Category Archives: News

MUSIC of the LOWER EAST SIDE: THE MUSICAL HISTORY of NEW YORK CITY

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A few years ago, a group of musicians and I performed “The Musical History of the Lower East Side” in a number of venues around the city. We featured music from the many immigrant groups that have arrived on the LES over the past 400 years. Most of the groups, including the Italians, Irish, Hispanic, German and others brought music from their homeland…in many cases it connected them to their past and was one way they could pass along their heritage.

I was particularly struck by the audience and friends response to “Oyfn Pripetshik,” written by Mark Warshawsky, a Yiddish speaking Russian composer. Many told me how, when they were young, their Jewish, Eastern European/Russian grandmother, living on the LES or in the Bronx, sang this song to them, one of the most popular songs of the Jews in Eastern Europe.

You may remember the song from the film “Schindler’s List: CLICK HERE

“When, children, you will grow older…You will understand…How many tears lie in these letters…And how much crying.”

TICKETS NOW ON SALE for CLASSICALLY EXPOSED: MUSICAL CROSSROADS

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Charles R. Hale Productions​, Musica Solis​ and Nancy Manocherian’s “the cell” are pleased to announce that subscriptions are available for another season of ​Classically Exposed. This season is called ​”Musical Crossroads,” in honor of the confluence of musical genre that we are presenting. Our goal is simple: To present outstanding music at a great value; accordingly, w​e have assembled a fabulous collection of artists who will performing a variety of musical genre including classical, jazz, theatrical, rock and more. ​Based on the comments we received after last year’s series, it’s fair to say “this is a one-of-a-kind” series here in New York.

DUE TO THE CURRENT HEALTH EMERGENCY IN NYC, WE HAVE SUSPENDED SUBSCRIPTION AND INDIVIDUAL SALES. HOPEFULLY, WITHIN IN THE NEXT TWO MONTHS, WE WILL BE ABLE TO START UP SALES AGAIN

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POSTPONED:      Charles R Hale Productions and Musica Solis Series present “Benny Meets Artie ” with the Anderson Brothers, part of the series “Classically Exposed: Musical Crossroads” at the Cell Theatre, 7:30pm, 338 West 23rdSt, New York City.

POSTPONED:        Musica Solis Series and Charles R Hale Productions present “Bacharimba” with marimbist Mika Stoltzman and clarinetist Richard Stoltzman, part of the series “Classically Exposed: Musical Crossroads” at the Cell Theatre, 7:30pm, 338 West 23rdSt, New York City.

POSTPONED:       Musica Solis Series and Charles R. Hale Productions present “Port Mande” with the Mark Dover Quartet, part of the series “Classically Exposed: Musical Crossroads” at the Cell Theatre, 7:30pm, 338 West 23rdSt, New York City.

Sept 9:          Charles R. Hale Productions and Musica Solis Series present “Stride Piano Master” Rossano Sportiello, part of the series “Classically Exposed: Musical Crossroads” at the Cell Theatre, 338 West 23rdSt, New York City.

September 25:   Musica Solis Series and Charles R Hale Productions present pianist Igor Lipinski’s “Piano Illusions,” part of the series “Classically Exposed: Musical Crossroads” at the Cell Theatre, 7:30pm, 338 West 23rdSt, New York City

Oct 28-30:    Charles R Hale Productions and Musica Solis Presents present Charles R. Hale’s “WWII and NYC: Connecting Time and Place” with vocalist Robert Anthony Mack, vocalist Clare Maloney, pianist Baron Fenwick, violinist Sara Caswell and narrator Charles R. Hale, part of the series “Classically Exposed: Musical Crossroads” at the Cell Theatre, 338 West 23rdSt, New York City.

Nov 18:          Musica Solis Series and Charles R Hale Productions present “Bach to Brazil” with the Bridget Kibbey Trio, part of the series “Classically Exposed: Musical Crossroads” at the Cell Theatre, 338 West 23rdSt, New York City.

