24 july/august 2010

AmericanEnsemble

When your music-making falls outside standard genres, you have to try that much harder to make your-self heard. That’s the situation that Corky Siegel finds himself in with his Chamber

Blues ensemble, featuring Siegel, on blues harmonica, with a pianist, a string quartet and an East Indian percussionist. The group serves up a musical menu that you won’t find elsewhere—Siegel’s own compositions in “chamber blues” style—as he puts it, “a com-positional approach that juxtaposes blues and classical style in a chamber music setting.”

The roots of Siegel’s classical/blues mix date back to the sixties. Those were the days of the Siegel-Schwall band, featuring Siegel and guitarist Jim Schwall. “We were playing in this club on the North Side [of Chicago], and this Japanese fellow used to come in night after night,” Siegel recalls. “One night he comes up to me and says ‘Corky, I’d like your band to jam with my band.’” The “Japanese fellow,” it turned out, was Seiji Ozawa and his “band” was the Chicago Symphony. The invitation resulted in a groundbreaking collaboration on William Russo’s Three Pieces for Blues Band and Symphony Orchestra; later, a recording of the work became one of Deutsche Grammophon’s best-selling albums ever.

“I’m composing what in my mind is classical-flavored music,” says Siegel. The problem, though, can be getting presenters to understand it as he does. “There’s a resis-tance in communication for people who have no idea what it is,” he says. “Once they expe-rience it, though, it’s a whole different thing.” He cites the Aspen Music Festival as a venue that was initially resistant to Chamber Blues, but has now brought the ensemble back for return engagements.

As Siegel sees it, all that audience mem-bers—and presenters—need is a pair of ears

and an open mind. To illustrate his point, he tells a story from an after-concert Q&A in the Midwest. “One person stood up and said ‘I’m a classical purist, yet I love chamber blues. How do you explain that?’” Siegel relates. “I said ‘You’re not a classical purist. That’s not an artistic statement; it’s a sociopolitical statement.’”

The Chamber Blues concert, Siegel says, had encouraged that listener to abandon her preexisting understanding of her own musical taste. “When you’re confronted with the beauty of art,” he says, “there is no purism.” www.chamberblues.com

A Bolt

from the Blue

Chamber Jazz: Back row, L to R, Aurelien Pederzoli, violin; Jill Kaeding, cello; Doyle Armbrust, viola. Front row: Corky Siegel, harmonica, piano, vocals, compositions; Chihsuan Yang, violin; Frank Donaldson, tablas and world percussion

Top Presenters are raving about Chamber Blues!

Music SeriesLuther College - Decorah, IA"People really loved it! ...One of many who commented so enthusiastically told me it was the best thingshe has ever heard in the center! I was continually stopped as I moved about town by people making apoint to express their thanks for the great concert...attendance was even better than last time."_Yvonne Kuhlman, Director

Huntington Summer Festival - Long Island, NY"...Overwhelming response...this drew a diverse audience (of 3,000) ranging from 20 year olds to seniors.I look forward to the next time we will be able to work together."_Steve Hoffman

Firefly Festival - South Bend, IN"A presenter's dream." - Carol Rosenberg, Director

University of Texas PAC - Austin, TX"...high point of our season." - Diana Markus, Assistant Events Manager

Kentucky Center for the Arts - Louisville, KY"One of the most entertaining evenings I've ever experienced. Book this act!"_Frank Sonntag, Director (from APAP Report)

Folk and World MusicOld Town Folk Center for the Arts - Chicago, IL"...grateful thanks to you...five or six times as many subscription members as we might recruit during atypical performance!" _Gary Snyderman, Development/Membership Director

ClassicalSedona Chamber Music Society - Sedona, AZ"Our desire to bring diversity to our chamber music series was enriched... a big hit. It was obvious that theaudience loved the program by the way of selling 85 CDs during intermission... Corky Siegel's ChamberBlues stands tall among the Muir, St. Petersburg and other ensembles...the commitment to being the bestputs him at the top. A very impressive program that opened the minds and souls of all attending."_Bert Harclerode, Executive Director

Aspen Music Festival - Aspen, CO"Many concert goers remarked that Chamber Blues was the best concert of the season."_Tom Eirman, Program Director

Classical & JazzUnity Temple Fine Arts Series - Chicago, IL"Wow, what euphoric feedback...spectacular performance...thank you, thank you, thank you!!! Pleasecome again very soon!! This was the largest audience in the venue's 28 years."_Judy Compton, Artistic Director

St. John School of the Arts - Virgin Islands"Thank you, thank you, thank you for such a spectacular evening! Everyone speaks of your charm, innovativemusic, and the sense of joy that you create. Your CD is being played all over the island - we miss you all!"_Ruth C. H Frank, Director.

To whom it may concern,

I have a wonderful music memory working with Corky Siegel and making music with the San FranciscoSymphony Orchestra with him. He is one of the most natural musicians and very, very gifted.

Best wishes,Seiji Ozawa

=======================================================I am happy to say a few words about Corky Siegel.

