If you ever search “Jazz at Massey Hall” on Twitter, you’ll notice that multiple times a day, every day, people are listening to and praising that Greatest Jazz Concert Ever. “The Quintet” performed on May 15, 1953 – Dizzy, Mingus, Max Roach, Charlie Parker and Bud Powell all together on the same stage. This was the first and only time these jazz heavyweights ever performed publicly together and was said to be the last “recorded meeting” of Parker and Gillespie. The recording itself was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame and is regularly referenced and name checked (such as it was on HBO this past season on an episode of Treme for example).
Even as recently as this season, during the first concert in our Jazz @ Massey Hall series (the Chick Corea Trio), bassist Christian McBride tweeted:
“An AWESOME night in Toronto last night. I love that town. It’s hard to play Massey Hall and not think of Bird, Dizzy, Bud, Mingus and Max. - 5:30 AM Oct 6th, 2010 via web”
Click on the above link to hear the latest Sound Advice on Soundboard podcast by Rick Phillips. This edition features the award winning Venice Baroque Orchestra and violinist Robert McDuffie. Together they perform in Toronto (on Tuesday, October 26, 2010) The Seasons Project – Vivaldi’s TheFour Seasons followed by Philip Glass’ The American Four Seasons.
So – one of the first thing I noticed when I joined the Toronto Symphony is that orchestral musicians inner clocks are timed just like any band; for late night. Mornings are groggy but in the evening, musicians are buzzing. I’m actually a bit surprised that June 19 is the TSO’s first ever Late Night concert.
The Late Night concept came about after TSO Music Director Peter Oundjian conducted a similar concert at Tonhalle, Switzerland. He ran the idea by some of our tsoundcheckers at a post-concert party and well, here we go.
What can I tell you about Beethoven’s 9th…the “Choral,” his Ode to Joy? I can tell you it’s a masterpiece and has been since its premiere in 1824, written during Beethoven’s later period (when most of his contemporaries thought he was going crazy.) I can tell you that it proved his contemporaries wrong and that it was revolutionary, ushering in the romantic era and foreshadowing the massive symphonies of Mahler and Bruckner. I guarantee that you can hum the theme. We’ve all heard it many times; but hearing it live…with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, a stellar cast of soloists and the impressive Mendelssohn choir, you understand why it holds this place is music history. You’ll feel it in your gut, in the hairs on the back of your neck, in your twitching tear ducts (and yes, it will be the music, not the triple rye you brought into the hall.)
Soundboard is the official community of musicians, music fans, and friends of Massey Hall and Roy Thomson Hall in Toronto, Canada. It’s your behind-the-scenes source for related music news, recommendations, and rewards.
