Southern Bookman

Glenda Jackson's "King Lear" on Broadway to close early

The Broadway production of "King Lear" starring Glenda Jackson will close a month early.

Producer Scott Rudin announced that the show at the Cort Theater will have its final performance on June 9, The New York Times reported. The production had been scheduled to end on July 7.

The closure comes a year after the 83-year-old Jackson won her first Tony Award, given for her performance in Edward Albee's "Three Women."

First appearing on Broadway in the 1960s production of "Marat/Sade," the two-time Academy Award winner Jackson has been a favorite of New York critics and audiences.

Even Jackson's immense star power couldn't save a troubled production. Director Sam Gold's innovative interpretation of Shakespeare's 400-year-old tragedy received mixed reviews.

Nor did Jackson draw raves for her portrayal of Lear. She shockingly failed to receive a Tony nomination, with Ruth Wilson's dual performance as the Fool and Cordelia receiving the production's sole nomination.

Wilson's work fulfills a fascinating theory by some scholars that Shakespeare saw the characters as the same person. Both possess a pure love for the mentally failing king, and confront him with searing but healing truth.

London audiences were more receptive to a woman playing Shakespeare's most complex role. Jackson was lauded for her performance as the tormented king in director Deborah Warner's hit production at the Old Vic.

Lear is riven by masculine conflicts of pride, loss of authority and the waning of strength and sexual potency. I assume that Jackson portrays Lear as a primarily male figure, "every inch a king." The gender shouldn't matter. What counts is acting ability.

Gender is one of Shakespeare's major obsessions. Until the era of Charles II, boys played female roles. In "As You Like It" and other plays,women disguise themselves as men, exploring the comedy that rises from the confusion of mixed identities. Rather than radical, Jackson's performance continues Shakespeare traditions.

Shakespeare tragedies have been popular on Broadway, even in the recent past. Gold's production sounds difficult for audience comprehension, but the chance to see a great actress perform the theater's greatest role should be irresistible for theater-goers. The fizzling of Lear on Broadway is a troubling sign of cultural deterioration and the desire for unchallenging escapist entertainment.

 

 

New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival shows city's resilience

I once more knew what it means to miss New Orleans when I read Jay Pareles' New York Times article Thursday about the 50th Jazz and Heritage Festival, which begins this weekend in the Crescent City.

While New Orleans is known for its dysfunctional local government, high murder rate and economic distress, the Jazz and Heritage Festival is an overwhelming success.

As Pareles reports, the festival each year raises $3 million for the nonprofit foundation that puts on the event, which covers two weekends. The foundation uses the money for a range of educational programs and support for local musicians.

Perhaps the Jazzfest owes its popularity to being a daytime event. Going against New Orleans' reputation as a city that never sleeps, the Jazzfest closes each day at 7 p.m., as Pareles reported. That puts the focus on the music, rather than high-tech light shows and such.

Purists have criticized the festival for booking big names like this year's Katy Perry, but out of 688 performers, 600 are New Orleans and south Louisiana acts with mainly local followings, according to Pareles.

This year, a heralded appearance by the Rolling Stones stirred excitement, but the venerable group had to drop out because of Mick Jagger's heart surgery. Then replacement Fleetwood Mac canceled because of some mysterious illness suffered by Stevie Nicks. Now, Widespread Panic will perform.

The event began in 1970 at Beauregard Square, later known as Congo Square, a slave market where jazz originated with the slaves' chanting and dances. Growing success after a few struggling years led to the event moving to the New Orleans Fairgrounds. Jesus, I also remember betting on horse races there as a young man. I attended several of the early festivals at the fairgrounds, but didn't go to another until years later, when the event resumed after Hurricane Katrina.

Along with the music, the festival offers a great selection of Cajun, Creole and other varieties of New Orleans food. Sometimes I think of going just to get another helping of jambalaya.

You can have the Stones, Fleetwood Mac and Widespread Panic. I'm homesick to see New Orleans performers Irma Thomas, the Meters, the Neville Brothers and so on. I'd especially love to see master pianist Ellis Marsalis perform April 28 with his sons Wynnton, Branford, Delfeayo and Jason. Now in his 80s, Ellis played a big part in the festival's early success.

