He was “an alto saxophonist and flutist who helped propel cool-school West Coast jazz to prominence in the 1950s and fostered the melding of American and Brazilian music that created the bossa nova.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
A Cultural Blueprint For Salt Lake Includes The Burbs
“If Salt Lake County is able to follow its new master plan, arts lovers could see cultural hubs in the suburbs, upgrades to beloved amphitheaters from Murray to Draper, the reincarnation of a defunct sugar factory in West Jordan and a film center in the capital’s downtown.”
Atlanta Symphony Players Accept Pay Cut
“Facing a $3 million debt and an endowment down a quarter, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra announced Monday a second round of salary cuts. Its 95 unionized musicians will see their paychecks drop by 5 percent through 2010, with a 3.8 percent cut in 2011.”
Emerging From The Shadow Of Alicia Alonso
San Francisco Ballet star Lorena Feijoo was trained at the National Ballet of Cuba under the legendary Alonso, from whom she separated on less-than-amicable terms. “Now here was Feijoo, 38, and at the invitation of the young Cuban Classical Ballet of Miami, about to appropriate her former mentor’s Carmen in front of what essentially was a Havana audience, made up mostly of the more-recently arrived.”
Milwaukee Gives Up On African-American Cultural Center
“The African American World Cultural Center Inc. said Monday that its board voted March 23 to dissolve as an organization, ending plans to build a community-owned cultural center in Milwaukee. The organization will cease to exist as of April 15.”
La Scala Gets Abbado Back – In Exchange For Trees
In January, the now-revered Claudio Abbado made Milan’s opera house an interesting offer: he would return to conduct there for the first time since his angry departure from the music director’s post in 1986 if the city government planted 90,000 trees. It seems his sylvan gambit has worked.
A Kindle-ish Device Made Just For Magazines
Silicon Valley company Plastic Logic “is building what they hope will be a Kindle killer – the first mobile digital reader made specifically for newspapers and magazines.” The plastic device, with a flexible screen roughly 8½x11 inches, is designed to fit “those full-page, color pictures, ‘charticles’ and information graphics, not to mention leggy models splayed across two-page spreads.”
Whence The Magic Of Fred Astaire?
“Fred Astaire was definitely an odd bird, at least by Hollywood standards. He despised publicity, appears to have been a fierce monogamist, was a regular churchgoer and decidedly Republican in his politics. He wasn’t tall or dark or handsome in the manner of a typical leading man; Astaire was about 5-foot-7 but looked taller because he was so slim – 135 pounds.”
Barenboim To Make Egyptian Debut
“Israeli conductor Daniel Barenboim will hold a concert in Egypt on April 16, two months after a first appearance was cancelled due to the Gaza conflict … The concert, Barenboim’s first in Egypt, has ruffled feathers in intellectual circles, with music critic Amgad Mustafa describing the visit as ‘sneaky normalisation’ with Israel.”
Why Ex-Dancers Make The Best Dance Photographers
Angela Sterling: “I actually feel it. I know exactly in my eye and my body, I can tell when the dancer’s going to go up for a jump, so it’s like my body feels that moment in the air. That’s when I click, and usually I hear the clicks of the other photographers a split second later.”