Music

Next Stage Arts Project and Twilight Music present roots music quartet Rani Arbo & daisy mayhem at Next Stage on Saturday, October 26 at 7:30 pm.

One of “America’s most inventive string bands” (The Boston Herald), Rani Arbo & daisy mayhem mix traditional, original and contemporary sounds on fiddle, guitar, bass and recycled percussion, and top that with joyous harmonies from four skilled lead singers. Hailed as “one of the most song- and arrangement-oriented bands in a field overgrown with pyrotechnic, jam- and solo-conscious virtuosos” (San Francisco Guardian), the band tackles the human condition with playfulness, courage and heart.

On Sunday, October 20 at 3 pm, the Brattleboro Music Center presents a recital with faculty members Richard Ullman, guitar, and guest Kristen Carmichael-Bowers, voice, at Centre Congregational Church in Brattleboro, VT.

For this recital, Ullman revisits some of his favorite pieces from Spanish composer Andrés Segovia’s repertoire.  Segovia is considered the father of modern classical guitar and, although his works have fallen out of fashion in recent decades, is credited with popularizing classical guitar music. Segovia was a catalytic figure in granting respectability to the guitar as a serious concert instrument capable of evocativeness and depth of interpretation.

Over Columbus Day weekend, the Blanche Moyse Chorale will again honor the memory of its beloved founder, Blanche Moyse, by performing a favorite selection of J. S. Bach’s choral music. This year’s selection is the “Christmas Oratorio”. But why in October? Simply because Mme. Moyse’s celebrated New England Bach Festival (NEBF: 1969-2004) was always held in early October. Thus the scheduling of her annual Memorial Concert has followed the same tradition. Moreover, while Bach’s oratorio does tell the Biblical Christmas story, this great work of art touches on many aspects of human experience, transcending the specifics of the Christian holiday calendar.

The 3rd Annual Blanche Moyse Memorial Concert will be performed twice: at 7:30 P.M. on Friday, October 11, at the Bellows Falls Opera House, in Bellows Falls, VT, and at 2:00 P.M. on Sunday, October 13, at Marlboro College’s Persons Auditorium, in Marlboro, VT.

The Gaslight Anthem are a band that formed in the early 2000s from New Jersey. They are heavily influenced by Bruce Springsteen and the Clash. They are also influenced by legendary soul and blues musicians such as Miles Davis, Wilson Pickett and Sam Cooke. They rock hard and know how to masterfully craft a great song. Their songs almost invariably have memorable melodies. They have 4 LP’s out at this point and all of them are solid with tons of excellent tracks. ’59 Sound is probably their best. Check it out!

What does a conductor do? Why? How?

What’s actually going on during music making?

How and why do we respond to music? Create music?

Can music and our responses be controlled, and is that desirable?

What is it to listen? To hear? To rehearse or practice? To participate? To lead?

Organist Hans U. Hielscher will perform on the Estey pipe organ at First Baptist Church in Brattleboro on Sunday, October 13, 2013 at 7:00 pm. The concert is a collaboration between the Estey Organ Museum and the Brattleboro Historical Society and will include works by Groom, Rawsthorne, Guilmant, Pasini, Ketèlbey, Goemanne and von Suppé.

Mr. Hielscher currently serves as Director of Music at the Wiesbaden Marktkirche in Germany and was Municipal Organist at the Wiesbaden Kurhaus Concert Hall from 1979 to 2004. Since 1962, he has presented more than 2,800 organ recitals throughout the world in such venues as Paris, Milano, London, Liverpool, Ely, Salisbury, Norwich, Wells, Canterbury, Prague, Budapest, Bern, Zürich, Oslo, and Stockholm.

Listen to this album. It is one of the most beautiful pieces of music you will ever hear. In fact, all of Nick Drake’s work is. Nick Drake is an English folk musician who released just 3 precious LP’s during his ultra short career before his untimely death. He would practice guitar for hours upon hours. He also experimented with different, unusual tunings. He was such an accomplished guitarist and songwriter, that to this day, hardly anyone can play a Nick Drake song properly, let alone figure out the tuning.