Every year when the Jazzfest rolls around, I think of my late friend Loftin, who had a complete collection of Jazz Festival posters. Hard to imagine that this will be the fifth Jazzfest he'll miss.

This year's poster shows the family of performers who have appeared at Jazz Fest, including those no longer with us like Professor Longhair and Fats Domino.

Many believe New Orleans won't survive. Old and new generations of Jazzfest musicians say otherwise.

Affirmations of music, from Anne-Sophie Mutter to Hal Blaine and Lester Young

The New York Times and Wall Street Journal presented affirmations of music Thursday morning amid the newspapers' reports of human disasters, political stupidity and corporate malfeasance.

Two pieces hallmarked innovative musicians' contributions: a WSJ tribute to sax virtuoso Lester Young , and The Times' look at 12 hit songs defined by the beat of ace session drummer Hal Blaine.

Jazz historian John Edward Haase in the WSJ article looks at Young's ground-breaking career. Friday will be the 60th anniversary of Young's death at age 49. He was one of the many black geniuses who died too young from American racial oppression and inadequate appreciation of his art.

Billie Holiday, who made a series of essential jazz recordings with Young, died a few months later, ravaged from drugs and state harassment. She called Young "Pres," and he bestowed upon her the name, "Lady Day." They are two musical geniuses who deserved much better from their native land.

As Haase notes, Young was one of the many black jazz and blues pioneers who were born in Mississippi, transforming the state's poverty and repression into transcendent music.

He first made his mark with Count Basie's band in Kansas City, and after moving to New York increased his fame playing in clubs and recording with Holiday and others. Hasse says Young's quieter, more refined style contrasted with  that of the more raucous Coleman Hawkins, and that his artistry anticipated the emergence of Charlie Parker.

The Times' Christopher R. Weingarten looks at Blaine's drum work on 12 songs recorded by artists ranging from Phil Spector's Crystals and Ronettes to Simon & Garfunkel, Sam Cooke, Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass, the Monkees, Johnny Rivers, Nancy Sinatra,  the Byrds, the Beach Boys and the Fifth Dimension. Blaine, who died this week at age 90, was the mainstay of a group of session artists who played on nearly every recording made in Los Angeles from the 1960s through the early '80s.

Called by Blaine "The Wrecking Crew," the group played on pop recordings by Frank Sinatra, rock and soul top 40 hits, and TV series and commercial themes. They had the versatility and ability to switch from genre to genre during marathon recording sessions.

Blaine is especially remembered for his drum sequence that kicks off the Ronettes' "Be My Baby." But that assertive rat-a-tat-tat annunciation was not common; he most often was a subtle driving force underlying the songs like a steady tide. He is the latest among a group of landmark session musicians who died recently, receiving posthumous recognition for their musical contributions unheralded during their careers.

The saddest part of Blaine's New York Times obituary was the statement that his recording career waned in the 1980s when producers began using drum machines on recordings. A drum machine could never match Blaine's human touch.

For further affirmation of human creativity, the Times had two enthralling reviews of performances at New York City's Carnegie Hall. As mammoth condos and office buildings rise just blocks away, the venerated music hall asserts the best of New York as an arts center.

The great Times classical music critic Anthony Tommasini blesses a performance by the young pianist Beatrice Rana, who sailed through the daunting challenge of Chopin's 24 Etudes, mesmerizing her audience. For years, Tommasini has been among the Times writers whose byline I look for each day. He adds to my limited classical music knowledge, and makes me feel that I was with him at the performance, After his review, I will look forward to exploring Rana's recordings.

The well-known violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter also enthralled a Carnegie Hall audience with a recital based on Mozart, according to Times critic Corinna de Fonseca-Wohlheim. Mutter performed along with her longtime piano accompanist, Lambert Orkis. After their performance, Mutter returned for an encore featuring works by her former husband, Andre Previn, who died recently after a long and varied career that brought joy to millions.

Lester Young. Billie Holiday. Hal Blaine. Beatrice Rana. Anne-Sophie Mutter. Andre Previn. The inexhaustible range of music creativity gives hope for humanity, as the news pages increase our despair.

Bill Charlap Trio finds swinging heart of Leonard Bernstein classics

The Bill Charlap Trio's concert at Atlanta's McElreath Hall Thursday night displayed some of the classical music gravity that critics see as deadening to jazz.

