If you Don’t Get Around Much Anymore, join the Caravan to Chapel Hill for jazz music happening Night and Day through the end of the month. America’s popular songs are the focus of the 2004 Carolina Jazz Festival, where scholars and artists will explore timeless compositions and celebrate the musicians who keep the songbook alive.
Along with something old, the festival will also present something new: contemporary compositions and arrangements that reflect the innovative art form that is jazz. Pianist David Berkman will discuss the nature of improvisation and communication, both on the bandstand and with the audience. His quartet will give us a taste of their newest release, Start Here…Finish There.
Get tickets while you can to see trumpeter Roy Hargrove, the (still) young lion who was discovered in high school by Wynton Marsalis. Hargrove has gone on to hold his own with the likes of Frank Morgan, Joe Henderson, Stanley Turrentine and Chucho Valdes. Maybe on Friday night we’ll see where his recent hip-hop/R&B collaborations are taking him. The N.C. Jazz Repertory Orchestra and its vocalists will pay homage to song, and UNC jazz combos will share the stage with Berkman. Baby It’s Cold Outside, but it’s funky in here.
Round Midnight each night, move on to Henry’s Bistro, West End Wine Bar or Top of the Hill, where you can get your Jazz After Hours with festival musicians–Straight, No Chaser.
Coda: Jazz: It does a Body and Soul good. Lecture and performance schedule available at www.unc.edu/depts/music/jazz-festival . Call 962-1449.
