For the latest in Quick Thoughts/Short Takes, a few museum shows, two music performances, and a surprise on Broadway.
Artistic License; Six Takes on the Guggenheim Collection at the Guggenheim. I had read about this exhibit for several months and finally got to see it—curated from among the works in the Guggenheim collection by each of six artists, each with a specific theme. I found the two most effective to be the works chosen by Jenny Holzer and Carrie Mae Weems, occupying the top two rings of the rotunda, each addressing the lack of diversity in the collection. Holzer chose only work by women artists and Weems chose pieces only in black and white. A powerful show.
Clapping with Stones: Arts and Acts of Resistance and Shihidul Alam: Truth To Power at the Rubin Museum. The Rubin Museum on 17th Street, occupies a part of the original Barney’s Chelsea space, and focuses on art of the Himalayas. We have seen a number of exhibits there. It is accessible and not too crowded. Each of these shows occupies a floor of the museum. Not large, but powerful and affecting. Alam is a Bengladeshi photographer whose work casts an unflinching view of the daily life, struggles, and resistance in Bengladesh and elsewhere. Clapping with Stones uses the architecture of the building to display works by ten international artists in a range of media focused on political and cultural movements and action globally.
Two Late Shows: Maucha Adnet at the Birdland Theater and the Melissa Aldana Quartet at the Jazz Standard. These were really “late-ish” shows but qualify in my book. Maucha Adnet, a Brazilian singer I may have talked about before, and her trio, including the pianist Helio Alves and the guitarist Guilherme Monteiro, presented a show titled Bossa always Nova. It was an intimate show reflecting a range of Brazilian music, many familiar, a few less so, and a couple of American songbook pieces, reinterpreted. The instrumentation and arrangements really showed off the warmth and texture of Maucha’s voice, and both instrumentalists were superb. Birdland Theater, downstairs from the main Birdland stage, is a great setting, small, with excellent acoustics and sightlines. I have wanted to see the Chilean sax player Melissa Aldana since I saw her perform in a support role a number of years ago. Here she was leading an international group, including, for a guest performer on one number, her husband, also a sax player. The music was straight ahead, highly improvised jazz, some dissonance, some great solo playing. She is coming to Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola in February, so see her if you can.
Freestyle Love Supreme. Wow! What an engaging and fun night. Originated by Lin Manuel Miranda, Anthony Veneziale and Thomas Kail, the director of Hamilton, this entirely improvised show starts with five cast members and several musicians on stage. Two others join over the course of the show, with the occasional cameo by Lin-Manuel or others. The night we saw the show, it was Thomas Kail. The cast enlists the audience to shout out words and stories, using the words and one of the stories to create raps or spoken word pieces. As the show progresses, they include more and more, repeating and interweaving the words and stories with the new raps. Ultimately, they bring an audience volunteer onstage to talk about his or her day, and they create a rap around that, again bringing in what has come before. It was extraordinary—creative, energetic, fun. Although we went to the early show with the entire family, as did many in the audience, I imagine the later show gets less family-friendly. One of the more unique and exciting theater events I can recall.
Next up: A book or two, a lecture, and more.