The audience at the Atlanta Jewish Music Festival's event showed the respectful deference of symphony goers. Charlap, bass player Sean Smith and drummer Kenny Washington performed selections from the trio's album of Leonard Bernstein songs. While edging toward jazz, Bernstein remained rooted in classical traditions and musical theater.

The acoustically true concert hall next to the Atlanta History Center has a symphonic ambience that contrasts with the dark intimacy of a club like New York City's Village Vanguard, a musical home for Charlap.

Charlap and his mates found the swinging heart of upbeat Bernstein numbers like "America" from "West Side Story" and the blues core of "Big Stuff" from "Fancy Free," recorded by Billie Holiday, as Charlap noted in one of his gregarious monologues. Wistful ballads like "Somewhere" and "Some Other Time," an encore, raised the emotional level beyond exploiting the easy nostalgia of those who were young when "Westside Story" and "On the Town" arrived.

The trio's interpretations took the familiar songs down new paths, making them fresh and vital creations, not museum pieces. A few of the swinging numbers moved members of the audience to spontaneous clapping.

Displaying his virtuoso power and melodic precision, Charlap dazzled the audience. Washington excelled with a number of pulsing drum solos, and an unerring rhythm. Smith also performed several solos, showing the versatility of the bass. My only regret was that they didn't do "New York, New York," my favorite Comden-Green toe-tapper.

The appreciative audience included the 92-year-old saxophone legend Jimmy Heath, introduced by Charlap to strong applause, and H. Johnson, WABE's jazz DJ.

In the Charlap Trio's expressive take on Bernstein, classical mastery and jazz's primal force struck fire.

 

Farewell, Lee Radziwill

The Sunday New York Times' wasteland of unreadable articles yielded one piece that held my attention: a testament to Lee Radziwill's momentous life. The sister of Jackie Kennedy Onassis died Saturday at age 85, according to the Times obituary.

One of the last links to John F. Kennedy's era of glamour and international adventurism, Radziwill led a multi-hued life of celebrity and dilettantism. Reading the Times obituary, I was reminded of Princess Margaret, Queen Elizabeth's sister who enjoyed a similar life of aristocratic swanning among the smart set.

The youngest daughter of swashbuckling financier "Black Jack" Beauvoir and socialite Janet Norton Lee, Radziwill like her famous sister grew up in the privileged atmosphere of elite schools, finely furnished homes and artistic pursuits. Both Caroline Lee and Jacqueline were also given the independence to pursue professional careers. After graduating from college, they traveled together on an old-style international tour.

Lee gave staunch support to her sister after two tragedies that defined her legacy as first lady. When Jackie and JFK lost their infant son Patrick a week after he was born, Lee orchestrated Jackie's two-week retreat from public life abroad Aristotle Onassis' yacht. Lee introduced Jackie to the Greek billionaire who would become Jackie's second husband. The two sisters reportedly had a falling out over the marriage.

Following JFK's assassination soon after the child's death, Lee joined with Robert F. Kennedy in comforting and advising the widowed first lady, whose fortitude entranced the nation.

Along her marriage and divorce to Poland's Prince Stanislaw Radziwill, one of three husbands, Lee pursued careers as an actress, writer, filmmaker, interior designer and entrepreneur. She was a member of an international circle of fame and wealth that included Truman Capote and the Rolling Stones.

Among Radziwill's most memorable accomplishments was the "Grey Gardens" documentary about her eccentric aunt Edith Ewing Bouvier Beale and her daughter,Edith Bouvier Beale, who lived in aristocratic squalor in a rambling, dilapidated home in East Hampton, New York. The scenes of Lee arriving at the Beales' squalid home and their resistance to her rehabilitation efforts make for great comic-tragic cinema.

While living in Jackie Kennedy Onassis' shadow was a tough act, Radziwill carried it out with grace, style and imagination. Like her famous sister, Lee was one of the great ladies of her time.

SunTrust merger ends long association with Atlanta

SunTrust's $66 billion banking merger with BB&T closes a defining chapter in Atlanta's history.

The as yet unnamed corporation will place its headquarters in Charlotte, the North Carolina city that supplanted Atlanta years ago as the Southeast's leading banking center.

