[Dixielandjazz] Poetry & Jazz & Dance - tribute to Billie Holiday

[Steve barbone]

For Charlie Suhor & others interested in jazz & poetry. Mr. Brown has added
another dimension, dance, to the mix in work about Billie Holiday.

Cheers,
Steve Barbone 

Dance Review | Ronald K. Brown

Remembering Lady Day

By JOHN ROCKWELL, July 8, 2005, NY Times

BECKET, Mass., July 6 - In recent years, Ronald K. Brown has established
himself as one of the bright lights of African-American choreography.  .  .
.   . (snip)

The novelty was what had been billed as the world premiere of a new piece
called "Blueprint of a Lady: The Once and Future Life of Billie Holiday."
What was seen Wednesday was called "Set One" in the program, and seems
always to have been intended as the first part of a multipart work. It will
expand into an evening-length work in November at the New Jersey Performing
Arts Center. 

In addition, Robert Penn's slide projections on the rear wall are still in a
vestigial stage. So instead of a world premiere, audiences are getting a
preliminary version of the first part of a piece.

The piece itself promises to offer a poetic take on Holiday's life and art.
This is a collaboration between Mr. Brown and the jazz singer Nnenna
Freelon, and on Wednesday it seemed as much her piece as his, if not more.
She sings and orates poetry, with a percussion-heavy live quartet behind
her, and the dancers creep out from the band for brief bits that augment
aspects of the songs, almost like backup dancers at a pop concert.

How it will all play out in November, we can only guess. Wednesday's advance
taste suggested a lot of promise, with a lot of work yet to be done.

Ronald K. Brown continues at the Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, 358 George
Carter Road, Becket, Mass., (413) 243-0745, through Sunday. The festival
runs through Aug. 28.