Jason Moran Presents Duke Ellington: My Heart Sings (solo)
Saturday, September 27
TIME: 10:00pm-11:00pm
VENUE: Rockefeller Chapel. 5850 South Woodlawn Ave.
A photo of Jason Moran standing and staring at the camera, and wearing a black and white polka dot button down shirt and multicolored ball cap. Followed by a photo of Jason seated in front of a wooden piano wearing a black tuxedo and bowtie, and looking towards the right. Followed by a photo of Jason facing the left side and looking at the camera, and wearing a navy and white polka dot suit.
Photos by Clay Patrick McBride
Jason Moran
Guided by Duke Ellington’s great canon, Moran takes a solo piano climb up “Mount Ellington” in this extraordinary celebration of the composer’s enduring legacy, 125 years after Ellington’s birth. Experience the timeless genius of Ellington’s music, brilliantly reimagined by Moran.
Pianist and composer Jason Moran has established himself as a risk-taker and trendsetter for new directions in jazz. Rolling Stone calls him “the most provocative thinker in current jazz.” It’s that incomparable talent and unyielding drive towards innovation that earned Moran a prestigious MacArthur “Genius Grant” Fellowship and the title of Kennedy Center Artistic Director for Jazz. Since 2000, Moran and his trio The Bandwagon (with Tarus Mateen and Nasheet Waits) have dazzled audiences at elite venues worldwide.
Moran has performed with many acclaimed artists, such as Charles Lloyd and Dave Holland; composed a ballet for Alzonzo King LINES Ballet; conceived a jazz and skateboarding collaboration; written the score for films including Selma; and paid homage to two legendary pianists in his Blue Note album, All Rise: A Joyful Elegy for Fats Waller, and his multimedia program, In My Mind: Monk at Town Hall 1959. A prolific composer, Moran has released almost twenty albums as leader or co-leader, including Looks of a Lot, which was commissioned by the Chicago Symphony Center, and Music for Joan Jonas, a collaboration with performance artist Joan Jonas containing excerpts from three of their major collaborations. The Los Angeles Times hails Moran as “a startlingly gifted pianist with a relentless thirst for experimentation.”
The musicians:
Jason Moran - Piano