Category Archives: Music

Little Rock Look Back: Robinson Auditorium officially opens

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auditoriumduskOn February 16, 1940, after three years of planning and construction, the Joseph Taylor Robinson Memorial Auditorium officially opened. It was a cold, rainy night, but those in attendance did not care.

Searchlights painting arcs in the sky greeted attendees. They were borrowed from the Arkansas National Guard. Newspaper accounts noted that only a few of the men who attended were in tuxedos, most were simply in suits. The work to get the building opened had been so harried, that it was discovered there was not an Arkansas flag to fly in front of the building. Mayor Satterfield found one at the last minute courtesy of the Arkansas Department of the Spanish War Veterans.

The weather delayed arrivals, so the program started fifteen minutes late. Following a performance of Sibelius’ Finlandia by the fledgling Arkansas State Symphony Orchestra, Mayor J. V. Satterfield, Mrs. Joseph T. Robinson, Mrs. Grady Miller (the Senator’s sister-in-law and a member of the Auditorium Commission) and D. Hodson Lewis of the Chamber of Commerce participated in a brief ribbon cutting ceremony. Mrs Robinson cut the ribbon on her second attempt (once again proving that nothing connected with getting the building open was easy).

The ceremony was originally set to be outside of the building but was moved indoors due to the inclement weather. The ribbon cutting took place on the stage with the ribbon stretched out in front of the curtain. The opening remarks were broadcast on radio station KGHI.

Though he had previously discussed how he had voted against the auditorium in 1937 before entering public life, the mayor’s remarks that evening were appropriately gracious, statesmanlike and a testament to the effort he had invested to get it open upon becoming mayor. “We hope you have a very pleasant evening and hope further that it will be the first in a long series which you will enjoy in this, your auditorium.”

20140215-172047.jpgTickets for the event, advertised as being tax exempt, were at four different pricing levels: $2.50, $2.00, $1.50 and $1.00.

The estimated attendance was 1700. Following the ribbon cutting, the main performance took place. The headliner for the grand opening was the San Francisco Opera Ballet accompanied by the new Arkansas State Symphony Orchestra (not related to the current Arkansas Symphony Orchestra). The featured soloist with the ballet was Zoe Dell Lantis who was billed as “The Most Photographed Miss at the San Francisco World’s Fair.”

At the same time that the gala was going on upstairs in the music hall, a high school basketball double-header was taking place in the downstairs convention hall. North Little Rock lost to Beebe in the first game, while the Little Rock High School Tigers upset Pine Bluff in the marquee game.

Black History Month Spotlight: Smokie Norful

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bhm smokieEarlier this month, W. R. Smokie Norful picked up his latest Grammy Award.  Born in Little Rock, the son of an AME minister, he now pastors his own congregation in addition to his recording career.

He grew up in Pine Bluff, and was deeply involved in his fathers church. He was interested in music from a very young age, reportedly picking out one-finger piano melodies at age two. His parents supported him with music lessons, and unusual for his background, allowed him to experiment with and listen to the current R&B and soul music of the day as well as gospel music. Norful attended Pine Bluff High School, where he occasionally performed in school assemblies and programs. He graduated from the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff as a History major.

After graduation, taught history for several years at Jack Robey Junior High School, Pine Bluff High School and Evanston Township High School.  For two years he also was the educational director for the Pine Bluff Housing Authority’s after-school program. He has also been a historian for the National Park Service and a congressional aid for the fourth congressional district.

He was ordained an elder in the African Methodist Episcopal church and has been a licensed preacher since 1997. Rev. Norful served as youth pastor, minister of music, and associate minister of St. John AME church in Pine Bluff, under the leadership of Rev. W.R. Norful Sr., and Teresa Norful until relocating to Chicago. He has also leads workshops for the National Baptist Convention USA, Inc.

Currently he serves as pastor of the Victory Cathedral Worship Center in Bolingbrook, which he founded in 2005.  He has since established a second campus also in the Chicago area.  In 2009, he was inducted into the Arkansas Black Hall of Fame.

