Jay Harvey Upstage

The jazz drum maestro of the Hoosier capital, Kenny Phelps, took the microphone first to herald his sidemen Friday night at the Jazz Kitchen . They were the briefly returning New Yorker Zach Lapidus, who earned distinction as an Bandleader Kenny Phelps takes care of business. American Piano Awards finalist here and now lives in Brooklyn; the nearby, locally raised and prodigious tenor saxophonist Sophie Faught, and Indianapolis bass stalwart Nick Tucker.  This counts as a group of all-stars, working well together in the first set and delighting a packed house throughout. The saxophonist's entry was delayed for one number, as Lapidus began with some free-floating thoughts at the piano, then was joined by the rest of the rhythm section. His way with long-breathed melodies is caressing and challenging at the same time. His selection of repertoire (he seemed mainly responsible for leading the consensus)  acknowledged other masters of jazz piano and composition:  Andrew...

Born in 1685 a month apart in the same region of Germany, J.S. Bach and George Frideric Handel (to use Concert-concluding "Hallelujah!" The sopranos (left) are about to make their entry, joining the other three sections, on "And he shall reign forever and ever." the latter version of his name as a naturalized Briton) offer a wealth of biographical and musical contrasts. When substantial excerpts of their Christmas-related major works are presented in the same concert, the comparisons are especially piquant and rewarding. Matthew Kraemer conducted the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra 's "Classical Christmas" concert Saturday night at Indiana Landmarks Center . Four vocal soloists and a chorus of two dozen, prepared by Eric Schmidt, shed light on the manner and meaning of each composer's approach to the biblical Nativity story. Bach's "Christmas Oratorio" is actually a set of cantatas designed for Lutheran church performance from Christm...

Pavel Haas Quartet: multiple award-winner Identity politics and nationalism — so prominent recently in worldly matters — have left prominent monuments in the arts as well.  In music, some of this has to do with nationalities that tend to be overshadowed by forces of control, reputation, and the fight for freedom. Central Europe has been a focal point of such cultural and military conflicts for centuries.  The struggle for self-assertion, as well as preservation of their cultural roots, plays a large role in the lives and careers of two Czech composers played here Wednesday by the Pavel Haas Quartet,  a group of Czech musicians conspicuously honored in the outside world, chiefly via the UK's Gramophone magazine. The Ensemble Music Society presented the group at the Indiana History Center in a program that opened with some late-period Mozart, the String Quartet in B-flat major, K. 589. I was immediately impressed with the bold, almost hard-charging feeling the quartet showe...

  Unaccustomed as I am to weighing in on competition outcomes, I made clear in 2021 how much I liked Michael Davidman delivered on promise he showed in 2021. Michael Davidman's playing and expected great things from him in the crowded firmament of young classical pianists. Now after three years he's back to vie again for the top prize in the American Piano Awards . At the Indiana History Center Sunday afternoon he played his Premiere Series program. The format for all five 2025 finalists is one-half solo recital, one-half concerto performance with the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra . In the chamber-music segment of the 2021 competition, Davidman enchanted me with the way he played the Cesar Franck piano quintet with the Dover String Quartet. The centerpiece of his recital yesterday was Franck's Prelude, Chorale and Fugue, another masterpiece conspicuously indebted to the composer's mastery of the church organ, specifically Paris' Sainte-Clotilde, where Franck serve...

Taylor Eigsti sat in with the Sean Imboden Large Ensemble. Building on  a reputation and a history that goes back to a muddy day eight years ago in Broad Ripple Park, the Sean Imboden Large Ensemble is on the verge of releasing its debut recording come spring.  Having gathered  $21,000 through a KickStarter campaign, the bandleader told a capacity audience Saturday night at the Jazz Kitchen that the 17-piece band will have a document of its achievement ready to supplement its successful live appearances featuring original music. The December 7 engagement had a special feature: guest pianist Taylor Eigsti,  a several-times Grammy nominee who's just returned from a tour of Europe with his trio. Eigsti has a flowing style with a gift for melodic improvisation, displayed especially in "Balcony," one of Imboden's original charts from 2016.  The bandleader took a well-articulated soprano-sax solo there, while most of his occasional solo turns were on tenor. Otherwise ...

We've long been accustomed to the commercialization of Christmas, which has been denounced from Kids hail top-hatted Frosty before the day heats up. pulpits so often that many of us could cobble together a suitable sermon on the topic as rapidly as AI might. Naturally, there's long been the spread of money to be made with the very imagery of the holiday, its meaning drummed into us by repetition. Through stage and screen and Coca-Cola ads, visions of merchandised sugarplums dance in our heads.  The latest production of "A Very Phoenix Xmas" packages the overload into "It's a Wonderful Die Hard Life Story Actually." It's seasonal carry-on baggage stuffed into the overhead compartment for the flight home. Expect some turbulence. Entertainment rituals rub shoulders with the religious kind. "The Christmas Story" in demonic TV repetition is the basis of one of "A Very Phoenix Xmas"s most haunting skits. As a culture, we have an obsess...