Business Blast

Trio at Mezzrow this weekend, the Gunther Schuller centennial at NEC, and--of course--the late Dick Cheney

I’m returning to Mezzrow on Friday and Saturday with two of the best, Eivind Opsvik and Vinnie Sperrazza. We have the early shifts at 6 and 7:30.

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I teach at the New England Conservatory of Music, an august institution associated with the late great Gunther Schuller, who would have turned 100 on November 22.

Jumpin’ in the Future: The Legacy of Gunther Schuller is a series of concerts happening this month in beautiful Jordan Hall. Guest artists include pianists Christopher O’Riley and Fred Hersch, violinist Joel Smirnoff, French horn player Richard Todd, the Gramercy Trio, Marimolin, bassist Ed Schuller, drummer George Schuller, and Carl Atkins.

We are playing two movements of my new piece The Benny Goodman Sextet on the November 17 concert, Chamber Music + Sonatas – Schuller and the Spirit of Collaboration. Thanks to Mark Zaleski for lending his clarinet to “Impossible Ragtime” and “Weary Blues.”

how hard could it be?

All the concerts look fantastic:

Prep 75: Anniversary Celebration Concert
Saturday, November 15 / 6:00 pm / Jordan Hall

Chamber Music + Sonatas: Schuller and the Spirit of Collaboration
Monday, November 17, 2025 / 7:30 pm / Jordan Hall

Contemporary Musical Arts Today: A Global Vision Realized
Tuesday, November 18, 2025 / 7:30 pm / Jordan Hall

NEC Symphony + David Loebel: Schuller and Stravinsky’s Firebird
Wednesday, November 19, 2025 / 7:30 pm / Jordan Hall

Jazz Without Borders: Schuller’s Bold Experiment at NEC
Thursday, November 20 / 7:30 pm | Jordan Hall

Piano Seminar: The Legacy of Gunther Schuller
Friday, November 21, 2025 / 10 am / Keller Room

Of Reminiscences and Reflections: Celebrating Gunther Schuller’s 100th Birthday
Friday, November 21, 2025 / 7:00 pm Pre-Concert Short Videos / Keller Room
8:00 pm Concert / Jordan Hall

Faculty Recital: Kenneth Radnofsky
Saturday, November 22, 2025 / 8:00 pm / Burnes Hall

I knew Schuller slightly, and will re-up our interview here on TT next week.

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Dick Cheney died yesterday. The Bad Plus recorded my simple piece “Cheney Piñata” for Give, released twenty years ago.

Ten years ago, Jim Durso wrote up the piano improvisation for DownBeat. Durso’s analysis is very good! My style (such as it is) has received fairly little technical analysis (at least as far as I know), so it is pretty gratifying to see someone getting into the details and getting them right.

A lead sheet for this piece has never been written down. Durso places the transcription it in 6/8, which is fine. But if wrote it out, I’d write it in 3/8 or 3/4, simply to avoid meter changes. (When working with 6/8. Durso is forced into an occasional bar of 9/8.)

The tune is mine, but Dave King came up with the name. The cinematic image accompanying the song is reasonably obvious: There is a party, and a group of blindfolded kids are hitting a papier-mâché piñata with sticks. The piñata is made in the image of Dick Cheney. It is a celebratory moment.