Click here to listen to JAZZ IN THE CONCERT HALL: young people’s concert
Due to a very positive response to my last video/playlist, Leonard Bernstein’s Young Person’s Concert, I have decided to include another! This one is important to me for many reasons. As a young drummer, jazz was essential to my musical development. And Bernstein was a musician who was able to cross the musical borders of jazz and classical music, which was very inspiring.
This concert features a staggering “who’s who” lineup of performers:
- Richard Davis, bass
- Don Ellis, trumpet
- Benny Golson tenor saxophone
- Eric Dolphy, alto saxophone
- Joseph Cocuzzo, drums
- Gunther Schuller, guest conductor/composer
- Aaron Copland, guest pianist/composer
Seeing these jazz greats in an education concert is incredible. They were all significant influences on me as a drummer.
However, to see a seamless addition of Aaron Copland, arguably America’s most important composer, and Gunther Schuller, a prodigiously talented conductor and composer is astonishing.
As an assistant conductor of the Seattle Symphony, I would later have a chance to work with Maestro Schuller. He was very kind, witty, and utterly brilliant.
This concert from 1964 remains a landmark: jazz and classical geniuses under one roof for the benefit of our children’s education and enjoyment!
Happy listening and watching!
Eric