SWING INVASION collects the best of the best of Swing Era and before in performances that dazzle and amaze both dancers and the musicians of today. Produced for TV, just like our PBS this documentaries, the cast includes Frankie Manning, the originator of Harlem's dance later to be known as Jitterbug. Fayard Nicholas, the oldest brother of the dance duo The Nicholas Brothers, is most well known for his graceful arm movements later copied by Fred Astaire. Dawn Hampton is still dancing! I saw her in 2013 on her 85th birthday in New York. Chazz Young, Frankie Mannings son, at 81, showed off that he's still got it at the 25th Anniversary of Midsummer Nights Swing 2013 at Lincoln Center. The Harlem Blues and Jazz Band comprised of "originals" that actually "jumped" at the Woodside and "stomped" at the Savoy, are caught in a live performance while on tour. A must see to realize that American dance began in Harlem and traveled around the world influencing and to compile this footage.
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Documentary videographer Huey, has captured the smile, and the voice we all recognize from listening weekly to Marian McPartland's "Piano Jazz" on the radio.
29 January 2012
Pianist Marian McPartland asked, "What is a Jazz Player?" She answered her own question, "Technically swinging, improvising, sense of humor. Playing in any key, – All those things."
Documentary videographer James R. Coleman, Jr. aka as just Huey, has captured the smile, and the voice we all recognize from listening weekly to "Piano Jazz" on the radio. Her immediately recognizable but always improvised theme "Kaleidoscope" has open every show since 1979.
Jimmy McPartland, her Yank, Cornet playing boyfriend in Britain during the war, instructed Marian when she joined him for the first time on a bandstand, "When you're playing, just hold it steady, in jazz, ya gotta get a good beat, its gotta swing, or forget it!" Throughout Marion's love of Jimmy and the influence the freewheeling improvisational Chicago jazz style is revealed by wonderful performances and delightful family clips.
At the Kennedy Center see her rehearsing pianist Billy Taylor's piece "Capricious, " followed by her own composition "Twilight World" in its entirety.
Look for string bassist Bill Crow talking about the Hickory House and recollections of Duke Ellington's visits.
A special moment in gorgeous color: Marian extemporaneously improvises "Portrait of Dave Brubeck," as he looks on from his piano, thereafter he created a tune based on the phonetic of her name that they improvised on together.
A personal statement relates to her concern for the survival of the environment as she describes Rachael Carlson's influence in "Silent Spring" and the resulting "Portrait of Rachael Carlson" that she performed with the South Carolina Symphony Orchestra.
There's also an inside look at the growth of the NPR's "Piano Jazz" with many in the studio clips.
When interviewed about Marian, Huey reported, "She's very funny, . . . "you can see her age from 89 to 93!"
Daniel Kassell Member, Jazz Journalist Association
Documentary videographer James R. Coleman, Jr. aka as just Huey, has captured the smile, and the voice we all recognize from listening weekly to "Piano Jazz" on the radio. Her immediately recognizable but always improvised theme "Kaleidoscope" has open every show since 1979.
Jimmy McPartland, her Yank, Cornet playing boyfriend in Britain during the war, instructed Marian when she joined him for the first time on a bandstand, "When you're playing, just hold it steady, in jazz, ya gotta get a good beat, its gotta swing, or forget it!" Throughout Marion's love of Jimmy and the influence the freewheeling improvisational Chicago jazz style is revealed by wonderful performances and delightful family clips.
At the Kennedy Center see her rehearsing pianist Billy Taylor's piece "Capricious, " followed by her own composition "Twilight World" in its entirety.
Look for string bassist Bill Crow talking about the Hickory House and recollections of Duke Ellington's visits.
A special moment in gorgeous color: Marian extemporaneously improvises "Portrait of Dave Brubeck," as he looks on from his piano, thereafter he created a tune based on the phonetic of her name that they improvised on together.
A personal statement relates to her concern for the survival of the environment as she describes Rachael Carlson's influence in "Silent Spring" and the resulting "Portrait of Rachael Carlson" that she performed with the South Carolina Symphony Orchestra.
There's also an inside look at the growth of the NPR's "Piano Jazz" with many in the studio clips.
When interviewed about Marian, Huey reported, "She's very funny, . . . "you can see her age from 89 to 93!"
Daniel Kassell Member, Jazz Journalist Association
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