1990
Besides doing her radio show, Marian McPartland
continued to tour. On February 3, 1990, she performed with Jay McShann at the Folly Theater in Kansas City. Although often referred to
as a blues pianist, McShann has also led big bands and small groups. Both
he and Marian studied classical music early in their careers, and McShann
appeared as a guest on Piano Jazz in 1979:
The duo performance was a rich experience. Both of these pianists are master ‘compers’. There was no attempt to outdo or upstage. There was, however, an exciting attempt to outswing…[The] concert was recorded for later airing on Piano Jazz as one of the live series, a new format. The McPartland-McShann duo has the honor and privilege of setting the pace (Condell, 1990: 26).
In March 1990, a concert billed as 'Marian
And Jimmy McPartland And Friends' at Shea Stadium in West Babylon Junior High
took place. According to Marian, a previous concert with Jimmy's six-piece
band for the Babylon Citizens Council on the Arts was such a hit, that a repeat
performance was called for (Troup, 1990).
In April 1990, Marian visited the country of her birth to record four of the United Kingdom’s finest pianists for Piano Jazz for Season XII of the show (SCETV and Radio Fact Sheet). Jimmy McPartland appeared on the program during that season, and the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. expressed interest in the historical nature of the tapes for its archive. When Marian decided to present Piano Jazz on television, she and Bobby Short made a pilot program. However, only one educational station aired the show and prospective producers told her they didn’t find anything interesting in watching two pianists play and talk to each other. Marian McPartland toured to Japan for two weeks in May 1990. In October of that year, she performed some of her own compositions arranged for orchestra with the North Carolina Symphony Orchestra.
As emphysema curtailed his playing, Jimmy McPartland continued to perform as a singer, mostly in tandem with his wife, and in November 1990 he and Marian performed at the University of Chicago (McDonough, 1991). After Jimmy’s diagnosis with lung cancer, Marian cancelled a trip to the West Coast to record a solo concert live at the Maybeck Recital Hall for Concord Jazz Inc.
1991
1991 was a year of highs and lows for
Marian McPartland. When Jimmy's health seemed to improve, Marian flew to California for her solo concert to record Volume Nine in the Live At Maybeck
Recital Hall series on January 20. The Maybeck Studio for the Performing
Arts was designed in the 1920s as a residence and performance/teaching studio
by famed architect Bernard Maybeck, and the Hall is nestled in the Berkeley
Hills, across the Bay from San Francisco.
The series of solo jazz piano recitals
was inaugurated when pianist Joanne Brackeen persuaded the owner to allow
her to perform in this excellent space. The Concord organization then hired
the venue for the Live At Maybeck Recital Hall series, and Joanne recorded Volume
One of the series on the superb nine-foot Yamaha concert grand (Hansson, Interview of Marian McPartland,
November 2, 1999).
Other pianists in the series have included Dave McKenna, Dick Hyman, Walter Norris, Stanley Cowell, Hal Galper, John Hicks, Gerry Wiggins, Ted Rosenthal and George Cables, among many others. For her 1991 performance, Marian ranged through standards, some Ellingtonia, an Alec Wilder tune, and two of her own compositions. For the first time since she had composed the piece, she stretched out to improvise on her fast-paced theme from Piano Jazz, ‘Kaleidoscope’, a short burst of music composed to attract listeners to the program.
Marian McPartland also visited Iowa State University to perform
in February 1991. With Jimmy's health failing, it was Marian's
turn to propose to him. They remarried on February 27, 1991, with five people in attendance,
forty-six years and twenty-four days after their European marriage in 1946.
On March 13, two weeks after the wedding, Jimmy died, just two days short
of his eighty-fourth birthday (Hendrickson, 1991:60).
In February 1991, Marian
McPartland appeared at the Dedication of the Alec Wilder Reading Room at the
new Sibley Library at the Eastman School Of Music after the Friends of Alec
Wilder set a goal to raise $250,000. The program was billed as 'A Celebration
Of The Life And Music Of Alec Wilder', and the Marian McPartland Trio consisted
of Marian (piano), Bob Stata (bass) and Rich Thompson (drums).
In March 1991, a month designated for highlighting music in the public schools, Marian decided to start teaching again, and took her trio to play with
the Schreiber High School Jazz band in Port Washington, Long Island.
On May 19, it was fitting that the Marian McPartland Trio with
Gary Mazzaroppi on bass and Joe Morello on drums was chosen to perform with the Rutgers
Jazz Ensemble, Newark, New Jersey, for the 1991 Induction Ceremonies for the American Hall of Fame.
Marian's publicist, Ren Grevatt, gave notice of a memorial service for Jimmy
to be held on May 23 at St. Peter's Lutheran Church (Press Release, 1991). The service was conducted by Reverend John Gensel, pastor
of the church, and Jimmy's nephew, Josh McPartland, participated in music-making
in memory of Jimmy, along with Ruby Braff, Dick Sudhalter and Marian herself.
Marian prepared to fly to Chicago
with Jimmy's ashes to place them next to his mother Jeanie's grave. This was a time for grieving, but also an opportunity to perform with her trio at the Palmer House while in Chicago.
In May 1991, Marian McPartland appeared
with the Milwaukee Symphony, playing arrangements of her original compositions.
