Event Detail

AMERICAN BERSERK: AMERICAN AVANT-GARDE TREATMENTS OF JAZZ IDIOMS AND LEGENDS

John Adams' American Berserk provides an apt title for Kyle Adam Blair's program of solo piano works combining America's indigenous jazz music with the angularity and energy of the avant-garde. The program also includes Stuart Saunders Smith's Pinetop (dedicated to boogie-woogie forerunner Clarence "Pinetop" Smith), George Crumb's Eine Kleine Mitternachtmusik (a set of pieces exploring the melody and harmonies of Thelonius Monk's 'Round Midnight) and Elliott Carter's 1945 Piano Sonata, which recalls the scampering agility of jazz pianists such as Art Tatum and Oscar Peterson.