Red, Burnt Umber, and Gold
And let us reflect on Concord, New Hampshire and the 15th anniversary of the Capitol Center for the Arts.
I love towns of the North East, especially in the fall. Colonial style houses, red, burnt umber (frank stewart's word), and gold leaves speckle the grass and are strewn about clean-cut streets. This cacophony of terra-cotta and yellow, frames the solitary majesty of trees in various states of undress starkly against the clear baby blue sky.
Its 6am. Frank and I are going to meet a friend for breakfast in Fairhaven. The morning air slaps you into the freshness of a day. Just a few hours ago we were on the stage swinging and working things out for patrons of the Capitol Center. The feeling was one of deep, small-city soul. We love playing community theatres because a tight-knit group of die-hards is always at the center of activities. They make great sacrifices for the arts knowing that concerts, plays, museums, shows, ballets, etc. bring people together for something meaningful. Now, everyone may not understand or may not even like everything that's on the stage, but they love the fact of it being there. People here know each other and each other's kids and grandkids.
The Capitol Center raised over $2million from 1990 to 1995 to renovate their historic theatre. The 2mil was still not enough to paint the ceiling, so more than 3000 volunteer hours were expended to make thing stylish and right. The Center brings all kinds of people I love from BB King to Alvin Ailey American Dance to Metropolitan Opera House broadcasts. The gig was relaxed. It was uncommonly happy for a black tie gala. People in Concord make this house part of their lives. It's evident in the natural way they inhabit the space. We are joined by Bobby Allende and Christian Rivera on timbales and congas for several red hot songs and the band is glad to be on the road playing for folks. After the gig we go to the reception and meet people and enjoy them enjoying themselves and the success of the Center.
Here's some of what I hear. "Mr. Marsalis this was my first jazz concert and it wasn't bad. Wasn't bad at all." Now that's not, "I just loved it," but it's an honest 'that was ok and I might check it out again'. You don't have to give me no more than that, if you don't feel it. One gentleman told me I played with his high school band some years ago and it impacted his life in a very meaningful way. I thanked him and explained that you never know if all those many years of encouraging young people to play has any effect. He spoke with such sincerity that his wife began to get full and she brought me to the edge of getting full too.
The band at the reception started playing 'Brick House'. I must have played that song 10,000 times in high school. It took me right back to so many wedding receptions, and proms, and dances. Damn! (Time is no enemy but a friend) I reminded myself. Flo Woods said, "Mr. Marsalis, working in this theatre is my golden retirement plan….and I LOVE IT." Evie showed me her name tag and said, "…..Well, I had y'all on my bucket list. I'm almost ready to go now." Young Chris Burbank who was at Juilliard (playing all kinds of trumpet just a few years ago) came with David, a high school student he is mentoring.
I always love to see musicians in their twenties leading teenagers into the music and into an understanding of what it means to be a young adult. David was excited to meet me. I said,"Stop bullshitting son" (my standard line to kids who think I'm a big deal). We both laughed and talked about the importance of reading and developing your intellect. Yeah, it was a special night. I was telling Ryan at sound check that I played these types of community theatre's all over America throughout the 80's and 90's. He just looked slightly over to me and nodded.
Executive Director Nicki Clarke summarised it all in her beautiful opening remarks when she further rallied the troops in saying,"…. as we embark on the Capitol Center’s journey through the next fifteen years and beyond, what continues to remain at the center of our work is the transformative power of that moment of live performance when the audience becomes one with an artist. That is the core of who we are. A couple of weeks ago a young women who had not spoken for many months finally did so with the words ‘thank you’ after attending a performance….." That's what we say to everyone in attendance in Concord on thursday. Yeah.
Wynton