Stockton’s Connector of the Arts
BY IVAN MOORE
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Visit Susan Carson’s Atherton Island home and chances are she’s got a Dave Brubeck record on the turntable.
Today it’s “The Dave Brubeck Quartet Plays Songs from West Side Story,” but it’s the B-side that Carson puts on: “Dialogues for a Jazz Combo and Orchestra.” It’s one of her favorite Brubeck tunes (actually penned by Dave’s late brother, Howard).
Now the retired Stockton radio station owner and self-described dilettante will have the occasion to enjoy a newly-composed Brubeck work that she herself initiated.
The project, “Ansel Adams: America” had its genesis when Carson, through friends, became involved with “Meet The Composer,” a national organization designed to assist composers in making a living writing music, and to support direct contact between composers and the public. Part of the group’s mission is to facilitate commissions of musical works.
“I had never even known about commissioning music,” Carson said. “They encourage people to do it for anniversaries, birthdays, special occasions – because they’re looking for work for composers.”
Two years ago, over lunch, Carson and Sacramento Philharmonic Orchestra board member Jennifer Basye Sander had a discussion in which Sander mentioned she had always wanted to commission a work honoring the iconic photographer Ansel Adams. Always a fan of the Brubecks (a grand piano signed by both Dave and son Chris is the centerpiece of her living room), Carson felt the composers would be a perfect match for the project.
“You have two men – Dave and Ansel Adams – both of whom are icons, both of whom have been on the cover of Time Magazine, and both of whom are California landmarks,” explains Carson.
Memories of a rousing performance by the Dave Brubeck Quartet and Chris’s group Triple Play of Dave’s latest composition “Cannery Row Suite” at the 2007 Brubeck Festival were fresh in Carson’s mind. She began to think the idea of commissioning the father-and-son team to work on the Adams project was not so outlandish.
When she approached Chris and Stockton Symphony Music Director Peter Jaffe about the idea, the two were immediately onboard.
Dave, Carson admits, was harder to persuade, but once he had read over Adams’ autobiography and realized the parallels between them, he was in.
One potential complication was receiving permission from the Ansel Adams Publishing Rights Trust for use of the photographs in a multi-media presentation. The Brubecks felt that the project would not be complete without the inclusion of Adams’ images, but the Trust needed to be persuaded. Without the photographs, the Brubecks were reluctant to commit to the project.
Through perseverance and persistence of many – including Carson, Jaffe, and the Brubecks’ lawyer Richard Jeweler – eventually the Ansel Adams Publishing Rights Trust agreed to grant the rights. The multi-media performance of “Ansel Adams: America” will have its debut at the 2009 Brubeck Festival in Stockton.
“It is an honor to be part of this collaboration that will weave the talents of these two renowned artists, in Stockton, for the world debut,” says Carson.
Today it’s “The Dave Brubeck Quartet Plays Songs from West Side Story,” but it’s the B-side that Carson puts on: “Dialogues for a Jazz Combo and Orchestra.” It’s one of her favorite Brubeck tunes (actually penned by Dave’s late brother, Howard).
Now the retired Stockton radio station owner and self-described dilettante will have the occasion to enjoy a newly-composed Brubeck work that she herself initiated.
The project, “Ansel Adams: America” had its genesis when Carson, through friends, became involved with “Meet The Composer,” a national organization designed to assist composers in making a living writing music, and to support direct contact between composers and the public. Part of the group’s mission is to facilitate commissions of musical works.
“I had never even known about commissioning music,” Carson said. “They encourage people to do it for anniversaries, birthdays, special occasions – because they’re looking for work for composers.”
Two years ago, over lunch, Carson and Sacramento Philharmonic Orchestra board member Jennifer Basye Sander had a discussion in which Sander mentioned she had always wanted to commission a work honoring the iconic photographer Ansel Adams. Always a fan of the Brubecks (a grand piano signed by both Dave and son Chris is the centerpiece of her living room), Carson felt the composers would be a perfect match for the project.
“You have two men – Dave and Ansel Adams – both of whom are icons, both of whom have been on the cover of Time Magazine, and both of whom are California landmarks,” explains Carson.
Memories of a rousing performance by the Dave Brubeck Quartet and Chris’s group Triple Play of Dave’s latest composition “Cannery Row Suite” at the 2007 Brubeck Festival were fresh in Carson’s mind. She began to think the idea of commissioning the father-and-son team to work on the Adams project was not so outlandish.
When she approached Chris and Stockton Symphony Music Director Peter Jaffe about the idea, the two were immediately onboard.
Dave, Carson admits, was harder to persuade, but once he had read over Adams’ autobiography and realized the parallels between them, he was in.
One potential complication was receiving permission from the Ansel Adams Publishing Rights Trust for use of the photographs in a multi-media presentation. The Brubecks felt that the project would not be complete without the inclusion of Adams’ images, but the Trust needed to be persuaded. Without the photographs, the Brubecks were reluctant to commit to the project.
Through perseverance and persistence of many – including Carson, Jaffe, and the Brubecks’ lawyer Richard Jeweler – eventually the Ansel Adams Publishing Rights Trust agreed to grant the rights. The multi-media performance of “Ansel Adams: America” will have its debut at the 2009 Brubeck Festival in Stockton.
“It is an honor to be part of this collaboration that will weave the talents of these two renowned artists, in Stockton, for the world debut,” says Carson.