Pasadena Pops Orchestra Has a Jazzy Idea
It can’t be anything but fun. That is the assessment being given the Pasadena Pops Orchestra concerts at the area adjacent to the Rose Bowl in Pasadena that draws thousands to hear the musicians of the Pasadena Symphony led by Pops conductor Rachael Worby present their summer series.
Worby brings ‘em in because of the lively programming that deliberately eschews classical music and continues to insist on light fare for the four-concert series. The next concert is Saturday, Aug. 14, with a concert start time of 7:30 p.m. but with gates opening at 5:30 p.m. for picnickers.
“All That Jazz” brings the audience and the orchestra together to celebrate American jazz as written by Duke Ellington, Henry Mancini, John Kander, Harold Arlen and a couple of lesser known musical elites, Ron Abel and Richard Lane. Soloists for the affair are vocalist Valarie Pettiford and pianist Alfredo Rodriguez.
Valarie Pettiford, vocalist will sing jazz standards with Pasadena Pops.
Pettiford is a long-time friend of Worby’s and they have collaborated often for the Pops concerts. Pettiford, in addition to singing jazz standards like “Don’t Get Around Much Anymore” and “Come Rain or Come Shine” (repeats with this orchestra if memory serves me well) will be heard in newly orchestrated jazz tunes by Pettiford’s musical director and orchestrator, Ron Abel, “Le Jazz Hot” and “All that Jazz”. According to Worby, Pettiford, in addition to her film and TV successes, “used to be a Fosses dancer and a Fosse singer,” she told KGIL interviewer P.J. Ochlan.
Rodriguez is a 24 year-old recent transplant from Cuba. Last year he requested and received political asylum from the United States after expressing his desire to share his keyboard talent with the world. Rodriguez brings from Cuba distinctly classical training, but has turned to jazz. Although he is imbued with the Creole-Cuban music traditions, his reputation has been built on the shoulders of Monk, Evans, Tatum and other American jazz greats.
Almost shockingly, following some jazz riffs, Rodriguez will perform George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue”. Ms. Worby told Ochlan in the radio interview that in this, his inaugural performance of the piece, he will play a “refreshing and as untainted a reading of the piece as I have ever heard.”
Rodriguez’ discoverer and mentor, Quincy Jones, responded, Worby reported, “Gershwin? Gershwin? Go figure.” Still, it is a jazzy idea.
The Pasadena Pops Orchestra performs “All that Jazz” at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 14 on the erected band shell at the lawn adjacent to the Rose Bowl. Ticket prices range from $25 for lawn seating, to $90 for table seating.
For information, please call (626) 793-7172.
By Bill Peters
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