Ravinia 2021 - Issue 1

MIKE WHITE (COPELAND); JASON CREPS (MUCCA PAZZA) SHEMEKIA COPELAND Born in Harlem in the late 1970s, Shemekia Copeland had already been wooing listeners for a decade when she broke out with her 1998 Alligator Records debut, Turn the Heat Up . The daughter of blues legend Johnny Copeland, she began performing alongside him at age 8, and she instantly became a top voice in blues and R&B—a soul-inflected shouter in the tradition of Koko Taylor and Etta James—with that disc’s release. Cope- land earned a Grammy nomination with her follow-up in 2000, Wicked , which featured a duet with R&B diva Ruth Brown, and from her debut through 2005’s The Soul Truth , she received eight Blues Music Awards. Talking to Strangers (2002) was produced by Dr. John, and The Soul Truth had Steve Crop- per of Booker T. and the MGs at the helm. Copeland worked with Oliver Wood of The Wood Brothers for her next two discs, both on Telarc: Never Going Back (2009) and 33 1/3 (2012), which earned her a second Grammy nomination. During 2012, she performed at the White House alongside the likes of B.B. King, Mick Jagger, Buddy Guy, Trombone Shorty, and Gary Clark Jr. Copeland returned to Alligator for 2015’s Outskirts of Love , which featured Robert Randolph, Alvin Young- blood Hart, and Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top as guests. The disc not only earned her anoth- er Grammy nod, but also won her Album of the Year honors at the Blues Music Awards. The birth of her son in 2017 gave Copeland fresh inspiration for America’s Child (2018), featuring one of her father’s songs, “Prom- ised Myself,” in between “Ain’t Got Time For Hate” and “Go to Sleepy Little Baby.” The al- bum included another Who’s Who of guests, from John Prine and Rhiannon Giddens to Mary Gauthier and Emmylou Harris. Her latest disc, Uncivil War , sings with personal messages on gun violence, civil rights, and unity as well as a tribute to Dr. John, “Dirty Saint,” with such guests as Jason Isbell, Duane Eddy, and Jerry Douglas. Shemekia Copeland is making her first return to Ravinia following her 2019 debut. CHICAGO JAZZ ORCHESTRA SEXTET For 42 years and counting, the Chicago Jazz Orchestra, the city’s oldest professional jazz orchestra in continuous operation, has been providing world-class performances for jazz lovers of all ages and backgrounds. The en- semble, originally named the Jazz Members Big Band, was envisioned by co-founders Jeff Lindberg and Steve Jensen as a rehearsal band, but once the group was selected to open the first Chicago Jazz Festival in 1979, the foundation was laid for multiple long-stand- ing performance series, including hometown concerts and a more than 25-year residency at the Kennedy Center Honors ceremonies, as well as international tours. The Chicago Jazz Orchestra’s 2004 recording Porgy & Bess , featuring Clark Terry, was nominated as Jazz Album of the Year by the Jazz Journalists As- sociation and received a five-star rating from DownBeat magazine. The full ensemble has performed twice at Ravinia, in tributes to Benny Goodman in 2006 and 2013, with the first concert also honoring Artie Shaw. Last August, the Chicago Jazz Orchestra presented a “Putting the Band Back Together” tribute to The Blues Brothers with Blue Lou Marini and Opal Stapes at Navy Pier, and in the fall staged a performance with guitarist Bobby Broom at Chippewa Park in Des Plaines to support the production of a new album by the orchestra with Broom. The ensemble has also kept the music playing with a sextet compris- ing tenor saxophonist Eric Schneider, trum- peter Victor Garcia, trombonist Tom Garling, pianist Reggie Thomas, drummer George Fludas, and bassist Dennis Carroll, last fall releasing a virtual video of the “Lockdown Shuffle,” composed by Garling, a work sure to be featured in the sextet’s first appearance at Ravinia today. MUCCA PAZZA Mucca Pazza first assembled in a steel mill parking lot along the Chicago River. Com- bining marching band traditions and street theater experience with rock band sensibil- ities, the band quickly found a home for its 30-odd members in the thriving Chicago un- derground music scene. Its eccentric, frenetic visual presence and genre-bending original compositions earned Mucca Pazza critical praise and a loyal local following, and be- fore long it began to branch out nationally, appearing on Late Night with Conan O’Brien and at the Kentucky Derby, as well as sup- porting major national acts and performing at numerous national music festivals like Lollapalooza, Lincoln Center’s Out of Doors, and the Montreal Jazz Fest. Despite the tradi- tional drums and brass, or the cheerleaders and uniforms, Mucca Pazza seldom march- es, musically or physically. The uniforms do not match; the cheers are strange; there are no recognizable patterns, no discernible formations, and no militant airs. However, the force and presence of a marching band remain, both sonically and theatrically. The brass harmonies, rich and powerful, and the drums, tight and idiosyncratic, combine as a sum greater than its parts. The band may still move from point A to point B, but that’s where similarities end. Mucca Pazza dances, flails, tumbles, and spins in circles. Amplified by speaker helmets, the freak section wields violins and cellos, accordions and guitars— instruments that typically have no business being in a marching band. The music moves from surf to Stravinsky, from Bartok to Zap- pa, and from Esquivel to Ellington without missing a step. The cheerleaders rouse, en- courage, and confound the audience with asynchronous absurdity. Mucca Pazza’s per- formances can induce geeky freak-outs and nerdy rapture from either audience or band members, often both. The American tradition of the marching band, whether as presiden- tial entourage, halftime show, or second line party favor, receives both fresh love and art- ful abuse. Mucca Pazza first played Ravinia’s stage in 2017 and today returns to the Lawn for the second time. SOUTH SHORE DRILL TEAM The South Shore Drill Team was founded by former Chicago Public Schools teacher Arthur Robinson in 1980, using performing arts to engage urban youth throughout their critical teenage years and offer construc- tive activities to combat negative influences such as gangs, drugs, and violence, as well as guiding members toward completing their education and becoming responsible citi- zens. The team recruits year-round, in 2019 serving 250 young men and women from ages 8 to 21. Over that same year, the South Shore Drill Team performed at 73 events in six states and Canada, reaching over 2.5 mil- lion people across those live performances and an estimated 30 million more via tele- vision broadcasts. The team has starred in the country’s third largest parade, the Bud Billiken Parade in Chicago, for over 35 years, and made special appearances in film Ferris Bueller’s Day Off in 1986 and at Ferris Fest in 2016. Additionally, the South Shore Drill Team was selected as one of 24 groups—from among 2,800 applicants—to perform in the 2013 Presidential Inaugural Parade, and the group also performed for First Lady Michelle Obama and guests at a 2012 NATO event and toured Morocco with Sister Cities in 2005. In competition, the team has been named Win- ter Guard International Champions in 1992 and 2011 and finalists in 2018. Major appear- ances have also included the 2020 NBA All Star Weekend, Chicago Architecture Bien- nial (2015 and 2017 openings), and half-time shows for the Chicago Bulls and Orlando Magic. In addition to teaching performing arts, South Shore Drill Team offers programs in educational support, employment train- ing, and leadership development. Its mem- bers have always had a higher graduation rate than other students at CPS schools, and they have achieved 100% graduation since 2012, with nearly all going on to college. Alumni include educators, first responders, lawyers, business managers, and medical profession- als. The South Shore Drill Team is giving its first performances at Ravinia. RAVINIA MAGAZINE • JULY 1 – JULY 23, 2021 40