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Meridian Arts Ensemble cast a wide net at the Bop Stop (Nov. 8)

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by Stephanie Manning

The Meridian Arts Ensemble specialize in the avant garde, but they’re dextrous enough to flip between all kinds of genres. So, what was Joseph Haydn’s Feldpartie — written in 1780 — doing on the program next to George Lewis’ uber-contemporary Tightrope? Quite a lot, as it turns out.

Presented by No Exit, the brass quintet’s November 8 concert at the Bop Stop had something to satisfy fans of modern and traditional music alike. The cheery Feldpartie, appearing just after intermission, balanced out some of the evening’s more thorny works.

Originally written for an outdoor band, this arrangement by trumpet player and group founder Jon Nelson allowed the five players to anchor themselves in a satisfying blend. Nelson, fellow trumpet player Matthew Onstad, horn player Daniel Grabois, trombonist Faustino Díaz Mendez, and tuba player Tom Curry treated the charming mini symphony with love and care. [Read more…]

Guitarist Stephane Wrembel brings Django to the Bop Stop

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by Mike Telin

Yes, it is possible for one song to change your life.

Growing up in Fontainebleau, France, Stephane Wrembel began studying classical piano at the age of four. By his mid-teens his musical inspirations were found on the guitar — and in rock.

“I told my teacher, who was a great Django player, that I wanted to study jazz. He said, ‘Let’s start with a couple of Django songs.’ He started to play, and I was like, wow!” The song Wrembel’s teacher played was Django Reinhardt’s classic Minor Swing. And from then on, Wrembel never looked back. Today, he is perhaps the most celebrated guitarist in the world specializing in the style of Django Reinhardt.

On Sunday, April 24 at the Bop Stop, Wrembel will be joined by his longtime bandmates Josh Kaye (guitar), Ari Folman-Cohen (bass), Nick Anderson (drums), and Daisy Castro (violin) for shows at 6:00 pm and 8:00 pm. The setlist will include Wrembel’s original compositions as well as music from his latest release, The Django Experiment VI. Tickets are available online.

[Read more…]

Céline Iris & Eddie Henderson to perform at the Bop Stop

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by Mike Telin

Every musician understands the important role that mentors play in their development as an artist.

When Cleveland-based jazz vocalist Céline Iris arrived at Oberlin, she said there was “an immediate connection” between her and the legendary trumpet player and faculty member Eddie Henderson. And while the Seattle native graduated last May with degrees in biology and jazz voice, Iris and her mentor have continued to stay in touch.

“A couple of months ago I said, ‘Eddie, I’d really just love to make some music with you. I don’t care where it is — it could even be in your office.’ And he said, ‘Why don’t we just do a gig?’” Iris recalled during a telephone conversation. “That was amazing, and I thought, absolutely, I will make this happen.”

On Tuesday, March 22 at 8:00 pm at the Bop Stop, Eddie Henderson and Céline Iris will be joined by Billy Hart (drums), Roger Friedman (piano), and Eli Naragon (bass) for an evening of fresh takes on classic jazz standards, as well as repertoire that gives a nod to Henderson’s impressive career. The performance will also be livestreamed on the venue’s Facebook page. Click here for tickets and more information. [Read more…]

Collage with the Cavani Quartet and Mwatabu Okantah at the Bop Stop

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by Daniel Hathaway

The Cavani String Quartet has performed its music + poetry program with Kent State University professor Mwatabu Okantah in many venues since 1990. In his review of on ClevelandClassical.com of their performance on the Arts Renaissance Tremont series in 2018, Nicholas Stevens wrote

A refreshing reminder of both the unique powers and deeper kinships of music and poetry, the performance of Collage on October 14 filled the Auditorium of Pilgrim Church with sounds both tranquil and mighty. In an era when rhyming rhythmic recitation over instrumental sound hardly constitutes a new idea — hip-hop, after all, is the ascendant popular genre of the present century — Okantah and the Cavani have engineered something unique, brilliant, and vital. [Read more…]

Bop Stop to present harpist Stephan Haluska

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by Jarrett Hoffman

As musicians’ tastes change over time, it can be frustrating for them to realize that the instrument they’ve spent years mastering now confines their stylistic breadth. Or does it? In some cases, all that’s needed is a new mindset.