For more on Smokie Norful and other inductees into the Arkansas Black Hall of Fame, visit the permanent exhibit at the Mosaic Templars Cultural Center. That museum is an agency of the Department of Arkansas Heritage.

Robinson Redux – February

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grand opening adHere are some of the highlights from the annals of the Robinson Center Music Hall nee Joseph Taylor Robinson Memorial Auditorium.  This entry looks at bookings from Februarys in years ending with an 0 or 5.

The building was officially dedicated on February 16, 1940.  A few days earlier a children’s theatre troupe had entertained school kids with a performance in the music hall.  Also that month high school basketball continued in the exhibition hall.  The month had kicked off with a much more glamorous event as the Movie Ball took place in the exhibition hall.

The year 1945 featured a ecumenical Christian Youth Rally on February 4, a concert featuring Tito Guizar on February 7, the operetta Blossom Time on February 8 and the long-running comedy Life with Father on February 19.   In 1950, Robinson’s offerings ran from the Grand Ole Opry featuring Hank Williams (February 5), to Dick Contino (February 8) to the magician Blackstone (February 10 & 11) as well as the opera Il Trovatore (February 15) and a recital featuring Mrs. Rece Price (February 21).

By the mid 1950s, the touring business was changing.  The only notable booking at Robinson in February 1955 was on February 20 as it featured the Duke of Paducah and a little known singer from Mississippi named Elvis Presley.  Five years later, Jackie Wilson and Jesse Belvin headlined a concert on February 5, 1960. The Venable Quartet and several other gospel groups performed on February 12 and the Beaux Arts Bal de Tete took place on February 19.  In 1965, Donald Voorhees and the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra were in concert on February 21.

February 1970 showed much more activity.  Husband and wife Phil Ford and Mimi Hines starred in the national tour of I Do! I Do! on February 6 & 7. That show had been a hit on Broadway in the 1966-1967 season. Another hit from that season, Cabaret, played on February 19 & 20 with Tandy Cronyn starring.  In between, contralto Bernadette Greevy presented a recital.

Musician Jerry Jeff Walker performed at Robinson on February 23, 1975.  Earlier that month (February 19), the national tour of Pippin stopped by with Barry Williams (aka Greg Brady) in the title role.  Five years later, Ballet Arkansas welcomed Cynthia Gregory and Patrick Bissell in a performance on February 7, 1980. Later that month Mason Williams and his Bluegrass Band performed with the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra on February 23.  The next two nights, a tour of Jesus Christ Superstar took the stage.

David Copperfield kicked off February 1985 with two shows on the 1st.  The next day the musical The Cotton Patch Gospel was performed.  Musican Carman performed on February 25.  In February 1990, Peabo Bryson and jazz extraordinaire Billy Mitchell shared the stage on February 22.

In 1995, the focus was on music.  There was “An Evening with John Bayless” on February 7 as part of the Greater Little Rock Community Concert Association.  On February 11, the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra presented an evening of music of Rodgers & Hammerstein.  A few days later on February 17, various musical groups presented an evening of gospel music. The next night, Gladys Knight shook the house in a concert.  The month ended on February 28 with Nancy Griffith and the Blue Moon Orchestra. A February 8 concert with Della Reese was cancelled due to poor ticket sales.

Five years later, highlights included a tour of Camelot on February 15 – 18, and a staged concert version of the opera La Boheme presented by the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra.  In 2005, Kenny Loggins performed with the Arkansas Symphony on the 11 & 12. The ASO also presented an all Tchaikovsky concert with Jon Kimura Parker on piano.  Earlier in the month, President George W. Bush hosted a town hall forum on Social Security at Robinson Center.

In 2010, the ASO Valentine Pops concert featured Christiane Noll and Doug LaBrecque.  From February 16-18 STOMP rang out throughout Robinson.  The month ended on a more quieter note as the ASO and Philippe Quint presented the Violin Concerto by Jean Sibelius.

