T he P ro g ram - Lincoln Center`s American Songbook

The Program
Sponsored by Prudential Investment Management
Friday Evening, February 13, 2015, at 8:30
Talib Kweli
John Cave, Guitar
Brady Watt, Bass
Akinlawon Bernstine, Drums
Masayuki Hirano, Keyboards
DJ Spintelect (Hussain Abubekr), DJ
This evening’s program is approximately 75 minutes long and will be
performed without intermission.
Please make certain all your electronic devices are switched off.
Major support for Lincoln Center’s American Songbook is provided by Amy & Joseph Perella.
Wine generously donated by William Hill Estate Winery, Official Wine of Lincoln Center.
This performance is made possible in part by the Josie Robertson Fund for Lincoln Center.
The Appel Room
Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Frederick P. Rose Hall
American Songbook
Additional support for Lincoln Center’s American Songbook is provided by The Brown
Foundation, Inc., of Houston, The DuBose and Dorothy Heyward Memorial Fund, The
Shubert Foundation, Jill and Irwin B. Cohen, The G & A Foundation, Inc., Great Performers
Circle, Chairman’s Council, and Friends of Lincoln Center.
Endowment support is provided by Bank of America.
Public support is provided by the New York State Council on the Arts.
Artist catering is provided by Zabar’s and zabars.com.
MetLife is the National Sponsor of Lincoln Center.
Movado is an Official Sponsor of Lincoln Center.
United Airlines is the Official Airline of Lincoln Center.
WABC-TV is the Official Broadcast Partner of Lincoln Center.
William Hill Estate Winery is the Official Wine of Lincoln Center.
UPCOMING AMERICAN SONGBOOK EVENTS IN THE APPEL ROOM:
Saturday Evening, February 14, at 8:30
Dawn Landes
Wednesday Evening, February 25, at 8:30
Joey Arias: A Centennial Tribute to Billie Holiday
Thursday Evening, February 26, at 8:30
Shovels & Rope
Friday Evening, February 27, at 8:30
People Get Ready’s Steven Reker
Saturday Evening, February 28, at 8:30
Barbara Cook
The Appel Room is located in Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Frederick P. Rose Hall.
For tickets, call (212) 721-6500 or visit AmericanSongbook.org. Call the Lincoln Center Info
Request Line at (212) 875-5766 or visit AmericanSongbook.org for complete program
information.
Join the conversation: #LCSongbook
We would like to remind you that the sound of coughing and rustling paper might
distract the performers and your fellow audience members.
In consideration of the performing artists and members of the audience, those who must
leave before the end of the performance are asked to do so between pieces. The taking
of photographs and the use of recording equipment are not allowed in the building.
Note on the Program
American Songbook I Note on the Program
Turntables, Microphones, Culture,
and Song
By Douglas Singleton
Though hip-hop has its genesis in DJ Kool Herc’s mid-’70s Bronx street
parties (or DJ Hollywood at Manhattan disco parties, or Grandmaster
Flowers in Brooklyn—these debates rage on), and maybe as far back as
the Jamaican sound systems, Herc grew up listening to it in Kingston,
Jamaica, in the 1960s. For many the genre begins with 1979’s “Rapper’s
Delight” by the Sugarhill Gang, with its roving bass line and recognizable
music sample from a song embedded in the public consciousness. Cut
up, pasted, and manipulated, “Rapper’s Delight” extracted the funky
“good parts.” The blueprint for the hip-hop song was set: a big beat, a
musical break, and an enthralling hook combined to form deep, hypnotic
grooves, with MCs rapping street knowledge over the top. A musical
movement was born.
Much of contemporary pop music is built on this song structure—mining existing musical elements, sampling disparate parts to build elegant
wholes. Everyone from Taylor Swift to experimental jazz musicians have
made use of this template one way or another. Admittedly others, like
Miles Davis with Gil Evans and Teo Macero, and even Schoenberg,
employed similar techniques as far back as the 1920s, but rarely to as
funky an effect. Whereas hip-hop culture was said to comprise four elements—MC’ing (rapping), b-boying (breakdancing), graffiti writing, and
DJ-ing—hip-hop music was born of two: the word and the beat.