Prior to her Avery Fisher Hall performance at the JVC Jazz Festival in 1991,
Marian McPartland wrote an article entitled 'Mecca In Manhattan' for New
York Newsday. She wrote that, despite fallow
periods as the number of clubs gradually declined, jazz did not fade away:
Like the ebb and flow of the tide, jazz always
renews itself. Now there is a real resurgence. New clubs are springing up.
Jazz festivals can be found not only in New York, but everywhere in the world. Jazz is being carried in many different
directions by such players as Roy Hargrove, Harry Connick Jr., Wynton Marsalis,
Brandford Marsalis, Geri Allen, Donald Harrison and so many others. It's
no coincidence that most of these musicians live right here in New York.Even
while polishing their own styles, they are burnishing the wonderful spirit
of those glorious days, and keeping our city alive and not only kicking, but
swinging (McPartland, 1991).
For the Avery Fisher Hall performance,
the concert was conceived as an enlarged stage version of the Marian McPartland
radio program, Piano Jazz. George Wein, producer of the JVC Festival,
lauded Marian as someone who has done more for jazz pianists than anyone in
the entire world, referring to her radio program. Marian McPartland and her guests played
duets and exuded a warmth and camaraderie that mirrored the radio program, and the exchange was
as spontaneous as jazz itself.
The guests were pianists from a similar stylistic
spectrum - Sir Roland Hanna, Tommy Flanagan, Renee Rosnes, Mulgrew Miller,
Dave Brubeck, John Bunch and Ray Bryant. According to the review, Marian's
guests are 'classicists who value balance, clarity and tonal consonance and
who have well-established notions of the relationship between popular standards,
blues and improvisation.' The reviewer commented:
Of particular note was the responsiveness of
Ms. McPartland, who played a duet with each of her guests. As a soloist she
tends to be polite to the point of starchiness, but given an energetic partner,
she throws off her formal restraints and plunges enthusiastically into the
music (Holden, 1991: 43).
An interview in The Note reported that,
Marian McPartland joined a stellar assembly of musicians to play in ten countries, including
Turkey, Switzerland, France, Belgium, Germany, Holland, Austria, Denmark and Italy. The tour, with such jazz luminaries as Benny Carter, Al Grey, Louis
Bellson, Milt Hinton and Harry 'Sweets' Edison, lasted six weeks, and Marian
was the youngest musician. 'I don't believe I've ever had a better time.
It came at the perfect time, too, because Jimmy had passed away earlier in
the year, and I really needed to get away' (The Note, 1993: 9). In correspondence, Marian
described the tour as 'very hectic, but a lot of fun' (McPartland, Letter to Clare Hansson, October 11,
1991).
1992-1993
In 1992, Piano Jazz continued its
policy of presenting a minimum of twenty-six shows or two
thirteen-week seasons each year. Marian McPartland
continued to perform up to three concerts a month, as well as the week she
set aside to record episodes of Piano Jazz. 'We tape three or four
people in that week. The producer comes up from South
Carolina, and we do the taping at Marathon Studios
in New York City. She takes
the tape back to South Carolina
and edits it' (The Note, 1993).
In January 1993, Marian McPartland recorded
In My Life, music dedicated to the memory of her husband, Jimmy McPartland. Marian
chose the title number 'In My Life' by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, not
just because she has always liked the tune, but because it provided 'a nostalgic
title for an album that would cover memories from various phases in my life':
It's also about looking forward, an important
part of Marian McPartland's makeup. An example: for this album, McPartland
could have chosen as a guest performer just about anyone in jazz (the greats
all eventually seem to find their way to her radio show, and the last guest
star with whom she recorded was the legendary Benny Carter), but she chose
instead an emerging artist who has not yet recorded an album as a leader.
Marian discovered [saxophonist] Chris Potter about half a dozen years ago
(Deffaa, 1993: 110).
In this album, Marian was gracefully bidding
Jimmy good-bye, and also extending a welcome to young musicians representing
the future of jazz.
In 1993, Marian McPartland was one of ten pianists
who recorded 100 Gold Fingers for Piano Playhouse. The other nine
pianists were Kenny Barron, Roger Kellaway, Ray Bryant, Duke Jordan, John
Lewis, Bob Cranshaw, Tommy Flanagan, Junior Mance and Hank Jones. This was
followed by a concert tour of Japan, and when Marian could not make the tour herself, she recommended
young pianist Lynne Arriale, who had been a guest on Piano Jazz in
1990, to take her place. In April 1993, Marian joined Lynne in a concert at the Pabst Theater in Milwaukee, Lynne’s hometown. The program ranged from solo to duet to trio performances from both pianists.
On September 21, Marian recorded an episode
of Piano Jazz with veteran trumpeter and educator Clark Terry. Bill
Crow's liner notes are illuminating:
Marian's informal, improvisational talk-and-music
format and her easy proficiency as an interviewer always provide the listeners
to Piano Jazz with interesting personal and musical sketches of her
guests. On this program, she is at her very best, presenting a warm, intimate
portrait of Clark Terry, both the man and the musician (Crow, 1994).
