JAM Magazine: April/May 1998 Issue: Folly Jazz News

by Doug Tatum

The last two concerts of the 1997-98 Folly Jazz Series will feature the Marian McPartland Trio on Saturday, April 18th, and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band on Friday, May 8th. In a departure from the Folly's customary format, please note that there will not be a "Jazz Talk" discussion prior to Marian McPartland's concert.

Marian McPartland's virtuoso performances at the piano and her own personal style have won her international acclaim as one of the most important figures in jazz today. Born in England as Marian Turner, she began her studies preparing for a career in classical music. At age seventeen she began studying at the Guildhall School of Music in London, but she had already fallen in love with jazz, and after three years she left Guildhall to join a four-piano group touring in vaudeville theatres countrywide.

During World War II Marian joined ENSA, the English equivalent of USO Campshows, and later transferred to the USO, going to France with the first group after the Normandy invasion. Sitting in on a jam session in Belgium, she performed with the renowned cornetist Jimmy McPartland who was then a member of the U.S. Army Special Services. The two formed a small combo with a USO rhythm section and played for troops in the front lines. Shortly thereafter Jimmy and Marian were married in Aachen, Germany.

The couple came to the States in 1946, where Marian performed with her husband's quintet in Chicago before establishing herself as an important jazz soloist and leader. She opened in New York in 1959 at the Embers Club, and two years later, the Marian McPartland Trio played what was supposed to be a two-week engagement at the Hickory House on 52nd Street. They were held over for an entire year. The Hickory House became home base for Marian and her group into the 1960s, and during this time they made several recordings for Capitol and Savoy, the first of which was Marian McPartland at the Hickory House.

In 1979, Marian started her own record company, Halcyon. The first release was Interplay, and the catalogue now numbers 18 albums, including Marian McPartland Plays the Music of Alec Wilder, which is sometimes cited as her very best recording. During the last ten years she has been signed with the Concord label.

One of the activities most important to Marian is her work in colleges and universities, playing concerts and conducting residencies. She is the recipient of the Duke Ellington Fellowship Medal from Yale University and has honorary doctorates from Ithaca College, Union College and Bates College. In 1994, Marian received Down Beat's Lifetime Achievement Award.
Since 1977, she has served as producer, host and performer on her Peabody Award-winning "Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz" on National Public Radio. Her brilliant playing and engaging conversational style result in entertaining programs that provide an enlightening insider's view of jazz.

Today, Marian is in demand performing with symphony orchestras, and she remains extremely busy with her group doing what she loves best -- playing jazz! Few would disagree with the Boston Herald's description of her playing: "Swinging elegance at its most soulful."

The Preservation Hall Jazz Band is the living tradition of authentic New Orleans jazz, as performed by some of the very musicians who created it. The Preservation Hall Jazz Band has been an institution in New Orleans' French Quarter for nearly five decades. The historic Preservation Hall is an idea as much as a structure. It was built as a house about 1750 in the heart of the French Quarter. It was a tavern during the War of 1812 and through the years has served many purposes -- as a home for creative writers and artists, as an art gallery, and today as the physically blemished but impeccable home of the great Preservation Hall Jazz Band. This is where authentic New Orleans jazz is preserved, a sound that comes from the streets, saloons and riverboats of over 70 years ago. About this musical institution, the Los Angeles Times stated, "The traditional brand of New Orleans jazz championed by the Preservation Hall Jazz Band has to be the purest musical expression of the 'melting pot' idea."

Each Folly Jazz concert begins at 8:00 p.m. More information is available by calling (816) 474-4444, Monday through Friday, 10:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

Doug Tatum is the Executive Director of the Folly Theater.

RETURN TO APRIL/MAY 1998 MAIN INDEX

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© Kansas City Jazz Ambassadors 1996-2001. All rights reserved.






	Search our site:		by Doug Tatum The last two concerts of the 1997-98 Folly Jazz Series will feature the Marian McPartland Trio on Saturday, April 18th, and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band on Friday, May 8th. In a departure from the Folly's customary format, please note that there will not be a "Jazz Talk" discussion prior to Marian McPartland's concert. Marian McPartland's virtuoso performances at the piano and her own personal style have won her international acclaim as one of the most important figures in jazz today. Born in England as Marian Turner, she began her studies preparing for a career in classical music. At age seventeen she began studying at the Guildhall School of Music in London, but she had already fallen in love with jazz, and after three years she left Guildhall to join a four-piano group touring in vaudeville theatres countrywide. During World War II Marian joined ENSA, the English equivalent of USO Campshows, and later transferred to the USO, going to France with the first group after the Normandy invasion. Sitting in on a jam session in Belgium, she performed with the renowned cornetist Jimmy McPartland who was then a member of the U.S. Army Special Services. The two formed a small combo with a USO rhythm section and played for troops in the front lines. Shortly thereafter Jimmy and Marian were married in Aachen, Germany. The couple came to the States in 1946, where Marian performed with her husband's quintet in Chicago before establishing herself as an important jazz soloist and leader. She opened in New York in 1959 at the Embers Club, and two years later, the Marian McPartland Trio played what was supposed to be a two-week engagement at the Hickory House on 52nd Street. They were held over for an entire year. The Hickory House became home base for Marian and her group into the 1960s, and during this time they made several recordings for Capitol and Savoy, the first of which was Marian McPartland at the Hickory House. In 1979, Marian started her own record company, Halcyon. The first release was Interplay, and the catalogue now numbers 18 albums, including Marian McPartland Plays the Music of Alec Wilder, which is sometimes cited as her very best recording. During the last ten years she has been signed with the Concord label. One of the activities most important to Marian is her work in colleges and universities, playing concerts and conducting residencies. She is the recipient of the Duke Ellington Fellowship Medal from Yale University and has honorary doctorates from Ithaca College, Union College and Bates College. In 1994, Marian received Down Beat's Lifetime Achievement Award. Since 1977, she has served as producer, host and performer on her Peabody Award-winning "Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz" on National Public Radio. Her brilliant playing and engaging conversational style result in entertaining programs that provide an enlightening insider's view of jazz. Today, Marian is in demand performing with symphony orchestras, and she remains extremely busy with her group doing what she loves best -- playing jazz! Few would disagree with the Boston Herald's description of her playing: "Swinging elegance at its most soulful." The Preservation Hall Jazz Band is the living tradition of authentic New Orleans jazz, as performed by some of the very musicians who created it. The Preservation Hall Jazz Band has been an institution in New Orleans' French Quarter for nearly five decades. The historic Preservation Hall is an idea as much as a structure. It was built as a house about 1750 in the heart of the French Quarter. It was a tavern during the War of 1812 and through the years has served many purposes -- as a home for creative writers and artists, as an art gallery, and today as the physically blemished but impeccable home of the great Preservation Hall Jazz Band. This is where authentic New Orleans jazz is preserved, a sound that comes from the streets, saloons and riverboats of over 70 years ago. About this musical institution, the Los Angeles Times stated, "The traditional brand of New Orleans jazz championed by the Preservation Hall Jazz Band has to be the purest musical expression of the 'melting pot' idea." Each Folly Jazz concert begins at 8:00 p.m. More information is available by calling (816) 474-4444, Monday through Friday, 10:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Doug Tatum is the Executive Director of the Folly Theater. RETURN TO APRIL/MAY 1998 MAIN INDEX ------------------------------------------------------------------------ © Kansas City Jazz Ambassadors 1996-2001. All rights reserved.