Originally published in Earshot Jazz January 2015
There is a new jazz disc jockey in town. But instead of an academic dispensing arcane secrets from the jazz priesthood, Ray is in your face like a cross between George Carlin and an enthusiastic sports announcer. He likes to color outside the lines of radio broadcasting rules with long silences, stopping a song in the middle, repeating a track, and punctuating his patter with obscenity.
Ray can do that because he isn’t a real disc jockey and he is not even on the air. He is a character created by actor Frank Boyd who is broadcasting to audiences from the stage of On the Boards in a show called Holler Sessions.
Four years ago, Boyd was working in Brooklyn with a theater group called the TEAM. The Kansas City Repertory Theater commissioned them to develop a piece around the theme of civil discourse following the enactment of the Affordable Care Act and the shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. Boyd struggled to find his way into this cerebral topic. He thought, “What if jazz could serve as a metaphor for a more articulate way to express ourselves?” Ray, the jazz radio host was born.
“I was hooked on jazz as soon as the spear went in,” Boyd told me over the phone.
To translate his new idea and fresh interest in jazz, Boyd spent six weeks in Kansas City meeting every musician possible. The city was the birthplace of late jazz legend Charlie Parker and home to Jay McShann. But that was decades ago. What jazz could he find today?
He visited the Kansas City Jazz Museum and struck up a conversation with a tenor saxophonist working there. “What does jazz mean to you?” Boyd asked.
After a deep breath, the saxophonist described how jazz was a bridge to his ancestors, all the way back to Africa. When Boyd heard a description of how jazz is rooted in the blues call and response from slave field hollers, he knew his budding idea for a show found its name.
Having heard the story of jazz, Boyd wanted to experience it in action. He found a dive bar where he could get glasses of Jameson whisky for $2 and the bartender would mute the sports television broadcast during a 16-piece big band rehearsal. Even though Boyd was new fan of the music, he was struck by the generosity and inclusiveness he found in the Kansas City scene.
Boyd brought that spirit to the stage in the character of Ray. From a small, funky radio station, Ray broadcasts classic recordings by artists like Art Blakey, Coleman Hawkins, and Charlie Parker. Through the music Ray weaves words of honesty, humility, and humor.
But Boyd, the actor, is put off by the self importance implicit in a one-man show. “I don’t want the show to be about me.” To encourage interaction, he invites people in the audience to use their cell phones to call in responses to his ‘on-air’ questions. Boyd wants to convey what it feels like to experience jazz – a tall order for an imaginary disc jockey playing recordings. I can assure the ticket buyers that Holler Sessions succeeds.
Because Boyd is enjoying initial success with this idea, he envisions future editions of Holler Sessions exploring the expansive breadth and depth of jazz.
Holler Sessions runs January 8th through 11th and 15th through 18th at On the Boards. Tickets available at www.ontheboards.org.
No comments:
Post a Comment