Talib Kweli came of age in 1980s Brooklyn, the dawn of hip-hop’s golden
age. Marley Marl, Run DMC, Busy Bee, Eric B. & Rakim, Boogie Down
Productions, the Native Tongues—these were just some of the influences that inspired Kweli, the son of a sociology and English professor,
to aspire to become a hip-hop MC. As shouted in the spoken intro to
Kweli’s 2014 album P.O.C. Live!,
He was raised in crack-era Brooklyn! Can I kick it?! I am talking to y’all
that know who Afrika Bambaataa is. Rock Steady Crew. You seen Beat
Street more than one time!
Kweli cares about the trajectory of African American music, and the
African American community at large. He has been called many things,
famously a “conscious rapper,” not because he’s soft, but because he
cares about hip-hop, its community, and its artistic legacy a whole lot.
In high school Kweli met Dante Jones, aka Mos Def and Yasiin Bey, and
by 1997 they had formed the duo Black Star and released a seminal
eponymous record. The album’s sparse, clean beats, with a hungry
American Songbook I Note on the Program
Afrocentric intensity, were a breath of fresh air. This was a new golden age, of
Rawkus Records and lyrical cypher battles: Pharoahe Monch, Canibus, Black
Thought, Pumpkinhead, Jean Grae. By 2002 Kweli was crafting songs with wunderkind beat producer J Dilla (James Yancey) to beautiful effect. When the
much-lauded Dilla died, Kweli helped honor his legacy—in many ways honoring
the idea of the hip-hop DJ/producer itself—during the Suite for Ma Dukes sessions, an orchestration of Yancey’s music by Miguel Atwood-Ferguson and
Carlos Nino, along with a 60-piece orchestra. (I look forward to a time when
visionaries of hip-hop—Rakim, KRS-One, Missy Elliot, Q-Tip, are as celebrated
as the elders of other contemporary music genres.)
Hip-hop is a part of the American songbook—everyone’s rapping, even country
music’s Brad Paisley, with LL Cool J on “Accidental Racist.” But maybe we were
rappin’ long ago—John Lee Hooker, James Brown, Lenny Bruce, Johnny Cash,
Malcolm X. Say it, rhyme it, tell it. At its most elemental, hip-hop’s electronic
soundscapes owe much to jazz, building aural elements to craft songs, sound.
It’s an art form and spirit-through-song: 1960s street gangs to 1980s hip-hop
crews, to contemporary lyrical and (the plan at least) melodic enlightenment.
D’Angelo’s game-pushing Black Messiah (2014) exemplifies the stripped down,
live instrumentation of analog production—seemingly the opposite of hip-hop’s
layered, digital production—but he and Questlove’s approach to song construction mirrors hip-hop more than anything. It’s a harmonious meshing of deep
R&B grooves and layers upon layers of sound. It’s easy to forget that when it
began and in its purest state, rap music is a live performance medium, intended
for audiences. Many of the genre’s pioneers—Grandmaster Flash especially—
initially refused to attempt to transform the essence of their live shows to
record, feeling it a bastardization of the musical experience they crafted.
Kweli has accomplished something his contemporaries often attempted, to
varying degrees of success: the formation of an organic, live, hip-hop experience, melding MCs, live instrumentation, and R&B crooning. After decades in
the game, he’s mastered many elements—the cypher’s lyrical prophesying, the
incorporation of live instrumentation, and elegiac hip-hop song structure. Listen
to his lyrical flow. Throw hands in the air (like you just don’t care). We’re all still
searching perfect beats—yes, yes, y’all, and you don’t stop. And we don’t quit.
Can’t, won’t, indeed.
Douglas Singleton has written for The Brooklyn Rail and L Magazine, and given
on-air reviews for WNYC and WBAI radio.
—Copyright © 2015 by Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Inc.
