During the free event held in the…
By J. Davis
The beginning of Queensborough Library’s National Library Week had a bright start with “Blues, the Roots of Jazz” presented by international vocalist Gabriele Tranchina and pianist/composer Joe Vincent Tranchina.
During the free event held in the Flushing Library’s auditorium, the Tranchinas concentrated on the blues idiom of jazz. The talented duo brought music and stories about jazz and its history to an appreciative audience.
Gabriele opened with “Muddy Waters,” during which the knowledgeable audience joined in repeating the title line. As the songstress explained, there are many styles of blues/jazz coming from such places as New Orleans, Chicago and more. Joe explained that the blues has its own “blues scale” in a minor key with lowered (or flatted) 1st, 5th and 7th notes in the 8-note octave. These are the “blues notes,” and the scale used by jazz musicians when they improvise their version of a song. For example, B. B. King defined a special kind of blues as did Joe Williams. As another example, Gabriele did her versions of Miles Davis’ “The Sea, Sky and You and Me,” as well as “Georgia,” made famous by Ray Charles, whom the singer categorized as a “cross-over artist.”
To illustrate the upbeat Chicago style of blues, the duo did a bouncy “Next Time Blues.” They also performed the audience favorite “Route 66,” made famous by the Nat King Cole recording and as the Nelson Riddle background/theme music for the TV series. Their next number was “Black Coffee,” which tells of someone walking the floor over a disappointed love affair.
The couple was well-received by the audience, which proved its knowledge of this genre of American music by requesting numbers by Benny Carter and Carmen McRae. The last number (made famous by Dakota Staton) was the melodic “I Want a Man With a Whole Lot of Energy.”
This event was one small example of the amazing offerings in the Queens Library system’s Central Library in Jamaica and the other 62 branches throughout the borough. There are free programs for adults and children in many languages for the more than 2.2 million people in the most ethnically diverse county in the country. There are meet-and-greet author events, concerts, discussions of world affairs by experts, poetry workshops and more. The library offers more than just books, internet access and an international resource center.
For more information about Library Week and other upcoming events go to the library’s Web site, www.queenslibrary.org, or call 718-990-0778.
