george gershwin: Giving it up for Gershwin: Ira, George Gershwin expert enlists area musicians for historic CD

KALAMAZOO -- When Chicago-based concert pianist, singer and songwriter Kevin Cole started looking for a bass player for a ground-breaking jazz album, he thought instantly of Tom Knific, director of jazz studies and professor of double bass at Western Michigan University.

They had met early in Knific's teaching career over 20 years ago at Interlochen Arts Academy -- where Cole, an alumnus, frequently returned to perform -- and the two kept in touch.

"I had to enlist one of the best bass players, in my opinion," said Cole, who is a Bay City native. "Tom is one in a million. His knowledge and talent is unequalled."

According to Cole, the result, an album titled "In the Words of Ira: The Songs of Ira Gershwin," is the first time the lyrics of the late legendary Ira Gershwin have been arranged by a composer since his death in 1983.

To complete the album, Knific opened up his Kalamazoo home to Cole. There, all the arrangements were crafted. While Knific imparted his knowledge between teaching classes at WMU, he knew that, while he was gone, Cole had a tight grasp on the vision for the project.

"All the arrangements are original, and 90 percent of them were put together in my living room," Knific said. "In particular, this CD was very fresh for him -- he's a cognoscente, an expert in the music of George and Ira Gershwin. I was happy to be a part of it."

The album represents a coup for Cole, who is one of the best living interpreters of Ira and George Gershwin's music, said conductor David Alan Miller, of the Albany Symphony in Albany, N.Y., when he introduced him before Cole performed with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra several years ago.

Here's why the CD is a coup: It features two previously unreleased Gershwin songs, one of which Cole was given permission by the Ira and Leonore Gershwin Trusts to construct a completely original score. Then the second piece pairs an unpublished score from famed American composer Harold Arlen, who died in 1986, with never-before recorded Gershwin lyrics.

The songs were done with Cole on vocals, Knific on bass and Knific's Western Jazz Quartet colleague, Tim Froncek, on percussion.

"When I decided we definitely needed percussion on this project, Tom said he already had the perfect person in mind," Cole said. "I knew, besides doing the record, we were going to perform."

The jazz trio is set to perform at 8:15 p.m. Friday at Dalton Center Recital Hall on the WMU campus. It is only their third time playing the new material, the first being their debut at the Ravinia music festival in Chicago this past summer.

"We plan on playing the entire album," Cole said.

Knific said Friday's show should be one to remember.

"When we first played, everything just came together," Knific said. "Jazz is meant to be performed live, with improvisation and feeling. You get a whole different experience from live jazz than you do from listening to a CD."


Source: mlive.com