In early 1964, Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic staged a series of Young People's Concerts at the newly opened Lincoln Center that married storytelling with different forms of music, including classical, jazz and folk. The point was to narrate original children's stories on stage while the New York Philharmonic or jazz and folk groups illustrated the drama.
On Feb. 8, 1964—between the date the Beatles arrived in the U.S. and the night they performed on the Ed Sullivan Show—the Young People's Concert series took on jazz. The original story, an adaptation of Peter and the Wolf, was written by Nat Hentoff (above) and narrated by conductor Leonard Bernstein. The jazz was composed, arranged and conducted by Gunther Schuller and featured Don Ellis (trumpet), Benny Golson (tenor saxophone), Eric Dolphy (alto saxophone), Richard Davis (bass) and Joseph Cocuzzo (drums). The performance then aired on TV in March...
For the entire concert (in five parts), start with Part 1 here...
JazzWax note: You'll find more information about this concert at the Leonard Bernstein site here.
On Feb. 8, 1964—between the date the Beatles arrived in the U.S. and the night they performed on the Ed Sullivan Show—the Young People's Concert series took on jazz. The original story, an adaptation of Peter and the Wolf, was written by Nat Hentoff (above) and narrated by conductor Leonard Bernstein. The jazz was composed, arranged and conducted by Gunther Schuller and featured Don Ellis (trumpet), Benny Golson (tenor saxophone), Eric Dolphy (alto saxophone), Richard Davis (bass) and Joseph Cocuzzo (drums). The performance then aired on TV in March...
For the entire concert (in five parts), start with Part 1 here...
JazzWax note: You'll find more information about this concert at the Leonard Bernstein site here.
This story appears courtesy of JazzWax by Marc Myers.
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