Neil Davis with Sean Roderick and Friends of Noam Chomsky

Neil Davis performed a set with Sean Roderick on keys and Friends of Noam Chomsky's rhythm section. Oh man! Now, Neil lives in Milwaukee which in these parts officially makes him a "Sconi" and sometimes that's hard to chew on when you're an uppity Nordsky.

Well, there was no uppity and no sconanegans when Neil took the stage at TORCH Sunday night. Neil unleashed his brand of Hard Bop on an enthusiastic crowd that was most appreciative crawling out of their otherwise still Minnesotan box.

Neil Davis with longtime friend and former classmate Sean Roderick

Longtime friend and former classmate Sean Roderick introduced Neil saying, "He's the first musician of this caliber he ever played with and very few, if any, have surpassed."

Mr Davis announced about halfway through his set that his wife didn't come with him. "I don't remember why, exactly. Oh yeah! There was no hotel room. I can see her point though, I wouldn't want to go to one of her Marketing Conferences and stay at a friend's house." He did let on that he had a nice drive across Wisconsin which netted him a 1952 Gibson ES 125 which he debuted for those in attendance.

Neil is the Jazz Guitar teacher with Milwaukee Youth Symphony Orchestra's jazz studies program. The largest program of its kind. He also co-founded West End Conservatory, a new music school in Milwaukee.

Neil with Andrew Foreman (bass) and Zach Schmidt (drums) Friends of Noam Chomsky

For more insight into Neil Davis and his brand of Hard Bop, check out this excellent article written by Milwaukee Jazz Music Examiner author A. Scott Ferguson: Preview of the Neil Davis Quintet Saturday night at the Jazz Estate

Noam Chomsky ... Your Friends were at TORCH!

Friends of Noam Chomsky

Friends of Noam Chomsky opened a night of jazz at TORCH last Sunday that the "father of modern linguistics" would be proud of. Noam would most certainly crack that octogenarian smile and tap a toe or two. Now I don't know that much about Mr. Chomsky or jazz for that matter but, what I saw and heard was four great musicians in a tiny venue play their souls out. It was great.

Andrew Foreman

FoNC is bassist Andrew Foreman's project. Andrew is a freelance bassist living in Minneapolis. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Music and Hispanic Literature from Macalester College in Saint Paul, and his studies include attending the Leroy Vinnegar Jazz Institute in Portland, OR as well as the L'aula Institute for Modern Music in Barcelona, Spain.

Jake Baldwin (trumpet)

Foreman performs nightly in Jazz/Soul/Rock/Latin/Roots settings and curates a monthly event at the Aster Cafe called "Off the Cuff: A Series of Improvised Collaboration. "Friends of Noam Chomsky" is an ensemble led by Foreman, featuring Thomas Nordlund (guitar), Jake Baldwin (trumpet), and Zach Schmidt (drums).

Tom Nordlund (guitar) aka Guitarist for Carlo Gesualdo Zach Schmidt (drums)

This group seeks to explore intersections of jazz tradition, art rock, and free improvisation, experimenting with originals and covers from indie rock/alternative pop lineages such as the Pixies, Feist, Deathcab for Cutie, and more.

Keep up with what's happening at TORCH ... here ya go!

There's A Hutch @ TORCH

Jennifer Chilstrom is excited to announce there will be Yoga at TORCH this summer. Theresa Hutch is a Yoga instructor and artist who will be conducting Yoga classes on Friday’s and Saturdays through the summer.

A long time art teacher in the Minneapolis public schools, Theresa embarked on a personal project to produce a painting every week for one year. “How many weeks is that? Ah! Fifty-two!” Almost 156 weeks later, Theresa continues to paint every week and uses her paintings to create cards for a weekly yoga-inspiration. She is grateful for the spiritual contribution and insights Reverend Jaganath Carrera adds to the text on every Yoga Sutra Card.

For every class that she teaches, she brings a copy of the week's card for her students to take with them. Theresa gives the cards as gifts, but they also serve to remind her students of their yoga practice while they are out in the world!

Theresa began her yoga practice as a college student in 1998, she had no idea how significant yoga would become in her life. With a B.A. in Design Communications and an art teaching certificate Theresa taught high school art for ten years. Through this experience, she learned the importance of meeting the needs of all students who walked into her classroom. In 2010, she enrolled in the 230 hour R.Y.T. study program at The Yoga Center of Minneapolis.

Upon completion, she began experiencing yoga in a completely new way, as a teacher. Theresa continues her studies through extensive reading, workshops, and her personal art practice.

• Classes starting May 2
• Fridays - Slow Flow Vinyasa 12:00 - 1:00pm
• Saturdays - All Levels Vinyasa 10:00 - 11:00am *
• * After Saturday classes you receive a 10% discount off your lunch at Namaste Cafe, two doors up from TORCH

$12/class drop-in or Purchase $60/six class pass

For more information about Theresa, her art and yoga go to THERESA HUTCH dot com.

