What Motown was to Detroit, Stax was to Memphis, developing a signature soul sound for the South, melding blues, jazz, and funk. But unlike its northern companion and competitor, Stax had a house band that became so intimately involved in recording that they began cutting their own tracks as Booker T.
The living legacy of some artists, however, is just as much in the sound as much as the songs. Few have achieved such universal recognition as Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons, who were an early highlight of Ravinia’s 2016 season in their festival debut.
Before there was glam rock, there was “progressive rock,” that nebulous genre that saw the music of ’60s psychedelia taken to new, expansive dimensions of lyrical poetry and symphonic instrumentation. The groundwork was perhaps laid by the sweeping sonorities of Pet Sounds and Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, but if a single album were to have firmly established what “prog rock” was, that album was The Moody Blues’ Days of Future Passed.
In the 30 years since they fired up the world’s collective imagination with the vivacious flamenco spirit of “Bamboléo,” the Gipsy Kings have kept kindling the heated fervor for Spanish and South American rhythm, recently earning their first Grammy Award for Savor Flamenco. On the long-awaited album of all-original material, “the group’s trademark virtuosity and verve are as engaging as ever. …
On March 15, Ravinia President and CEO Welz Kauffman announced the not-for-profit festival’s complete 2017 summer lineup—more than 140 events from June 3 through Sept. 17—including the 82nd annual residency of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra as well as visits by the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra and the National Youth Orchestra of Venezuela with conductor Gustavo Dudamel in his Ravinia debut. In addition to Dudamel, 58 artists make their Ravinia debuts, including Stevie Nicks, John Mellencamp, Pentatonix, Common, Hamilton star Leslie Odom Jr., and Ryan Speedo Green. Tickets are available to donors beginning March 22 and go on sale to the general public on May 9, exclusively at Ravinia.org. See the complete 2017 lineup at Ravinia.org.
On Sunday evening, the world tuned in for music’s biggest night, with past Ravinia stars highlighting the winners’ list and performing center stage! Congratulations to Chucho Valdés, Dolly Parton, Fantastic Negrito, James Conlon, John Scofield, John Williams, Lalah Hathaway, Ted Nash, Vince Gill, Willie Nelson, Yo-Yo Ma & The Silk Road Ensemble, and Zuill Bailey on their monumental Grammy wins!
In 1966, LBJ was president, miniskirts were quickly gaining popularity, and Simon and Garfunkel's "The Sound of Silence" became a hit. This was also the year that WBKB aired The Sound of Ravinia, an hour-long television special that showcased the many sides of Ravinia including classical, jazz, opera, pop, and folk music. It aired on Thursday, August 11, and contains footage from four separate concert dates.
The covers of Ravinia's programs from its opening in 1904 through the 1930s were gorgeous “mini-posters” designed by well-known Chicago-area illustrators. I’d run across them in used bookstores and junk shops, where they were usually mixed in with old magazines and comic books. By the time I left for college, I’d been able to gather together most of the run. You’ll notice names like Hamilton King, James McCracken, Stark Davis, and intaglio artist Allan Weary. There’s also a 1930 program cover designed/illustrated by then Chicagoan Hal Foster, who was between Tarzan strip assignments.
There is something magical in viewing vintage advertisements, especially from the ’50s and ’60s. From the photographic/illustrative choices to the verbal style of the copy, it’s possible to get a small sense of what culture was like back then. Ravinia’s old program books contain a wealth of these vintage advertisements, with companies pitching such varied products as stereos, records, fashion, pianos, jewelry, and more. Some make overt references to Ravinia, many containing photographs or illustrations of the park itself to make the Ravinia connection that much stronger. The selections in this post focus on these very ads.
As a classical musician, there is nothing I hate more than people ridiculing my art. When the only representations of opera singers in the media are fat, sweaty tenors and sopranos the size of battle cruisers, you tend to be pessimistic as to whether or not it is possible to portray a passion for classical music in a way that a modern audience would find inspiring.
In the most unorthodox way, Florence Foster Jenkins proves that classical music, though often seen as stuffy and alienating, stems from a burning adoration for the art of bringing music to life.
Because I was a still very young, I chafed at the appropriation of harpsichord music by pianists—especially since I was studying harpsichord—and it seemed rather obvious to me that one ought to perform music on the instrument for which it was composed. This was the bedrock assumption of the “original instrument” school of “authentic” performance practice, which was just beginning to go mainstream at the time and which today dominates the field of Baroque music performance. What I’ve learned since then, however, is that the whole subject is far more complex than it first seemed to me.
Regardless of the genre they ultimately become associated with, most musicians worth their salt can cite a varied list of influences that helped create the performer they’ve become. And surely Bonnie Raitt’s list is as eclectic as they come.
“Any artist should be so lucky to have one song in their career that people still want to hear,” singer-musician Seal intoned in a 2015 interview with Details magazine.
He was, of course, speaking of “Kiss from a Rose,” the multimillion-selling, triple Grammy-winning pop hit from the soundtrack of the 1995 film Batman Forever that changed his life.
Before Andy Grammer made his national debut in 2011, the singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist was at turns getting a crash course on entertaining a crowd from his father, Red Grammer (a Grammy-nominated children’s recording artist), or busking on the streets of Santa Monica, hoping to be discovered. And once he was, the floodgates of fame flew wide open, from the platinum-selling smash “Keep Your Head Up” and its equally contagious follow-up “Fine by Me,” to tour dates alongside Train, Gavin DeGraw, Colbie Caillat, Plain White T’s, Natasha Bedingfield, Mat Kearney, and Parachute, among others.
An hour’s conversation with Ksenija Sidorova flies right on by. The comely, Latvian-born accordion virtuoso may be a darling of the contemporary classical music industry, with appearances in A-list concert halls and, as of this year, a lucrative recording contract with Deutsche Grammophon to her credit, but she is also a refreshingly down-to-earth charmer.
It happens all the time. A famous, beloved artist falls ill (or, as is sometimes the unpleasant case, gets what may be regarded as a better offer). It even happens at Ravinia. A famous, beloved artist cancels, and management scrambles for an appropriate replacement.
Some cases become memorable, star-making events. Other cases are quickly, even mercifully, forgotten.
Tito Puente, one of the most influential Latin artists in history, made his Ravinia debut 20 years ago with a plethora of his best Latin jazz contemporaries, including Eddie Palmieri, Poncho Sanchez, Arturo Sandoval, and David Sanchez.
If you couldn’t be there in person, which is always Plan A, by now you have heard about the night of July 23, 2016 at Ravinia. And if I have my say, you will hear about it again. James Levine returned to Ravinia for the first time since 1993. And the gods seemed to herald his triumph with the thunder and lightning of a torrential storm for the record books. But you didn’t need a Doppler to detect that something historic was going down in Highland Park.
We’ve had yet another wonderful couple of weeks brimming with awe-inspiring concerts, including the long-awaited return of James Levine, the Ravinia debut of Diana Ross, Kenny Rogers’s final tour, Titanic Live, and a pairing of Buddy Guy and Jeff Beck that left no one blue. The Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s 80th anniversary summer residency is still on key with incredible performances of The Firebird, Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, and so much more. In Part 3 of our “Season So Far” blog series, we’ll show you a sampling of what’s been happening in our gorgeous park this month.