Almost unknown during his time, now decades later his music has finally received its proper recognition. Allmusic.com rates all three of his albums at 5 stars. For any musician to have three 5 star rated albums is almost unheard of. “Road” (track 5) and “From The Morning” (track 11) are my two favorite tracks on this album.

SHARON ROBINSON, cello; BENJAMIN HOCHMAN, piano

On Sunday, September 29, the Brattleboro Music Center’s 2013-14 concert season opens with an exceptional performance of the complete cycle of Beethoven’s sonatas and variations for piano and cello.

World renowned musicians, cellist Sharon Robinson and pianist Benjamin Hochman, will play Beethoven’s complete works for cello and piano, five sonatas and three sets of variations, in two concerts, 3 pm & 7pm, at Centre Congregational Church in Brattleboro, VT. 

Blue Oyster Cult are a lot like Babe Ruth – many home runs, and a lot of strike outs. When examining their musical output, you have to dig through a ton of dirt to get to the gold. However, when Blue Oyster Cult hit a home run, they hit it out of the park. 

Their origins date all the way back to 1967 and they have been recording and performing ever since. In fact, I had the opportunity of seeing them live when they played the Colonial Theatre in Keene a few years back. Blue Oyster Cult were intelligent, highly proficient musically, and at times, rocked harder than almost any other band. For this weekend’s concert, I have included Youtube cuts of 5 of my favorite Blue Oyster Cult ragers, enjoy:

Mini Mozarts is a composition and singing based theory class that focuses on learning the basics of rhythm, melody, and harmony through a hands-on, creative approach. The young musicians will experiment with sounds in order to achieve a deeper understanding of how music is constructed. We will march, clap, and play games to learn about how rhythm, tempo, and time signatures affect musical expression. Students will learn about scales by creating their own, then describing what those scales sound like. Students will also experiment with harmony by discovering how different notes sound while played together. At the end of each class, we will take time to write our own individual compositions based on what we learned that day. On the last day of class, each student will get to go home with a book of their original music!

Next Stage Arts Project and Twilight Music present folk singer, songwriter and comedienne extraordinaire Cheryl Wheeler plus folk/rock sister duo The Nields in concert on Friday, September 20 at 7:30 pm at Next Stage, 15 Kimball Hill in Putney, VT.

It has always seemed as if there were two Cheryl Wheelers, with fans of the New England songwriter relishing watching the two tussle for control of the microphone. There is poet-Cheryl, writer of some of the prettiest, most alluring and intelligent ballads on the modern folk scene. And there is her evil twin, comic-Cheryl, a militant trend defier and savagely funny social critic. As the poet and comic forces join, taking their separate turns and melding into the same artistic vision, Wheeler emerges as a delightful, gifted and openhearted performer.

Steve Wilson and Lewis Nash to present a Musical Dialogue at the Vermont Jazz Center on September 21st, 2013 at 8:00 PM

The Vermont Jazz Center will kick off its 2013-2014 season on Saturday, September 21 at 8:00 PM with a performance by two of the most highly esteemed musicians in jazz. Along with their myriad other projects, saxophonist Steve Wilson and drummer, Lewis Nash have been performing together as a duo since 2001. At the VJC they will be joined by bassist, Nat Reeves.

Black Sabbath are the pioneers and progenitors of Heavy Metal. Along with Deep Purple, Zeppelin and Judas Priest they created an entire genre of music.

Formed by Tony Iommi, Ozzy Osbourne, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward in 1968, Black Sabbath were light years ahead of their time. Their first album was written in 1969 and is a timeless masterpiece. The opening track “Black Sabbath” still sounds heavy, ominous, and ahead of its time in present-day. 

Black Sabbath tackled heavier and darker subjects than their counterparts at the time. In an era when people were singing “Are you going to San Francisco with flowers in your hair?” Black Sabbath were writing songs like: Children Of The Grave, War Pigs, and Hand Of Doom. 

In my opinion John Belushi playing Joe Cocker is the funniest video of all time.

