Sunday, March 21, 2010
so this is embarrassing.
this evening i saw simon, the husband of alex mccord (a real housewife of new york city) in the neighborhood. i guess i vaguely knew that they lived in or around the heights but i never really thought about seeing them. though i've seen maybe two episodes of the show, i totally recognized him, which i'm kind of ashamed to admit (and i refuse to call this a celebrity sighting.) but the new york times loves the housewives franchise (especially the new jersey-ites), so i guess i'm in good high-low company.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
a night with the "hi-def yo-yo ma"
note: this was originally published on my museum's blog. i have pulled portions and added a few details.
hold on,
one strong,
and you’ll never be alone,
each day, each night,
we pray our dreams take flight,
cuz i need you, and you need me,
and together we stand for unity.
so goes the hook of “the forum”, a song off of dana leong’s latest album, milk & jade. the artist and his multi-talented collaborators celebrated the CD release at symphony space on friday, march 5 with an audience filled with fans and friends. it was a night that rejoiced in unlikely unions, the chance for long-time listeners and first-time initiates to enjoy leong and his unique blend of hip-hop, jazz, electronic and classical music. dana leong in concert is unlike any other musician i have seen—he is incredibly inventive, weaving his personal history (classically-trained cellist and trombonist, of chinese and japanese descent) with his artistic influences (jazz and pop greats, local NYC MCs, film and fashion), to create a new kind of performance. with a foot propped on his electric cello, he bobbed and moved, occasionally grabbing the mic to emphasize a lyric or reaching to hit his laptop to introduce a new electronic element to the sonic landscape. his biography includes a mention about his work with artists including dafnis prieto, ryuichi sakamoto, DJ spooky, wynton marsalis, yoko ono and kanye west, and i think this best describes him: if all those amazing and disparate artists got together and had a baby (just go with me on this one), it would be dana leong. he is more than one influence, he is more than one style, he is even more than one instrument (and somehow manages to play many at once.) he unites cultures and musical styles in a new way, and makes it wholly his own.
his guests that evening were equally talented. hagar ben ari (who performed live but is not on the album) rocked out on the bass for much of the evening, and added a wistful solo to the opening of “opus one ‘why i cry’”, a hauntingly beautiful song about the tragedies of human life. it is rare that electric bass is played as a melodic (rather than strictly rhythmic) instrument in concert, and it made me wish for more of that. as a former cellist, i recognized some of her technique and was jealous of her skils. core rhythm, the anchoring MC of the evening, is leong’s most frequent collaborator on milk & jade projects, and their chemistry is apparent. it is a pleasure to watch fellow musicians enjoy each other’s work and processes (core rhythm spent much of the night nodding his head and pounding his heart when not rapping), and these two clearly work well together. core rhythm’s lyrics are clever and deep at the same time, and while it can be tough to decipher those lyrics in a live show, the audience got a copy of the words in their programs, which helped quite a bit. the guest rappers were a somewhat weaker bunch in person, though it gets better on CD. as a total "america's best dance crew" nerd, i also thoroughly enjoyed the popping and locking of dancer tommy “hypno” chan, who did a fantastic and fun robot to a song that combined human and technological sounds for a truly modern performance. dana closed the show with a cover of "a change is gonna come" by sam cooke, with his trombone singing the melody. it is a testament to his training and his artistry that i had tears in my eyes; his trombone sounded like a human lament, and it made for a powerful end to the show.
i was lucky to get enough tickets for myself, s, a friend and my mother, who was in town for the weekend. we all loved the show, despite being of different ages (and musical persuasions.) i look forward to hearing him again. symphony space, by the way, is awesome. it looks like it may have been recently renovated, but it is a beautiful space, and a great, intimate place to hear a concert. too bad it's so far up on the west side.
hold on,
one strong,
and you’ll never be alone,
each day, each night,
we pray our dreams take flight,
cuz i need you, and you need me,
and together we stand for unity.
so goes the hook of “the forum”, a song off of dana leong’s latest album, milk & jade. the artist and his multi-talented collaborators celebrated the CD release at symphony space on friday, march 5 with an audience filled with fans and friends. it was a night that rejoiced in unlikely unions, the chance for long-time listeners and first-time initiates to enjoy leong and his unique blend of hip-hop, jazz, electronic and classical music. dana leong in concert is unlike any other musician i have seen—he is incredibly inventive, weaving his personal history (classically-trained cellist and trombonist, of chinese and japanese descent) with his artistic influences (jazz and pop greats, local NYC MCs, film and fashion), to create a new kind of performance. with a foot propped on his electric cello, he bobbed and moved, occasionally grabbing the mic to emphasize a lyric or reaching to hit his laptop to introduce a new electronic element to the sonic landscape. his biography includes a mention about his work with artists including dafnis prieto, ryuichi sakamoto, DJ spooky, wynton marsalis, yoko ono and kanye west, and i think this best describes him: if all those amazing and disparate artists got together and had a baby (just go with me on this one), it would be dana leong. he is more than one influence, he is more than one style, he is even more than one instrument (and somehow manages to play many at once.) he unites cultures and musical styles in a new way, and makes it wholly his own.
his guests that evening were equally talented. hagar ben ari (who performed live but is not on the album) rocked out on the bass for much of the evening, and added a wistful solo to the opening of “opus one ‘why i cry’”, a hauntingly beautiful song about the tragedies of human life. it is rare that electric bass is played as a melodic (rather than strictly rhythmic) instrument in concert, and it made me wish for more of that. as a former cellist, i recognized some of her technique and was jealous of her skils. core rhythm, the anchoring MC of the evening, is leong’s most frequent collaborator on milk & jade projects, and their chemistry is apparent. it is a pleasure to watch fellow musicians enjoy each other’s work and processes (core rhythm spent much of the night nodding his head and pounding his heart when not rapping), and these two clearly work well together. core rhythm’s lyrics are clever and deep at the same time, and while it can be tough to decipher those lyrics in a live show, the audience got a copy of the words in their programs, which helped quite a bit. the guest rappers were a somewhat weaker bunch in person, though it gets better on CD. as a total "america's best dance crew" nerd, i also thoroughly enjoyed the popping and locking of dancer tommy “hypno” chan, who did a fantastic and fun robot to a song that combined human and technological sounds for a truly modern performance. dana closed the show with a cover of "a change is gonna come" by sam cooke, with his trombone singing the melody. it is a testament to his training and his artistry that i had tears in my eyes; his trombone sounded like a human lament, and it made for a powerful end to the show.
i was lucky to get enough tickets for myself, s, a friend and my mother, who was in town for the weekend. we all loved the show, despite being of different ages (and musical persuasions.) i look forward to hearing him again. symphony space, by the way, is awesome. it looks like it may have been recently renovated, but it is a beautiful space, and a great, intimate place to hear a concert. too bad it's so far up on the west side.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