He is what the profession calls "a musician's musician"--meaning he cannot easily be categorized. This tendsto confuse the media, but not musicians and audiences, who immediately respond to the pure soul of theman as soon as he plays a note. The Saginaw Bay Symphony and I collaborated with Corky last season in awork that only he (literally) can play. The musicians in the orchestra--a mix of U of M professors, principalsfrom other orchestras, young virtuosos about to embark on their careers, and some hard-to-impressveterans of many "gigs", pops and classical--responded with un-restrained joy at Corky's music making andunique character. He is one of life's treasures ; a pure, vulnerable spirit that dares to be free, spreadingjoy wherever he goes.

Patrick Flynn, Conductor-Symphony Silicon Valley

=======================================================To Whom It May Concern,

It has been a great pleasure for me to have the opportunity of collaborating with Corky Siegel. His owntalents and vision provide a unique contribution to our music making on the National scene. Corky Siegel isnot only a brilliant and talented harmonica and piano player, but his vision of breaking down the artificialbarriers of "popular" and "serious" music deserves great applause. I love working and performing with Corky,because it brigs something special to my own life.

Sincerely,

Stephen Gunzenhauser, Music Director-Lancaster Symphony Orchestra, Endless Mountain Music Festival

=======================================================TWIMC:

Corky Siegal is a wonderful musician. I do mean that in the sense that he brings you into his world, one ofwonder, one of his own existence when he plays. He has that magical talent of sweeping you up and away,to a place full of rhythm, emotion, truth and joy. He has his hand in many forms of music, vernaculars. Youfeel a bit of the blues even as he plays a Bach like fugue; or a bit of Bach when he deep in the blues.Technically, he is superb. He has all the concentration, care of articulation and phrasing of a concertviolinist, and all the soul of a Ray Charles. His personality is totally beguiling. He is amicable to othersideas, a team player and yet firm leader who inspires people to want to play better, work at their best. Ihave worked with Cork on a couple a film scores, and found him not only a major contributor to the musicbut, as they say in the theatre, "a real trooper." He won't quit until he's got it just right, until you're happy.He's infatigable, physically and musically, and just plan fun to be around.

Working with and knowing Corky has been one of the great hi-lights of my personal and professional life.

Joseph Renzetti, AAW

Siegel, Levy breathtaking at AcornANDREW S. HUGHES, Tribune Staff Writer :: Published Sep 16, 2007

THREE OAKS -- The Acorn Theater bookended summer with headlining performances by CorkySiegel and his Chamber Blues ensemble Memorial Day weekend and on Friday.

Aside from superb musicianship and Siegel's good humor, however, the shows had little in common.

The concert in May displayed the breadth of styles and technique Siegel, the West End String Quartetand percussionist Frank Donaldson infuse into Siegel's blend of classical and blues music. ForFriday's concert, however, Siegel brought along guest vocalist Marcy Levy for "a little ChamberBlues and more Chamber R&B."

A former backing vocalist for Eric Clapton and Leon Russell and a member of Shakespear's Sister,Levy riveted the audience with her multi-octave voice when she was onstage.Levy's warm singing on"Further on Up the Road" gave it an understated, cozy sensibility that made its warning about anunfaithful lover's eventual comeuppance even more chilling. It also gave the band an opportunity toreally shine: Levy turned in an understated, soulful harmonica solo, Siegel played variations on themelody during his piano solo, and first violinist Jeff Yang easily took the place of a guitarist with hisblues-based solo.

Solomon Burke's "Cry to Me" showed off Levy's wow-inducing control of her voice, which imbuedthe song with breathtaking emotion and had the power and range of a gospel singer's voice overtakenby the Spirit. At the end, Levy had Siegel on his knees with his harmonica, gushing notes at her as shedemanded he cry to her.

Levy's "There Goes My Man" featured a chooglin' harmonica duet by her and Siegel, while Howlin'Wolf's "Tell Me" featured a soulful harmonica solo by Levy and a fabulous mid-tempo blues solo byJeff Yang.

"Lay Down Sally," which Levy co-wrote with Clapton, sounded both familiar and new with Siegel'sarrangement of it for the string quartet and a full-on harmonica solo by Siegel.

Levy and the band, however, created a new standard from an old one with their performance of "MyFunny Valentine." Her spellbinding vocals on this subdued arrangement combined anguish anddevotion, while Siegel's harmonica solo provided a complementary mournful feeling to the song.Everything after it, and this was only the fourth song of the night, was an encore.Siegel and theChamber Blues ensemble did perform a few numbers without Levy, including a blissful andexhilarating rendition of Opus 14-17. Opus 8 featured a wonderful call-and-response between Siegelat the piano and Donaldson, who used a different percussion instrument for each phrase while Siegelplayed in a different blues style on each phrase. When the string quartet joined them, Jeff Yangshowed off his classical chops with a solo that prefaced a dialogue between him and second violinistChiHsuan Yang in which she finished phrases he began.

The concert ended with Levy and Siegel together for her song "Ugly Man Blues," whose counter-intuitive lyrics fit perfectly alongside any of Siegel's tongue-in-cheek songs. It provided a humorousappendix to a night that often ran much deeper and bluer in the emotions Levy, Siegel and the bandproduced.

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