Jay Harvey Upstage

 Matthew Kraemer expressed gratitude and relief that the ensemble he directs, the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, was appearing Sunday evening before an in-person audience for the first time in 15 months.  Rengel gave a stirring account of Barber's concerto. But in other remarks to a socially distanced audience at Carmel's Palladium, the conductor lifted up the significance of bringing forward some of the achievements of American symphonic music in the 20th century. Four works made up the program, chief among them the much-loved Violin Concerto by Samuel Barber, with Rubén Rengel , a 2018 honoree of the Sphinx program , as soloist. Given the finished 1949 version of Barber's opus 14, the concert was a snapshot of American composition in the 1940s. By that decade, buoyed by the contributions of European refugees, new classical music here had consolidated the gains made by 20th-century modernism before largely giving way to more difficult, abstruse styles that started to dom...

Josh Kaufman sings; Gardier and Buselli front the band. Paraphrasing the title of a pianoless quartet record issued after Gerry Mulligan returned to the East Coast, I can answer the question "What Is There to Say?" in terms of what a band led by Amanda Gardier had to offer Friday night at the Jazz Kitchen . First off, there is something positive to say about the saxophonist picking up the heavier, deeper baritone saxophone after she has established her reputation hereabouts with the alto. It was essential to exhibit her chops on the bari to evoke Mulligan as he made a splash in the early Fifties.  Gardier scored well on that account, though there would be no point trying to replicate the uniquely light tone that her predecessor pioneered. But she had the idiomatic heft needed and plenty of ideas to dress it in. Her best solo in Friday's first set came in Mulligan's "Swinghouse," a jump tune based on "Sweet Georgia Brown." (Thelonious Monk's ...

Perry Smith ends this attractive disc (in release today) with three solo tracks that confirm his attraction to the standards that unify "Peace" ( Smith Tone Records ). Otherwise, he fronts his regular trio in a cohesive program. Perry Smith, no showboat, looks toward the light. Despite its flowering into large-scale electronic projection through the triumph of rock, the classical voice of the guitar is soft-spoken and introspective, and had been carried over into jazz by many players. This is crucial to Smith's style, and he has support in two-thirds of the selections here of two like-minded sidemen: Sam Minaie, bass, and Dan Schnelle, drums. The Brooklyn resident's West Coast background may account for the appeal of risking understatement, insofar as the "cool school" deep in California jazz history may incline him toward banking his fires, inviting the listener to meet him halfway. He mixes respectful nods to the Great American Songbook with interpretatio...

The Count eyes an apprehensive Roxane, while Cyrano conceals himself. Few late-19th-century hits that continue to grace our stages have the same florid embrace of love's enduring dream as Edmund Rostand's "Cyrano de Bergerac." The triumvirate of Wilde, Ibsen, and Chekhov occupies distinct spots elsewhere on the dramatic spectrum. Trimmed down in title and production alike to "Cyrano," a Belgian adaptation of the romantic drama is the latest production on Indiana Repertory Theatre 's sensibly reduced season of virtual presentations. Up for nearly a week now, it can be viewed online via ticketed admission through May 9.  With its three-actor cast directed by artistic director Janet Allen on a stately wooden courtyard set designed by Russell Metheny, the show has the severity and plain, almost allegorical appeal of love blocked, sublimated through romantic projection, and belatedly fulfilled only at a spiritual level. The characters are flesh-and-blood in...

 Jazz organ, rooted in rich, rollicking and sometimes even cheesy Hammond B-3 sonorities, boasts a Heat treatment: Tony Monaco, Fareed Haque, Kenny Phelps conventional combination with guitar and drums that almost always exhibits sterling rapport amid blazing energy. But only the most fleet of foot, hands, and mind across three players can achieve the right teamwork. Three is never a crowd when the adept exponents are of the quality the Jazz Kitchen hosted this past weekend. Tony Monaco shared the bandstand with guitarist Fareed Haque and drummer Kenny Phelps to cap a two-night engagement. I heard Saturday's second set only, and must assume that the first one also didn't delay hitting the ground running. The trio opened its latter session with a tour through "Besame Mucho," with the fire stoked particularly by Phelps in the second chorus of Haque's solo. More than the application of heat was involved, because from the first number on, the trio presented a united ...

