5/30/20 O&A NYC SATURDAY MORNING CONCERT: Otis Redding (1966)

Otis Redding, while visiting Europe for the very first time as part of the Stax/Volt tour, is asked to host a very special episode of The teen dance show, Ready, Steady, Go! The rest is history. Featuring Chris Farlowe and Eric Burdon (of The Animals).
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5/24/20 O&A NYC SUNDAY AFTERNOON JAZZ CONCERT: Miles Davis Quintet Live at Teatro dell’Arte in Milan, Italy (October 11, 1964)

 Miles Davis Quintet live at Teatro dell’Arte in Milan, Italy, October 11, 1964. Continue reading

(Repost) 5/24/20 O&A NYC GOSPEL SUNDAY: Didn’t It Rain-Sister Rosetta Tharpe (Gospel Music’s First Crossover Artist)

GOSPEL SUNDAYSister Rosetta Tharpe

Sister Rosetta Tharpe, is a pioneer of twentieth-century music. Tharpe attained great popularity in the 1930s and 1940s with her gospel recordings that were a unique mixture of spiritual lyrics and rhythmic/early rock accompaniment.  She became gospel music’s first crossover artist and its first great recording star. Continue reading

  3/24/24 O&A NYC GOSPEL SUNDAY: Tramaine Hawkins Performs Coming Home and Going Up Yonder- Albertina Walker Memorial Concert

Tremaine Hawkins honors Dr. Albertina Walker by singing Coming Home and Going Up Yonder the Queen’s memorial service on Oct. 14, 2010.
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(Repost) 3/26/23 O&A NYC HAPPY BIRTHDAY MISS ROSS: Diana Ross – Standing Room Only Live At Ceasar’s Palace (1980)


diana-ross-standing-room-only-1Diana Ross- Standing Room Only Live At Ceasar’s Palace, the HBO special, first aired in early 1980 as part of the network’s Standing Room Only series. Continue reading

3/8/20 O&A NYC SUNDAY JAZZ CONCERT: Lena Horne- The Lady and Her Music (1982)

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Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music, a Broadway musical revue, written for and starring American singer and actress Lena Horne. The show opened on May 12, 1981, and after 333 performances, closed on June 30, 1982, Horne’s 65th birthday. Continue reading

3/4/20 O&A NYC WILDIN OUT WEDNESDAY: Millie Jackson- Phuck U Symphony

wildin out wednesdaymed_1427987385_imagePhuck U Symphony is one of the best-known tracks on Millie Jackson’s 1892 live album, Live And Outrageous. Jackson continues to include it in her live shows to this day. Continue reading

2/29/20 O&A NYC SATURDAY MORNING CONCERT CELEBRATING BLACK HISTORY MONTH: Michael Jackson- Live At The Madison Square Garden (2001 Full Show)

The Michael Jackson: 30th Anniversary Celebration was a 2001 concert show by Michael Jackson.  It was staged in Madison Square Garden in New York City on September 7 and 10, 2001. Continue reading

10/27/19 O&A NYC DANCE REVIEW: A.I.M (Abraham In Motion) At The Joyce

By Walter Rutledge 

A.I.M. (Abraham In Motion) presented their New York City season at the Joyce Theater Tuesday, October 15 through Sunday, October 20, 2019. The six- day, seven performance season offered five works, including three world premieres and one company premieres, by three choreographers. The concise, focused and extremely audience friendly program was a successful blend of both visceral and cerebral movement and imagery.

In Big Rings (2019 World Premiere) choreographer and company member Keerati Jinakunwiphat presented a cleanly crafted ensemble work for six dancers.  Jinakunwiphat clearly understands the craft of choreography, approaching this work with strong compositional form and design. Extremely fluent in “Abraham”; she proficiently worked in Abraham’s vernacular and canon. The use of music from different genres and the well employed choreographic device of theme and development kept the work fast past and well defined. This was especially evident in the second movement of the work where she brought freshness to Camille Saint-Saens “chestnut” The Swan.

Show Pony (2018) presented performer Marcella Lewis and choreographer Abraham in a very favorable light. In true Abraham style the choreographer established a finite movement vocabulary; which he manipulated, variated and developed throughout. Shifting between pure and gesture driven movement (with a pleasant dash of personality) Abraham created a work that was dynamic, original and fun.   

Clad in a metallic gold unitard Lewis danced with unmitigated aplomb; commanding the stage and at times relegated the audience to unwitting voyeurism.  If the arms are the language of the dance, Abraham allowed her to speak in a clear choreographic voice. She gave new meaning to the phrase “the hostess with the mostest”; when retreating to a pool of clear light she smiled while offering salutations and greetings to the audience. 

Trisha Brown’s Solo Olos (1976 company premiere) epitomizes the phase God mic. The work for five dancers and initially performed in silence took an unexpected twist when dancer Donovan Reed jumped off the stage and sat on the first row with a wireless microphone. The almost Deis Machine devise became an omnipresent dictate guiding the dancers through the movement, which consisted of reversing many of the movement passages. This thinking man’s (excuse me- thinking person’s) abstract ballet lived up to it’s title. 

Cocoon (2019 World Premiere), a solo choreographed and performed by Kyle Abraham, opened with a chorus of singers placed in the audience in front of the stage. Performing music by Bjork (arranged by lead singer Nicholas Ryan Gant) the nine- member chorus accompanied Abraham; who began in a crouched position on the floor in a circle of Azurite blue light. As if on a slow- moving carousel Abraham unfolded his body shifting position as Dan Scully’s light design expanded to eventually encompass the entire stage.

The choreography shifted between explosive passages to exploring the plastique of movement through sustained stillness. Abraham removed the sash that sequestered his shirt, and an offstage gust of wind surrounded him. Symbolically his motionless form was being propelled to a new metaphysical plain- a metamorphosis.  

The evening concluded with Studies On A Farewell (2019 world premiere) an episodic ensemble work for eight dancers and choreographed by Abraham in collaboration with A.I.M. Set to Four Studies by Nico Muhly and performed live by Katherine Liccardo and Chelsea Starbuck Smith in tandem with a recorded track. The work depicted a series of encounters and partings tinged with a collective personal, almost autobiographic feeling. Jinakunwiphat slowly walking backward alone retreating upstage into the darkness culminating theballet and the evening.

Abraham continues to share his unique gift of abstract storytelling. The sophisticated and aesthetically satisfying A.I.M. New York season combined solid choreography with high production value.

In Photo:  2) Tamisha Guy, Marcella Lewis, Javon Jones, and Catherine Ellis Kirk  3) Marcella Lewis  4) Catherine Ellis Kirk 5) Kyle Abraham  6) Tamisha Guy and Javon Jones

Photo by: 1) Tatiana Wills 2) Sharen Bradford 3) Christopher Duggan 4, 5 & 6) Stephen Schreiber