American Music Review

Vol. XLVI, Issue 1, Fall 2016

Leann Osterkamp and Ursula Oppens perform music by Bernstein. Photo by Jeffrey Taylor

Though we all had our share of distractions this fall, the Institute was able to move ahead with both shortand long-term projects. The term began, at least figuratively, in the 1920s and 1930s, as we hosted band leader and bass instrument virtuoso Vince Giordano in a screening of There’s A Future in the Past. The documentary explores his crack band The Nighthawks and their role in preserving and performing arrangements from the early decades of jazz, as well as their work on HBO’s Boardwalk Empire, Woody Allen’s Café Society and a host of other projects. Giordano was joined by director/producers Amber Edwards and David Davidson in a question-and-answer period after the screening. Make sure to catch this fascinating film if it appears at a movie house near you! The Nighthawks can be heard weekly at Iguana in Manhattan … Reba Wissner presented “I Know Who it is That Doesn’t Belong Among Us: Scoring Paranoia in The Twilight Zone,” looking at the Cold War context of Rod Serling’s influential TV show and its music … Motivated by the unfortunate violence at the Sept. 2016 J’Ouvert celebration prior to Brooklyn’s West Indian Carnival parade, the Institute collaborated with the Center for Caribbean Studies in “Brooklyn J’ouvert - Reckoning with Brooklyn Carnival’s Past, Present and Future.” The panel consisted of Joshua Guild, Professor of History at Princeton University, Jumaane Williams, Council member for the 45th District of the New York City Council, Michael Manswell, Artistic Director of Something Positive, Kendall Williams, steel pan arranger and composer, and Yvette Rennie, President of J’ouvert City International. Much of the discussion centered on the importance of maintaining an important cultural tradition while working with NY law enforcement and community leaders … Finally, on 14 November Leann Osterkamp gave a preview of the excitement that will accompany Leonard Bernstein’s 2018 centenary with “Leonard Bernstein and the Piano,” a lecture and performance featuring several of Bernstein’s solo piano works, including the rarely-heard Piano Sonata from 1938. Osterkamp was assisted by Distinguished Professor Ursula Oppens on several pieces. Osterkamp has completed a recording of all Bernstein’s piano music (including some unpublished works) that will be released later this year on the Steinway label.

This fall brought a change in HISAM’s personnel, as our previous College Assistant Evan Moskowitz moved on to other projects. Whitney George, who had worked for many years as our Graduate Assistant, has now taken over Evan’s position. We welcome our new Graduate Assistant, composer Nicholas R. Nelson, who brings his considerable computer skills to this journal. Nick, who works primarily in electro-acoustic music, is a familiar presence at Brooklyn College’s Center for Computer Music, and we are delighted to have him onboard.

We were saddened to learn of the passing of Samuel A. Floyd, Jr., scholar, founder of The Center for Black Music Research, and member of the Institute’s Advisory Board. He was a staunch supporter of our enterprise, and those of us lucky enough to know him personally feel the loss profoundly. Our thoughts are with his family. Guthrie P. Ramsey provides a closer look at this remarkable man in the current issue.

Research Associate Arturo O’Farrill recently received his fifth Grammy and second Latin for the album Cuba: The Conversation Continues. He and his Afro Latin Jazz Ensemble performed at the Blue Note Madrid, the Havana Plaza Jazz Festival, and a variety of other venues. He is currently preparing for a concert and recording with pianist and composer Chucho Valdés at the end of January 2017 … Our new College Assistant Whitney George was commissioned by the Lykos Quartet to prepare a rescoring of the 1940’s experimental film Meshes of the Afternoon, set to premiere January 2017. The Face the Music Symphony Orchestra commissioned a new work from George which was partially premiered at Roulette in December, and is set for a full premiere in Spring 2017. George’s ensemble The Curiosity Cabinet, in collaboration with UK interdisciplinary artists Bitter Suite, performed the Sensory String Quartet in December, their debut at the Brooklyn Academy of Music … Research Associate Stephanie Jensen-Moulton has continued to work on two academic writing projects while on sabbatical leave. She presented her work on Christopher Knowles and Einstein on the Beach at Westminster Choir College in October, and responded to a panel on Disability Pedagogy at the November AMS annual conference in Vancouver. She was also co-convener of the summer 2016 JAMS Colloquy “On the Disability Aesthetics of Music.”