WMV Music Web Log

Marilyn did several paintings of Bob Dylan as "My Jewish Angel" in a series called "Angels in Windows". This is one of those in which he appears, maybe with a couple of other unidentified angels.

Yesterday I discovered "Love and Theft" (I am always a little slow catching up). She has been playing this CD in her studio for years, so I would catch a little of it now and then. The song Mississippi makes me teary every time I listen to it, for no particular reason. So I wrote down the chords and bass - it's a very simple tune - transposed it down a step, and tried to sing it. Not much success, but I spent a very satisfying afternoon. I'm pleased that it is new to me, and that I don't know what the words mean, only that it moves me.

The previous day I spent recording a Brahms Intermezzo, the beautiful A major Op. 118 No.2. It is not perfect, and never will be, but it feels like such a piece of my heart, that I just wanted to get one version of it down. It also helps me to get to another level of confidence and security.

Which reminds me: who would guess that it is so competitive to volunteer music in retirement homes? The volunteer coordinators won't even return my phone calls!

This is a fairly recent painting of Marilyn's called "Reaching for the Spirit", appropriate for this time of year. She has been helping me prepare solo piano music for the October 21 program. If she says it sounds OK, I pretty much trust her judgment. We do however disagree about rags: she dances to them, and if my performance is not danceable, she doesn't like it. It is a dilemma - I am playing them as concert music, to be listened to sitting down. Sometimes a great dance band is boring after 5 minutes if you are just listening. On the other hand, too much rhythmic distortion in a dance form can be just as annoying.

Update: She's right; I'm wrong.

Almost exactly one year ago, Sept. 29, 2006, this blog entry:

"Dreamt last night that the "engine" indicator light went on in my van. I considered trying to go on, but decided to pull over. Someone advised that this could be a serious problem. I woke up thinking: WMV is doing well, but I personally am very tired - it was a hard summer, and there have been unexpected difficulties this fall. The music business is tough any way you look at it."

Wow, a prophetic dream! We are scaling way back on the ambition of our productions this year, due to personal exhaustion and budget limitations.

Joe Banno gave us a lovely review in the Washington Post, which made me feel very good. (Thank you, Joe! xoxoxoxo). No word at first from Charley, so I called him - how did you feel about it? "I've never been reviewed before for my saxophone playing - it may have changed my life." I could cry - he's probably been playing like a god for 40 years.

Marilyn has donated two of her sculptures for a benefit auction for the Human Rights Campaign. These are from the series we variously describe as "Lumps and Bumps", "Lewd Objects", or "Erotic Sculpture". They are from 1982-83. Shown is one of them, which she wanted to wear as a hat. You can see more of them on her website under "Soul Ladders" (a body of work from the same period). (If you click on them, they get bigger).

We are performing our first concert of the season tomorrow, Tuesday September 11: "The Mighty Saxophone of Charley Gerard". I think it makes very good sense to play a concert on this date. We all seem to be in the grip of post-911 fear, and are trying to cope with war by war, bluster, protest, and denial. Artists may seem like silly distractions in these times, but it is not at all so. Artists remind us who we are, and what might be worth fighting for. The weasly politicians just don't seem to make it. Whereas, when I hear a single note from Charley Gerard's saxophone, I understand the power of the American cultural experience: the successful merging of a kaleidoscope of cultural traditions. When I think about jazz, civil rights, feminism, abstract expressionism, and the New York subway, I know that there is something good and important about the soul of this place. Where else besides the US has there been such a long and deep conversation between black and white, between female and male, between new immigrant and older immigrant and (perhaps to a lesser degree) native peoples? This is what the best of our art means to me, and what I hear in Charley Gerard's saxophone. It is "Mighty" because Euro-classic, African-American, Jewish, and Latin traditions speak through it with a single voice, and it is our own voice. No wonder the world listens to Louie Armstrong, Charlie Parker, and Bob Dylan. And as Dylan says, it is time to "strengthen the things that remain."

(encaustic painting by Marilyn Banner: Song of Joy #15)

Just got back from NY, where I rehearsed with Charley Gerard. It would be a mistake not to come to this concert if you can possibly make it - Charley is a real phenomenon. Surprisingly few advance tickets have been sold, but those folks will have quite a memorable experience, and the folks who do not come will have missed something very far from the ordinary.

I have posted part of the rehearsal, the Francaix, on the website. As a jazz and latin sax player, Charley has a very different approach from classical sax players like Rhonda (her version of the Francaix, which is superb, is also on the website). But I guarantee that you can dance to any part of his "cinq danses exotiques" - I was just dancing to it a few minutes ago in my living room. Here is the Mambo.