In 1993, Piano Jazz was in its
fourteenth year and Phil Sheridan, vice president of The Jazz Alliance, announced that selected programs would
be released on CD rather than on cassette, preserving the historical significance of these interviews.
1994
Marian McPartland had one of her busiest
jazz years in 1994, with sold-out engagements all over North America and Japan,
and featuring at the world famous Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival at Moscow,
Idaho. According to one source:
I watched Marian McPartland give a clinic in
which she demonstrated all different piano styles. Afterwards a university
student in the audience commented how lucky she felt to be able to learn from
McPartland in person, adding, 'She's such a good role model for female jazz
musicians.' Trombonist Al Grey murmured one sage sentence of correction:
'She's such a good role model for anybody.' Point taken! (Crow. 1994).
Marian McPartland appeared with her trio - James Cox,
double bass, and Charles Braugham, drums - for the Classical Jazz Guild of
Calgary, Alberta, in March 1994 (Press Release, 1994). The month of March 1994
was significant for Marian McPartland, being her birth month, and the year
in which she celebrated the fifteenth anniversary of Piano Jazz.
It also
marked her return to a Manhattan
nightclub for the first time in a decade, and her performance at the Chestnut Room
of Tavern on the Green, Central Park West, with Gary Mazzaroppi on bass and
Glenn Davis on drums spanned the entire spectrum of jazz history:
It is great to have McPartland back in a nightclub,
for she brings something special to the jazz piano trio format. A probing
intelligence, palpable enthusiasm and an architectonic sense of structure.
While many jazz improvisers utilize a tune as a basic blueprint to play off
of, McPartland approaches tunes as blueprints to build structural improvisations
upon. Her improvisations grow out of and expand upon the tune while embellishing
rather than abandoning its structure (Kanzler, 1994: 25).
After that concert, Marian McPartland
was headlined in The New York Times as 'A Spokeswoman For Jazz
Who Can Play It, Too', and was rated by writer Peter Watrous as an important jazz figure for her articulate
advocacy for the music and its musicians. Her polished
style was described as having a 'nice touch, drawing smooth, pure tones out
of the instrument. She keeps her improvisations short, down to two or three
choruses. And she's interested in harmony; she regularly draped chords and
scales over a tune's harmony, wringing out meaning and texture' (Watrous, 1994: C12).
Also in March, she played to jammed houses in Chicago's Jazz Showcase,
before heading to points as far apart as Muncie, Indiana, and Juneau, Alaska. In June 1994, Marian was honored at the
Union League Club of Chicago for her contributions to jazz in Chicago and around the world (Ephland, 1994). She later performed again at Chicago's Jazz Showcase, located in the city's fabled Blackstone Hotel.
Referred to as one of the few living links to the 'golden era' of jazz, Marian
McPartland told an interviewer that she had created her own audience with
Piano Jazz, a success that reflects the enduring power of jazz. 'I
don't know if I speak for overall jazz, but I think the [continuing audience]
has to do with the music itself. There's no other art form like it' (Carlson, 1994: 20).
On August 25, 1994, Marian McPartland was interviewed on Morning Edition on National Public Radio by host Bob Edwards discussing Mary Lou Williams, and the new Concord Jazz release Marian McPartland: Plays The Music of Mary Lou Williams. She spoke highly of her admiration for Williams as an artist and as a trailblazer.
A highlight of the year was receiving
in September the Lifetime Achievement Award from DownBeat magazine.
DownBeat editor John Ephland stated, 'What we're recognizing in her
work is her ongoing interest in subsequent generations of jazz musicians.'
Her achievements were spelled out in an article headed 'Our Dame Of Jazz'
by Michael Bourne, and she joined the company of fourteen other awardees.
According to the list of previous recipients published by DownBeat, Marian McPartland was the first
female to receive this award (Bourne, 1994: 22-23).
In October 1994, the
Marian McPartland Trio appeared in the Schomburg Sunday Sounds Series, paying
tribute to the music of Mary Lou Williams. For this occasion, Marian was
accompanied by Christian McBride on bass, and Brian Blade on drums. Marian was later interviewed in 1996 as part of an Oral History Project for the Schomburg Center For Research In Black Culture conducted at the New York Public Library (Briggs Murray, 1996).
In 1994, the documentary A Great Day
In Harlem was released by producer Jean Bach. Photographer Art Kane had
taken an historic shot of fifty-seven jazz musicians on the stoop of a Harlem brownstone apartment block in 1958.
Forty-year-old Marian McPartland was one of three women, and the only white
woman in the picture. The others were black women, pianist Mary Lou Williams
and singer Maxine Sullivan.
The documentary was nominated for an Oscar and
honored at the Smithsonian Institution. In 1996, Marian McPartland was one
of eleven surviving members of that great day who were photographed by Life
magazine in the same location. For her, the day was a sad recollection, with so many friends and musical colleagues gone, and the building now an empty shell (Okrent, 1996: 64).
1995
In February 1995, Marian McPartland, billed
as 'a fascinating, inventive pianist, playful, probing and provocative', performed
a one-night only concert with the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra at the 400
Club's Main Ballroom in Calgary, Alberta, a return performance after a triumphant
1994 recital. Her sidemen were John Hyde on bass and John De Waal on drums.
