PATRICIA C. SYAK | Symphony Notes Concerts will feature jazz during next two months

Jazz plays a prominent role during upcoming Youngstown Symphony Orchestra concerts and the society's first Broadway Series offering.
Monday and Tuesday, the Broadway Series sponsored by the society in conjunction with First Place Bank Community Foundation begins the season with the Tony Award-winning musical "Fosse."
Dancer, director and choreographer Bob Fosse combined the elements of classical ballet and tap and the sassy syncopation of a jazz beat to perfection.
It's all there when Fosse plays Powers Auditorium: the angular, disjointed body posture, the slithering sensual undulations and suggested body contact, the sizzling jazz rhythms and signature "teacup tipping" gesture and doffing of the ever-present black bowler.
Along with the energetic dancing come songs such as "Steam Heat" from The Pajama Game, "Mr. Bojangles" from "Dancin'" and "Big Spender" from "Sweet Charity" and much more.
One of the premiere jazz saxophonists, Branford Marsalis, joins the YSO and Isaiah Jackson at 8 p.m. Nov. 23 at Powers Auditorium to add his unique American take to the French classics.
"Marsalis plays with a subtlety of tone and phrasing only the finest interpreter can attain," writes the Chicago Tribune.
Biography
Equally at home in jazz clubs and concert halls, Marsalis performs jazz-influenced and -inspired classics from the early 20th-century French composers Milhaud and Ibert.
The New Orleans native was born into one of the city's most distinguished musical families, which includes brothers Wynton, Dalfeayo and Jason and patriarch pianist Ellis Marsalis.
Over the course of his career, Branford Marsalis has won Grammys for Best Jazz Instrumentalist, worked with such pop artists as the Grateful Dead, Sting and Bruce Hornsby and participated as arranger, producer or soloist on numerous film soundtracks.
Meanwhile, Marsalis is also changing the future of jazz in the classroom as a member of the San Francisco State music faculty.
The orchestra continues the French connection with selections from Bizet's popular opera "Carmen" and the Franck Symphony in D minor.
A simple man, Cesar Franck served music and God with reverence and humility. He was the last man on earth designed to become a storm center. The pious and humble organist of Sainte Clothilde, the conservatory teacher who made daily rounds of instruction for a few extra francs found the key to a new art, and promptly Franck's believers hailed him as a musical messiah.
From Franck, a new word entered the glossary of musical terms -- mysticism -- and those whofollowed him carried as their testament his D Minor Symphony.
Tickets to the concert, underwritten in part by the Linde Hydraulics Corporation with promotional support provided by Turning Point sponsor WFMJ-TV, are available by calling the Symphony Center box office.
Augustine to perform
Jazz pianist Joe Augustine will be the guest with the YSO on Dec. 7 in a program of holiday favorites filled with reverence and joy.
Whether playing standards or his own compositions, Augustine keeps the melody solidly up front, producing a sound he describes as somewhere between Oscar Peterson and Dave Grusin with a little Fats Waller stride style tossed in for good measure.
Augustine's special style of phrasing -- playing around within the subdivisions of each beat, steering clear of the downbeat -- acknowledges that the spaces between the notes are just as important as the notes themselves.
Backed by double bassist David Finck and percussionist Clint de Ganon, the Joe Augustine Trio performs such seasonal standards as "Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!," "Winter Wonderland," "Sleigh Ride" and inspirational melodies "O Come All Ye Faithful" and "Silent Night."
Patrons attending the Dec. 7 concert at Powers Auditorium will be part of a recording for national distribution. The commercial recording will be a first-time project for the orchestra and is made possible through the generous support of Boardman Steel Inc.; Cafaro Foundation; Harrington, Hoppe & amp; Mitchell Ltd.; Home Savings and Loan Company; Dr. and Mrs. Kenneth Lloyd; Julie Plank; Mr. and Mrs. Clarence Smith; and the estate of Frances Schwebel Solomon.
Tickets to the Dec. 7 holiday concert are on sale now at the Symphony Center box office. The number is (330) 744-0264.
XPatricia C. Syak is executive director of the Youngstown Symphony Society.