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Bach in Time: A Musical Relocation to the Pre-Industrial Era of the 18th Century

One of Daniel Jencka's hand-crafted harpsichords.

Before I could afford a car, I walked as fast as I could those mornings I was late for work. I jumped over the cracks in Carnegie Park's sidewalk, letting my eye catch the echo of sun against lone blue spruce. Before I owned a cell phone, my afternoons resonated with natural silence, with only the crack of frog and cricket against ear. Before I bought a computer, my hands knew how to hold a pen, how to round my letters with legible panache. Today, my body forgets the simple, the sane.

Bach in Time, a concert featuring myself and harpsichordist and composer Daniel Jencka, will musically transport you to the 18th Century, a time before the Industrial Age. Daniel will play a beautiful hand-crafted copy of a Flemish harpsichord found in the Smithsonian Institute. The program features, as its centerpiece, J.S. Bach's Two and Three Part Inventions. Compiled in 1723, the pieces were written as a vehicle for musicians to learn how to play multi-voiced music in a cantabile style.

Listeners may be familiar with the Bach inventions, but have probably not heard them played by a musician using 18th century fingering technique as well as an 18th century way of tuning known as a well-temperment, where every key has its own unique color. Daniel has spent decades studying the performance practice of the 18th and 17th centuries, and will showcase his expert knowledge of those techniques.

Daniel has performed across the country and in Canada. Known for his expressive playing, he will also perform Michel Corrette's "Carillon," a haunting immersion into the sounds of the Carillon taken in the form of a fantasy.

I will begin the concert with a meditative song performed on Native American flute, and then read an original story written for this concert, designed to pull listeners away from modern times and place them in a world uninterrupted by cell phones and Blackberries. Interspersed between harpsichord pieces, I will read selections from the 18th century.

Please join Daniel and me for Bach in Time, on September 6, 7 p.m. at the Dwan Light Sanctuary, UWC, Montezuma. All are welcome. Donations appreciated.

No Name: All Jazz

by Birdie Jaworski


The No Name Jazz Band

A practice room at NMHU reverberates with the Brazilian beat of a drum set, its tone reminiscent of a steel drum band, of nights spent in tango with handsome strangers under island stars. A singer's voice pierces the rhythm, clear and low, a lone tarnished flute mimicking her vibrato in a sultry call and response. Five musicians breathe together, their sophisticated, sexy music at odds with their casual slacks and sandals. The clouds outside seems to gather to listen; they crowd together, deep reds, blues, vivid orange, the colors of suspense and desire.

Jazz has been called the purist expression of American democracy, a music built on compromise, independence, and cooperation. Jazz is the first indigenous American musical style to infect the rest of the world. From the beat of ragtime syncopation to the angelic soaring of gospel choirs to the deep down growl of the blues, jazz's many roots are celebrated across the entire United States. Las Vegas has her own jazz band, the five-member No Name Jazz Band, whose improvisation and stylistic riffs can be heard this Sunday afternoon at the Pendaries Community Center.

The No Name Jazz Band consists of noted classical guitarist Carl Bernstein on guitar, NMHU Band Director and visiting professor Ed Harrington on bass, Bruce Holmes on alto sax, tenor sax, and flute, Ralph Marquez on drums and percussion, and Betty Thompson on vocals. Working together in their third year, the group has planned an afternoon of jazz standards with a Brazilian flair. Pendaries Community Center will become a speakeasy, complete with a cash bar, and room enough for dancing for those who dare.

"I'm sleeping a lot less," laughs Holmes, as the band takes a short break from rehearsal.  "I spent ten hours yesterday working on this stuff. It's a very vulnerable medium. It's all our friends coming to the concert, you're kind of hanging it out there. But since we're among friends, that's also our saving grace."

Jazz doesn't happen by simply reading notes on paper. You need to feel the music coarse through your body, react to pitch and timbre by throwing expectations aside, by letting fingers, mouth, legs make your instrument transmit the emotions of your soul. Bernstein's guitar carries its player's thoughts, delights, despairs, as it envelops singer Thompson's voice with a musical caress.

"This is our third annual concert," Marquez says. "We have things now and then that come up, but this is our big concert of the year. We get together for a few months before the concert and cram and cram and cram. That's what we're doing tonight."

His co-band members laugh. They easily pick up a piece in the middle, react to each other's nuance and charm. This is a group whose love for the music and love and respect for each other mingle with technical expertise.

"Jazz is a style not common in this community, and we're trying to get it out," explains Bernstein. "We're lucky, because there really is an appreciative audience out there for it. We're inviting the entire Las Vegas community to come out to the concert and have some fun."

Sponsored by the Las Vegas Arts Council, the concert begins Saturday at 3 p.m. and includes two sets of jazz standards such as "All the Things You Are," "Black Orpheus," "My Foolish Heart," and "Bye Bye Blackbird." CDs from prior performances will be for sale, and the concert will be recorded for a future CD. The band hopes to expand their presence in the community by offering more concerts.

"We're interested in performing more often. This is a once a year thing, we could use more of it," says Holmes. "It's going to be a great concert, a lot of fun. Everyone has a wonderful time experiencing this beautiful music."