Dec 11:           Charles R. Hale and Musica Solis Series present an evening of “Soulful Americana Rock” with guitarist/vocalist “Walter Parks,” part of the series “Classically Exposed: Musical Crossroads” at the Cell Theatre, 338 West 23rd St, New York City

ROSSANO SPORTIELLO and the ANDERSON BROTHERS at FEINSTEIN’S 54 BELOW

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I heard these three tonight at Feinstein’s 54 Below….Rossano Sportiello, William Reardon Anderson and Peter Reardon Anderson. If you’re looking for a fabulous evening of music…you couldn’t do better. Talented musicians and a wonderful program.
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We’re thrilled to announce that Charles R. Hale Productions and Musica Solis will be presenting these wonderful musicians in this season’s series “Classically Exposed: Musical Crossroads,” at The Cell.
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More series’ info to follow shortly.

CHARLES R. HALE’S UPCOMING EVENTS

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Feb 13:       Charles R Hale Productions and the City and Humanities Program at Lehman College presents pianist/vocalist Nicole Zuraitis and songwriter/vocalist Clare Maloney. 12:30pm at Lehman College, Lovinger Theatre, 250 Bedford Park Blvd, Bronx, NY.

POSTPONED Mar 14:       A reading from Kathleen Bennet Bastis’ “As Ever”– Letters from 1936 to 1943. With Charles R. Hale, Renata Hinrichs, John Moran and Jack O’Connell. 7:00pm at First Street Gallery, 526 West 26thSt, New York City.

CANCELLED March 26:   Charles R Hale Productions and the City and Humanities Program at Lehman College presents violinist Jiin Yang, pianist Wayne Weng and narrator Charles R. Hale at Lehman College. 12:30pm, Lehman College, Lovinger Theatre, 250 Park Blvd, Bronx, NY.

CANCELLED April 16:      Charles R Hale Productions and the City and Humanities Program at Lehman College presents pianist Baron Fenwick, tenor Robert Anthony Mack and narrator Charles R. Hale at Lehman College. 12:30pm, Lehman College, Lovinger Theatre, 250 Park Blvd, Bronx, NY.

POSTPONED April 28:      Charles R Hale Productions and Musica Solis Series presents “Benny Meets Artie ” with the Anderson Brothers, part of the series “Classically Exposed: Musical Crossroads” at the Cell Theatre, 7:30pm, 338 West 23rdSt, New York City.

CANCELLED April 30:     Charles R Hale Productions and the City and Humanities Program at Lehman College presents guitarist Yuri Juarez and pianist Renato Diz. 12:30pm at Lehman College, Lovinger Theatre, 250 Bedford Park Blvd, Bronx, NY.     

POSTPONED May 15:        Musica Solis Series and Charles R Hale Productions presents “Bacharimba” with marimbist Mika Soltzman and clarinetist Richard Stolzman, part of the series “Classically Exposed: Musical Crossroads” at the Cell Theatre, 7:30pm, 338 West 23rdSt, New York City.

POSTPONED June 18:       Musica Solis Series and Charles R. Hale Productions presents “Port Mande” with the Mark Dover Quartet, part of the series “Classically Exposed: Musical Crossroads” at the Cell Theatre, 7:30pm, 338 West 23rdSt, New York City.

Sept 9:          Charles R. Hale Productions and Musica Solis Series presents “Stride Piano Master” Rossano Sportiello, part of the series “Classically Exposed: Musical Crossroads” at the Cell Theatre, 338 West 23rdSt, New York City.

SepT 25:       Musica Solis Series and Charles R Hale Productions presents pianist Igor Lipinski’s “Piano Illusions,” part of the series “Classically Exposed: Musical Crossroads” at the Cell Theatre, 7:30pm, 338 West 23rdSt, New York City.

Oct 28-30:    Charles R Hale Productions and Musica Solis Presents presents Charles R. Hale’s “WWII and NYC: Connecting Time and Place” with vocalist Robert Anthony Mack, vocalist Clare Maloney, pianist Baron Fenwick, violinist Sara Caswell and narrator Charles R. Hale, part of the series “Classically Exposed: Musical Crossroads” at the Cell Theatre, 338 West 23rdSt, New York City.