The Classic Jazz Guild of Calgary was founded by Paul White in 1992, and he
was the last person to interview Jimmy McPartland six days before his death.
The article was published by Coda, the distinguished Canadian jazz
publication, and appeared a few months after Jimmy's death (Press release,
1995). Marian had dedicated her 1993 Concord release In My Life to her husband, Jimmy McPartland. In 1995, she also performed
in Idaho during the
Lionel Hampton Festival.
In April 1995, Marian McPartland performed
in three distinctly unique concerts in New York
and Long Island. The first on April 7 was 'An Evening Of Jazz' sponsored by the
Port Washington Public School District at
the Schreiber High School Auditorium, with proceeds to benefit The Jimmy And
Marian McPartland Jazz Listening Library at the school.
The second, as part
of the 'Jazz Piano At The Y' (YMCA) on April 13, involved a 'Three Piano Crossover'
featuring classical pianist Ruth Laredo, with Marian and fellow jazz pianist Dick
Hyman in a variety of solo, duo and trio combinations. The third, on April
21, featured live tapings of Piano Jazz with guest pianists Gonzalo
Rubalcaba and composer/arranger/educator Bill Dobbins (Press Release, 1995).
A Great Day In Harlem was the centerpiece of an all-day program of the Long Island Jazz
Festival on July 30, and Marian McPartland gathered some of the survivors
to play after the screening, including bassist Milt Hinton who, with his wife
Mona, was responsible for some of the footage for the documentary. Marian
concluded the event with a trio performance, and fittingly the Festival declared
the day 'Marian McPartland Day'.
Further detail was found in a review of
the event that described the ambiance of the 'Arcadian beauty of Oyster Bay's
Planting Fields Arboretum, one of the loveliest, dreamiest venues for outdoor
music anywhere' and rated the music as 'jazz that challenges without intimidating,
pleases without restraining its restlessness, with players straddling the music's
cutting edge' (Seymour, 1995).
The theme of the day was 'Women In Jazz', featuring Diana Krall, Jane Ira Bloom and Geri Allen, with special homage being paid to Port Washington’s own Marian McPartland, who was given the day in her honor by Nassau County Executive Thomas S. Gulotta. Marian had broken her left wrist in a fall, but demonstrated her ability to extemporize with one good hand comping behind fellow musicians in an all-star jam:
She also played with her own trio (actually a quartet, since pianist Janice Friedman sat at an adjoining piano to help McPartland out). ‘She’s so good,’ McPartland said of Friedman, ‘I may never use my left hand again’ (Seymour, 1995).
Another report indicated that this was
indeed an improvised performance as 'Marian had broken her wrist, and pianists
Dave Brubeck and Janice Friedman filled in on a second piano while Marian
noodled with one hand, accompanied by bassist Gary Mazzaroppi and drummer
Glenn Davis' (Klein, 1995: 13).
In early August, interviewed for Parade Magazine, Marian McPartland indicated her concern about
cuts in federal funding for National Public Radio (Brady, 1995: 14). On
November 11 and 12, 1995, Marian recorded The Marian McPartland Trio: Live
At Yoshi's Nitespot in Oakland, CA, with Bill Douglass on bass and Glenn Davis on drums. Selections from these sessions were released by Concord Jazz Inc in the following year.
The Marian McPartland Trio also appeared
in Mashpee, MA, in 1995. On
October 14, the trio played to a capacity audience in Southern Illinois at Edwardsville's Communications
Building Theater. Accompanying Marian on this occasion were bassist James Cox and drummer Charles
Braugham, delivering what was described as a 'mannered performance':
The set list, which included a pair of tunes
each by Herbie Hancock and Mary Lou Williams, as well as music by Ornette
Coleman, Wayne Shorter and John Coltrane, demonstrated McPartland's compendious
grasp of the jazz idiom, as well as her thorough mastery of that idiom as
a pianist (Harris, 1995).
On November 28, 1995, Marian McPartland played
her first Dakota engagement, at the Dakota Bar & Grill in St. Paul. A reviewer wrote:
Given McPartland's stylistic breadth and encyclopedic
knowledge of jazz compositions, her selection of tunes was surprisingly narrow,
limited mostly to crowd-pleasing standards. When she did depart from the
norm, as on John Coltrane's obscure 'Red Planet', she played half-heartedly,
then joked to the audience, 'I'm sure everyone will be humming that one on
the way home tonight' (Robson, 1995).
1996
Marian McPartland visited the Port Washington
Public Library in February 1996 to host a special showing of A Great
Day In Harlem. Regarded as the ultimate 'class photograph'
of America's jazz legends,
the survivors have dwindled to a handful. In May 1996, DownBeat magazine reported
a 'Salute To Marian McPartland' that took place in February before a sold-out
audience at the Pace Downtown Theater in Manhattan. Those paying tribute to a fellow performer included Dick Hyman,
Howard Alden, Christian McBride, Rickey Woodard, Randy Sandke, Al Harewood,
Jackie Cain and Roy Kral:
Jackie Cain and Roy Kral were not advertised
but were very welcome singing a tribute to musicians who've passed with 'Music
Is Forever'; a tribute to the late Gerry Mulligan, 'Line For Lyons'; and,
a first for them, Marian McPartland's song with Peggy Lee lyrics, 'In The
Days Of Our Love'. Jackie, as always, looked (and somehow sounded) like the
finest porcelain (Bourne, 1996: 61).
