[Take the 'A' Train; The Harlem Quartet; White Pine Music (2007)]
PBS.org NewsHour: Art Beat – Music
Posted by Mike Melia, December 31, 2008
The Harlem Quartet continues to break new ground in the world of classical music, and at the group's recent performance at the Library of Congress, a bit of music history was made, too. "There's definitely been people who have played jazz on a Strad before, no doubt," first violin Ilmar Gavilan said, referring to the legendary instruments made by Antonio Stradivari and the jazz standard written by Billy Strayhorn for Duke Ellington's orchestra. "But a quartet playing jazz, and specifically this arrangement, which is pretty recent, I think I'm going to go out on a limb -- this is history!" [Continue Reading] [The Harlem Quartet is an ensemble of the Sphinx Organization, whose Founder/President, Aaron P. Dworkin (b. 1970), is profiled at AfriClassical.com]
I'm delighted to say that I was present at this "historic event". It was an exceptional performance that reignited the torch atop the Jefferson Building of the Library of Congress. Those Strads will never be the same! Phyllis Fleming - Washington, D.C.
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