In memory of B.B. King, one of the greatest blues artists of all time, who died this week, I am posting an interview I did with him in 2007, when he played Cincinnati Music Hall.
I’ll never forget the time he played the Cincy Blues Festival down at Sawyer Point, and there must have been 20,000 people on the lawn! Rest in Peace, B.B.Read More »
It was Friday night, and I just had to be there — not only to hear Fred Hersch, the fantastic, Cincinnati-born jazz pianist, play a concert at NKU, but also to witness the inaugural class of the Cincinnati Jazz Hall Fame. It turned out to be a very moving evening indeed.
NKU was congratulating its 43rd graduating class, and Hersch was in town to be the Commencement keynote speaker. By now, he is Dr. Fred Hersch, as he was awarded an honorary doctorate on Saturday. But on Friday, at a little reception thrown by NKU’s President, Geoffrey Mearns, he was fresh off of 22 planes and 12 countries, trailed by his biographer (the book is coming out in 2017), and schmoozing with old neighbors from North Avondale. I think every jazz pianist in town was there, too.Read More »
Looking back at the year in review, I’m thinking of those we will miss. From arts patrons and musicians to the Blue Wisp Jazz Club, here are some notables of Cincinnati’s arts scene who left us in 2014:Read More »
André Previn — the composer, conductor, pianist, recording artist and much more — was in town for the premiere of his new Double Concerto, written for violinist Jaime Laredo and cellist Sharon Robinson. On Friday noon, as I was finishing up my opera review from Thursday’s performance of “Hansel and Gretel” at home and preparing to dash downtown to file it — I noticed a text from Music Hall on my phone. Mr. Previn has a few minutes for an interview. Did I want it?
Well, yes. With no time to prepare, I flew down I-75 to Music Hall, where Previn was waiting patiently in the Green Room. He said some lovely things about Cincinnati, the CSO and Music Hall (“Big!”) for my iPhone camera, which you can see here. (“Oh, is that the way you take videos these days? That’s amazing,” he said. )
Here are some of his other thoughts during our conversation:Read More »
Cincinnati has an impressive tradition of chamber music. For 36 years, the Linton Music Series has added to the landscape with rewarding “music making among friends.” On Sunday, a packed house was on hand in the beautiful First Unitarian Church in Avondale to hear the local premiere of André Previn’s Piano Trio No. 2, as well as Dvorak’s Piano Trio in G Minor. Schumann’s gorgeous Piano Quintet in E-flat Major concluded the program.Read More »
I have enjoyed taking you behind the scenes with video snapshots of our city. Click on the links to see three memorable ones:
Teaching Star Trek star George Takei to do the Chicken dance.
Watching children in East Price Hill who have never held an instrument learn to play in an orchestra.
Sitting in on a recording session with CCM Jazz and guitarist Fareed Haque. The video is half-way down the story — my review of CCM Jazz with Haque at Lincoln Center.
What an amazing week it was to be in New York in May for “Cincy in NYC,” when Cincinnati’s arts, culture and cuisine paraded before discriminating audiences and critics in some of New York’s finest venues. At the time, I was too busy to savor it all; I covered an average of two activities per day all over Manhattan — Ballet, Carnegie Hall, CCM Jazz at Lincoln Center, the Ariel Quartet, a play reading, a personal guided tour of the Taft’s Rembrandt at the Met, gala parties… even a pressure-cooker prep session for a very special dinner at the fabulous James Beard House.
Here’s my column summing up the week, with links to photo galleries, videos, my reviews. You can check out my NYC Instagrams here.