DOROTHY HONG
Meet the Artist
American Songbook I Meet the Artist
Talib Kweli
Brooklyn-based Talib Kweli earned his stripes as one of the most lyrically
gifted, socially aware, and politically insightful rappers to emerge in the
last 20 years. His 2013 album, Prisoner of Conscious, involved a three-year
journey that found Mr. Kweli exploring new vibes, joining in some unlikely
collaborations, and taking him to foreign lands. It signaled the start of the
next chapter of his multifaceted career.
Produced by Symbolyc One (Kanye West, Ghostface), the title track’s alternatively rap and rock-based beat provides a distinctive platform for Mr.
Kweli to deliver rhymes that detail his artistic awakening. Producers Sean C
and LV (Jay Z, Raekwon) created a Marvin Gaye-esque vibe for “Come,” a
cut featuring Miguel that showcases Mr. Kweli trying to convince a series
of women to do things his way. “Before He Walked” features a verse from
the St. Louis rapper Nelly that grew out of conversations about music and
life that he and Mr. Kweli shared at Mr. Kweli’s Los Angeles residence.
Whether working with Mos Def as one half of Black Star, partnering with
producer Hi-Tek for Reflection Eternal, releasing landmark solo material or
collaborating with Kanye West or Madlib, Mr. Kweli commands attention
by delivering top-tier lyricism, stories, and rhymes over virtually any type
of beat. In particular, he showed his artistic reach with Idle Warship, a partnership with longtime collaborator Res. With the duo’s 2009 mixtape Party
Robot and its debut album, Habits of the Heart (2011), Mr. Kweli started
getting out of his sonic and creative comfort zone.
Additional projects include the mixtape Attack the Block with DJ Z-Trip and
expanding his Javotti Media (which released his 2011 album, Gutter
Rainbows, and is named after Mr. Kweli’s paternal grandmother) into a
media company that releases music, films, and books.
American Songbook
American Songbook
In 1998, Lincoln Center launched American Songbook, dedicated to the celebration of popular American song. Designed to highlight and affirm the creative mastery of America’s songwriters from their emergence at the turn of
the 19th century up through the present, American Songbook spans all styles
and genres, from the form’s early roots in Tin Pan Alley and Broadway to the
eclecticism of today’s singer-songwriters. American Songbook also showcases the outstanding interpreters of popular song, including established and
emerging concert, cabaret, theater, and songwriter performers.
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Inc.
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (LCPA) serves three primary roles: presenter of artistic programming, national leader in arts and education and community relations, and manager of the Lincoln Center campus. A presenter
of more than 3,000 free and ticketed events, performances, tours, and educational activities annually, LCPA offers 15 programs, series, and festivals
including American Songbook, Great Performers, Lincoln Center Festival,
Lincoln Center Out of Doors, Midsummer Night Swing, the Mostly Mozart
Festival, and the White Light Festival, as well as the Emmy Award–winning
Live From Lincoln Center, which airs nationally on PBS. As manager of the
Lincoln Center campus, LCPA provides support and services for the Lincoln
Center complex and the 11 resident organizations. In addition, LCPA led a $1.2
billion campus renovation, completed in October 2012.
Lincoln Center Programming Department
Jane Moss, Ehrenkranz Artistic Director
Hanako Yamaguchi, Director, Music Programming
Jon Nakagawa, Director, Contemporary Programming
Jill Sternheimer, Acting Director, Public Programming
Lisa Takemoto, Production Manager
Charles Cermele, Producer, Contemporary Programming
Kate Monaghan, Associate Director, Programming
Claudia Norman, Producer, Public Programming
Mauricio Lomelin, Associate Producer, Contemporary Programming
Julia Lin, Associate Producer
Nicole Cotton, Production Coordinator
Regina Grande, Assistant to the Artistic Director
Luna Shyr, Programming Publications Editor
Olivia Fortunato, House Seat Coordinator
For American Songbook
Matt Berman, Lighting Design
Scott Stauffer, Sound Design
Sara Sessions, Production Assistant
American Songbook
Matt Berman
Matt Berman is the resident lighting designer for Lincoln Center’s American
Songbook. He continues his design work for Kristin Chenoweth, Liza Minnelli,
Kaye Ballard, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Lea Salonga, and Elaine Paige on the road.