 Still a rarity among local patronage of the performing arts, a carefully planned avenue to "the new normal" is opening this weekend with the Toby at Newfields ' presentation of the Indianapolis Ballet. Scene from IB's 2018 "Raymonda." Offering a radiant "Grace to Grandeur," the company reports that the permitted 30 percent in-person capacity is close to being reached in four performances at the theater today through Sunday. But access to the show virtually will be available through April 30.  Attending Thursday evening's dress rehearsal, I was struck by the largely polished execution of the four-work program. The 90-minute show is designed with the characteristic flair artistic director Victoria Lyras brings to her company's productions. Costumes and lighting for each of the pieces (to recorded musical accompaniment) had a distinctiveness that suited the choreographic spectrum. To end with a seasoned production of "Raymonda" (Act...

 Indianapolis remembers the trio best for its decade-long residency under the Indianapolis Symphony Charles Yang (left), Ranaan Meyer,  Nick Kendall Orchestra aegis, but along the way Time for Three built a national reputation that it seeks to sustain after relative inactivity during the pandemic. Yet Charles Yang, Nick Kendall, and Ranaan Meyer have exploited Zoom to come up to the mark creatively, as they told a sizable audience Friday night at Madam Walker Legacy Center. The theater retains its majestic Egyptian decor, and its lighting looked splendid for this live-streamed presentation. It was a treat to encounter musicians in three well-lit dimensions. With their classical backgrounds steadily expanding into other genres, these adept string instrumentalists have in recent years added vocals to their virtuosity.  Yang, holder of two Juilliard degrees in violin, is the principal singer, with solidly rooted backup vocals provided by Kendall and Meyer. There was an abun...

Drawing obvious benefits from a new home of its own , Dance Kaleidoscope shows in "Spring Soufflé" how thriving despite global uncertainties can look when technical and imaginative prowess is brought to bear to extend a distinguished history. Available via streaming through April 18, the program includes three world premieres and, in conclusion, a galvanized excerpt from one of the troupe's past hits, "Skin Walkers."  Old favorite: "Skin Walkers' finale caps "Soufflé." There is no let-up in the decades-long parade of impressive new works by DK artistic director David Hochoy. The show opens with the plainly titled "Ravel Piano Concerto (First Movement)." In setting this variegated excerpt from the French composer's Piano Concerto in G major, Hochoy takes delight in choreographing the interplay between solo instrument and orchestra.  The dialogue is splashy and concise in the best manner of Ravel's maturity. Hochoy's insig...

We are about to enter a second searing week of testimony in the trial of Derek Chauvin. Among other revelations, the thin reed of apparent Derek Chauvin last May in the act for which he's on trial. strategy supporting the defense has amazed me. One instance was when the ex-officer's attorney may have thought he had scored a point when he got George Floyd's girlfriend to admit he called her "Mama." I infer the attorney imagined that would strike the jury as a revelation.  Assuming the dying man's repeated cries of "Mama," recorded on several videos, referred to George Floyd's deceased mother is questionable, Eric Nelson might have been implying.  An arrested man under duress, like a badly wounded soldier, might well evoke his most fundamental relationship. The victim's desperate appeals to "Mama" might have been directed toward Courteney Ross as much as to Floyd's mother. Such a usage was not peculiar to George Floyd, however. Ev...

Pianist Steve Allee guides a top-drawer quintet.  A fortunate continuity linking business acumen and art can account for the Jazz Kitchen 's survival since it opened its doors in 1994.  In addition to the insight and doggedness of proprietor David Allee, the musical links that he built upon through the stature of his father, pianist-bandleader Steve Allee, has allowed the club to keep its head above water through a schedule combining touring acts and local performers, boosted regularly by Thursday Lain DJ nights. The senior Allee was on hand again Friday night to light the candles on a Jazz Kitchen birthday cake. The pandemic probably made assembling the usual big band next to impossible. Instead, a stellar quintet was on hand to join the durable pianist-composer: Sophie Faught, tenor sax; John Raymond, trumpet and flugelhorn; Nick Tucker, bass, and Kenny Phelps, drums. The first set consisted of flavorful Allee originals, with the pianist's solo turn reaching back to the Eubi...