{"id":3785,"date":"2012-07-02T00:50:58","date_gmt":"2012-07-02T07:50:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/?p=3785"},"modified":"2012-07-02T01:04:50","modified_gmt":"2012-07-02T08:04:50","slug":"finding-donelian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/2012\/07\/finding-donelian\/","title":{"rendered":"Finding Donelian"},"content":{"rendered":"

One thing leads to another, if you’re lucky. Bear with me; we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re backing into this. I was reading Thomas Vinciguerra\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Wall Street Journal Weekend Edition<\/em> feature<\/a> about the 50th anniversary of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Girl From Ipanema.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d When I saw a reference to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6the 1962 album Jazz Samba<\/em> by Stan Getz and Charlie Parker,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I nearly lost my mouthful of coffee.<\/p>\n

Parker was nicknamed \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Bird,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d but the great alto saxophonist died in\"\"<\/a> 1955. The Jazz Samba<\/a> album seven years later was by the guitarist Charlie Byrd. \"\"<\/a>It featured Getz. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Bird\u00e2\u20ac\u009d for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Byrd\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and the assumption that Charlie Byrd was Charlie Parker may not be a common error, but there was a time when the WSJ<\/em>\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s fact checkers would have caught it. Fact-checking standards, like so much in journalism, seem to have slipped. But that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not the point. <\/p>\n

I was about to send a corrective comment to the Journal<\/em>, but discovered on the paper\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s website that several other readers had beat me to it. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a sign that the paper\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s subscribers are hipper than their conservative aura might suggest, but it’s not the point, either. I looked up Thomas Vinciguerra, the author of the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Ipanema\u00e2\u20ac\u009d piece, and discovered that, among other accomplishments, he is the editor of Columbia College Today<\/em>, the magazine of a distinguished New York institution of higher learning. I went to Columbia College Today<\/em>\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s website hoping to learn more about Mr. Vinciguerra. I did not, but I noticed on the contents page under Alumni Profiles was \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Armen Donelian, \u00e2\u20ac\u212272.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the point—serendipity. Track down one piece of information and you might google yourself into something even more interesting.<\/p>\n

Jamie Katz\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s profile of Donelian includes facts about the pianist\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s formative undergraduate years that had escaped my attention, including the one that another prominent jazz pianist was at Columbia with him. Here\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an excerpt:<\/p>\n

Donelian also played in a talented lab band in the \"\"<\/a>basement of Dodge Hall, led by the brilliant alto saxophonist and pianist Marc Copland \u00e2\u20ac\u212270. Sam Morrison \u00e2\u20ac\u212273 also played in the group; a few years later he was with Miles Davis. Meanwhile, Donelian worked evenings at The King\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Table, a restaurant nestled within John Jay Hall, playing solo piano while the young gentlemen of the College dined in style. Unlike the student cafeteria just steps away, The King\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Table even had tablecloths.<\/p>\n

\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Armen is a great player and he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a sweetheart \u00e2\u20ac\u201d absolutely one of the good guys in the business,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Copland says today. As students, he\"\"<\/a> remembers, they would improvise sophisticated duets in a two-piano practice room in Dodge. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Once we monkeyed around and played a mock classical duet in the style of Beethoven. We went on for five or 10 minutes and then fell off the piano benches, laughing.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\nAfter graduation, Donelian played with a country rock band and, on Copland\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s recommendation, began studying privately with renowned pianist Richie Beirach. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153He opened the door to me, combining the harmony of contemporary music \u00e2\u20ac\u201d Schoenberg, Bart\u00c3\u00b3k, Stravinsky and Berg \u00e2\u20ac\u201d with jazz,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Donelian says. In 1975, legendary Latin jazz percussionist and bandleader Mongo Santamaria auditioned Donelian to fill the piano chair once occupied by such world-class players as Herbie Hancock and Chick Corea. Though he did not have experience playing Afro-Cuban jazz, Donelian got the gig and was on his way.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

To read the entire piece about Donelian, go here<\/a>. To hear him play, don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t go anywhere. Listen to this from an album of his compositions<\/a> for solo piano:<\/p>\n