From Tom Cleary:
In this pair of concerts, I'll be focusing on two prolific musical communities, New York City and Burlington, Vermont, and the music of two groups of jazz composers. Through the music of both concerts, I'll be asking one question: Is it possible to hear the sound of community in a piece of music attributed to one or two composers? In the first concert, I'll focus on the group I call the 'Three-Plus Musketeers Collective', a group originating in the mid-1940s which includes the well-known Thelonious Monk and Bud Powell and their lesser-known friend Elmo Hope (sometimes called 'The Three Musketeers' for their close association); Mary Lou Williams, who had a strong influence on Monk and Powell as a teacher, a guide and a fellow musician; and Bertha Hope, Elmo Hope's former wife and a pianist and composer still active today. In the second concert, I'll play the music of composers from the Vermont jazz scene including Ellen Powell, Patricia Julien, the Mad River Valley's own James Harvey and Bruce Sklar, and some of my own compositions.
These concerts will be performed on TURNmusic’s own 1929 Steinway Model M piano that begins its residency at The Phoenix Gallery and Music Hall. This piano has been graciously loaned by Anne Decker and Tim Buckingham of Waterbury, Vermont.