Norman Provizer’s Jazz Notes

This week there are several streaming events to consider. First, on Sunday at noon MT, there’s a celebration of “40 Years in Yiddishland,” marking the 40th anniversary of the Klezmer Conservatory Band and the Yiddish Book Center.

At this juncture, klezmer (the folk musical sounds of Eastern European Jews) has reintegrained itself into the American music scene and the Klezmer Conservatory Band has played a key role in that. Interestingly, there is a Denver connection here due to presence of the great clarinetist Don Byron in an early version of this Klezmer band. Later Byron would spend two years in Denver directing Metro State University’s Jazz and American Improvised Music Program before returning to the East Coast.

The free, Zoom streaming session is available on the Yiddish Book Center’s Facebook page and features Hankus Netsky and Aaron Lansky, as well as a mix of sights and sounds from the Klezmer band and those who have collaborated with it.

The second stream of sounds is on Friday and it’s from the Panama Jazz Festival. The very special element of this event is the final concert from Wayne Shorter’s masterful quartet with Danilo Perez on piano, John Patitucci on bass and Brian Blade on drums. That will happen on Friday at 3 pm MT. This quartet, with its overabundance of musicianship, has virtually defined both the heart and soul of a modern jazz group during its existence across two decades. And while publicity for this event is coming from DL Media in Philadelphia, it’s worth nothing that the DL in DL Media is Don Lucoff relocated not too long ago to Denver to be with family. It’s one more major addition to the city’s jazz scene.

Also, on Friday at 7 pm, saxophonist Harry Drabkin, a former faculty member at Berklee College of Music, is streaming from the Muse Performance Space in Lafayette with a quartet that has Kent McLagan on bass, Jack Dunlevie on piano and Tom Tilton on drums. On Saturday, at 7pm, the stream from the Muse space will have singer Bonnie Lowdermilk with Gabriel Mervine on trumpet, Gonzalo Teppa on bass, and Braxton Kahn on drums.

Jazz Note 1-21-2021
Norman Provizer

Pictures: top to bottom: 40 Years in Yiddishland, Wayne Shorter Quartet (l-r: Brian Blade, Danilo Perez, Wayne Shorter, and John Patitucci), Bonnie Lowdermilk-(credit to Jack Sasson)