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What’s all the jazz about jazz this week?
It is not ours to ponder the mysteries, but only to
enjoy their delights. Perhaps it’s the end of summer or the beginning
of fall or, more than likely, it’s nothing at all, which then allows
us the total freedom of being absolutely nothing. Or something like that. That should very succinctly bring to us, or maybe
more clearly bring us to, another performance by the creative jazz
ensemble, End Times Trio. The group, composed of area musicians — Frank
Trompeter, Mark Schwartz, and Richard Gilman-Opalsky — created the
Springfield Freejazz and Creative Music Forum as a vehicle to enhance the
minds of locals with the beauty and charm of avant-garde jazz music and as
a host series for performing artists known for work in the experimental,
innovative world of freejazz. As blessed as we are in this town with
various genres of melodious sounds, our level of cacophonic improvisational
music has been sadly lacking in recent years — that is, until the
Forum took form.
Thollem McDonas, the latest renowned artist attracted
to perform at a Forum event, took a rather peculiar approach to his career.
After spending his formative years intensively training as a classical
pianist, the California native took an unusual path more commonly
associated with guitar-carrying, singer-songwriter, folkie-types: He hit
the road, living hand-to-mouth, performing anywhere and everywhere, every
time any opportunity came. His travels not only took him to Greece, Italy,
France, Ireland, Mexico, and Slovenia, but to major and minor cities back
in the good ol’ U.S. of A. By playing these disparate places, the
adventurous keyboardist broadened his horizons, developed chops almighty,
and produced several CDs of varying styles with various performers, all the
while spreading the good news of improvisational composition. A recipient of a 2006 National Endowment of the Arts
“Meet the Composer” grant, McDonas will collaborate
specifically with End Times Trio’s Schwartz, a guitarist and bassist
known for his use of common objects to “prepare” his guitar for
inventing original sounds. When the End Times Trio also performs, more than
likely a participating McDonas will add to the creation of the
aforementioned cacophonic, improvisational, freejazz style for a
spectacular experience in a neglected, but increasingly necessary area of
music expression. It all takes place at the Pizza Machine in the Vinegar
Hill Mall, First and Cook, at 8 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 2. Frank Parker, the inspiring trumpeter and inviting
host of the Jambalaya Jam jazz get-together at the Brewhaus every Monday
around 5 p.m., offers to the listening public a newly recorded CD
appropriately titled Jambalaya Jazz. The release party is scheduled for Sunday, Sept. 30, from
5 to 8 p.m. at the Brewhaus (617 E. Washington, 217-525-6399) and features
Henry Miles, Donny Heitler, Ben Taylor and Mark McKnight (as the band who
performed on the CD), plus many guest musicians who delight in playing with
Frank and crew. Looks like they’re serving New Orleans-style food
(there’s jambalaya every Monday) made or at least approved by Chef
Parker himself. Grab a seat, order a drink, fill your plate, and get a CD,
too. And that’s all that jazz.
Contact Tom Irwin at tirwin@illinoistimes.com.
This article appears in Sep 20-26, 2007.