Jack Kleinsinger, producer of 'Highlights
In Jazz' specializing in tributes to 'living greats', presented Marian with a plaque at the close of the evening.
Marian McPartland responded by saying that 'playing the music itself was honor enough.'
In 1996, Concord Jazz continued releasing earlier recordings
from Marian's own catalogue, Halcyon Records, on their subsidiary label The Jazz Alliance:
There's one coming out that I did years ago,
called Ambiance, with Michael Moore and Billy Hart. I was doing some
different things at that time, and it might sound funny to people, but we
were getting into a far-out, free-jazz bag. I loved it (Rideout, 1996: 15).
From April 29 to May
1, 1996, Dr. Billy Taylor, Artistic Director of the
Kennedy Center, established the first Mary Lou Williams
Women In Jazz Festival, featuring a variety of discussions, jam sessions,
and concerts. Among the participants were [drummer] Dottie Dodgion, [pianist]
Marian McPartland, [saxophonist] Jane Ira Bloom, [singer] Nnenna Freelon and
[bandleader] Maria Schneider. 'These women are fabulous players, and they
deserve this opportunity,' said Derek Gordon, Director of Education at the
John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, sponsor of
the Festival (Goodman, 1996: 12).
According to DownBeat magazine:
Named after a musician known for her chops,
innovation and strength of character, the Festival combined film presentation
(part of the D.C. Film Festival), seminars, an award to Nobuko 'Cobi' Narita
(founder/director of the Universal Jazz Coalition) for a lifetime of work
in the field, jam sessions, sold-out nightly concerts in the Kennedy Center's
500-seat Terrace theatre, Uptown String Quartet, Marian McPartland (who told
stories about her friend Mary Lou during her performance), Dee Dee Bridgewater,
Lynne Arriale, Dorothy Donegan, Joanne Brackeen (who led an all-star ensemble
on a few of Williams' compositions), Carmen Lundy, Jane Ira Bloom, and the
Toshiko Akiyoshi Orchestra - the Festival brought together established as
well as emerging female artists (Goodman, 1996: 12).
A telling comment came from soprano saxophonist
Jane Ira Bloom at the end of the festivities. 'This has been great, but I
thought we took care of this 20 years ago when I played in the first Women
In Jazz Festival in New York City. It's a shame to think we haven't gotten any further than this' (Goodman, 1996: 12).
On May 24, 1996, Marian McPartland appeared in
Wigmore Hall, London, in the
last of John and Alec Dankworth's Encounters. Backing John Dankworth on saxophone, Marian was
'not so much as a guest star as a generous host, introducing most numbers
and allowing John and Alec a lot of the limelight':
When she wasn't revealing, almost reluctantly,
her finely crafted, harmonically subtle style of solo playing, McPartland
would supply appreciative little dabs of sound to support the others, her
hands hovering thoughtfully over the keys and descending on isolated, whispering
chords, sometimes merely a note and, occasionally, a feather-light glissando
you could hardly hear. She wasn't too soft, for the essence of her style
is to take you into her confidence; the others were too loud.
With Alec Dankworth on double bass, veteran drummer Allan Ganley completed the rhythm section
for this concert (Jack, 1996).
On June 11 and 12, 1996, Marian recorded
her own compositions, accompanied by lush orchestral arrangements by Alan Broadbent.
Marian was ecstatic about the experience of interweaving her piano improvisations
along with twenty-two strings:
Hasn't doing a record with strings been the
lifetime dream of just about every jazz soloist of note, from Bill Evans to
Bill Davison, Charlie Parker to Stan Getz to Kenny Davern? Don't all those
luscious textures cosset and caress, limn and enhance, every golden note you
play - all the more so when they're your own compositions?...You just submerge
into it. You're enveloped, letting the sound and texture lap around you.
It's so - well, luxurious (Sudhalter, 1997).
On October 14, 1996,
European pianist/orchestral arranger Lalo Schifrin was a guest on Piano Jazz.
1997
In January 1997, Marian McPartland appeared
at Merkin Concert Hall sharing a concert bill with the rarely heard pianist,
Donald Brown. Christian McBride was her bass player. In several tunes Marian
'magnetized Mr. McBride into nearly intuitive communication' (Ratliff, 1997).
On April 17, Marian McPartland held court for judges, by invitation
of Judge Sandra Day O'Connor, when she gave a solo recital for nine justices
of the U.S. Supreme Court and invited guests (Franckling, 1997: 12). In June 1997,
Marian McPartland made her first New York City club appearance in two years, again
accompanied by Gary Mazzaroppi on bass and Glenn Davis on drums. This concert
marked her debut performance at the new Birdland nightclub, a setting which would feature prominently in Marian McPartland's calendar of events (Press release, 1997).
