Bman's Blues Report: Stephanie Trick Update

Happy October! I hope you are doing well. As I'm writing this, I'm on the plane coming home from Seattle, after the two debut concerts of Nouveau Stride with Lorraine Feather...

I get a big kick out of sharing this melodic, swinging music from the 1930s with people, and I'm grateful that I have these opportunities. Since my last newsletter, I had concerts in the Washington, DC area; Kansas City; Chicago; Syracuse, NY; and finally, the Seattle area.

"It was a fun show! I didn't realize that I liked stride... I guess I didn't even know what stride was!"

-- Comment from a recent thirty-something concert attendee

It was fun to meet so many enthusiastic fans of this music at these events. Some had traveled hundreds of miles to come, including the Diamonds of Newport News, VA, who shot this video from the Northern Virginia Ragtime Society concert in Fairfax.

Hyde Park Jazz Festival

I really enjoyed being on the campus of the University of Chicago again, performing at International House (my old college dorm!) for the students, faculty, and members of the community as part of the fifth annual Hyde Park Jazz Festival.

Syracuse University Artist-in-Residence

It was a blast to be a university Artist-in-Residence for the first time -- an exciting collaboration with Syracuse University that I hope will happen again in the future, with them and with other universities.

Photo courtesy of John Herr

While there, I had the opportunity to play for a History of Jazz class, where the students had just been reading about Louis Armstrong, the original masters of stride piano, and other luminaries of early jazz. It was fun to demonstrate the techniques and characteristics of ragtime, stride, and boogie woogie at the piano and talk about this music to students who are just a little younger than myself.

I also was able to do a presentation for members of the Phi Beta Kappa organization at the university. This was another unique opportunity, in an intimate and informal setting, to talk about stride, its main exponents (Fats Waller, James P. Johnson, Willie "The Lion" Smith, and Donald Lambert), and its importance in jazz history.

High School Visit

Photo courtesy of Carol Terry

Another chance I had to interact with some of the younger students was a workshop for concert and jazz bands at a Syracuse area high school. This was especially rewarding because I had two hours with these kids and, in addition to demonstrating early jazz piano styles to them, I was able to answer their questions about a career in music. That, along with other reactions from the students at S.U., was truly thrilling, because it's one of the first chances I've had to share this kind of music with people my age, and the response was overwhelmingly positive.

First Tweeted Concert!

I gave a concert at the end of my residency in the beautiful and resonant Setnor Auditorium. It was attended by a combination of people from the community who were already familiar with this music, as well as students from the university. One exciting element of the evening was my hosts' "live tweeting" of the concert (on Twitter)! You can read a transcript of what was written that night, and also see pictures and short videos that people from the audience contributed as I played!

Nouveau Stride Debuts

After the brief stay in Syracuse, I headed to Washington State to team up with Lorraine Feather on beautiful Orcas Island to give the first two Nouveau Stride concerts! I've been talking up this duo and have had a link on my website home page for many months now, and it finally came together this past weekend. The people of Orcas Island (one of the San Juan Islands off the coast of Seattle) flocked to the event, and we could feel the excitement in the air even before the show started. Lorraine's witty and lightning fast lyrics, an aerial view of the piano keyboard, and a couple of old Fats Waller soundies were projected onto a screen behind us. We received much positive and encouraging feedback. Now to get the show booked elsewhere so more of you can see it too!

Nouveau Stride Album

Lorraine and I will also be recording a Nouveau Stride album together. We don't want to make you wait for months until the whole project is completed. So we've decided to release digitally one track at a time until the complete album is ready. When we have fourteen tracks (hence the album title, Fourteen), it will be released. The CD will include Lorraine's original lyrics set to the compositions of the stride pianists, Duke Ellington, Dick Hyman, and others. The first download is slated for release on November 14, and subsequent ones every month thereafter until the album is out. Stay tuned!

Upcoming Performances

More information about all of these events may be found on my website at stephanietrick.com/schedule.htm

Concert with Mr. B in Traverse City, Michigan
October 22 - 8:00 p.m.
"Art After 5" Concert at the St. Louis Art Museum
October 28 - 7:00 p.m.
13th Annual Blues & Boogie Piano Summit in Newport, Kentucky (Cincinnati, OH area)
November 5 - 9:00 p.m.
Duo concert with Dave Majchrzak for the Ozark Jazz Society in Lake Ozark, Missouri
November 13 - 6:30 p.m.
Solo concert in San Francisco, California
November 15 - 2:00 p.m.
House concert in Oakland, California
November 16 - 7:30 p.m.
West Coast Ragtime Festival in Sacramento, California
November 18-20
Master classes and concert at Deep Springs College in Big Pine, California
November 22
32nd Annual San Diego Thanksgiving Dixieland Jazz Festival
November 25-27
Afternoon concert in Laguna Hills, California
December 3
Evening house concert in Yorba Linda, California
December 3
House concert with Paolo Alderighi in Palos Verdes, California (email me for invitation)
December 7 - 7:00 p.m.
House concert with Paolo Alderighi in Mission Viejo, California (email me for invitation)
December 8 - 7:30 p.m.