All That Good

"JAZZ IS MORE than music--it's a way of life." It is with his theme in mid that Patrick Bradford and his cast of 10 female singers and seven musicians have created Mood Indigo II Within the elegant music box of the Agassiz Theater of Radcliffe Yard, they had sought to reproduce the atmosphere and intimately of a Greewich Village Jazz club. Although the illusion is and the not hold the spell for 90 minutes, both the effect and the effort are superior The result is a father uncommon evening of Harvard theatre.

The project seeks to blend music, poetry and prose into a "fusion" of jazz aiming to explore what Jazz (with a capital 3) as a medium expresses, and what a could potentially express. Using the music of Ellington. Gillespie, Waller, Monk and other greats coupled with selections from both Black and white authors. Mood Indigo II examines the meaning and the masters of Jazz in paying homage to the must distinctive origins and its fascinating evolution into a sophisticated cross-cultural genre, the performers (also both Black and White) not the "the Jazz transceds race." The message gets a little heavy handed at times, but the point of its at times, but the point of its universality is made carefully and thoughtfully Indeed. Bradford and Gorgom deserve for the well-crafted design and orchestration evident throughout the evening.

Mood Indigo An Evening of Jazz was originally presented in December in the Leob's Experimental Theatre with a mixed cast. In this incarnation the 10 women cast adds a feeling of warmth and history, reminding us of the important role that female artists played in the development of the medium The use of the semicircle of performers around law circular stage, to the musicians, helps to recreate the closeness immediately of a Blocker Stret nightspot. Most extensive use of the Agassiz's facilities, particularly in terms of lighting effects and movement off the stage would have added to the illusion.

AMONG, THE PERFORMERS Heather Johnston's mellow and throaty gave depth and emotion to her excellent renditions of Monk and Holiday Christina Wheeler as particularly strong and energetic in her powerful solos. Both Andrea Burke and Belle Linda Halpern gave virbrant performances exploring the sensuality of the music; especially memorable was Halpern's sassy "Wild Women Don't Get the Blues" Finally, there was Stephanie Wilford-Foster, who maintained the most compelling presence throughout the evening, drawing the subtle meaning out of the prose selections in a superior performance. In her closing number, evoking the Southern Baptist spirituals from which jazz sprung, Wiford-Foster was nothing less than inspirational in her preacher -like solo. In the band, Paul Brusiloff provides a hot trumpet, while Leon Greunbaum is fine on the piano. A Don Braden solo on the tenor saxophone, a la Stanley Turrentine, was very good once he warmed up and hit his groove.

Mood Indigo II: An Original Jazz Collage, for all its slight problems, remains an exceptionally well-conceived performed creation. As an exposition of jazz past and potential, it provides a stimulating. If not entirely satisfactory, study into the power of must easy to listen to, but difficult to completely understand. As one of the company notes, pondering the mystery. "As long as it's swinging and feels good, it's Jazz." This weekend, the Agassiz Theatre may be the best place between the East River and the Charles to find some answers.