On July
20, 1997, Marian McPartland featured in a series entitled
Saint Paul Sunday, produced
by Minnesota Public Radio and produced by Public Radio International. The
other guests on Sundays in July were classical musicians:
Marian McPartland, America's doyenne of jazz piano and a favorite of public radio audiences nationwide,
rubs elbows with host Bill McGlaughlin this week on Saint Paul Sunday. Miss McPartland has been
near the heart of this country's jazz scene for decades, and her visit this
week will introduce us, both through music and reminiscence to the jazz greats
she has known. We'll hear arrangements of music by Jerome Kern, Victor Herbert,
Duke Ellington, John Coltrane, Victor Young, Conrad Robinson, and McPartland
(Program Listings, Saint Paul Sunday).
For Marian McPartland's appearance and performance on this series, Saint Paul Sunday was honored with a Peabody Award for Excellence in Broadcasting.
On October 12, 1997, Marian McPartland reunited
with drummer Joe Morello and bassist Rufus Reid in an afternoon concert as
part of the Jazz Room Series at William Paterson University, Wayne, NJ (Kanzler, 1997: 8).
Also in October 1997, a tribute feature
article honoring Marian McPartland's contribution to jazz was published by JazzTimes, and
the article describes Marian McPartland as timeless. 'She doesn't stand still
- and neither does her music. It's the essence of jazz and the essence of
Ms. McPartland' (Zych, 1997: 31).
After outlining her background, the
article 'True Devotion' focuses on testimonials, reminiscences, anecdotes
and insights from colleagues, associates and admirers who regard her as a
great ambassador for the music. It might be thought that this article portrays
an artist at the peak of her creative powers, however, as expressed by pianist
Dr. Billy Taylor, Marian just keeps on doing what she loves doing the most, and has no intention of slowing down.
In November 1997, Marian McPartland was saluted as the guest of honor at
the JazzTimes Convention (JazzTimes, October, 1997). In December 1997, The
Sunday Oregonian paid tribute to Marian McPartland's work on Piano Jazz. She described
herself as 'a chameleon' having the sensitivity and taste to blend with all
the different stylists on the program, from the avant-garde to stride piano
(Kanzler, 1997: 9).
During 1997, Marian released Marian McPartland
With Strings: Silent Pool. This latest Concord album was dedicated
with love to her sister Joyce Armitage who, all those years ago, had introduced
Marian to the jazzophile boyfriend who opened her ears to jazz pianists and jazz harmonies:
Everything that happens in jazz is interesting
to me. I don't want to keep playing the same things I've played before the
same way. I love all the traditional tunes I played with Jimmy - I miss him
terribly - but I wouldn't want to just play that kind of music exclusively.
There's room for all kinds of jazz. That's what makes jazz what it is - the
variety, the different perspectives, different ideas and different personalities
(Press Release, 1997).
In December 1997, NPR Classics released
An NPR Jazz Christmas With Marian McPartland And Friends. Nineteen
'friends' contributed interpretations of Christmas favorites in duet with Marian,
or solo.
1998
Marian McPartland began the year by completing
her recording of Marian McPartland: Just Friends recorded from September
4, 1997 through to January 26,
1998. Her 'friends' for this album were Geri
Allen, Dave Brubeck, Tommy Flanagan, Gene Harris, Renee Rosnes and George
Shearing.
Critic Terry Teachout commented:
In Jazz, two pianos are usually one too many
- but not when the second pair of hands belongs to Marian McPartland.Who but
Marian McPartland, after all, could have served as the perfect partner to
so wide-ranging and stylistically diverse a group of pianists, while never
for a moment submerging her own quiet yet unmistakable individuality? (Teachout, 1998).
Marian McPartland's 80th Birthday Celebrations
Marian McPartland agreed to turn eighty
years of age on March 20, 1998,
after decades of seeing her birth year listed in jazz books as 1920. Marian
credits Leonard Feather with having first published her birth date as March
20, 1920 (Hansson, Interview of Marian McPartland, November 2, 1999).
The New York Times brought the event to public attention on February 25. From then on, an
avalanche of publicity followed. Invitations went out
from the New York Trustees of the NPR Foundation, Master of Ceremonies was
Dr. Billy Taylor, and the event took place at New
York's Town Hall on West 44th
Street. Heralded by critics from many jazz magazines
and newspapers, the evening was truly the celebration of a long life lived
in jazz, surrounded by a plethora of treasured musicians all paying tribute
to Marian McPartland in an all-star concert on her birthday, March 20th.
Prior
to the event, a tribute article by Terry Teachout for The New York Times traced Marian's career through its many stages, even revealing a secret ambition
to appear with the Boston Pops Orchestra. According to Teachout, Marian McPartland's career is rich with 'a memorable
body of recorded work, a radio show that has opened the ears of a generation
of young musicians, a lifetime of quiet service as the No. 1 role model for
women in jazz - what else could Marian McPartland possibly want or need to
do at 80? Her answer was simple: she wants to keep on playing' (Teachout, 1998: 37).
Under the heading 'Night Life', The New Yorker devoted a paragraph to the celebration. A stylized color illustration of Marian at the keyboard drew readers' attention to the event.
Inspired by the occasion of her birthday concert, Marian McPartland booked dates at Birdland to record her original Hickory House Trio, with bassist Bill Crow and drummer Joe Morello. The album was named Marian McPartland’s Hickory House Trio: Reprise because it recreated the trio in their heyday at the Hickory House and made the forty year absence seem like yesterday.
