Word: pianistics
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...Washington, D.C., recital recently, Brazilian Pianist Ney Salgado was negotiating the tricky rapids of Ravel's Alborado del Gracioso. Suddenly - oops! - several notes failed to sound. Salgado stopped in midpassage, rose and faced his astonished audience. A memory lapse? Finger cramps? Hardly. "The keys are stuck - I cannot go on," Salgado explained walking offstage...
David Rubin, concert and artists manager at Steinway & Sons, also cites a decline in service. Two weeks ago, Spanish Pianist Alicia de Larrocha struggled valiantly with the stiff action of a Steinway at a recital near Washington, D.C., after a local dealer's technician denied her request for a minor adjustment, insisting that the instrument was in "perfect condition." Misha Dichter, 27, still smarts from the rebuff of a tuner in St. Paul who responded to his complaint about the house piano: "Listen, young whippersnapper, Liberace played it and he liked...
Time: 1950. Scene: Birdland, the now defunct Manhattan cellar where the faithful gathered to hear the latest sounds of bebop. Backstage, the goings on were something less than harmonious, even for bop. The band was taking a vote. It seemed that the house pianist would not contribute to the group's heroin kitty. In fact, he was not interested in drugs at all. That would hardly do, and consequently Billy Taylor was voted out. "I don't know," recalls Taylor, "maybe they thought I was trying to give jazz a good name...
DURING THE MIDDLE of the Band's set, there was a heavy summer thunder and lightning shower. The pianist got drenched, but after the tech crew put plastic sheets over all the electronic equipment, the Band played on. During one of their heavy rocker numbers, a skydiver plummetted. It seemed that his parachute opened a little early, and he drifted over the field. He seemed to be whirling curiously around on his straps, and he landed over a clump of trees behind the stage. Later, three skydivers jumped amidst the lightning with three red flares held in their hands...
...good as his previous performance. Billy Taylor, formally the leader of the band on the David Frost Show, played brilliantly. His skillful quotations were full of polish and wit, and they showed a musical form deeply rooted in the classical tradition. Earl "Father" Hines, perhaps the most acclaimed jazz pianist alive, captivated the audience by holding a right hand trill for five complete courses, simultaneously improvising with his left hand. His performance was the most flashy and exciting of the night, and it served as a fitting finale to an excellent concert...