The Columbus Jazz Orchestra, in association with the Jazz Arts Group, salutes New York City in presenting “We Love New York,” Saturday and Sunday at the Southern Theater.
The show is part of the popular “Great American Songbook” subscription series, and will cover songs from Broadway’s biggest productions to the soulful sounds of Harlem. “The Great American Songbook” refers to a special arrangement of songs that have become genre and American standards over the years. These are songs that people are generally familiar with – representing everything the genre has to offer.
“All of the tunes that will be played have a definite New York theme,” said Robert Breithaupt, executive director of the Jazz Arts Group.
“First, with the war ending, there is nothing at all political behind this. This show has been planned for some time, and obviously with what happened in New York, it wasn’t a good time to have it then,” Breithaupt said.
“This is strictly about the great music that has to do with New York. Music-wise, they’re going to be playing tunes from the musical ‘West Side Story,’ as well as songs like ‘On Broadway,’ and ‘New York, New York,’ ” he said.
“These are great songs, not just New York songs, but American songs. There are special arrangements for all the songs that they’ll be playing, just like we do for all the numbers in our shows,” Breithaupt said.
“We Love New York” will feature some of Columbus’ own best-known celebrities, including popular-jazz artist Arnett Howard; jazz singer Heanette Williams; and pianist, keyboard player, and vocalist Dave Powers. Television personality Cabot Rea from NBC 4 will also be involved in the event, as will Aaron Diehl, the winner of a Jazz Arts Group sponsored high school competition.
“The competition that he won is a statewide competition, and it’s really special to have Aaron with us,” Breithaupt said. “Hank Marr was one of the finest-jazz musicians to come out of Columbus, and the competition is quite and honor to win. We’re happy that he’ll (Deihl) be here.”
Diehl, 18, is a Julliard hopeful and was identified as being an outstanding young Ohio jazz musician in tribute to Marr, who had a life-long dedication to education and music. The Jazz Arts Group’s decision to have a competition like this was not to just honor Marr, but to also fulfill their mission of music and education.
The group’s primary goal is to expose the public to great-jazz artists, but realize without acknowledging and educating the next generation of artists, it could hurt the genre and the art form. As a result, and to show their commitment to all aspects of jazz, Diehl will be a featured soloist on piano at the “We Love New York” shows.
The guest artists at the event will be joining up with artistic director Emeritus, Ray Eubanks, and the 18-piece Columbus Jazz Orchestra – which is regarded as featuring some of the finest jazz musicians in the nation.
A New York-themed show is something that has been planned for some time, but after the Sept. 11 attacks, the Jazz Arts Group and Columbus Jazz Orchestra didn’t think it was an appropriate time to have the shows.
“We had something scheduled right around the time of Sept. 11, but it just didn’t seem like it was in very good taste,” Eubanks said. “It just didn’t seem right to us, so we ended up postponing anything that we wanted to do that had anything to do with the city. If people come to the shows now, and it helps them to remember, then that’s great; but this show has been in the works for a long time.”
The Jazz Arts Group and Columbus Jazz Orchestra expect the New York theme will be one of the more popular draws of the “Great American Songbook” series because New York City has long been considered one of the great epicenters of American jazz.
Both parties think people will take advantage of the opportunity to not only hear a night of great jazz, but also to hear some of the popular Broadway hits, and pieces like Billy Joel’s “New York State of Mind.” The theme is not limited to just New York artists, and emotional songs about the city, but anything that refers to well-known areas of the city in a geographic sense is fair game.
“A theme is what catches the eye of the ticket buyers,” said Margaret Barr, director of operation and orchestra anager.
“I think that we’ve used the Broadway theme a little too much, and it isn’t supposed to be just about Broadway. It’s supposed to represent a wider array of music like you would find in New York,” Barr said. “Also, we have such wonderful local musicians, and Ray Eubanks really wanted to feature some musicians that may not have been featured before.
“We will have people coming in from New York that might not be familiar with what’s going on in the area, and I think Ray just wanted to make sure that he got everybody together on stage,” she said. “He just wants everybody to come out and have a really great time.”
The “We Love New York” shows will be at 8 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday at the Southern Theater. Tickets are $28-$38 for the general public and $10 for students.
