing in "Rhapsody in Blue?"' actually, there was a musical written in 1931 called Rhapsody in Black, and George Gershwin wrote the lyrics and the music along with J. Rosamond Johnson, who is the brother of the person who wrote "Lift Every Voice and Sing'" the Black National Anthem. It opened in 1931, May of 1931, and it closed in July of 1931 - It was a lost musical. So, this is the first time those lyrics would be back on stage since 1931.
AC: I just need to take a moment...That's so special! And so you both wrote music around these lyrics?
DZ: It's "Rhapsody and Blue" with lyrics put to it, but then Johnny and I have both, along with Zach Rich who had a big part in the orchestration. Basically, we had a piano and full choral score, and so Johnny then took the choral score and arranged and adapted for the chorus. And then Zach Rich and I put together the music for the jazz ensemble. So, it's not just piano, but we'll have the full ensemble. Everyone on stage will be performing. We're doing a number of world premieres, actually world premiere arrangements, featuring both the chorus and CJRO. (We're) also going to be featuring the great Tatiana Lady May Mayfield as a soloist on the second half of the program. She's new to Denver, but a dear friend of mine, and she was just the perfect person to include to ramp up the drama on the second half of the program.
AC: I mean, she is a force! Her voice is just so powerful and (we're) really excited to have her here in our community.
DZ: So this is a really fun and exciting thing. We're going to do our own thing a little bit, but then the centerpieces of the performance are these world premiere collaborations of these new arrangements by myself, Johnny, Jared, Kathy, and Zach Rich, arrangers for CJRO. Friends make the best music, and so the more friends you have, the better you get to know everyone, the better the music is. And what's exciting is (that) a lot of CJRO people are going to come and get to hear the Denver Gay Men's Chorus and the Denver Gay Men's Chorus folks are going to get to hear the CJRO, and then we get to mingle altogether and learn and party and all that stuff. So, this is just a very good and healthy thing for what we do in the arts. Not lip service, but a genuine offering from us to what we feel is important musically, historically, and otherwise.
For tickets and Information, you can visit the DGMC website.
Catch “Live & Local” every Tuesday & Thursday on KUVO. Tune in to KUVO JAZZ 89.3 FM in Denver and listen to The Morning Set, weekdays from 7 – 10 a.m. MT. You can also stream online here at kuvo.org or listen to the KUVO App.
Stay connected to KUVO’s programs and our community! Sign up for the Oasis E-News today!