While SunTrust will keep investment banking operations in Atlanta, the loss of the Fortune 500 company's headquarters is a blow for Atlanta's always fragile corporate self-image.

Echoing Atlanta pillar C&S Bank's fall years ago to the Charlotte upstart that turned into Bank of America, SunTrust will be subsumed into BB&T, whose Winston-Salem headquarters also will shift to Charlotte. With assets of $440 billion, the new entity will be the nation's sixth largest bank corporation.

SunTrust has deep and tightly entwined roots with Atlanta. Founded as Trust Co. in 1891 by many of Atlanta's pioneer business leaders seeking to raise a New South metropolis from the ashes of the Civil War, the bank fostered a close partnership with Coca-Cola Co. and propelled Atlanta's 20th century emergence.

Bank President Ernest Woodruff and businessman W.C. Bradley bought Coca-Cola from founder Asa Candler in 1919, and Woodruff later installed his son, Robert W. Woodruff, as Coke's president. The younger Woodruff made Coca-Cola an iconic global brand, and Trust Co. for years held millions in the soft drink giant's stock.

The bank administered Woodruff's many altruistic projects as Atlanta's "anonymous donor" such as the gift of millions in Coke stock to Emory University in 1979. Coke's secret formula was kept in a bank vault until recently.

Along with Mills B. Lane's senior and junior's C&S Bank, Trust Co. shaped much of modern Atlanta as it grew from a regional backwater into a major  international metropolitan area.

Following a merger with Florida's Sun Banks and other purchases of regional companies, SunTrust remained headquartered in Atlanta, a foundational pillar of the business community along with Delta, Coca-Cola and Southern Co.

Despite Atlanta's downfall as a banking center decades ago, the city has thrived, drawing a number of Fortune 500 companies and millions of new residents. But the loss of SunTrust headquarters to Charlotte will hurt Atlanta's national image.

That follows Colorado-based Liberty Media's purchase of the Braves from local hero Ted Turner, and the loss of CNN headquarters to New York, small ripples in Atlanta's economy but wounds to the city's esteem. The deal also comes after Amazon's snub of Atlanta for a second regional headquarters.

SunTrust trumpeted its local ties by purchasing naming rights to the Braves' stadium when the team recently moved to Cobb County. The stadium will be renamed, perhaps with whatever name the new banking company's brand consultants create.

Like Rich's and Davison's, the SunTrust name will disappear from Atlanta's landscape, another significant endpoint in the city's history.

 

 

James Taylor's music gives hope

Avoiding the Trump "State of the Union" horror show, I happened upon a James Taylor performance on "Austin City Limits," rebroadcast on MTV.

A huge fan of the young Taylor from his first Apple Records days, I'd found his middle-aged pop period too bland and middle-of-the road.

But I was captivated by his "Austin City Limits" performance, based upon those Top 40 hits like "How Sweet It Is" and "You've Got a Friend."

Taylor did perform a couple of his old hippie favorites, "Carolina on My Mind," and "Country Road," but not "Sweet Baby James" and "Fire and Rain." Perhaps those generational standards were edited out for commercials, or he's sick of singing them.

Backed by a cracker-jack band, including "Blue Lou" Marini of "Blues Brothers" fame on sax, Taylor displayed virtuoso finger-picking on his acoustic guitar. Taylor's voice has dropped since his  youth, but it remains an impressive instrument. Taylor matches stylists like Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett in his expressive interpretations of lyrics.

Taylor's fans, many of them millennials, joined in the singing. Taylor,  like very few others, has united a community with his songwriting, singing and guitar playing. In this dark era of Trump, Taylor gives hope that the state of the union remains caring, creative and community-conscious.

Farewell, Reggie Young

Reggie Young's distinctive guitar licks propelled many songs into hits.

Young, who felt at home in Memphis and Nashville, died last week at age 82, according to a New York Times obituary.

From Chip Momans' American Sound Studio in Memphis to Nashville's Music Row, Young created combinations of notes that accented songwriters' melodies and gave deeper meaning to lyrics.

Young's simple but effective runs were the glue on hits ranging from The Box Tops' "The Letter" to Elvis Presley's "Suspicious Minds" and Dusty Springfield's "Son of a Preacher Man."

