FREE ADMISSION
Date & Time: Sunday, November 17, 2019, 7:00 p.m.
Location: Boston Court Pasadena
Address: 70 N. Mentor Avenue., Pasadena, California
Information: (626) 791-7647
The Baseball Reliquary presents a very special musical event in celebration of the Jackie Robinson Centennial, A Swinging Centennial: Jackie Robinson at 100, on Sunday, November 17, 2019, at 7:00 p.m., at Boston Court Pasadena, 70 N. Mentor Avenue, Pasadena, California. Admission is free of charge. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. Plan to arrive early, as seating is limited (capacity 99) and is available on a first come, first served basis.
The concert will feature a performance of Stealin’ Home, Bobby Bradford’s tribute to Jackie Robinson, commissioned by the Baseball Reliquary. A renowned jazz musician, bandleader, and composer, Bradford is also noted for his long career as an educator, teaching jazz history and improvisation for over three decades at Pasadena City College and Pomona College. Bradford’s jazz suite, approximately 45 minutes in length, will be performed by an all-star ensemble featuring Bobby Bradford (cornet), Vinny Golia (woodwinds), Chuck Manning (tenor saxophone), William Roper (tuba), Don Preston (piano), Henry Franklin (bass), and Tina Raymond (drums).
Over the years, Bobby Bradford has performed with Eric Dolphy, Charlie Haden, James Newton, David Murray, and others. He is acclaimed for his work with Ornette Coleman, and for his long association with clarinetist John Carter, a pairing that began in the late 1960s. Following Carter’s death in 1991, Bradford fronted his own ensemble known as The Mo’tet, with which he has continued to perform since. Of the Stealin’ Home commission, Bradford has said, “When Jackie Robinson made his Major League debut in 1947, I was in the seventh grade in Dallas, Texas, and like many Americans, especially black people, I was overjoyed at the coming of our champion of baseball. Now, 72 years later, I have been given the opportunity to write music in his honor, and I am deeply grateful to the Baseball Reliquary for their confidence in me. Robinson was a great black man, a man of stature and courage, a great American, and an exceptional athlete. I hope in some small way to pay tribute to his memory with music.”
The Donavan/Muradian Quintet will open the program with a selection of songs played at Jackie and Rachel Robinson’s inaugural “Afternoon of Jazz” concert on the lawn of their home in Stamford, Connecticut in 1963. The quintet features Kye Palmer (trumpet), Chuck Manning (tenor saxophone), Chad Edwards (piano), Larry Muradian (bass), and Jeff Donavan (drums).
Attendees can park for free in the Boston Court Pasadena lot at 70 N. Mentor Ave. If the Boston Court Pasadena lot is full, there is street parking, in addition to the 2 North Lake parking garage, a pay lot across the street from Boston Court Pasadena.
This program is supported, in part, by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture.