Yes, Gesualdo Rocked Out Like That.

Carlo Gesualdo Group: Scott Fultz (sax), Andrew Bergmann (bass), Adam Patterson (drums), Sean Roderick (keys), Tom Nordlund (guitar).

Sean Roderick kicked off a great introduction to A Month of Sundays Jazz at TORCH last night performing with Carlo Gesualdo Group. A small audience was treated to an exceptional jazz exploration of the 16th century madrigal compositions of the infamous Italian Prince, Carlo Gesualdo; a late renaissance recluse known for his extreme emotional themes and wildly vocal musical forms.

Bassist and leader Andrew Bergmann engaged the audience about half way through the first set informing us they’ve taken Gesualdo’s vocal arrangements and rewritten them for modern instruments.

Tom Nordlund

Famous for murdering his wife and her lover, Carlo, in a self-imposed seclusion at his castle, composed choral pieces influenced by many of his contemporaries although much more experimental in tonal range. “Most of his music was only performed for his own fancy,” Bergmann instructed us, “parlor performances with hired musicians who he composed for.”

Gesualdo’s music is among the most experimental and expressive of the Renaissance, and without question is the most wildly chromatic. Progressions such as those written by Gesualdo did not appear again in music until the 19th century, and then in a context of tonality.

Carlo Gesualdo Group at TORCH

The Carlo Gesualdo Group gave modern life to these compositions which delighted the audience and sparked much approval from those who attended. When asked if Gesualdo rocked out like that? the consensus of the band was, “yeah … probably.”

TORCH dot website

TORCH — Why a Blog?

Late last summer an acquaintance took over the first floor of an old Victorian house at 2520 Hennepin Avenue S, just north of Uptown. Now, I've had some familiarity with this house ... not of the previous inhabitants but its landmark like countenance.

When I first moved to Minneapolis I lived at 25th and Emerson, about 2 blocks from this house and passed by regularly on my way to either work or merriment. At the time, its iron gate protected a space filled with lawn ornamentation. I supposed it was for sale and could be purchased. By appointment, I imagined I could procure a statue of St. Phocas for the garden with a matching birdbath and elephant topiary; expensive high-quality pieces. To my poverty and the fact that my apartment didn't come with a garden, entertaining any such enhancement to the verge of my rented living quarters would have to be left to my imagination. The place was quite possibly something entirely different ... imagination can be a vivid palette.

Thirty years later there's a different life there. I had never noticed before but there's a piece of stained glass in the door. A stained glass of a torch. Might be a piece of Art Nouveau from the late 20th century ... original? I don't know. Remarkably, though, it's a torch. I find that somehow winsome and curious ... a wee bit of serendipity wouldn't you say? The beacon, the light and all that.

My friend MacBeck calls up one day and wants to work on a readers performance of Murder in the Cathedral ... that pithy little ditty by T. S. Eliot. He has this friend who's got this place that would be perfect for an intimate reading, it'll be great! So a couple months later I'm hanging out with a group of cronies from my Shakespeare Company days and we're performing a reading of T. S. Eliot's Murder in the Cathedral at TORCH. Yeah, that house on Hennepin with the stained glass torch on the door!

You really have to meet Jennifer Chilstrom (fodder for another blog post) the proprietress of TORCH. It's her brainchild. Over the course of preparing for Murder in the Cathedral, I took occasion to ask what might be her hopes for such a space. It's important to know that Jen is an artist; of many colors and expressions. She has worked with people throughout her professional life to support art in their lives bringing artists and consumers closer in thought and community. Some might say she's something of a "Social Artist" so, the concept of TORCH is really quite simple ... use this intimate space to bring people and art closer together.

I was quite taken with the idea. I have always been an ardent advocate of the arts but more of a silent partner than an activist. That's unfortunate, really, since I've watched arts opportunities be methodically expunged from many of our educational systems. I am from a rich culture of art in education from elementary all the way through college and plenty outside of class. I grew up creating, performing, attending, observing and sharing expressions of all kinds ... opportunities bowed the trees like too many apples. I'm quite grateful for that fortune as I look back on it all.

So ... why a blog?

Because it's an opportunity. An opportunity that needs a voice. An opportunity that needs support. An opportunity that needs me to get off my passive soapbox and give back to the community that has made my life so rich.

I approached Jen with the idea of covering the activities, people and artists at TORCH giving the interwebs something else to mull over. Maybe they'll find a connection or even take up TORCH on all the opportunities it may have to offer. I know that it has put me in touch with some dear old friends and introduced me to some brave new friends; new artists with special voices. Voices for their time that need opportunities as plentiful as my time. So ... I give you TORCH; a blog about a performing arts space on Hennepin Avenue.

You may be interested in checking out TORCH dot website or strolling pass some time.