Culture

Three days of extraordinary music are scheduled during the 18th Annual Cotton Mill Open Studio and Holiday Sale Friday–Sunday, December 2-4, 74 Cotton Mill Hill, Brattleboro, VT.

Daniel Ehrenberg is providing a venue for five top-notch musicians at his Aegis Art Work Studio on the 3rd floor of the mill. The line-up of performers is so outstanding that you just might want to return each day for continued musical enjoyment. The performances in Ehrenberg’s studio are free and space is limited, so plan your time.

Brattleboro, Vt. – Friends of Music at Guilford invites singers and music lovers in the Tri-State region to start their holiday season at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, December 3, with the 46th annual Community Messiah Sing, a benefit for the homeless. Centre Congregational Church, at 193 Main Street in Brattleboro, has been home for the Sing since 1982 and for a few prior seasons as well.

Anthony Speranza, a resident of Vernon, led the Sing from 1989 through 2001 and again in 2010. His interest in conducting began as a 6-year member of the St. Kilian Boychoir and School in New York State (from age 7 to 13); he later earned Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in conducting, and was vocal music teacher for the town of Brattleboro for many years. William McKim, who has played the organ at this event for twenty-eight past seasons, and officially “retired” twice from doing so, now has his sights on continuing in this role as long as he can. Joyana Damon, in her eighteenth year as instrumental and classroom music teacher at Vernon Elementary School, and a performer with a number of Tri-State groups, will be featured on trumpet this season.

Montreal (AFP) – Leonard Cohen, the storied musician and poet hailed as one of the most visionary artists of his generation, has died at age 82.

He was able to sum everything up in one simple sentence:

“Everybody knows the deal is rotten: Old Black Joe’s still pickin’ cotton. Everybody knows.” 

On Saturday, November 12th at 8:00 PM, the Vermont Jazz Center will present saxophonist Javon Jackson’s quartet “We Four” featuring renowned drummer Jimmy Cobb (who has had tenures with Miles Davis, John Coltrane etc.) along with Jeremy Manasia on piano and David Williams on acoustic bass. We Four’s understated promo reads “four jazz luminaries who join together to lovingly pay tribute to John Coltrane and the music of his time.”

Their CD (with a different pianist and bassist) sticks to the more accessible late ‘50s/early ‘60s era of Coltrane’s repertoire presenting choice standards like “My Shining Hour” and “You Don’t Know What Love Is” as well as familiar Coltrane compositions such as “Like Sonny and Naima.” San Francisco Jazz Collective states “Since John Coltrane’s death in 1967 at the age of 40 there has been no shortage of tributes to the saxophone titan. But tenor mastermind Javon Jackson’s project focusing on Coltrane-associated compositions stands above and far beyond the ordinary, featuring four veteran masters with close professional and spiritual ties to Trane…Coltrane’s legacy is in good hands”