Hunkered Down

The week before Wade Ripka was on the New York Lawn Bowling Green in Central Park with his small band playing for the "Old Timers Day" Tournament. It was the first paying gig he and his musicians had had for over seven months. He was on the Green a week later -- this time bowling -- and after our game I sat down with this talented and multifaceted musician to catchup on how his career is progressing and his new interests. This talented guitarist and band leader and music transcriber -- always has a new interest -- right now it is the Turkish lute -- Bağlama.Wade is a wild and loving cat and I am glad to call him a friend.

Pedro Cortes is a master Flamenco guitar musician with roots in Spanish Gypsy traditions. He learned his craft from his family's close friend Flamenco legion -- 'Uncle' Sabicas. Mr Cortes performed professionally since he was 17 – all over the world – St. Louis Opera -- New York Grand Opera -- Guthrie Theatre’s production of Lorca’s "Blood Wedding" – and he had a regular gig at Alegerias – at the Spanish Benevolent Society -- until the pandemic hit. The artist was interviewed before his performance at a music salon arranged by Deirdre Towers in honor of her longtime companion who had recently died -- Jared Newman. Pedro played his own composition "Mineros" on Jared's guitar. NOTE: In the program notes photo - Pedro Cortes is playing the blanca guitar commissioned by Paul Jared Newman and made by Andrés Marvi in Ferreirola, Spain.

Part 2 of a two-part HD episode. Mark Kaplan is a leading violinist of our time. He has performed solo at nearly every major American orchestra including the New York and Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestras, the Cleveland and Philadelphia Orchestras and many more. Mark Kaplan has collaborated with the world's foremost conductors, among them Ormandy, Maazel, Masur, Foster, Gatti, Rattle, Slatkin and so many others. In Part 1 of this conversation, we talked about Mark's early career and how he got started as a soloist for the world's foremost orchestras. In Part 2 we focused on his chamber music and his most interesting predictions of where big-time professional music will be after the pandemic. Along the way we included excerpts from Mark's performances of Bach, Bartok, Lerdahl and Schoenfield. This is a wonderful listen and should not be missed.CONTACT: upperwestsideradio@gmal.com

Part 1 of a two-part HD episode. Mark Kaplan is a leading violinist of our time. He has performed solo at nearly every major American orchestra including the New York and Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestras, the Cleveland and Philadelphia Orchestras and many more. Mark Kaplan has collaborated with the world's foremost conductors, among them Ormandy, Maazel, Masur, Foster, Gatti, Rattle, Slatkin and so many others. In Part 1 of this conversation, we talked about Mark's early career and how he got started as a soloist for the world's foremost orchestras. In Part 2 we focused on his chamber music and his most interesting predictions of where big-time professional music will be after the pandemic. Along the way we included exceprts from Mark's performances of Bach, Bartok, Lerdahl and Schoenfield. This is a wonderful listen and should not be missed.CONTACT: upperwestsideradio@gmal.com

Joining me for this Hunkered Down episode are three musician/composers and one poet.  Shortly after the COVID19 lockdown in NYC, these artist produced socially-distanced music events and broadcast them over their Facebook pages  -- and called it -- The “Composers Concordance – Social Bubble Salon.”Each of these artists is a composer and known performer in today's music world of New Music. In this HD episode, we talked about their work, the origins of the Composers Concordance, and then listened to excerpts of the music they have been presenting at their Social Bubble Salons.

This Hunkered Down episode takes us back to that time when we could sit down with our neighbors at a great bar and listen to wonderful live jazz. This program was first presented on Upper West Side Radio's "UWS LIVE" program. Here is a look-back to a January 2020 recording of Steven Feifke's Jazz Quartet at The Gin Mill's Monday Night Speakeasy.