Symphonic Jazz Poem

Gene Kelly. Andre 3000. Cheesecake.

Feb 22, 2024

I explored a couple of Chicago’s cultural extremes last week by seeing Andre 3000’s “New Blue Sun Live” at the Garfield Park Conservatory and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s performance of “An American in Paris” in the span of seven days. Sometimes I wonder if I am the only person who would get excited about attending both of these things. There were flutes at both, but besides that they were worlds apart. One featured a revered orchestra reproducing a movie score in a grand old theater. The other featured some well connected dudes getting together to make some music in the middle of a garden. Here’s a recap…

CSO’s “An American in Paris”

Every now and then, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra adds one of these types of performances on the calendar where they hang a cinema screen directly above the musicians and play a movie while they perform the score live. “Home Alone.” “The Godfather.” They are doing “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” in May.

I stumbled upon an ad for “An American in Paris” and I decided to drag Jen to it. For the record, nothing irks Jen more than the thought of a “jazz-influenced symphonic poem.” She would have much preferred I take her to see Lauryn Hill or Arcade Fire or something alone those lines, nonetheless, she put on her game face and joined me for this Hollywood Golden Age classic.

I am not a fan of musicals, but I get sucked up into the nostalgia of this one. I spent a year in Florence, Italy, and the Parisian setting of the movie reminds me of my time spent abroad when days were spent wandering endlessly around cobblestone streets, hanging out in cafes, and meeting people from all over the world. The starving artist painter role Gene Kelly plays reminds me of when I would set up for an afternoon and sketch churches and bridges and interesting characters roaming around town. The opening scene features this miraculously choreographed single take of Kelly in his studio apartment, rhythmically going through the motions of waking up, stretching, making breakfast, getting dressed, and beginning his day. I know, I sound like I’m 80 years old, but you gotta check it out. And Gene Kelly has this signature style throughout the film which I am willing to bet later on inspired Michael Jackson: white socks, rolled pants, and black loafers.

Taking all of this all from high up in Symphony Center, it was fun to shift attention back and forth between the movie and the orchestra. Even though I actually love this film, I don’t think I’ve ever watched it all the way through—the second half has a 17 minute dialogue-free dance routine between Kelly and Leslie Caron. But in this setting, aided by an intermission where we could refill the vino, it was actually fun to view the whole thing.

New Blue Sun Live

Moving on to the current century, I managed to get a ticket to see Andre 3000 perform New Blue Sun Live at the Garfield Park Conservatory which was a perfect setting for this music. This is a 115 year old conservatory that houses trees, plants and flowers from all around the world. About 200 guests sat amongst the foliage to enjoy the intimate show.

To get you up to speed, three months ago, one of the biggest hip hop acts of all time dropped his first new album in 17 years and not only is there not a single lyric uttered on the entire record, the man plays various flutes the whole time. It’s spa-like. New agey. Hotel lobby-ish. I suppose it’s ultimately Jazz. It’s actually great background music for getting work done.

I wasn’t sure how this sort of thing would pan out live. About 20 minutes into the show, Andre explained that this wasn’t a show at all. He wasn’t going to play any of the “songs” from the album. Rather, this was going to be an in-the-moment experience where he and his band mates were going to improvise based on the vibe of the room. Free form, baby. Thank God we had a cool room.

Something about the leafy setting, throbbing rhythms and free form flute made much of the performance resemble the soundtrack to a jungle cruise amusement park ride. Then we drifted off to Morocco with some snake charming before channeling a full on steam engine and stretching some balloons.

Andre encouraged the audience to participate which led to a handful of lame shouts, yips and cackles that went nowhere. Stretches went by where I was expecting some sort of transportive payoff, but there really weren’t any. I giggled to myself at one sequence which resembled monkey cries. My buddy, Gavin, said he was thankful for the half of a gummy that he took as we walked in.

Overall, the best part of the event was when Andre addressed the audience to explain that he is surprised as everyone else that he is on stage playing a flute. He said one day he was walking along the beach in Venice, California, when he heard a sound that he admired which turned out to be coming from a lady playing a flute. He asked her where she got the instrument, ordered one from the same maker, and started messing around with it. He never played the instrument before and everything felt new. He kept waking up each day being excited to play the thing. That feeling never went away and here is is still playing the flute because it makes him feel good. I liked the purity and honesty of this story, and appreciated Andre’s commitment to just follow the feels and go where the winds take him.

I traveled to Michigan for work last week and I hung out for a night in Birmingham which is a fancy little town just a few miles northwest of Detroit. There’s some really nice centrally-located hotels from which you can walk to many great restaurants and shops, which is a rarity in the region unless you are staying in Downtown Detroit. Here in Birmingham, even the library is a great place to chill for a bit. I have my personal little trifecta for a night out as follows:

Streetside - Intimate, seafood-centric restaurant with a fantastic little bar area. Great for a drink and platter of oysters to get the ball rolling.

Bella Piatti - This is a true gem of a modern Italian restaurant. There’s exceptional food established by the Venetian born, Francesco Apollonia. Seasoned service led by ever-present General Manager, Kevin Mazziotta. There’s a warm ambiance with lots of cozy nooks and a lively bar that is always humming with gregarious groups, solo diners, and a celebrity or two.

La Strada - The attempt at elegance here is a bit off—there’s unnecessarily opulent furniture, dull lighting, stark tile, strange paint choices—but they have this pistachio cheesecake that is top notch.