The New Yorker publicized the performance and live recording at Birdland on September 16 and 17, 1998.
In August 1998, Time Warner Inc announced that they would host the New York debut of Switzerland's Montreux Jazz Festival, one of the world's premier jazz events,
from September 3 to 5 in Central Park. The world-class cultural event closed out
the 'Summer Of Goodwill':
Multi-Grammy Award-winning producer and composer
Quincy Jones, recently named by Time magazine as one of the six most
influential jazz artists of the century, said, 'It is fitting that the Montreux
Jazz Festival, which has historically featured the very best that jazz has
to offer, is coming home to America where jazz has its roots. And what better
place for the Festival than New York City.' Artists performing at the New York debut of the Festival on September 4 from 7.30
to 9.30 p.m. at Central Park's Rumsey Playfield included Lionel Hampton, Harry 'Sweets'
Edison, Benny Golson, and Marian McPartland, together with jazz greats
Stanley Clarke, Terri Lynne Carrington, Cecilia Smith plus vocalists Patti
Austin, Diane Reeves, and Joe Williams. Special guests include Savion Glover
and the Count Basie Orchestra (Business Wire, August 26, 1998).
On November 8, 1998, Marian McPartland
was interviewed on Weekend Sunday on NPR by host Liane Hansen, talking
about her new release Marian McPartland: Just Friends, and her philosophy as host of Piano
Jazz (Hansen, Interview of Marian McPartland, November 8, 1998).
Marian McPartland's Appearance Itinerary
for 1998, according to the Piano Jazz website, shows a constantly busy
schedule (www.scern.org/pj). On April 25, Marian McPartland performed with trumpeter Joshua
Redman at 'A Hot Night Of Cool Jazz' on the Grover Stage at Ohio University. From June 9 to June 14, she appeared in Chicago, Illinois, at the
Jazz Showcase. She was a featured artist at the New York JVC Festival in
the Sylvia & Danny Kaye Playhouse on June 22.
Marian McPartland visited California in July 1998, to perform with
the San Luis Obispo Symphony Orchestra on July 5, and played from July 7 to
9 at The Jazz Bakery in Los Angeles. Back in New York
on July 16 and 17, she was featured at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY, and on July 23 at the 92nd Street
YMCA as part of the 'Jazz At The Y' series co-ordinated by pianist Dick Hyman.
Marian McPartland starred at the Caramoor Festival in Katonah, NY, on August 8, and at the North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh, NC, on August 22. She visited Princeton, NJ, for Jazz Fest
'98 on August 27, and on November 8, she performed for the NAACP Legal Defense
(www.scern.org/pj).
1999
A year later the Reprise album
was released to critical acclaim. According to reviewer Kyle O'Brien of The
Oregonian, 'Taken as a return to the old form for McPartland, Morello
and Crow, it's a great bit of nostalgia and a beautiful continuation of an
already prolific career. Think of it as McPartland's great birthday present
to herself - and we're all invited' (O'Brien, 1999).
On January 11, 1999, Marian McPartland took part in a tribute to pianist/singer Shirley Horn in the Merkin Hall,
along with singers Carol Sloane and Etta Jones. Marian performed a two-piano
recital on January 16 at a Jazz Celebration in Oregon with pianist Gary Versace and the
Oregon Jazz Ensemble. On Friday, March 19, 1999, Flushing Council on Culture
& The Arts celebrated Women's History Month by presenting Marian McPartland
and her trio, with Gary Mazzaroppi on bass and Tony Reedus on drums at Flushing
Town Hall.
On March 29, 1999, Marian McPartland performed ‘Mary Lou’s Mass And Other Sacred Pieces’ in a world premiere at Washington National Cathedral. The concert was recorded by NPR, and was broadcast nationally on May 9 as part of an anniversary celebration of Mary Lou Williams’ life (1910-1981). One newspaper hailed the event as a triumph, with the performance transforming into exuberant applause and a standing ovation.
In March 1999, Marian McPartland toured
from Pittsburgh, to Chicago, and on
to Colorado, and in April
she performed in Rochester, followed by a date in Wilmington, North Carolina,
on April 27, 1999. On May
15, 1999, Marian McPartland was awarded an Honorary
Doctorate from the City University of New York (CUNY).
On October 8 and 9, 1999, the Marian McPartland Trio from the Hickory House years appeared once again at Birdland, after recording the Reprise album the previous year following Marian's 80th birthday celebrations at the club.
During the same month,
Marian participated in an historical overview of jazz televised
at the White House when President and Mrs. Clinton hosted Millennium
Evenings at the White House - Jazz: An Expression of Democracy. The event
featured trumpeter Wynton Marsalis and an all-star jazz orchestra, along with
Marian McPartland, Dr. Billy Taylor, Dr. Loren Schoenberg, vocalist Diane
Reeves and Dr. David Baker, and included a discussion on the impact jazz has
had on American culture (Cable in the Classroom).
Shortly after that event, Marian McPartland
hosted a live broadcast in the New York Museum of Television and Radio during
which she interviewed singer Cassandra Wilson for a Piano Jazz program. After
appearing at the second 'Montreux Jazz Festival In Central Park' organized
again by Quincy Jones, Marian performed at an outdoor concert
in Princeton, New Jersey, and in late October 1999 she appeared in concert in
Atlanta, Georgia.