At Woodstock in 1969 Joe Cocker delivered this performance of his rendition of the Beatles’ “With A Little Help From My Friends.” Joe Cockers’ passionate performance sounded great, but his stage antics are utterly bizarre and ridiculous. Watch this video first.

Today’s outdoor orchestra concert will take place as intended on the lawn at the Guilford Organ Barn!

Bring your umbrellas, raincoats, and waterproof grass-sitting gear, but so far things are looking good…we will monitor Dopple Radar all afternoon to be prepared if any significant precipitation approaches.

Lunch starts serving at noon, music at 2, follow signs from Guilford Country Store and allow 30 minutes to get to the barn from Brattleboro.  Directions may also be found at www.fomag.org

Friends of Brooks Memorial Library present: The Great American Songbook: A Night of Jazz and Dancing with Chris Bakriges and guests.

Saturday, September 21, 7-9 PM
The American Legion Hall, 32 Linden St., Brattleboro, VT

The Friends of Brooks Memorial Library is sponsoring a concert to fund the public access computing and lifelong learning programs of the library. 

Chris Bakriges, an internationally recognized jazz pianist living in Southern Vermont, is volunteering his talents again to create a special evening of  instrumental pieces from the Great American Songbook–the most popular and enduring popular songs from the 1920’s to 1950’s–on September 21, starting at 7 PM, in the American Legion Hall in Brattleboro. 

Twilight Music concludes its 11th annual Twilight On The Tavern Lawn series of folk, world beat, rock, jazz, zydeco, Celtic, swing, blues and bluegrass summer concerts on Sunday, August 25 with with Celtic rock quintet Prydein. The seventh and final concert of the 2013 series begins at 5:30 pm in downtown Putney on the Putney Tavern lawn (bring a lawn chair or blanket) or at Next Stage at 15 Kimball Hill in case of rain. The series is sponsored by the Town of Putney, Putney Food Co-Op, Soundview Paper Company, The Putney Inn, Next Stage Arts Project, The Stockwell Brothers and many other Putney businesses and organizations.  The concerts are free to the public (donations are accepted) and food will be available.

The Brattleboro Farmers’ Market hosts live music every week from 11am to 1pm. This week, Xopo performs: “Xopo plays traditional tunes of the Balkans on a variety of instruments including accordion, trombone, clarinet, drums and an array of stringed instruments. Haunting love songs, lively dance tunes and surprising rhythms create a diverse and entrancing musical experience.”

Twilight Music and Vintage Parlor Guitars present internationally acclaimed, roots music fingerstyle guitar virtuoso Toby Walker at Hooker-Dunham Theater & Gallery on Saturday, August 24 at 7:00 pm. All proceeds from the show will go to support Twilight Music concerts in Brattleboro and Putney, VT. Guitarist Steve Chipman of Chester, VT-based Vintage Parlor Guitars and acoustic bassist Thom Huntington will open the concert.

Toby Walker mixes blues, ragtime, country, bluegrass, rock and old time jazz in his own unique guitar style. He has been featured in the New York Times, the London Sunday Times, the London BBC and Sirius-XM radio, has won the International Blues Challenge Award given out by the Blues Foundation in Memphis, TN and has toured the US, England, Wales, France, Germany, Belgium and Holland. Jorma Kaukonen of Hot Tuna and Jefferson Airplane says “Flat out… you have to hear this great musician… I’m blown away.”

Guilford, Vt. – Friends of Music at Guilford’s 48th annual Labor Day Weekend Festival presents French organ music in an intimate rural barn and orchestral works by composers from five countries on the expansive lawn just outside.

The Festival opens on Saturday evening, August 31, at 7:30 with “Vive la France!” on the Guilford Tracker Organ. Clark Anderson, who has performed recitals of solo and ensemble works by English and German composers on this instrument, has chosen a program of solo works by French composers from Pérotin le Grand (1180-1236) to Jean Langlais (1907-1991), including Couperin, Raison, Daquin, Boëly, Vierne, Gounod, and the ever-intriguing Anonymous.