Music in Bass Hall: John Kordalewski Trio: The Compositions of Jazz Pianists

Boston-based pianist John Kordalewski leads a trio in a concert of music composed by jazz pianists in a concert in Bass Hall on Sunday, January 26, at 3:00 p.m. The trio is filled out with John Hunter on bass and Tim Gilmore on drums.

The concert will feature the work of several of the great pianist-composers in jazz history, beginning with the masters of the bebop era (Bud Powell, Thelonious Monk, Elmo Hope) and progressing through modernists such as McCoy Tyner, Kenny Barron, and Mulgrew Miller.  The past year has seen the passing of two of the giants, Mulgrew Miller and Cedar Walton. There will be brief narration explaining each pianist-composer’s unique characteristics and his place in the historical continuum, and time for audience questions.

John began playing professionally in Washington, D.C. in the late 1970s, and has lived in Boston since 1991.  He has performed in concerts, clubs, and festivals throughout the Eastern United States and Canada.  In the words of Mike Joyce of the Washington Post, he “creates imaginative yet quite accessible music.”  He leads and is the arranger for the Makanda Project, a thirteen-piece group playing previously unrecorded compositions by Makanda Ken McIntyre and featuring several of Boston’s leading jazz musicians.  For many years he also led a trio featuring legendary Boston drummer Bobby Ward.  He has worked with such notable jazz musicians as Carl Grubbs, Makanda Ken McIntyre, Oliver Lake, Andy McGhee, Webster Young, Craig Harris, Ricky Ford, Odean Pope, Ku-umba Frank Lacy, Billy Hart, Julius Hemphill, Cab Calloway, and Charlie Rouse.  In the 1990s he was a core member of saxophonist Salim Washington’s 9-piece Roxbury Blues Aesthetic, which occupied a unique niche in the Boston jazz scene.   He has performed in Julius Hemphill’s saxophone opera “Long Tongues,” and directed performances of Duke Ellington’s Sacred Music.  He appears on the CDs “Love in Exile,” by Salim Washington and RBA, “KabuMerikana: The Sum of Me,” by Candida Rose, and the forthcoming “Struttin’” by the Makanda Project.  He has also participated in numerous jazz education projects and led clinics at several colleges and universities.  He received Massachusetts Cultural Council grants in 2000, 2011, and 2013 and has received performance grants from the Puffin Foundation, the Music Drives Us Foundation, the Mabel and Louise Riley Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts.  He also holds a doctorate in education from Harvard University.

John Hunter (bass) has performed in concerts and television appearances from Maine to San Francisco, accompanying such jazz greats as Dizzy Gillespie, Clark Terry, Slide Hampton, Sheila Jordan, Toshiko Akiyoshi, Jimmy Heath, James Moody, Louis Bellson, Joe Williams, and Paquito d’Rivera.  He is also a frequent performer with the Granite State Symphony, the Portland Symphony Pops, and the Hanover Chamber Orchestra.  His teaching credits include faculty positions at Dartmouth College, the University of New Hampshire, and the University of Maine at Augusta.  His trio cd “Skylight” has received rave reviews.

Tim Gilmore (drums) has performed and/or recorded with such diverse artists as Lester Bowie, Marian McPartland, Pete Seeger, Tower of Power, Richie Cole, Shawn Colvin, Catie Curtis, Delfeayo Marsalis, and Stanley Clarke.  He can also be heard on PBS documentaries “Dying to Please,” “The Dolphin Dilemma,” and “Birds of Prey,” the HBO mini-series “Women in Prison,” and the feature film “Vermont Is for Lovers.”  He currently teaches at Plymouth State University as well as the Concord Community Music School and the Interplay Jazz Camp.

To purchase tickets for this concert online, please scroll to the bottom of this page.  You may also call the Monadnock Center at 603-924-3235 to reserve seats.

The 2014 Season for Music in Bass Hall is sponsored by Waterhouse Restaurant in Depot Square, Peterborough. Concert goers are encouraged to enjoy dinner before the show (or brunch before our Sunday afternoon shows), or libations and snacks after the concert. For reservations call 603-924-4001

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