Years ago, composer, improviser, and harpist Stephan Haluska decided he’d had enough of the stereotypes about his instrument in Western culture — the angels, the magic, the dream sequences. He’s since re-imagined what the instrument can do, using extended techniques, electronic processing, and preparing the strings like John Cage would a piano.

All that and more can be heard during an hour-long improvisation that Haluska will present at the Bop Stop on Thursday, January 28 at 7:00 pm. The live stream is accessible for free, but donations are accepted here.

[Read more…]

Margi Griebling-Haigh’s The White Trout: a chamber opera in one act on YouTube

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by Daniel Hathaway

Commissioned by Peter Gallagher in 2012, premiered in 2013 at the convention of the International Society of Bassists, and revised in 2019, Margi Griebling-Haigh’s 25-minute chamber opera, The White Trout, was released in mid-November on YouTube.

The piece embellishes an Irish folk tale from County Mayo as told by Samuel Lover and collected by William Butler Yeats. Predictably fantastical, the story centers around a beautiful woman whose fiancé, a king’s son, is murdered and thrown into a lake. The grieving bride eventually disappears (the work of fairies?) about the time villagers notice a strange white trout in the water. [Read more…]

Pulse Quartet to perform
at Bop Stop October 29

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by Barnaby Woods

“Nothing could have prepared me for this scenario” bassist Aidan Plank said over the phone. In March 2020, the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic threw the livelihood of freelance musicians into question. Jazz professionals with flourishing careers suddenly found themselves without work and unable to safely collaborate with their colleagues. Since then, the world has found ways of adjusting to the pandemic — Cleveland’s Bop Stop has installed state of the art streaming equipment to facilitate live performances for audiences to enjoy safely from their homes. On Thursday, October 29th at 7PM, Plank and his Pulse Quartet will be performing a set at The Bop Stop for a restricted live audience. You can also tune in via the jazz club’s Facebook page.

In addition to Plank, the ensemble features Anthony Fuoco on piano, Dustin May on drums, and Brad Wagner on saxophone. Plank is a well known bassist in Northeast Ohio. Outside of Pulse, he performs in Cleveland Jazz Orchestra, Cleveland Jazzworks, and Dan Bruce’s Beta Collective and was featured on NPR’s “Jazz Night in America” in 2019. Having started on piano in elementary school, he was introduced to jazz at a young age by his grandfather. “As a kid I would go to his house and there would be jazz records playing all the time — I remember looking at the album covers and I simply liked the way the bass looked — it looked big and fun and I loved how it sounded.” [Read more…]

Cleveland Composers Guild joins area music students in 28th “Creativity: Learning Through Experience” (Sept. 27)

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by Jarrett Hoffman

The Cleveland Composers Guild’s annual collaboration with music students in the area couldn’t go ahead as usual this year (I’ll let you guess why). But that didn’t stop the Guild and these young players from putting together something virtual.

[Read more…]

No Exit and Zeitgeist present “Here and There 2020” 

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by Mike Telin 

Composers have always turned to works of art, literature, folklore, and music by other composers as sources of inspiration. This week, St. Paul-based Zeitgeist and Cleveland-based No Exit will present “Here and There 2020” featuring music inspired by the art of Auguste Rodin and Paul Klee, the myth of Cupid and Psyche, a poem by Nicolás Guillén, the music of Steve Reich and Andrew Rindfleisch, as well as by stories of a young woman who was buried alive, and of a haunted hotel. The free concerts take place at Kent State on Thursday, January 16 at 7:30 pm, the Bop Stop on Friday, January 17 at 8:00 pm, and Heights Arts on Saturday, January 18 at 7:00 pm.

This week’s concerts also mark the continuation of a collaboration that began over a decade and a half ago — before Tim Beyer had even thought about starting his own ensemble. “I first met Zeitgeist when they came to Cleveland State when I was a student,” Beyer said during a recent telephone call. “Every summer they hold a workshop for composers they want to work with, and about ten or eleven years ago they chose me.”

[Read more…]

Quiana Lynell at the Bop Stop (Aug. 23)

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by Mike Telin 

If you don’t know the outstanding vocalist Quiana Lynell, you need to.

I was first introduced to the exquisite artistry of this rising star back in November of 2018 when she was part of the premiere performance of Terence Blanchard’s OUR VOICES: DEMOCRACY RE:visited, commissioned by Tri-C JazzFest and Cuyahoga Community College. Since then I’d been most curious to hear her again.

[Read more…]

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