Goodbye to Childhood – A Tribute to Herbie Hancock’s Speak Like A Child….

Two summers ago I was standing in the lobby at Jazz Camp after a faculty concert chatting with pianist Carmen Staaf. She had recently rejoined the faculty after a 2-year absence for a stint in California at the Monk Institute where she got her Masters and was coached by Herbie Hancock and others. At our Jazz After Work faculty concert, she had played a Hancock tune I did not know.

That brought me back to my youth and my gateway to jazz — Herbie Hancock’s masterpiece, Speak Like a Child.  The conversation turned to “how do you feel about this piece, Carmen?” The recording is a 60 minute suite, and I asked Carmen if she’d think about putting her own spin on it and doing it for Litchfield Jazz Festival. If you’ve checked out this year’s lineup you know her answer!

For her performance, Carmen chose to use the original instrumentation.  On Saturday, July 27 at 5:30, she will be joined on the Litchfield  stage by Avery Sharpe on bass, Don Braden on alto flute, Dave Ballou on flugelhorn, Jen Wharton on bass trombone and Steve Johns on drums.

I guess this music must have been percolating in my brain for decades, because it emerged  like a bear from a long sleep in 1996 with the birth of Litchfield Jazz Festival.

To be sure, I explored lots of  jazz in that golden age– Horace Silver, Miles Davis, Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers,  Ron Carter, Lee Morgan and so many more .  I rounded this out attending classical chamber music concert at Music Mountain, a 90-year-old series in Falls Village CT. Interestingly they too have come full circle and now present jazz as well as string quartets. I came to realize (as did Chamber Music America which now funds it) jazz IS chamber music. Carmen Staaf’s sextet will demonstrate this beyond any doubt. Come and see for yourself how glorious this genre fusion can be.

Vita West Muir – Founder/Executive Director