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AD
as music director of the
New York Philharmonic during the
s, Leonard Bernstein
had a profound e ect on classical music in Chicago during
the latter half of the decade. at’s because Seiji Ozawa, one
of his rst assistants with the orchestra, had begun serving as
Ravinia’s rst music director in
. One of his rst projects
was establishing a Sunday-a ernoon concert series featuring
contemporary works; Bernstein’s music was of course an
early inclusion, but Ozawa quickly began showing o his own
sensibilities with French- and Japanese-in uenced music, as
well as where the two conductors must have found an easy
simpatico, with many jazz-in ected works receiving their
rst Chicago Symphony Orchestra performances under his
baton. One such episode even led to a brand-new work from
Chicagoan William Russo, a former Stan Kenton Orchestra
trombonist and composer who had then recently founded
Columbia College’s music school and the Chicago Jazz
Ensemble.
e story begins in
, when Ozawa was attending a
show at Big John’s in downtown Chicago and heard a set by
the Siegel–Schwall Band (bottom right). He immediately
envisioned doing a symphonic project with the blues-rocking
quartet led by pianist and harmonica player Corky Siegel and
guitarist Jim Schwall, but the other piece didn’t fall into place
until he led the CSO premiere of Russo’s Second Symphony
(“Titans”) the following year. With an Illinois Arts Council
commission for a new work for the CSO’s
residency
in hand, Ozawa put Russo and Siegel together, and Russo’s
ree Pieces for Blues Band and Orchestra received its world
premiere on July in the hands of Ozawa (bottom le ) and the
Siegel–Schwall Band (uncredited in the program).
A er Ozawa became music director of the San Francisco
Symphony, he revisited the work with the Siegel–Schwall Band
and recorded it for Deutsche Grammophon with a B-side of
Bernstein’s
Symphonic Dances from ‘West Side Story’
in
—
the disc quickly became one of the label’s bestsellers. When it
was reissued on CD in o , it was instead paired with George
Gershwin’s
An American in Paris
. at’s the sort of company
(and reputation) the piece kept. And Ravinia has kept that
spirit of jazz and classical fusion alive with the recent
Bridges
composition competition as well as the
commission of
Ramsey Lewis’s Concerto for Jazz Trio and Orchestra.
July ,
50 YEARS AGO
ON THIS DATE
JUNE 18 – JULY 8, 2018 | RAVINIA MAGAZINE
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