{"id":6475,"date":"2015-02-27T16:35:49","date_gmt":"2015-02-28T00:35:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/?p=6475"},"modified":"2015-02-27T19:57:09","modified_gmt":"2015-02-28T03:57:09","slug":"the-billy-childs-concert-at-pdx","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/2015\/02\/the-billy-childs-concert-at-pdx\/","title":{"rendered":"The Billy Childs Concert At PDX"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Billy<\/a><\/p>\n

Pianist Billy Childs and vocalist Alicia Olatuja, their flight delayed for hours by snowstorms in the east, made it to Portland barely in time for Childs\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 concert of songs by Laura Nyro (1947-1997). The material came from Childs\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 2014 Nyro tribute album Map To The Treasure<\/em><\/a>. Olatuja and vocalist Becca Stevens each sang several Nyro songs. Olatuja made a major impression with \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Been On a Train.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Childs introduced the piece as, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153a powerful song.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d In an impressive act of vocal drama, Olatuja (pictured right) made doubly powerful the story of a witnessed death.\"Alicia<\/a> <\/p>\n

Stevens was effective in \u00e2\u20ac\u0153And When I Die\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Stoned Soul Picnic,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Nyro songs that became anthems for a generation of young people in the late 1960s and the \u00e2\u20ac\u02dc70s. Supported by Childs\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 atmospheric piano and arrangement, she was exquisite in \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Upstairs By a Chinese Lamp,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and in Nyro\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s beseeching \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Save The Country,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d a reaction to the unrest, uncertainty and inequality of the civil rights era and the Viet \"Peter<\/a>Nam conflict. The focus of the concert was on Nyro\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s material and the singers, but Childs allotted himself enough solo opportunities to remind the audience of his preeminence among contemporary pianists. He also featured guitarist Peter Sprague as a guest artist and major soloist on several pieces. Wild, at times barely restrained, Sprague\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s work on \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Map to the Treasure\u00e2\u20ac\u009d matched the virtuosity of Childs\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 own solo. Throughout the concert, both of them interacted to great effect with bassist Ben Shepherd and drummer Donald Barrett.<\/p>\n

\"Becca<\/a> <\/p>\n

Ms. Stevens and pianist Taylor Eigsti opened for Childs and company. Their initial festival collaboration earlier in the week was obscured in an acoustically impaired church. The Newmark Theatre\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s sonority and superior sound system brought Stevens\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 clear voice to the fore. Now, it was possible to understand every syllable of the lyrics of Eigsti\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s songs \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Magnolia\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Plane Over Kansas.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d The piano was in bold relief for his accompaniments and the brilliance of his solos. Their short set concluded with Duke Ellington\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Prelude To a Kiss.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Stevens interpretation of Irving Gordon\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s words added poignancy to, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153My love is a prelude that never dies.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n

The Portland Jazz Festival swings into its final weekend this evening with Julian Lage hosting fellow guitarists John Stowell and Dan Balmer, and bassist Dave Captein in a tribute to the late Jim Hall.<\/p>\n

In one of those scheduling coincidences that make for hard consumer choices at the Portland festival, the adventurous pianist Hal Galper will be playing at the same time as Lage. His trio includes bassist Jeff Johnson and drummer John Bishop. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pianist Billy Childs and vocalist Alicia Olatuja, their flight delayed for hours by snowstorms in the east, made it to Portland barely in time for Childs\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 concert of songs by Laura Nyro (1947-1997). The material came from Childs\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 2014 Nyro tribute album Map To The Treasure. Olatuja and vocalist Becca Stevens each sang several Nyro […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6476,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-6475","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-main","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6475","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6475"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6475\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6476"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6475"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6475"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6475"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}