Speak Up

Speak Up is a program of works for saxophone which are connected to the spoken word - quoting speech, remixing it, or finding musical ways to suggest it without ever speaking aloud. The program begins with Wim Hendrickx’s, “On the Road,” a serene ode to the joy of open spaces. Then, Perry Goldstein’s “Total Absorption” looks inward, with an intense stream-of-consciousness monologue. Kevin Clark’s, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” begins with youthful fire and a toe-tapping groove, then pivots sharply, blending music and theatre to lay bare the innermost struggles of a man hollowed out by his uncertainties. “God Bless the Child,” as arranged by Eric Dolphy, is similarly two-faced; alternately recalling the sweet, mournful words sung by Billy Holiday and lashing out in rage at the injustice contained in those words. Jacob ter Veldhuis’s “Grab It” explores a similar rage in the words of men languishing in prison for their crimes, but ultimately transforms that rage into a new determination to live with joy and abandon. Lastly, with this “Carpe Diem” frame of mind, the audience is invited to cut loose with a new arrangement of Parliament’s funky party anthem, “Night of the Thumpasorus Peoples.”