Stanford University Live presents a Daniel Pearl World Music Days Concert featuring Stephen Prutsman, with Vân-Ánh Võ & Members of the Saint John Coltrane African Orthodox Church
Memorial Church
Stanford University, 450 Serra Mall, Stanford, CA 94305-2004 USA
7:30 PM, Wednesday, October 24, 2018

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The program will feature works by J.S. Bach, traditional music from Vietnam, and “A Love Supreme” performed by the renowned jazz instrumentalists and singers of the Saint John Coltrane African Orthodox Church (SJCAOC).

[7:30 PM Welcome by Rabbi Patricia Karlin-Neumann]

1. [7:34 PM] Lullaby (đàn tranh)
2. [7:39 PM] Sorrow (đàn tranh)
3. [7:42 PM] Purple Haze (đàn bầu)

1. [7:46 PM] Prelude
2. [7:54 PM] Allemande
3. [7:57 PM] Courante
4. [7:58 PM] Sarabande
5. [7:59 PM] Double
6. [8:01 PM] Gavotte I
7. [8:02 PM] Gavotte II (Musette)
8. [8:03 PM] Gigue
   [section ends 8:05 PM]

1. [8:06 PM] Hen Ho (đàn tranh and đàn T'rưng)
   [section ends 8:13 PM; long pause to get everything together for the second half of the show]

• Stephen Prutsman: piano;
• Vân-Ánh Võ: đàn tranh (Vietnamese koto), đàn bầu monochord, đàn T'rưng (bamboo xylophone).

[the show resumes eventually without comment or announcements]

1. [8:25 PM] Acknowledgement
2. [8:39 PM] Resolution » ? After the Rain? »
3. [8:49 PM] Pursuance
4. [8:58 PM] Psalm
   [show ends 9:01 PM; no announcements, no encore]

• Steve Carter: piano;
• Rev. Mother Gloria Fisher: coro vox;
• Reverend James Max Haqq: tenor saxophone, vox;
• Dylan Jennings: tenor saxophone, vox;
• Sister Erinne Johnson: coro vox;
• Archbishop Franzo King: tenor saxophone, percussion, vox;
• Rev. Mother Marina King: coro vox;
• Karl Nueckel: drums;
• Rev. Makeda Nueckel: coro vox;
• Reverend Wanika Stephens: bass;
• Sister Donna Uzoigwe: coro vox.

While I'm glad I attended tonight's event, it had a strange, unpolished vibe, as if it had been pulled together with the expectation that everything would work out fine without need to actually coordinate all of the pieces.

So what was off?

Oh, I don't know. Maybe someone might have suggested that Purple Haze wasn't exactly the best choice for a memorial ceremony? While I was a little put off by the way that piece was performed over a backing track, what jarred me most was the abrupt transition from the meditative, crystalline sounds of the first two tunes to loud, distorted rock and roll.

The Bach Suite was exquisite, but to continue my kvetch, Prutsman seemed to perform it at a galloping rush, with very little change in tempo between the sections, and nary any pause to mark those divisions. Sigh. Sometimes getting the space between the notes is just as important as getting the notes right. I dunno, maybe his interpretation is more consistent with the technical presentation of the score? I guess I was expecting something slightly more soulful. I know that lots of folks complain about Bach seeming “too mathematical”, but that doesn't mean there isn't any emotion or feeling to be expressed. Heck, Bach is tough to perform AND to listen to!

Hen Ho was an interesting collaboration, and I thought both performers did a good job of carrying on a musical conversation. It was also quite interesting to me to hear Prutsman playing in such a radically different style than the preceding Bach: here his parts seemed to be all about atmosphere and texture rather than the unending waterfall of sixteenth notes written by Bach.

Returning to my earlier observation, although Prutsman signalled the SJCAOC players to begin setting up in the middle of his Bach performance (how's that for multitasking!), they nonetheless weren't ready to go when the duo section ended, thus the audience sat around for another ten minutes or so while the stage was changed over. I don't have any problem with waiting, but this would have been a perfect time for some sort of commentary: a memorial reading, an introduction and short history of the SJCAOC, a bit of poetry … heck, anything! Another missed opportunity!

I was really looking forward to hearing the SJCAOC, assuming that through frequent ritual practice they'd be presenting a very high level take on Coltrane's masterwork, but I was disappointed there too. It's not that the performance was bad, but the sound presentation was truly awful. Like many cathedrals, Stanford's Memorial Church is a very resonant space, and I think that setting up the SJCAOC in the back half of the bema (well towards the apse) was the first mistake: that meant a significant portion of the acoustic sound was going to be reflected off the side and back walls. I think it would have worked better to bringing them all forward onto the altar steps – or even onto the floor in front, next to the piano – the better to increase the proportion of direct sound received by the listeners in the nave.

The abundant echo really drowned out the direct sound of the chorus, which was all but inaudible, except when they sang unaccompanied. I'm not sure why the chorus wasn't brought up in the PA … maybe the guy doing sound was deaf? Walking back to the car, I had a long talk with an old eastern European guy who claimed to be a retired sound engineer … he was thoroughly pissed about the experience, and mentioned that he thought the sound was so bad during the second half that it was all he could do not to stand up and walk out. But like me, he wanted to hear the Coltrane, so he stayed and suffered.

I guess tonight was a good chance to remind myself of the risk in building up expectations: if you don't get all excited about what is going to come, then you can't be let down when you don't get it! Or maybe it was another lesson in accepting unavoidable suffering: why be unhappy about things you can't control?

And finally, one last nit for me to pick about tonight's loose ends: It would have been nice to hear a word or two from the performers about how they were aiming at a connection between Danny's life and their performance tonight, but except for the Rabbi's welcome, no one addressed the crowd.

Program Notes or program notes

You can blame this bum for the absence of a photo gallery: I decided to sit up close to the piano, but that meant the lid blocked my view! Ach du lieber Himmel!

Plenty of photos were shot by friends of the performers – maybe those will surface on social media.

Back to the previous event! ☸ Up to the 2018 yearbox! ☸ Up to the 2018 event list! ☸ On to the next event!