Nov 18:          Musica Solis Series and Charles R Hale Productions presents “Bach to Brazil” with the Bridget Kibbey Trio, part of the series “Classically Exposed: Musical Crossroads” at the Cell Theatre, 338 West 23rdSt, New York City.

Dec 11:           Charles R. Hale and Musica Solis Series presents an evening of “Soulful Americana Rock” with guitarist/vocalist “Walter Parks,” part of the series “Classically Exposed: Musical Crossroads” at the Cell Theatre, 338 West 23rd St, New York City

 

 

 

 

 

 

“FINE AND MELLOW”…LADY DAY, PREZ et al CBS TV, LIVE DEC 8, 1957…INCREDIBLE

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On Sunday, December 8, 1957, a group of jazz greats were gathered to perform live on air from CBS Studio 58, located in the Town Theater at 851 Ninth Avenue in New York City. The performers included Billie Holiday, Coleman Hawkins, Ben Webster, Roy Eldridge, Gerry Mulligan, Mal Waldron and others in the CBS television special called The Sound of Jazz.
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One of the songs performed was Holiday’s tune “Fine and Mellow.” So much great music from that one song: Lester Young’s solo at 2:40, Gerry Mulligan’s at 4:32 and Roy Eldridge at 6:28 are just three of many standout performances. Have a listen…”Fine and Mellow.” This is wonderful: 

BREATHING OF ANOTHER’S SPACE & TIME

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I’ll never forget the moment I was standing in a Barnes and Noble bookstore, paging through “Naked City,” a book of photos taken by the famous NYC crime photographer Arthur Fellig, better known as Weegee. I turned a page…a number of firemen and a priest were standing over body bags. The fireman on the far right is my grandfather Charles F. Hale.

Historian Shelby Foote once said, “So you get that thing and you get the weather, you get the soil and you get the coloration of things; get the true feel of it.”

So I’ve often wondered…How do you get the true feel of those who came before you? How do you breathe of an ancestor’s space and time?

I’ve spent a lot of time retracing my NYC ancestor’s footsteps…where did they live, what streets did they walk on, what did they see and hear?

I wondered about the Weegee photo.  How could I determine when that photo was taken? What could I learn about the fire? It was dark so it occurred at night or in the early morning. The priest wore a heavy topcoat, which suggested it was wintertime. And since the fire claimed one or more lives, I surmised that the fire would have kept the company out of the house for at least an hour. I carefully examined the old journals I found at Engine Company 14’s basement, noting the fires that fit those parameters. I found eight.

I learned that The International Center of Photography was the largest repository of Weegee photos. I called the ICP and was directed to an archivist in charge of Weegee’s work. I started with the first fire on my list. It matched my criteria. The fire occurred during a cold-weather month, March; the call came into the firehouse during darkness, 4:51 AM; the company was out of quarters for two hours and twenty-four minutes, and Firefighter Hale was one of the firefighters who responded to the alarm.

I was lucky; the archivist found the photo in a moment. The photo was published in PM Magazine on March 8, 1942.

The next day I visited the New York Public Library’s microfilm room. I requested the specific date of the PM Magazine that I wanted. I found the photo and the story on page three of the March 8, 1942, edition.

A fire had ignited—it appeared someone had fallen asleep while smoking—and the building’s occupants fled in panic. A woman, however, holding one of her children, was trapped on an upper floor. She leaped from the building with her child in her arms. They were killed on impact.

I often sit and stare at the Weegee photo and imagine the events. The photo captures the hard times and sufferings of the poor, and the immediacy of life and death. I imagine the compassion the firefighters must have felt, their feelings of helplessness and despair as the woman prepared to leap from the window with her child in her arms. I think of the men running into burning buildings, coming to the aid of people they’d never met, risking their lives to help those in need.