Through his work with the American Society of Composers, Authors and
Publishers (ASCAP) and several U.S.-based charities, Mr. Berman has
designed for a starry roster that includes Bernadette Peters, Barbra Streisand,
Reba McEntire, Melissa Errico, Deborah Voigt, Michael Urie, Stevie Wonder,
India Arie, Garth Brooks, Billy Joel, and Sting. His international touring schedule has allowed him to design for iconic venues such as Royal Albert Hall, the
Paris Opera, the Olympia Theater in Paris, Royal Carré Theater in Amsterdam,
the Sporting Club in Monte Carlo, the Acropolis, the Taormina Amphitheater in
Sicily, Luna Park in Buenos Aires, the Sydney Opera House, and, closer to
home, the Hollywood Bowl, Alice Tully Hall, and Carnegie Hall. Mr. Berman’s
television work includes Chenoweth’s recently released special Coming
Home, as well as seven Live From Lincoln Center broadcasts and the Tony
Award–winning Liza’s at the Palace, which he also designed for Broadway.
Other Broadway credits include Bea Arthur on Broadway, Nancy LaMott’s Just
in Time for Christmas, and Kathy Griffin Wants a Tony at the Belasco Theater.
Scott Stauffer
Scott Stauffer has been the sound designer for Lincoln Center’s American
Songbook (1999–2015); the Actors Fund concerts of Frank Loesser, Broadway
101, Hair, and On the Twentieth Century; and Brian Stokes Mitchell at Carnegie
Hall. His Broadway credits include A Free Man of Color, The Rivals, Contact
(also in London and Tokyo), Marie Christine, Twelfth Night, and Jekyll & Hyde.
Off-Broadway Mr. Stauffer has worked on Hereafter, A Minister’s Wife,
Bernarda Alba, Third, Belle Epoque, Big Bill, Elegies, Hello Again, The Spitfire
Grill, Pageant, and Hedwig and the Angry Inch. His regional credits include productions at the Hanger Theatre, Berkshire Theatre Festival, Chicago
Shakespeare Theater, and Alley Theatre. As a sound engineer, Mr. Stauffer has
worked on The Lion King, Juan Darién, Chronicle of a Death Foretold, Carousel,
Once on This Island, and Little Shop of Horrors (Off-Broadway).
UPCOMING EVENTS
Jazz at Lincoln Center’s
Frederick P. Rose Hall
February 2015
THE APPEL ROOM
Sherman Irby’s Journey Through Swing
February 20 at 7pm
February 21 at 9:30pm
Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra saxophonist
Sherman Irby debuts an ensemble made up of the
“swinging-est” musicians on the East Coast to
explore the migration, development, and evolution of
jazz through the lens of swing. Irby first performed
with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra in 1995,
making his mark with Roy Hargrove and Elvin Jones
along the way. In this performance highlighting
important and differing regions of jazz, Irby will cover
Chicago (Gene Ammons and Johnny Griffin), Kansas
City (Count Basie and Charlie Parker), West Coast
cool jazz (Chet Baker and Dave Brubeck), New
Orleans (Buddy Bolden and Jelly Roll Morton), New
York City (Art Blakey, Horace Silver, and Freddie
Hubbard), and more. Joining Irby will be saxophonist
and clarinetist Victor Goines, trumpeter Bruce Harris,
trombonist Vincent Gardner, violinist Eli Bishop, guitarist James Chirillo, pianist Charles Craig, Sr., bassist
Gerald Cannon, and drummer Alvester Garnett.
Free pre-concert discussions at 6pm (2/20) and
8:30pm (2/21).