At the end of the decade, Marian McPartland
had continued to record for Concord, and is represented with her trio on several
tracks of the two-CD Silver Anniversary Set. Her symphony concert calendar was booked far ahead,
although she no longer performed the concertos, polishing instead orchestral
arrangements of standards and her own compositions. In a letter expressing
a desire to perform a symphony date in Sydney, Australia, Marian
McPartland outlined her repertoire:
I would really love to do a symphony date in
Sydney, and besides the string arrangements
on Silent Pool, I also have full symphony charts on a Duke Ellington
medley, including 'Don't Get Around Much Anymore', 'Sophisticated Lady', 'Satin
Doll', and 'Caravan'. This was done specially for me by a guy who used to
write for Jackie Gleason. I also have a George Gershwin medley arranged by
John Oddo, who is Rosemary Clooney's arranger. As well as those, I have some
of my own tunes arranged by Robert Farnon, who is the best, as you
probably know. Still more good arrangements - 'From This Moment On', which
I usually use as a closer, and also 'I Hear A Rhapsody'. I've got more, but
I guess that's enough to let you know that I'm no stranger to symphony orchestras.
What a thrill that would be for me to play with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra!
(McPartland, Letter to Clare Hansson, May 3, 1998).
Sadly, an invitation for Marian to perform with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra has never eventuated.
Marian McPartland was nominated for a Grammy Award for
her compositions, ranging from the free-flowing 'Ambiance' to the luminous
depths of 'Silent Pool'. Her trio continued to perform throughout
the United States, with the trio working as an 'instrument' with orchestral scores,
leaving space for improvisation. Marian maintained her position on many artistic
advisory boards, and has been a board member of Contemporary Keyboard since
its premier issue.
During the 1990s, she continued to devote blocks of time each year
to recording Piano Jazz programs, which, like improvisation, require
a great deal of preparation to create what appears to be a spontaneous musical
exchange. At this point in her career, Marian McPartland had been awarded several Honorary Doctorates
and numerous other awards, including the Duke Ellington Fellowship Medal Award
from Yale University. As she quipped 'I've always
been a Duke Ellington Fellow!' (Voce, 1987: 7).
To commemorate the centenary of Ellington’s birth in April 1899, The Washington Times interviewed friends and colleagues who could touch on various facets of his legacy and put into words what the man and the music meant in their lives. Marian McPartland’s memories of the man and the musician who was her mentor are worth revisiting. Marian recalled that he once announced her as ‘that pulchritudinous purveyer of tonal zest’. Duke would always be gracious and charming, even when people were intruding when he was at the Hickory House:
But I can’t remember any time that he didn’t act just like he was having the most fun. I sometimes get into those situations and I think, ‘What would Duke Ellington do? He would smile and act nice and pretend he was having a great time. Therefore, I do the same’ (Campbell, 1999).
I'm sure there were a lot of situations he would
much rather be by himself and not have some gang of people around. But I
can't remember any time that he didn't act just like he was having the most
fun. I sometimes get into those situations and I think, 'What would Duke
Ellington do?' He would smile and act nice and pretend he was having a great
time. Therefore, I do the same (Campbell, 1999).
Undoubtedly, the career highlight of the
1990s for Marian McPartland was her 80th birthday concert at Town
Hall in New York in 1998, showcasing her in company with many other jazz artists. They
are listed as pianists Ray Bryant, Tommy Flanagan, Barbara Carroll, Jacky
Terrasson, Benny Green and Renee Rosnes; guitarist Kenny Burrell; bassists
Bill Crow and Christian McBride; drummers Joe Morello, Grady Tate and Lewis
Nash; trumpeter Harry 'Sweets' Edison; flautist Herbie Mann; and, although
not advertised, pianist Roy Krall and singer Jackie Cain replaced singer Joe
Williams. Jackie and Roy performed favourite numbers as well as Marian's
own tune 'In The Days of Our Love', with lyrics by Peggy Lee.
The night was recorded
for posterity from the Town Hall, and reviews abounded in many jazz magazines,
journals and newspapers. John Burk, vice president of Concord Records, presented
Marian with a plaque honouring her 80th birthday, her musical artistry,
and her fifty albums for the label. Pianist Ray Bryant was quoted as saying,
'We all know who Marian is and what she represents. She represents us and
puts each one of us into the forefront. Now we realize that she's 80 years
old - it's just beautiful! We hope to keep her with us for at least another
55' (Nahigian, 1998: 18).
The reunion with her bassist Bill Crow and drummer Joe
Morello (both aged 70 at the time) from the Hickory House years struck sparks, leading
to an invitation to record the magic they could still create as musical soulmates. Despite the fact that forty years had elapsed, the historic trio were invited
to make a live recording in the nightclub Birdland. The release of Marian McPartland's Hickory House Trio: Reprise captured the essence, the spirit, and the rapport of a trio whose ideas mesh and whose playing is still
exciting and adventurous. The encore performances of Marian McPartland and her sidemen Bill Crow and Joe Morello at Birdland in 1999 attracted audiences eager to recapture that magic.
References
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