Join us for an evening of songs with words as well as song transcriptions for solo piano. Vocalist Jocelyn Medina joins bassist Bill McCrossen in a program of classic hits from the early jazz days of Tin Pan Alley. Pianist Roberto Hidalgo will perform famous songs adapted for the piano including Robert Schumann’s Widmug and Percy Grainger’s Irish Tune.
Concert 1: Bass, Voice and Verses: Intimate jazz duos
Jocelyn Medina, voice and arrangements
Bill McCrossen, bass
In jazz music’s early days of Tin Pan Alley and musical theater, personal recollections and emotions were often told as “stories” within the verses of what are now popular standards. Over the years, many of these verses have become less commonly performed, with the song’s chorus alone remaining familiar. Voice faculty member Jocelyn Medina holds an intimate musical conversation in duo configuration with Bill McCrossen on upright bass, presenting her personal take on a selection of choice jazz standards and their accompanying, though often less-standard, verses.
Program:
I Didn’t Know What Time It Was; Richard Rodgers/Lorenz Hart
A Sleepin’ Bee; Harold Arlen/Truman Capote
You’d Be So Nice To Come Home To; Cole Porter
Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most; Fran Landesman/Tommy Wolf
Concert 2:
Roberto Hidalgo, piano
Instrumental music often yearns to emulate the beauty of the voice. This concert highlights how some composers make the piano “sing” through transcriptions and original compositions while displaying the orchestral richness of the piano.
Program:
Felix Mendelssohn: Two Songs Without Words:
G major, Op. 62, No. 1
R. Schumann/ F. Liszt:
Widmung (Liebeslied)
Frülingsnacht
Juan Trigos:
Folklore con Campanas
Folklore con flautín, gong y coral
Percy Grainger: Irish Tune From County Derry