Elio Villafranca’s Music of the Caribbean
Featuring Jon Faddis and Leyla McCalla
February 20 at 9:30pm
February 21 at 7pm
An artist who incorporates elements of Bebo Valdés,
Perez Prado, and Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Elio Villafranca
is a leading voice of music today and part of an extraordinary lineage of Cuban pianists. Villafranca pos-
sesses a unique gift of conceptualizing projects that
fuse the jazz idiom with his extensive knowledge of
percussion and Latin rhythms. Along with his band
the Jass Syncopators and special guests trumpeter
and Dizzy Gillespie protégé Jon Faddis and singer, cellist, and banjo player Leyla McCalla, Villafranca will
present Cinqué- Suite of the Caribbean, a debut work
focusing on the influences of the Congolese traditions
of rhythms, melodies, and dances through the music
of Puerto Rico, Santo Domingo, Haiti, Jamaica, and
Cuba. Via this six-movement work with Congolese
drumming and costumed dancers, Villafranca will
showcase unifying elements of these islands, which
share similar cultures despite their diverse histories.
Free pre-concert discussions at 8:30pm (2/20) &
6pm (2/21).
ROSE THEATER
New Orleans Songbook
February 20-21 at 8pm
Pianist Aaron Diehl and vocalists Cyrille Aimée and
Milton Suggs kick off the evening by celebrating the
composers and inspired songs of New Orleans, the historic epicenter of jazz. The prodigious Diehl, who has reimagined the music of masters like New Orleans’ own
Jelly Roll Morton, serves as Music Director. DownBeat
calls Suggs, “A commanding singer... steeped in tradition... but with modern sensibilities." The Washington
Post describes Thelonious Monk International Vocal
Competition finalist Aimée as possessing “a voice like
fine whiskey – oaky and smooth, with a hint of smokiness.” The evening continues with The New Orleans
Jazz Orchestra’s premiere of founding Artistic Director
Irvin Mayfield’s “New Orleans Jazz Market,” a composition celebrating the orchestra’s soon-to-be-built permanent home of the same name.
Free pre-concert discussion nightly, 7pm.
Except where noted, all venues are located in Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Frederick P. Rose Hall,
Time Warner Center, 5th floor
Tickets starting at $10
To purchase tickets call CenterCharge: 212-721-6500 or visit: jazz.org. The Jazz at Lincoln Center Box Office
is located on Broadway at 60th Street, Ground Floor. Hours: Monday-Saturday, 10am-6pm; Sunday, 12pm-6pm.
For groups of 15 or more: 212-258-9875 or jazz.org/groups.
For more information about our education programs, visit academy.jazz.org.
For Swing University and WeBop enrollment: 212-258-9922.
Find us on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Jazz at Lincoln Center’s
Frederick P. Rose Hall
February 2015
Kim Nalley Sings Songs of Love
with Tammy Hall, Greg Skaff, Ray Drummond, and
Alvin Atkinson
February 12–15
7:30pm & 9:30pm
Special pricing and set times apply on Saturday
evening.
