Tuesday, October 19, 2004
Free Flight comes to First Flight
From the scenic vistas of the new First Flight High School parking lot to the uptown swank of the gigantic auditorium they came, to hear flautist Jim Walker and his band Free Flight.
The first concert of the 2004-2005 Outer Banks Forum for the Lively Arts series was prefaced by Ray Charles' final CD playing on the PA system, while early arrivals ogled the unfamiliar venue.
Audience members shared accounts of driving first into the bus-access entrance and then completing a few circuits of each of the parking lots before lighting near the entrance of the new school, which still looked like a giant architect's model.
The auditorium with its 40-foot ceiling faced a real stage-one that could be fallen off-beneath a velvety curtain on which shone a light in the shape of the Outer Banks Forum logo.
The reserved seating scheme seemed to go pretty smoothly save some confusion when "unreserved" seats were claimed by folks with those seat-numbers on their tickets. It turned out those seats were still open for purchase right up to curtain.
Still, it was only the first night in this very different hall, and smoothness and professionalism was the order of the evening.
At 7:35 Forum president Bill Teague addressed the throng. He said "We call this our Chrysler Hall-what do you think of it?" to cheers from the assembled multitudes.
Vice president of programs Amy Huggins spoke of the growing pains of the Forum and recognized the patrons and others who made the move to the new auditorium possible.
She described the new Yamaha concert grand piano donated in memory of Judy McCarthy and Peggy Shea by "The Great Piano Project," a local consortium of businesses, councils, forums and individuals, and introduced Johnny O'Brien, piano-tuner to the stars (the late Ray Charles among them) who came up from his New Orleans home to receive and tune the piano. He praised the acoustics of the new hall.
The lights went down and the curtain rose on Jim Walker and Free Flight, who opened with "Mo's Art," a peppy piece of California jazz that incorporated bits of Mozart and gave six-string bassist Tim Emmons room to walk about. His touch was light enough at times to make his bass sound like a fretless, yet powerful enough to evoke an acoustic contrabass.
The sound was crisp and present and the tight combo cooked.
The band, which also included Bryan Pezzone on piano and Mike Packer on drums, occupied a well-lit island in the center of the vast black stage. Walker, who played the Forum last year with his band, said he was definitely not having deja vu!
The group took music from many sources, not least from the pens of Pezzone and Walker, and showed how much could be done with flute, piano, electric bass and drums. There were minimalist passages of quiet piano and flute, from Pezzone's "Lament," and full-blown orchestral renditions, like the "Rhapsody in Blue" segments of a Gershwin medley.
Pezzone's own "Dancing Hearts" showcased his amazing technique. He seemed to change voicing in mid-chord at times, giving the impression one gets on a moving train, when a passing train gives the watcher the impression his own train is backing up.
After the train passes the watcher realizes suddenly his train is moving forward, not backward.
Mozart, Niccolo Paganini and J.S. Bach were well-represented, the second orchestral suite in B minor of Bach ("a great improviser," said Walker) getting the full-blown Free Flight treatment.
The tempo was fittingly metronomic at first, befitting the master, but it wasn't long before it took flight. One wished Johann could have heard it; he'd surely have approved.
Paganini's 24th Caprice for Violin got a workout, with the whole band involved in 100-mph unison playing, fingers and drumsticks all a-blur.
Drummer Packer opened Pezzone's "Methane Five," a composition inspired by Dave Brubeck's classic 5/4-time jazz piece, "Take Five."
Packer, in homage to Joe Morello's drum solo on the Brubeck tune, opened "Methane Five" with a remarkable solo of his own. His drums stuttered and rolled while the other musicians stood in the dark corners of the stage.
Gradually the rhythms coalesced into 5/4 time (you can count 1-2-3-4-5, 1-2-3-4-5 to it) and the band wandered back to their instruments. They picked up the tune while the audience applauded Packer and let it roll awhile, each five-beat bar flowing smoothly to the next.
The grand finale was the aforementioned Gershwin medley. "The number of pieces he wrote is ridiculous," Walker said, "and now, we'd like to play all of them."
Instead, they put together a medley, which began with the classical-jazz touchstone "Rhapsody in Blue," the small combo deftly handling Ferde Grofe's orchestration while Pezzone shone on piano.
Then, anything went. They wove other Gershwin pieces into the mix, including "I've Got Plenty of Nuthin'" and "Someone to Watch Over Me" in rhythms including salsa and calypso, while the "Rhapsody" came and went and returned for the grand finale.
The audience leaped to their feet before the final note faded, but to no avail. The band had faded into the dark distant recesses of the stage and were not seen again (save by a few lucky souls trying a different exit).
