The EMIT series had Larry Ochs Sax and Drumming Core on a recent concert at the Salvador Dali Museum on October 10. A couple months later, this happened:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/dec/09/jazz-festival-larry-ochs-saxophone

Jazzman Larry Ochs has seen many things during 40 years playing his saxophone around the world but, until this week, nobody had ever called the police on him.

That changed on Monday night however, when's Spain <http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/spain>'s pistol-carrying Civil Guard police force descended on the Sigüenza Jazz <http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/jazz> festival to investigate allegations that Ochs's music was not, well, jazz.

Police decided to investigate after an angry jazz buff complained that the Larry Ochs Sax and Drumming Core group was on the wrong side of a line dividing jazz from contemporary music.

The jazz purist claimed his doctor had warned it was "psychologically inadvisable" for him to listen to anything that could be mistaken for mere contemporary music.

According to a report in El País newspaper yesterday, the khaki-clad police officers listened to the saxophone-playing and drumming coming from the festival stage before agreeing that the purist might, indeed, have a case.

His complaint against the organisers, who refused to return his money, was duly registered and will be passed on to a judge.

"The gentleman said this was not jazz and that he wanted his money back," said the festival director, Ricardo Checa.

"He didn't get his money. After all, he knew exactly what group he was going to see, as their names were on the festival programme.

He added: "The question of what constitutes jazz and what does not is obviously a subjective one, but not everything is New Orleans funeral music.

"Larry Ochs plays contemporary, creative jazz. He is a fine musician and very well-renowned."

"I thought I had seen it all," Ochs, who reportedly suffered a momentary identity crisis, told El País. "I was obviously mistaken."

"After this I will at least have a story to tell my grandchildren," the California-based saxophonist added.

schedule

The EMIT is finally coming together. We have guitarist Jack Rose on 9/10. Helios performs a free concert on 9/15. Pete Robbins and siLENT Z will be featured on the SPC Jazz Festival in February. We hope to schedule Amy Denio in February also.

Stay tuned....

Sep 2, 2009 Add comment Share

the season

Aug 30, 2009 Add comment Share

summer

The summer is when we often connect with artists who may be touring through Florida during the next year. It is through this block booking that we can afford to present many of our outside artists. With our grant support drying up, this approach is even more practical.

Jun 21, 2009 Add comment Share

good and bad

EMIT once again partnered with First Night St. Petersburg to provide music by Brazilian band O Som Do Jazz at the Courtyard Plaza. Past partnerships with First Night have also included the Moving Current Dance Collective and Gaudera Dansa.

Sadly, EMIT can no longer present concerts at the St. Petersburg College Music Center or the Palladium Theater (now owned by the college). Since I am both a faculty member at the college and director of the EMIT series, the college administration views this as a possible conflict of interest. That effectively removes the two best venues in St. Petersburg from our use. We will miss those Steinway pianos!

That is also unfortunate for the students at SPC since EMIT provided most of the multicultural programming there during the past five years and generated $1200 in student scholarships. Here are the concerts given at SPC that the college never had to spend a penny on:

USF Percussion Ensemble with Robert McCormick - 2/28/01
Holland Hopkins & Thomas Judson - 3/25/02
Jonathan Powell & Yayoi Ikama - 8/22/02
Gabriela Frank - 5/15/04
Tone Road Ramblers - 10/2/02
Jazz Brasil with Haroldo Mauro & O Som Do Jazz - 1/15/05
Jazz Brasil with Haroldo Mauro & O Som Do Jazz - 7/29/06
Matthew Shipp - 10/7/06
The Artistry of Stan Kenton with the Dan McMillion Jazz Orchestra - 11/04/06
Hadar Ensemble with the McCormick Percussion Group - 12/13/06
Robert Dick & Ursel Schlicht - 4/26/07

EMIT also provided workshops and clinics with Davey Williams, Philip Gelb, Abbey Rader, Haroldo Mauro, Kevin Wilder, Kym Purling, Joanna Rose, Butch Thomas and Austin Vickrey.

Apr 27, 2009 Add comment Share

John King

The New York Times carried a wonderful article on St. Petersburg musician John King, who passed away last week. John was a world-class musician who played his own tune throughout life. He loved Hawaii and the ukulele. He transferred his classical guitar technique to the ukulele and became a master of the instrument. He was a soft-spoken man who will be missed by many.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/27/arts/music/27king.html?_r=2&emc=eta1

Apr 27, 2009 Add comment Share

Subtropics

I just returned from four days of concerts and activites at Subtropics - an experimental music festival in Miami. This was the 20th anniversary of Subtropics with director Gustavo Matamoros at the helm. Guest artists included David Dunn, Ikue Mori, Jim Staley, Phill Niblock, Katherine Liberovskaya, Raquel Castro, Russel Frehling, Brenda Hutchingson, Steve Peters and many others.

It is no easy task to present new music in the dominant beach culture of the US, but Gustavo persists and reminds Floridians that there is more to music than oldies rock concerts, DJ's and country-western music.

Mar 2, 2009 Add comment Share