“Members of the Bonnycastle Homestead Association and others got a taste of jazz pianist Thelonious Monk and his ‘Straight No Chaser’ classic along with their supper when Louisville Orchestra music director Teddy Abrams performed at a recent event,” writes Martha Elson in Tuesday’s (3/3) Courier-Journal (Louisville, Kentucky). “Abrams mingled with diners at the association’s Soup & Salad fundraiser before playing Monk’s music and other pieces on a baby grand piano Sunday…. It was part of a concerted effort to get out into the community … rather than necessarily waiting for them to come to the Kentucky Center for the Arts…. Abrams’ informal community appearances are in addition to ones with the orchestra during its ‘LG&E Music Without Borders’ neighborhood concert series…. Abrams spoke enthusiastically to the audience, alluding to a past ‘golden era’ when ‘this actually was the way concerts took place back then,’ he said. ‘People would sit down to see Chopin improvise music.’ … Outside the concert hall, Abrams has literally taken his act to the streets, performing on an electric keyboard in the middle of West Broadway … [and] with Portland, Ore.-based singer Storm Large at The Bardstown theater and restaurant on Bardstown Road.”
Posted March 5, 2015