The evening had been a fitting inauguration for the First Flight auditorium; it, like the band, was slick and fresh - harbingers of an exciting season.
©2004 Womack Newspapers Inc.
The first concert of the 2004-2005 Outer Banks Forum for the Lively Arts series was prefaced by Ray Charles' final CD playing on the PA system, while early arrivals ogled the unfamiliar venue.
Audience members shared accounts of driving first into the bus-access entrance and then completing a few circuits of each of the parking lots before lighting near the entrance of the new school, which still looked like a giant architect's model.
The auditorium with its 40-foot ceiling faced a real stage-one that could be fallen off-beneath a velvety curtain on which shone a light in the shape of the Outer Banks Forum logo.
The reserved seating scheme seemed to go pretty smoothly save some confusion when "unreserved" seats were claimed by folks with those seat-numbers on their tickets. It turned out those seats were still open for purchase right up to curtain.
Still, it was only the first night in this very different hall, and smoothness and professionalism was the order of the evening.
At 7:35 Forum president Bill Teague addressed the throng. He said "We call this our Chrysler Hall-what do you think of it?" to cheers from the assembled multitudes.
Vice president of programs Amy Huggins spoke of the growing pains of the Forum and recognized the patrons and others who made the move to the new auditorium possible.
She described the new Yamaha concert grand piano donated in memory of Judy McCarthy and Peggy Shea by "The Great Piano Project," a local consortium of businesses, councils, forums and individuals, and introduced Johnny O'Brien, piano-tuner to the stars (the late Ray Charles among them) who came up from his New Orleans home to receive and tune the piano. He praised the acoustics of the new hall.
The lights went down and the curtain rose on Jim Walker and Free Flight, who opened with "Mo's Art," a peppy piece of California jazz that incorporated bits of Mozart and gave six-string bassist Tim Emmons room to walk about. His touch was light enough at times to make his bass sound like a fretless, yet powerful enough to evoke an acoustic contrabass.
The sound was crisp and present and the tight combo cooked.
The band, which also included Bryan Pezzone on piano and Mike Packer on drums, occupied a well-lit island in the center of the vast black stage. Walker, who played the Forum last year with his band, said he was definitely not having deja vu!
The group took music from many sources, not least from the pens of Pezzone and Walker, and showed how much could be done with flute, piano, electric bass and drums. There were minimalist passages of quiet piano and flute, from Pezzone's "Lament," and full-blown orchestral renditions, like the "Rhapsody in Blue" segments of a Gershwin medley.
Pezzone's own "Dancing Hearts" showcased his amazing technique. He seemed to change voicing in mid-chord at times, giving the impression one gets on a moving train, when a passing train gives the watcher the impression his own train is backing up.
After the train passes the watcher realizes suddenly his train is moving forward, not backward.
Mozart, Niccolo Paganini and J.S. Bach were well-represented, the second orchestral suite in B minor of Bach ("a great improviser," said Walker) getting the full-blown Free Flight treatment.
The tempo was fittingly metronomic at first, befitting the master, but it wasn't long before it took flight. One wished Johann could have heard it; he'd surely have approved.
Paganini's 24th Caprice for Violin got a workout, with the whole band involved in 100-mph unison playing, fingers and drumsticks all a-blur.
Drummer Packer opened Pezzone's "Methane Five," a composition inspired by Dave Brubeck's classic 5/4-time jazz piece, "Take Five."
Packer, in homage to Joe Morello's drum solo on the Brubeck tune, opened "Methane Five" with a remarkable solo of his own. His drums stuttered and rolled while the other musicians stood in the dark corners of the stage.
Gradually the rhythms coalesced into 5/4 time (you can count 1-2-3-4-5, 1-2-3-4-5 to it) and the band wandered back to their instruments. They picked up the tune while the audience applauded Packer and let it roll awhile, each five-beat bar flowing smoothly to the next.
The grand finale was the aforementioned Gershwin medley. "The number of pieces he wrote is ridiculous," Walker said, "and now, we'd like to play all of them."
Instead, they put together a medley, which began with the classical-jazz touchstone "Rhapsody in Blue," the small combo deftly handling Ferde Grofe's orchestration while Pezzone shone on piano.
Then, anything went. They wove other Gershwin pieces into the mix, including "I've Got Plenty of Nuthin'" and "Someone to Watch Over Me" in rhythms including salsa and calypso, while the "Rhapsody" came and went and returned for the grand finale.
The audience leaped to their feet before the final note faded, but to no avail. The band had faded into the dark distant recesses of the stage and were not seen again (save by a few lucky souls trying a different exit).
The evening had been a fitting inauguration for the First Flight auditorium; it, like the band, was slick and fresh - harbingers of an exciting season.
©2004 Womack Newspapers Inc.