Terry Waldo Gotham City Band:
From Ragtime to Jazz
with Jon Erik-Kellso, Mike Davis, Jim Fryer,
Evan Arntzen, Howard Alden, Brian Nalepka, and
Rob Garcia
February 16
7:30pm & 9:30pm
Mardi Gras Stomp
with Joe Saylor and Alphonso Horne
February 17
7:30pm & 9:30pm
T.S. Monk Sextet
with Helen Sung, Willie Williams, Kenny Davis, Josh
Evans, and Patience Higgins
February 18–19
7:30pm & 9:30pm
William Paterson University Jazz Ensembles &
Orchestra
February 24
7:30pm & 9:30pm
The Amigos and Ken Peplowski
with Justin Poindexter, Sam Reider, Noah
Garabedian, and Will Clark
February 25
7:30pm & 9:30pm
The Music of Dexter Gordon: A Celebration
The Dexter Gordon Legacy Ensemble
with George Cables, Gerald Cannon, Lewis Nash,
Joe Locke, Abraham Burton, and Craig Handy
February 26–March 1
7:30pm & 9:30pm
March 2015
Eastman Jazz Ensemble with Dave Glasser
Tribute to Billy Strayhorn
March 2
7:30pm & 9:30pm
Cyrus Chestnut Trio
March 3–5
7:30pm & 9:30pm
Sounds of Brazil: Mario Adnet
with Duduka Da Fonseca, Eduardo Belo, Vitor
Gonçalves, and Billy Drewes
February 20–22
7:30pm & 9:30pm
The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery
March 6–8
Featuring Calvin Keys & Yotam Silberstein
with Andrew Renfroe, Adam Moezing, and
Brian Charette
MONDAY NIGHTS WITH WBGO
Jimmy Greene Quartet: Beautiful Life
with David Bryant, Luke Sellick, and Jimmy
MacBride
February 23
7:30pm & 9:30pm
Chihiro Yamanaka Trio
with Yasushi Nakamura and Kush Abadey
March 9
7:30pm & 9:30pm
In deference to the artists, patrons of Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola
are encouraged to keep conversations to a whisper during the performance.
Artists and schedule subject to change.
Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola is located in Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Frederick P. Rose Hall,
Time Warner Center, 5th floor New York.
Reservations: 212-258-9595 or jazz.org/dizzys; Group Reservations: 212-258-9595 or jazz.org/dizzys-reservations
Nightly Artist sets at 7:30pm & 9:30pm.
Late Night Session sets Tuesday through Saturday. Doors open at 11:15pm
Cover Charge: $20–45. Special rates for students with valid student ID. Full dinner available at each artist set.
Rose Theater and The Appel Room concert attendees, present your ticket stub to get
50% off the late-night cover charge at Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola Fridays and Saturdays.
Jazz at Lincoln Center merchandise is now available at the concession stands during performances in Rose Theater
and The Appel Room. Items also available in Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola during evening operating hours.
Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola gift cards now available.
Find us on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram.
jazz at lincoln center
february
family concert: who is billie holiday?
FEB 7 • 1PM, 3PM • JAZZ FOR YOUNG PEOPLE SERIES
With Aaron Diehl and Charenee Wade
dianne reeves
FEB 13–14 • 8PM
Vocalist Dianne Reeves returns for Valentine’s Day. Join us
for a special pre-concert Valentine’s Day dinner (2/14 only).
sherman irby’s journey through swing
FEB 20 • 7PM | FEB 21 • 9:30PM
Sherman Irby and friends explore the music of Charlie Parker,
Freddie Hubbard, and more
elio villafranca’s music of the caribbean
FEB 20 • 9:30PM | FEB 21 • 7PM
With Elio Villafranca, Jon Faddis, Leyla McCalla,
and the Jass Syncopators
new orleans songbook
FEB 20–21 • 8PM
Cyrille Aimée, Milton Suggs, Aaron Diehl, and The New Orleans
Jazz Orchestra with Irvin Mayfield
jazz across the americas
FEB 27–28 • 8PM
Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis
Frederick P. Rose Hall
Broadway at 60th Street
Box Office: Ground Floor
CenterCharge: 212-721-6500
jazz.org
Lead Corporate Supporter of Jazz Across the Americas
The Jazz for Young People Family Concert is funded through the generosity of Mica and Ahmet Ertegun.
swing
university
sign up now for jazz courses curated
by legendary instructor phil schaap,
including jazz 101, charlie parker,
and sidney bechet. enroll today!
212-258-9922
jazz.org/swingu
Lead Corporate Sponsor
Jazz at Lincoln Center gratefully acknowledges The Irene Diamond Fund for
its leadership support of programming in the Irene Diamond Education Center.
li
j
7:30pm & 9:30pm sets
late night session 11:30pm, tuesday–saturday
212-258-9595
jazz.org/dizzys
jazz at lincoln center broadway at 60th street, 5th floor
Photo by Marylene Mey and Whit Lane
i hl