I walked the street my grandfather did…I saw the building where the women and her child were killed and I listened to the music my grandfather might have heard when he returned to the firehouse, early that winter’s morning…perhaps the perfect title for the night’s events…Blues in the Night

NEW YORK CITY MUSICAL HISTORY: GREAT PERFORMERS and PERFORMANCES

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Interested in the musical history of New York City? Then you might like the site I’ve created at Facebook, called “The Musical History of New York City.”  Have a look by CLICKING HERE. 

Pictured here, counter-clockwise from upper left: Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn, Dion and the Belmonts, the Chantels, Frank Sinatra, Jules Munshin and Gene Kelly, Lena Horne and Cole Porter. 

NEW YORK’S 1939 WORLD’S FAIR and NYLON STOCKINGS

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The 1939 World’s Fair sat on the brink of disaster… WWII was right around the corner and the attractions were a delightful distraction. People were obsessed with the future:
Trylon and Perisphere.
And there was color photography, something many hadn’t seen.
And a transparent car…a Pontiac Deluxe Six, clad in Plexiglas
And a parachute Jump….that ended up at Coney Island.
And Elektor the robot who could toss insults and smoke cigarettes.
But the big news….Nylon Stockings! Following a low key public demonstration at the Golden Gate Expo in San Francisco February 18th 1939, DuPont went all out at the New York Worlds Fair in April in April, touting Nylon as a new wonder synthetic fiber made of “carbon, water and air.” The Nylon stockings show caused a sensation!
Women loved them right away but once the U.S. entered the war nylon had to be saved for the war effort. By 1942, Nylon stockings were in short supply; however, when American servicemen arrived in Britain, their kit bags were filled with Nylon hosiery. Many an English girls heart was won over by a pair of nylon stockings.
Here’s a quiz. Can you name the NYC based group that sang a song called “Nylon Stockings“? 

 

THE MUSIC, IMAGES and STORIES of WAR

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I saw WWII through the eyes and ears of my mother and father’s generation. The images…the flag raising at Iwo Jima, the soldier and nurse in Times Square…and my parents’ stories and music—In the Mood and Moonlight Serenade on the jukebox of Popp’s Ice Cream Parlor in Woodhaven Queens. The music, images and stories painted a vivid picture of their experiences.

That was very different from the way I viewed my generation’s war. The images were far from uplifting–the young girl running and covered with napalm, the police captain putting a bullet in a young man’s head and body bags arriving at airports are the symbols I remember. And the songs that Americans connected to the images were decidedly “anti-war.” Pete Seeger’s “If I Had a Hammer” and “Where Have All the Flowers Gone,” The Doors, “Unknown Soldier,” Edwin Starr’s “War,” and many others filled the airwaves. And there were no heroic welcomings– fifteen of my local high school friends died in Vietnam.

The soldiers had their favorite songs too: Aretha Franklin’s, “Chain of Fools” and Marvin Gaye’s, “What’s Goin On?” but I believe the most popular song among the fighting forces was a song that tells of the misery of living and working in an urban environment. But within the context of serving in a foreign country, thousands of miles from home, knowing that any moment might be your last, the words, “We gotta get out of this place, if it’s the last thing we ever do,” took on an entirely different meaning: CLICK HERE FOR SONG

You can follow my “Musical History of New York City” HERE

NEW YORK CITY TOP TIER TALENT: WALTER PARKS and NICOLE ZURAITIS

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Those of you who know me well know I attend lots of events in NYC. This past Friday night I attended back-to-back performances in Greenwich Village: Walter Parks at Cafe Bohemia and Nicole Zuraitis at 55 Bar. Stunning performances, each. And talk about value for your buck….incredible. Occasionally, and it’s become very occasionally, I’ll attend a Broadway musical–at about five to ten times the price–and more often than not, I leave awfully disappointed. Moral of the story…support local artists…they deserve your support. They may not be as brilliant as Walter and Nicole but I know how hard these artists ply their crafts. Bravo, brava to all my artistic friends.