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About Last Night

Terry Teachout on the arts in New York City

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Archives for January 31, 2012

TT: If you happen to be in the neighborhood…

January 31, 2012 by Terry Teachout

pattmeth.jpegIn October I saw Pat Metheny and Larry Grenadier at the Blue Note. It was one of the most exciting musical performances I’ve heard in my life. Now Pat is en route to Winter Park, Florida, where he’ll making two public appearances at Rollins College this week under the auspices of the Winter Park Institute.
It happens that I’m in the middle of my annual stint in Winter Park, so I’m going to lead a public conversation on Wednesday in which Pat talks about his life and work. We’ll be joined by the bass guitarist Chuck Archard, who is an artist-in-residence at Rollins. Then Pat and Larry will give a concert at Rollins the following night.
I’ve known Pat for a number of years–I profiled him for Time back in 2001–and he’s one of the most interesting talkers I’ve had occasion to interview. Here’s something he said to me eleven years ago that has stuck in my mind ever since:

Metheny shuns labels for his polystylistic music–particularly fusion, a term he feels has “nothing but negative connotations”–preferring to describe it as jazz, pure and simple. “Jazz is the all-inclusive form,” he explains. “There’s room for everybody, for anything of true musical substance. Jazz guys like Duke Ellington or Miles Davis have always transformed the elements of the pop culture that surrounds us into something more sophisticated and hipper. It’s their job.”

I expect he’ll have similarly pithy things to say when we get together on Wednesday.
Wednesday’s event takes place at Tiedtke Concert Hall and starts at 7:30. For more information, go here.
Thursday’s concert takes place at the Alfond Sports Center and starts at 7:30. For more information, go here.

TT: The Eames films (II)

January 31, 2012 by Terry Teachout

This week I’m posting five films made by Charles and Ray Eames. Today’s installment, Tops, was made in 1969. The score is by Elmer Bernstein:

TT: Almanac

January 31, 2012 by Terry Teachout

“Only an inventor knows how to borrow, and every man is or should be an inventor.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Quotation and Originality”

Terry Teachout

Terry Teachout, who writes this blog, is the drama critic of The Wall Street Journal and the critic-at-large of Commentary. In addition to his Wall Street Journal drama column and his monthly essays … [Read More...]

About

About “About Last Night”

This is a blog about the arts in New York City and the rest of America, written by Terry Teachout. Terry is a critic, biographer, playwright, director, librettist, recovering musician, and inveterate blogger. In addition to theater, he writes here and elsewhere about all of the other arts--books, … [Read More...]

About My Plays and Opera Libretti

Billy and Me, my second play, received its world premiere on December 8, 2017, at Palm Beach Dramaworks in West Palm Beach, Fla. Satchmo at the Waldorf, my first play, closed off Broadway at the Westside Theatre on June 29, 2014, after 18 previews and 136 performances. That production was directed … [Read More...]

About My Podcast

Peter Marks, Elisabeth Vincentelli, and I are the panelists on “Three on the Aisle,” a bimonthly podcast from New York about theater in America. … [Read More...]

About My Books

My latest book is Duke: A Life of Duke Ellington, published in 2013 by Gotham Books in the U.S. and the Robson Press in England and now available in paperback. I have also written biographies of Louis Armstrong, George Balanchine, and H.L. Mencken, as well as a volume of my collected essays called A … [Read More...]

The Long Goodbye

To read all three installments of "The Long Goodbye," a multi-part posting about the experience of watching a parent die, go here. … [Read More...]

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