music
BY BRETT CAMPBELL
Lady and the Tramp
Oregon Festival of American Music explores the Great American Songbook
N
o sooner do we close the books on one festival —
the most exciting Oregon Bach Festival in recent
memory — than the city’s other major summer
music extravaganza comes upon us. And like the Bach
Festival, the Oregon Festival of American Music is also
changing its game a bit. Instead of focusing on a composer,
this summer’s Too Marvelous for Words organizes
its eight concerts around two of the greatest mid-century
performers.
Both Ella Fitzgerald and Frank Sinatra were already
among the country’s most renowned big band singers by
the mid-1950s, yet each faced a decline in popularity when
that era wound down. Fitzgerald and Sinatra then issued a
series of immortal recordings to spark their artistic revivals.
Fitzgerald, for her scatting, restrained that aspect of her art
and let the era’s greatest song composers (Irving Berlin,
Harold Arlen, Rodgers and Hart, Jerome Kern, Cole Porter,
Duke Ellington, Johnny Mercer) speak for themselves in
her albums devoted entirely to each songwriter’s classics.
Sinatra, on the other hand, chose to focus his albums on
themes.
Artistic director and New York-based clarinet titan Ken
Peplowski says OFAM’s series won’t slavishly follow the
original albums’ arrangements, though they’ll certainly
draw on them for inspiration. Instead, performers such as
trumpet virtuoso Byron Stripling, sax master Jesse
Cloninger, singers Shirley Andress, Bill Hulings,
Siri Vik and more will present modern interpretations of
this living tradition. The fi rst two concerts at the Shedd’s
Jaqua concert hall cover the nonpareil music of George and
Ira Gershwin (Tuesday, Aug. 2), Rodgers & Hart and Irving
Berlin (both Wednesday, Aug. 3).
And like the Bach Festival, the Oregon Festival of
American Music is also changing its game a bit
The festival opens Friday, July 29, with OFAM’s annual
summer musical. This year’s choice, Girl Crazy, restores the
Gershwins’ original 1930 version, which was severely revised
for later fi lm versions and a 1992 revival/reinvention, Crazy
for You. The debut production made stars of Ginger Rogers and
Ethel Merman (in her Broadway debut). OFAM tracked down
the original script by Broadway vets Guy Bolton and John
McGowan, whose preposterous plot involves a city slicker
gone west to open a dude ranch, but it’s not the lightweight
story that makes Girl Crazy still worth catching today.
Thursday, July 21, the Shedd brings Turtle Island
String Quartet founder Irene Sazer’s Real Vocal String
Quartet to town. The violinist/composer and orchestra
veteran, who’s also played with everyone from Ali Akbar
Khan to Ray Charles to Bjork, embraces world music
infl uences from West Africa, Brazil, Appalachia and
beyond. Her classically trained partners (violinist Alisa
Rose, violist Dina Maccabee and cellist Jessica Ivry) have
played in dozens of classical, bluegrass, new music, improv
and world music ensembles. Together, the women weave an
intimate, inviting tapestry of strings and voices that should
appeal to both classical and folk music fans.
Speaking of music and dance, you can see both
onstage at Cozmic Pizza this Saturday and next. On July
23, the colorful local Middle Eastern music ensemble
Americanistan joins belly dance troupe Luminessah,
which combines Indian, Turkish, Egyptian, vaudeville,
hip hop and other infl uences. Luminessah returns on July
30 (for those of you jealous of all the OG bohos in Woody
Allen’s Midnight in Paris) when Cozmic celebrates modern
Bohemian culture with two more dancers from Corvallis
(oriental dancer Siobhan and cabaret dancer Lyanna), along
with electro-acoustic gypsy fusion band La Boheme
Reverie, fi ngerstyle guitarist Tony Kaltenberg and
more, including fi lm projections.
On July 24, New York-based avant guitarist Terrence
McManus brings his striking solo show to the Jazz Station,
and fans of adventurous jazz and other experimental
music should give it a whirl. Any guitarist who’s inspired
praise from Bill Frisell, John Abercrombie and John Zorn
is worth investigating, particularly when his palette is so
varied, ranging from shimmering atmospheres to gnarlier
yet entirely compelling ventures. Fans of more traditional
modern jazz should head for Sam Bond’s on Aug. 3 to catch
the Joe Manis Trio’s sax and guitar-driven sounds.
For an even more intimate experience, check out the
latest show in the Eugene Arte Latino series, a house concert
featuring the fi ne Mexican songwriter/guitarist David
Aguilar at 3050 Whitbeck Blvd. Be sure to call 543-4376
in advance to reserve a space.
ew
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EUGENE WEEKLY JULY 21, 2011 25