A cast of 35 fervent tap dancers from around the region ranging in age from tween to young adult delivered a spunky and endearing performance wrought with poignancy, hilarity and wonderment during the musical's three-day run.
All the verses and their titles are constructed solely of jazz tunes with two exceptions. The title exception is 'Jazz Haiku.' The content exception is 'Vibraphonissimo,' a chronological block of vibraphone players whose music I've come to know, resting upon the two pioneers of the instrument. Commas separate titles within the verses, but interior commas from song titles have been removed to prevent confusion.
For the last decade, Bay Area trumpeter/composer Ian Carey has been developing his singular, post-bop-inflected music with a stable quintet of formidable improvisers, documented in the CDs 'Sink/Swim' (2005) and 'Contextualizin' (2010). In recent years Carey has wanted to explore more complex writing, and move further away from head-solo-head conventions.