When jazz goes on vacation, it goes to Martha’s Vineyard. So trumpets the tag line of the inaugural 2011 Martha’s Vineyard Jazz Festival, which officially takes place August 6-13, but enjoyed an unofficial kickoff at Lola’s in Oak Bluffs this past weekend. Throughout the summer, you can find jazz all over the Island leading to the weeklong festival in August.
Next Sunday, March 13, at 11 a.m. the Unitarian Universalist Society of Martha’s Vineyard is going vocal with guest preacher, Reverend Bill Clark and special musical guests, the Pleasant Street Quintet.
The quintet is on holiday from the First Parish Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington, Mass. They are composed of flautist Mies Boet-Whitaker, French horn player John Chapin, clarinetist Michelle Markus, oboist Carl Schlaikjer and bassoonist Jean Renard Ward and will be playing music by composers Claude Paul Taffanel, Amy Beach and Joseph Haydn.
Although most of the Island is concerned with saying hello to the birdies as spring begins to unfold, the Tisbury School seventh and eighth graders are riding against the grain by saying goodbye to the birdies.
Well, actually no real birds are involved at all. Nor pinkletinks, crocuses or snowdrops.
It was a road trip for 33 young musicians and their grown-up entourage, led by maestro Nancy Jephcote, as they joined the All-Cape & Island String Jamboree on Monday at Barnstable Intermediate School, an intensive orchestra event.
The major repercussion for you, the audience member, of attending a production, anywhere, anytime, of Broadway’s great classic The Music Man, is your own zany behavior the morning after. The moment you open your eyes, you’ll begin a whispered verse, “What can I do, my dear, to make it clear?
On Saturday, March 5 KCT Concerts opens up its 2011 season with Willy Mason performing at the Katharine Cornell Theater.
KCT Concerts has a history of bringing to the Island incredible musical acts including last year’s headliners Paddy Keenan, Oisin MacDiarmada and Richie Stearns, to name just a few.
Of course, Willy Mason doesn’t have to be brought to the Island. He lives here. And yet the man is global. Later this spring he will be back touring Europe as he did last summer with Norah Jones.
Nick Page believes that we make the world a better place through our singing and he is not afraid to talk the talk.
Mr. Page is the author of three books for teachers including the songbooks Sing with Us (Hal Leonard) and Sing and Shine (World Music Press). His articles have appeared in numerous music journals and he has more than 65 published choral pieces.
Although no longer a frequent sight on the Vineyard, James Taylor is still a frequent visitor in the hearts (and ears) of many Islanders. Over the past five decades he has been a staple of popular music winning two Grammy awards and being inducted into the Rock Hall of Fame in 2000.
And on Wednesday, March 3, Mr. Taylor was presented with a National Medal of Arts by President Barack Obama.
WVVY 93.7 LPFM is community radio at its best. Broadcast from Martha’s Vineyard, this grassroots organization hosts an eclectic lineup of knowledgeable and freewheeling deejays to delight the most jaded listener. Jazz, blues, world music, special deejay mixes, Willy Mason and friends, Democracy Now; the question is not whether you will find something you like, but how they do it all?
The littlest violinists had waited a long time for their stage debut, when at last they could flourish their bows just as their teachers did: up, down, out in front, sideways, up, down, on their heads.
