Up Next! Karen Smith
On Monday, March 9 at 7:00 p.m., audiences at the Montgomery Auditorium at the Parkway Central Library will have an opportunity to welcome percussionist Karen Smith and her band to the stage. Smith is a percussionist, playwright, director, producer, poet, and educator originally from Brooklyn but a Philadelphian now since 1993. She has two musical groups: Weez the Peeples, a jazz ensemble, and Sistahs Laying Down Hands, an arts collective filled with vocals, dance, and drumming. Sistahs was part of the pre-opening event for Al Jarreau & David Sanborn on August 21, 2014 at the Dell Music Center and Sistahs will be the opening act for Lancaster Avenue 10th Annual Jazz Festival in July of 2015.

To reserve your spot at this concert, you can get FREE tickets through Free Library of Philadelphia's Music Department.

To see the lineup for the entire series, past and future, please take a look at our program guide.

To hear recordings, both live originals from Montgomery Auditorium or previously released recordings from our streaming music services of established jazz classics that some of these musicians are re-imagining, check out previous blog posts about concerts in September, October, November, December, January, and February.

Recapping Anwar Marshall’s Trio
On Monday, February 9th, a large audience of over 150 curious music lovers settled into the library’s lush cavern of sound, Montgomery Auditorium. Anwar Marshall and his trio were our dates for the evening. With Valentine’s Day fast approaching, Marshall kicked off the evening with an impressionistic interpretation of the classic standard, “My Funny Valentine”. If it’s been awhile, take a moment to reacquaint yourself with the tune and some of the forms it’s taken from our streaming music service. [You may need to log in with your PIN first]

My Funny Valentine Playlist

Now watch how Adam Siegel (saxophone) weaves fragments of the melody in and out of the rhythmic landscape laid down by Anwar Marshall (drums) and Madison Rast (double bass):

Beyond “My Funny Valentine”, Marshall wrote every tune that follows in the above concert video. It’s a great pleasure to see and hear him work every corner of his drumkit to tease out not just a hot beat, but also a whole symphony of textures. See for yourself! Along the way, you’ll hear Madison Rast hold down the low end and then shine on solos where he makes his bass speak in so many fascinating ways.

We’re looking forward to Marshall’s return to the Montgomery Auditorium stage in April for the final concert of the season. In the meantime, keep your ears open for the Fresh Cut Orchestra which he co-leads. They play semi-regularly at the Painted Bride Art Center, the Kimmel Center, and they recently gave an hour long interview on Radio Times.