For more information on the concert, or to inquire about hiring the No Name Jazz Band for your gig, please call Carl Bernstein at 666-2319 or email Carl through his website at www.carlbernstein.net.

A Master, A Doctor, and A Professor

Three Guitarists Perform at Kennedy Hall
by Birdie Jaworski

Daniel Weston sat in a Santa Fe instrument dealer's shop and cradled a guitar in his lap. The guitar's soft curves and rich lustre spoke of the maker's exquisite care, of a life born into the studied lineage of a lutier. Paulino Bernabe, the guitar-maker, once said that he looked for the most noble woods and that the wood always thanked him with quality, by allowing him to build a good guitar. Weston knew the guitar belonged to him by the way it perfectly fit his arms, his body. He didn't immediately realize it also carried a spiritual connection.

"I have a very special guitar made by Paulino Bernabe," explains Weston, an accomplished guitarist whose expert repertoire features master composer Francisco Tárrega. "He was a student of Francisco's favorite student. Instead of going on to a performing career, he established himself as a lutier. I've had the instrument for three years. When the dealer put this guitar in my hands, it was a beautiful fit. I didn't even know the connection to Francisco. It blew me away when the information came out. I am very pleased to be performing with this instrument."

Francisco Tárrega is often called the father of modern classical guitar playing. A Spanish composer, he laid the foundations for 20th century classical guitar and for increasing interest in the guitar as a recital instrument. Weston will perform his interpretations of Tárrega's impressionistic masterpieces this Thursday evening at NMHU's Kennedy Hall in a concert called Three Fabulous Guitarists. Rounding out the program is Brazilian native and local favorite, Roberto Capocchi and Stuart Green, a virtuoso recently featured on NPR.

Weston, who holds a Master of Music in guitar performance, opens the concert with Tárrega's compositions.

"Tárrega is one of the gentlemen that bridged the romantic period into impressionism," says Weston. "These gentlemen, including Maurice Ravel and Claude Debussy, were responsible for the transition into more expressive music. I'm very proud to be part of that lineage. I'm also including some compositions of my own in the program, each of them based on nature themes. One of them is titled 'Ancient Glacier,' and I introduce the piece by asking the audience 'how would you feel if you were an ancient glacier?' Another piece is 'Joy of the Victories,' a tribute to the largest living beings on earth, the sequoia trees. Though they are the largest and most majestic creatures, they can't withstand the wind and elements alone; they must support each other in groves. I will close with 'The Butterfly,' the life cycle of the winged insect in music."

Roberto Capocchi holds a Doctorate in Music and teaches at Highlands University, the United World College, the College of Santa Fe, and Adams State College, and has performed to critical acclaim throughout the United States, Brazil, Mexico, Canada and Belgium. Born in Brazil, Capocchi plays a 1988 Sergio Abreu guitar, from Brazil, and a 1996 Gioachino Giussani, from Italy. His playing is considered technically brilliant, with a haunting grasp of the emotions behind the modern pieces he plays. He plans to perform selections from the 20th and 21st centuries.

"I think a lot of Roberto," Weston says. "He has a Brazilian flair to his way of playing. He's very expressive. He has an incredibly ability to connect with the audience. He is concentrating on modern music and will be playing some very contemporary guitar pieces, very sophisticated pieces."

Stuart Green, the head of the guitar departments at the University of Redlands and California State University at San Bernadino, studied with several important guitarists. A protege of renowned guitarist, the late Terry Graves, Green also studied under Dusan Bogdanovic and Juan Serrano among others. His recent CD set, a collection of suites by the French Baroque master Robert De Visee transcribed and recorded for the first time, received high praise from Soundboard Magazine as well as airtime on NPR.

French Baroque guitar consists of dance movements, though highly refined, and not necessarily meant for people to dance to. Composers like De Vissee were more international in their style, so the listener hears true French alongside Spanish and early classical period kinds of sounds and forms. Green's performance of De Vissee's largely-unknown works promises to be exceptional, meticulous, mysterious.

"Stewart was recently featured on NPR for over a month, they really loved his work," Weston points out. "He received some scholarly attention. He's going to play a lot of French Baroque as well as include some other pieces, as something as a surprise."

The concert begins at 6 p.m. at Kennedy Hall, and listeners can purchase tickets in advance or at the door. The Three Fabulous Guitarists will perform an additional concert on Friday, July 18 at 6 p.m. in the sanctuary of the Episcopal Church of the Holy Faith at 311 East Palace Avenue in Santa Fe. Roberto Capocchi will perform his solo guitar faculty recital of Spanish music at Kennedy Hall on September 14.

"Roberto is concentrating on modern music, Stuart is playing some elegant and beautiful French Baroque music, and I'm focusing on Spanish Impressionism," recaps Weston. "The spectrum of the concert is covering a lot of palates. It's a really nice mix, the way this is playing out. People will get their musical fill."

Three Fabulous Guitarists, Thursday, July 17, 6 p.m. at Kennedy Hall, NMHU. Tickets are $20 in advance, and $30 at the door. Student tickets are $10. For more information or to purchase tickets, please call 505-747-7564.