Black History Month Spotlight: Amina Claudine Myers

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bhm aminaAmina Claudine Myers was born in Conway County and grew up in the Dallas/Fort Worth area.  She started singing and playing the piano and organ as a child in church choirs.  Returning to Arkansas, she graduated in concert music and music education from Philander Smith College in the early 1960s. After graduation, Myers moved to Chicago where she taught music, attended classes at Roosevelt University and worked with musicians such as Sonny Stitt and Gene Ammons. In 1966 she joined the AACM in Chicago, focusing on vocal compositions and arrangements, and recording her first jazz album with Kalaparusha Maurice McIntyre in 1969.

In 1976 Myers relocated to New York City, where she intensified her compositional work and expanded it into the realm of Off-Broadway productions. She also continued performing and recording as a pianist and organist. In 1985 she joined Charlie Haden’s Liberation Music Orchestra. Notable collaborations also include recordings with Bill Laswell, Marian McPartland, the Art Ensemble of Chicago, Archie Shepp, David Murray, Arthur Blythe, Frank Lowe, Leroy Jenkins, Jim Pepper and Ray Anderson.

In 1976 Amina moved to NY and became involved with the creative musicians that had migrated from Chicago and St. Louis, playing music in the lofts of NYC.  For a year she became a teacher at SUNY ((State Univ. of NY) developing the gospel chorus there.  Myers received several grants from the National Endowments for the Arts, Meet the Composer and NY Foundation for the Arts.                                                                           .

Myers began touring Europe with The Lester Bowie Quintet and The NY Organ Ensemble around 1978.  This began her European (all of Western Europe, Hungary, Turkey and Poland), Japanese, Canadian and U.S. performances of concerts, festivals and clubs as a soloist, with her trio, quartet, sextet and voice choir. This included workshops, seminars and residencies in universities and schools in the U.S. as well as Europe. Myers had the opportunity to perform in Cape Town, South Africa at The North Sea Jazz Festival with saxaphonist/composer Archie Shepp and to Accra, Ghana (West Africa) with composer/ vibraphonist Cecilia Smith during their jazz festival.

Myers’ works of blues, jazz, gospel and extended forms continues.  She teaches privately, giving lessons in theory, composition, piano, voice, organ, classical piano and assisting clients interested in stage/ performances. Amina  has  performed at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, Town Hall, The Brooklyn Academy of Music, The Iridium Club, Birdland and other sites with her groups and with other artists and still continues to perform nationally and internationally.

She is a 2001 inductee into the Arkansas Black Hall of Fame.  For more on Amina Claudine Myers and other inductees into the Arkansas Black Hall of Fame, visit the permanent exhibit at the Mosaic Templars Cultural Center. That museum is an agency of the Department of Arkansas Heritage.

Dancing and Romancing on tap this weekend with Arkansas Symphony

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joan_kirby_artist_1Just in time for the Valentine’s Weekend, the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra (ASO), Philip Mann, Music Director and Conductor, presents the third concert in the 2014-2015 Acxiom Pops Live! Series: Dancing and Romancing.

Broadway and Hollywood combine under the baton of ASO Associate Conductor Geoffrey Robson for a romantic and entertaining evening of song and dance with two veterans of the Broadway stage: Joan Hess and Kirby Ward. Inspired by the likes of Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Gene Kelly and Eleanor Powell, this evening will put a song in hearts and have patrons dancing in the aisles. The Pops Live! Series is sponsored by Acxiom. The concert sponsor is UAMS.

Kirby Ward originated the role of Bobby Childs in the London production of Crazy for You (and is heard on the cast album). His Broadway credits include Show Boat, Woman of the Year and Never Gonna Dance.  Joan Hess recently starred on Broadway in Mamma Mia! Other Broadway roles include Crazy for You; Kiss Me, Kate; Dirty Rotten Scoundrels and Bells Are Ringing.  She is also a veteran of national tours of Sunset Boulevard, Crazy for You, 42nd Street and Beehive.

