GREENSBORO − A quite unusual concert was performed by Frederick Moyer and the Fred Moyer Jazz Trio on Tuesday evening, July 15, as the first in the Summer Music from Greensboro series at the United Church of Christ.
The program was divided into two parts, the first with Moyer playing a set of Beethoven variations followed by two movements from Rachmaninoff’s Third Piano Concerto, where Moyer was accompanied by an orchestra recording from Music Minus One.
After the intermission he was joined by two excellent musicians, Evan Palmer on bass and Bob Savine on drums, in 10 jazz works which had been transcribed note-by-note from the original records of great jazz players and then faithfully followed from the written score by the trio. An interesting innovation was the projection on the inside of the raised piano lid of Moyer’s hands on the keyboard by a video camera.
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) wrote a number of variations on a theme for piano, of which the “Diabelli” is the best known. This form is virtually identical with improvisation, which is the essence of jazz, and which Beethoven excelled at during his early concertizing career. Moyer chose Beethoven’s “Thirty-two Variations in C minor, Wo0 80,” and played it all from memory without any sheet music before him. In it we hear the rich musical imagination of Beethoven, starting with his own original theme, then proceeding to change the tempo, rhythms, textures and mood of the melody, often juxtaposing what the right hand was doing to that of the left, with surprising effects.
Serges Rachmaninoff (1873-1943) was one of the last Romantic composers, whose lush chordal harmonies and melodic gift made him very popular in the first half of the Twentieth Century. His “Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor, Op. 30” is one of the most difficult in the repertoire and again he played it entirely from memory in a true tour de force. He was able somehow to technically make the orchestral recording follow his interpretation of the piece rather than be locked into its tempos and dynamics. The two movements he selected, the second Intermezzo: Adagio and the third Finale: Alla breve, had a sweeping momentum with a grandiose scale and many dramatic passages combined with engaging melodies and deep feelings. Being able to see Moyer’s agile fingers on the keys from any place in the room certainly made one appreciate his remarkable coordination in his performance of this challenging work.
After the intermission, the Moyer Jazz Trio began with a piece with strong initial chords from the piano and then extensive elaborations on the theme in over-the-top sequences involving all three musicians. Two pieces by Oscar Peterson were next, who Moyer described as the “Rachmaninoff of jazz,” “At Long Last Love” and “Tin Tin Deo,” the latter having a cow bell struck by a drum stick as part of the percussive rhythms. Peterson’s improvisations are always astonishing and take you into the stratosphere of creative imagination.
“My Foolish Heart” by Bill Evans explored another major jazz figure, with a laid back ambience that was peacefully beautiful. Erole Garner’s “They Long to Be Close to You” had some upbeat rhythms with a very playful contrast between the right and left hands on the keyboard. A piece by Monty Alexander from the Montreux Jazz Festival in he 1980s demonstrated how one could take a simple tune and do impressive variations on it with real emotion, creating superb jazz.
“Kathy’s Waltz,” from Dave Brubeck’s famous Time Out album, had all kinds of musical shenanigans with unpredictable changes in direction and scattered disonant notes. Ahmad Jamal showed his talents in a humorous adaptation of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “The Surry With The Fringe on Top” from “Oklahoma.” By speeding up the tempo, the whole character of the tune changed, and the pianist, drummer and bassist all shared in its development. “Let Us Dance” was a well constructed melody with a nice swing to it, embodying a certain joy in life, written by George Kelischek, in which Moyer showed his total mastery of his instrument. The last number on the program was another of Oscar Peterson’s, with a nonstop forward drive having rapid fingering on the piano, entitled “Blues Etude,” a real showpiece. It brought the audience to their feet in a standing ovation for this great evening of classical and jazz music.
The next concert in the Summer Music from Greensboro series will be of the Ellington Collective on Tuesday, July 29, at 7:30 p.m.
David K. Rodgers
David K. Rodgers is a writer, mason and card carrying dilettante, who dabbles and babbles in art. He has lived in East Craftsbury for the past 40 years.
