The Best of Sacred Concerts performs at WPI
|
by Paul Laplume
WPI JazzGroup President
|
|---|
On Saturday, 3 February 2001, the WPI Stage Band, in conjunction with the Master Singers of Worcester, will be performing the Best of the Sacred Concerts in Alden Hall. This will be the premier performance of the Sacred Concerts in central Massachusetts and will feature the forty-voice Master Singers with members of the Worcester Gospel Choir, the WPI African Percussion and Dance Ensemble, the WPI Stage Band, sopranos Monica Hatch and Ru-Zelda Severin, baritone Paul Broadnax, tap dancer Wyatt Jackson, narrator Brian Barlow, and WPI soloists Eric McDonough on piano and Zachary Chadwick on clarinet. This performance is sponsored by the Greater Worcester Community Foundation, the Massachusetts Cultural Council, the Master Singers of Worcester, WICN radio, the WPI Humanities and Arts department, WPI JazzGroup, WPI Music Association, WPI Student Government Association, and the Worcester Cultural Commission. Tickets are $15 for adults and $12 for students and seniors and will be available at the WPI bookstore.
It Don't Mean A Thing If It Ain't Got That Swing. That's what Edward Kennedy Ellington told us in this now-classic work recorded in 1932. Edward, dubbed Duke by his friends and family, was also the creative genius behind Caravan, Satin Doll, Do Nothing Till You Hear From Me, Perdido, and Take The "A" Train. Ellington's religious side is not evident in these Jazz classics and it wasn't until 1965, as part of the consecration of Grace Cathedral in San Francisco, that he released and performed the first of his three sets of liturgical work, entitled the Concert of Sacred Music.
The Concert of Sacred Music is not a mass, but a collection of gospel, swing, and African music teeming with musical vivacity in Ellington's signature style. Encouraged by the success of the first work, Ellington composed a second collection of spiritual work, performed in 1968. This led to the third set of sacred music, which was premiered in 1973, the year before Ellington died. The work calls for a full swing band, instrumental soloists, solo piano, tap dancer, narrator, choir, and solo vocalists.
| 