After Momans' studio closed, Young moved to Nashville, where he played on country-flavored hits like Waylon Jennings "Luckenback Texas" and Willie Nelson's "You Were Always on My Mind." He also gave the signature intro to Billy Swan's "I Can Help," a slice of music that combines rock, jazz and the blues in an other-worldly spin.

He also played with several bands, including the Bill Black Combo, formed by Elvis' former bass player. The band toured with the Beatles on their 1964 American tour. Young said he gave Harrison tips on playing the blues, according to the Times. Perhaps the mentoring was reciprocal: Young played sitar on several recordings.

A master of a variety of styles, from Southern "chicken picking" to bluesy runs, Young was "a cross between B.B. King and Chet Atkins," he said in an interview. The many streams of Southern music flowed through his guitar.

 

 

Farewell, Roy Clark

Roy Clark at first gained recognition as a crossover TV personality whose citified country humor and instrumental talent appealed to TV variety show audiences.

Like Glen Campbell, Clark rose to stardom in Los Angeles with an urbanized country sound that reflected the migration from the farm to the city. Clark, who gained widespread fame as the host of the long-running country-fried hit "Hee-Haw," died this week of pneumonia in Tulsa, Okla.

While Clark's musical performances brought him appearances on 1960s TV variety shows, he also developed a comic personna of the canny Southern bumpkin, similar to those  of Andy Griffith or Jim Nabors. Clark's rubbery facial expressions guaranteed laughs.

Later, Clark reverted more and more to cornpone hillbilly humor as the host of the long-running "Hee Haw," along with the dynamic Bakersfield singer Buck Owens. Clark and Owens' "picking' and grinnin'" routine always made me cringe, as if I were watching the black actor Stephen Fetchit act out black stereotypes in 1930s movies.

While the "Hee-Haw"  act's broad humor was funny enough, it depended on demeaning Southern stereotypes. I was chagrined that such wonderful musical talents as Clark and Owens stooped to such condescending work. Owens apparently hated the bit.

While Clark was funny, his self-deprecating comic act overshadowed his immense talent as a singer and guitar/banjo player. Clark's musical talent compared to Campbell's, and he could have had a similar singing/playing career without the clowning.

Well, people loved "Hee Haw," as white audiences once loved "Amos and Andy."  Such broad, corn-shucking humor was long a staple of country acts. Even Hank Williams had such a comic in his band. Minnie Pearl built a durable career out of country humor. 

Clark had stage presence, and his comedy touched millions. Yet, his delivery of songs like "Yesterday When I Was Young" and his virtuoso instrumental performances made me wish that he'd concentrated on his music.

 

 

Lenny Bruce resurgence in force, New York Times article finds

The late comedian/social commentator Lenny Bruce "is having a pop culture resurgence," according to a New York Times article.

During Bruce's career when he was oppressed by governmental authorities, the Times did little to support his battle for First Amendment freedom. It did report on his arrests. The article is one of the newspaper's several attempts during the years after Bruce's death to make amends.

The strongest bit of evidence offered for a Bruce revival is the popularity of a play based on Bruce's performances. Ronnie Marmo's "I'm Not a Comedian, I'm Lenny Bruce" has gained a following in Los Angeles, the article reports. It also mentions Brandeis University canceling another play based on Bruce's work. Efforts by Bruce's daughter, Kitty, to keep his legacy alive are also mentioned.

While a widespread rediscovery of Bruce is unlikely, his work remains fresh and relevant. Even as comedians inspired by Bruce enjoy unprecedented freedom, the forces of repression that Bruce battled keep a death-grip on power. In today's political and cultural cacophony, Bruce would stand out.

Frequently arrested on obscenity charges, the First Amendment martyr died of a morphine overdose. His popularity spiked in the early 1970s with Frank Zappa's release of Bruce's Berkeley concert on Bizarre Records and a hit movie starring Dustin Hoffman that followed a best-selling biography.

The recording of Bruce's Berkeley concert is a cultural touchstone of the late 1960s, with sharp insights on subjects ranging from the Kennedy assassination and Lyndon Johnson's presidency to the social hypocrisy of race and sexual relations. While Bruce is most remembered for his live performances, his autobiography is one of the essential books of the era.

Black-and-white photographs of Bruce and 1960s Times headlines about his arrests accompany the article. Bruce seems of another time and place, but his voice still rings true.