The concert is held at the Pulaski Academy Connor Performing Arts Center, 12701 Hinson Road, Little Rock, AR, on Saturday, February 14, 2015 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, February 15, 2015 at 3:00 p.m.

Tickets are $19, $35, $49, and $58; active duty military and student tickets are $10 are can be purchased online at www.ArkansasSymphony.org; at the Connor Performing Arts Center box office beginning 90 minutes prior to a concert; or by phone at 501-666-1761, ext. 100. All Arkansas students grades K-12 are admitted to Sunday’s matinee free of charge with the purchase of an adult ticket using the Entergy Kids’ Ticket, downloadable at the ASO website.

The Arkansas Symphony Orchestra celebrates its 49th season in 2014-2015, under the leadership of Music Director Philip Mann. ASO is the resident orchestra of Robinson Center Music Hall, and performs more than sixty concerts each year for more than 165,000 people through its Stella Boyle Smith Masterworks Series, ACXIOM Pops LIVE! Series, River Rhapsodies Chamber Music Series, and numerous concerts performed around the state of Arkansas, in addition to serving central Arkansas through numerous community outreach programs and bringing live symphonic music education to over 26,000 school children and over 200 schools.

Charley Sandage and Harmony tonight at the Ron Robinson Theatre

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sandage

In its continuing quest to cover the depth and breadth of Arkansas’ musical heritage, tonight Arkansas Sounds presents another concert at the Ron Robinson Theatre.

Charley Sandage and Harmony, a Mountain View trio comprising Mary and Robert Gillihan and Dave Smith, present original songs that tell stories about people and events that shaped Arkansas. The group uses an array of traditional instruments including fiddle, banjo, guitar, mandolin, autoharp, bass, button accordion, harmonica, pickin’ bow, and spoons.

The concert is free.  It starts at 7:30 pm at the Ron Robinson Theater.

The Charley Sandage & Harmony concert is supported by the Arkansas Arts Council, an agency of the Department of Arkansas Heritage, and the National Endowment for the Arts. This concert is also supported in part by a grant from the Arkansas Humanities Council and the Department of Arkansas Heritage.

Tonight in downtown LR – Anonymous 4 in concert at Christ Church

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anonymous4Renowned for their unearthly vocal blend and virtuosic ensemble singing, the four women of Anonymous 4 combine historical scholarship with contemporary performance intuition to create their magical sound. They return for the last time (2015 will be the last season for Anonymous 4 to perform) with songs from their 1865: Songs of Hope and Home from the American Civil War tour.

1865 focuses on the personal experience of men, women, and children from the North and from the South, toward the end of the Civil War and in its immediate aftermath — as told in songs originally written for the stage and for the parlor, and in songs and instrumental tunes from the hills and back roads of America.

Many of the songs in 1865 were published between 1861 and 1865; others first appeared in print earlier, but were sung constantly during the war years, perhaps in an effort to bring to mind the familiar and the good. Yet other songs and instrumental tunes are not datable; by the year 1865, they had already been passed down from generation to generation without the aid of the printed page.

Joining Anonymous 4 for this project is renowned old-time fiddler, master banjo and guitar player, and heavenly vocalist, Bruce Molsky. 

Anonymous 4 and Bruce have put our own stamp on the songs in 1865: sounds include 5-part harmonies on the Stephen Foster gem “Hard Times, Come Again No More;” “Home, Sweet Home” and “Listen to the Mocking Bird” accompanied by the banjo; an homage to the Carter Family on “The Faded Coat of Blue;” the high lonesome sound on folk songs like “Bright Sunny South” and “Brother Green;” Bruce’s inimitable fiddle and banjo playing on instrumental tunes “Camp Chase,” “Rebel Raid” and “Polly Put the Kettle On,” and the four-part a cappella singing of Anonymous 4 on the hymn “Abide with Me” and the timeless anti-war song “Tenting on the Old Camp Ground.”

 

The concert starts at 7:30 pm at Christ Episcopal Church.  Tickets are $25, students $15, available at the door. CDs will be available after the performance for cash or check only.