Faculty Notes
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| Assistant Professor Leo Blanco | |
| Photo ©Carlospericas.net(Opens in a new window) |
Associate Professor Janice Pendarvis recently appeared on Late Show with David Letterman singing with Little Anthony & the Imperials and Randy Houser. She also appeared at Carnegie Hall's Zankel Hall in Richard Barone's Frontman: A Musical Reading. The lineup included Randy Brecker, Garth Hudson, Moby, and Jimmy Vivino.
As members of the Tanglewood Jazz Orchestra, Professor Barbara LaFitte (oboe) and Associate Professor Margaret Phillips (bassoon), accompanied Terence Blanchard and his quintet in the live performance of A Tale of God's Will (A Requiem for Katrina). In September 2008, LaFitte and Phillips also participated in the Ditson Festival of Contemporary Music.
Associate Professor of Piano Bruce Katz released the CD Live! at the Firefly and toured with his band through October 2008. And in December and January 2008, Katz toured with Gregg Allman and Friends.
The JoAnne Brackeen Quintet, featuring Piano Professor Brackeen, Professor Greg Osby (alto sax), Randy Brecker (trumpet), Eddie Gomez (bass), and Adam Cruz (drums), played for a week at Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola in New York City.
Associate Professor of Guitar Lauren Passarelli released three new songs digitally and, in October 2008, hosted Lindsey Buckingham's Berklee clinic.
Al Kooper's new CD release White Chocolate features professors Bob Doezema, Jeff Stout, Daryl Lowery, and Larry Finn as well as Stax session men Steve Cropper and Duck Dunn and Late Show with David Letterman drummer Anton Fig.
String Department Associate Professor John McGann played two shows with Classical Tangent, featuring members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Symphony Hall, in the Family Concert series. He also appeared with Assistant Professor Natalie Haas in Darol Anger's Republic of Strings concert at Belmont High School.
Guitar Professor Jon Damian composed and performed the score for the film Imitasyon. He also played on the Fun Out of Life CD by April Hall '93, along with Assistant Professor Mark Poniatowski (bass) and Harmony Department Chair Joe Mulholland (piano).
In November, Professor Wayne Naus played a trumpet solo rendition of the national anthem for a special Veterans Day tribute at the TD Bank North Garden before a Boston Bruins game.
Piano Department Assistant Professor Leonardo Blanco released the CD Africa Latina, which was mixed by Associate Professor Alejandro Rodriguez and mastered by Associate Professor Jonathan Wyner, both of the MP& E Department.
Assistant Professor Amy Merrill of the Liberal Arts Department gave a talk on political theatre and, in November, presented an excerpt from her new musical Silver Spoon at the annual meeting of the Association for Humanist Sociology.
Piano Instructor Carmen Staaf released the CD Reflection, featuring jazz-, classical-, and Latin-influenced originals. In December, her band toured the West Coast.
Associate Professor Fred Lipsius authored Playing through the Blues, an intermediate-level jazz reading book and CD in eight different instrumental editions. Visit www.fredlipsius.com(Opens in a new window).
In Georgia, Associate Professor Apostolos Paraskevas premiered The Feast, a new concerto for four guitars and orchestra with the Tantalus Guitar Quartet and the Albany Symphony Orchestra.
Assistant Professor David Newsam and his group the Back Bay Guitar Trio released their second CD, The Journey, and were featured in the Boston Globe.
Guitar Professor John Baboian performed with jazz vocalist Datevik Hovanesian at Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola for the Jazz at Lincoln Center series. They also performed at the 70th anniversary celebration of jazz in Armenia.
Associate Professor of Liberal Arts Fred Bouchard wrote about the 44th annual Berlin Jazz Festival for Down Beat magazine.
Professor Yumiko Matsuoka released To Every Thing There Is a Season, a CD of her arrangements and compositions, with help from Instructor Christine Fawson (voice, trumpet), Associate Professor David Thorne Scott (voice), Assistant Professor Gail McArthur-Browne (saxophone), and MP& E faculty members Mark Wessel, Jonathan Wyner, and Kai Turnbull. Professor Dave Weigert shot the CD's cover photo.
Albany Records released a new recording of brass and organ music entitled Unchanging Love by Associate Professor Larry Bell, which features faculty members Ken Pullig (trumpet) and Greg Fritze (tuba).
In December, Assistant Professor of Music Business/Management Pam Kerensky received her master's degree in technology management from the University of Maryland.
Associate Professor of Percussion Mike Mangini appeared in Seven Wonders, a documentary about master drummers by director John Walker.
In January, Associate Professor Gabrielle Goodman released the book and companion CD titled Vocal Improvisation - Jazz, Gospel, and R& B.
Assistant Professor Tomo Fujita has been recording tracks with Will Lee, Steve Gadd, and Bernard Purdie. In December 2008, he also published a rhythm guitar instructional DVD in Japan.
Guitar Department Associate Professor David Gilmore received a grant from Chamber Music America to create a new jazz work.
For the 12th year, Jazz Composition Department Professor Bill Scism was reelected to executive board of the Merrimack Valley Musicians, Local 300 of the American Federation of Musicians.
Professor Mitch Seidman is booking music for the Fourth Annual Grafton Fine Arts & Music Festival and is a member of the Local Cultural Council affiliate of the Massachusetts Cultural Council.
Associate Professor Lori Landay published "Having but Not Holding: Consumerism & Commodification in Second Life" in the Journal of Virtual Worlds Research.
In September, professors Kathryn Wright (voice) and Wendy Rolfe (flute) performed the song cycle One Blazing Glance by Associate Professor Beth Denisch at the University of Glasgow, Scotland, as part of the 17th Annual Conference of the Women's History Network.
Music Synthesis Interim Chair Neil Leonard and artist Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons were commissioned by Philagrafika to create music and a multimedia installation to celebrate the renovation of the Paul Robeson House in West Philadelphia.
In January 2008, Assistant Professor of Music Synthesis Steve MacLean released the CD Frog Bug Guitar Computer.