The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Sherman Chamber Ensemble schedules concerts in November and December
SHERMAN — The Sherman Chamber Ensemble presents “Jazzing It Up,” featuring Ted Rosenthal on piano and Eddie Barbash on alto sax, with in-person performances.
Rosenthal and Barbash join a group of accomplished New York musicians including Thomson Kneeland on double bass, Chris Parker on drums, Susan Rotholz on flute and Eliot Bailen on cello.
“The program pays tribute to Billy Strayhorn — American jazz composer, pianist, lyricist, and arranger, who collaborated with bandleader Duke Ellington,” said Bailen, artistic director of the ensemble. “In fact, some say it was difficult to discern where one’s style ended and the other’s began as the two together brought much joy to the jazz world.”
Strayhorn composed more than 150 pieces of music, including: “Chelsea Bridge,” “Day Dream,” “Johnny Come Lately,” “Rain Check,” and Ellington’s theme song, “Take the A Train.” Strayhorn was inducted into the Great American Songbook Foundation Hall of Fame as part of the 2021 class. Bailen said that special arrangements are being created for the Ensemble’s program to include flute and cello, according to a statement.
“The combination of Rosenthal, one of the leading jazz pianists of his generation, and Barbash, an exciting, young virtuoso and a founding member of John Batiste’s Stay Human house band for the Steven Colbert Late Night Show, will have audiences jumping in their seats,” said Liba Furhman, executive director of the Sherman Chamber Ensemble.
Barbash, named by Vanity Fair as one of the “millennials shaking up the jazz world” was a founding member of the Jon Batiste and Stay Human Band, of Late Night with Stephen Colbert fame. In past performances with the ensemble he received rave reviews and standing ovations, playing diverse styles of music from Debussy to Mozart, Rossini to blue grass and Roy Orbison tunes.
Also featured is drummer Chris Parker. Over the past four decades, he's worked with everybody from the Brecker Brothers to Miles Davis, Laura Nyro and Lou Rawls and made his mark time and again with a who's who of music giants. Called an “unsung hero of the music biz”
Parker brings his skill and intensity to the Ensemble.
The concerts will be held at 4 p.m. Nov. 27 at Christ Church on Quaker Hill, 7 Church Road, Pawling, N.Y.; at 8 p.m. Nov. 27 at Salem Covenant Church, 96 Baldwin Hill Road, Washington; and at 4 p.m. Dec. 28 at St. Andrew’s Church, 1 N. Main St., Kent.
General admission tickets are $25; children ages 15 and under are admitted free when accompanied by an adult. Tickets can be reserved in advance at www.SCEmusic.org to minimize risk and to allow for contact tracing if necessary. Proof of vaccination, face masks and social distancing are required. Tickets may be purchased at the door, subject to availability. For information or reservations, call 860-355-5930.