INDY'S WEEKLY ALTERNATIVE NEWSPAPER HIGHLIGHTING ARTS, ENTERTAINMENT AND SOCIAL JUSTICE

Jazz Notes 11/28/07

• Monika Herzig, jazz pianist/composer, and Norbert Krapf, Pulitzer-nominated poet, have resurrected a form of the 1950s Beat poetry and jazz with a strong Hoosier flavor. Friday, Nov. 30, they will hold a CD release party for their new CD, Imagine: Indiana in Words and Music (Acme). The event will be at 7 p.m. in the Earth House Coffee Shop downstairs in the Lockerbie Central United Methodist Church, at the corner of East and New York streets. One of the CD’s tracks pays tribute to the Hampton Sisters, who passed away this year, and their family: “On the Road with the Hampton Sisters.” The bulk of the 15 poems reflect Krapf’s affinity for the Southern Indiana hill country.

• The Buselli-Wallarab Jazz Orchestra will hold its annual holiday concert, including guest Everett Greene, at the Jazz Kitchen Sunday, Dec. 2. Shows are at 6 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. Admission is $20 per person. For reservations, call 317-253-4900.

• The Buselli-Wallarab Jazz Orchestra has one of the hottest jazz CDs of the Christmas season. Owl Studios’ Carol of the Bells has gathered rave reviews by jazz critics and has been chosen by Jazziz magazine to have one of the CD’s tracks on its annual Christmas compilation CD, which honors the 12 best jazz cuts of the year. The album will accompany the December issue for subscribers.

• Other new Christmas jazz CDs worth pointing out include Origin Records’ pair of laid-back, straight-ahead holiday releases. The Cool Season is a modal approach to traditional and contemporary seasonal tunes performed by a West Coast quartet, featuring Bill Anschell on piano and Thomas Marriott on trumpet. Winter includes the cool sounds of holiday cheer by a quartet featuring Getzian-sounding tenor saxophonist/pianist Hans Teuber. Lastly, the surprise and shocker of the holiday season is Barry Manilow’s In the Swing of Christmas on the Hallmark label. Yes! Manilow can swing and even scat. He sings 26 separate vocal tracks on “Silver Bells.”

• The Celebration of Aletra Hampton’s Life concert has been changed to Monday, Dec. 17 from 7-10 p.m. at the Indiana History Center Theater. Admission is a donation of $10. Local and national jazz performers will be announced at a later date.