The famous pianist of Bare Necessities and Ken Burns’ specials visited Chicagoland prior to playing for the Harvest Moon Dance Weekend.

Interview and mini-concert on WDCB

Tuesday, September 26 – 8:15 to 8:45 p.m., live in the studio on the Folk Festival radio show (Tuesdays, 8 – 11 p.m. Central Time)

• 90.9 FM WDCB Public Radio from Glen Ellyn/Chicago
• 90.7 FM tuning for Chicago’s West Loop
• streaming live at WDCB.org
• shows are archived for 2 weeks after the broadcast at WDCB.org/Archive

House concert by Jacqueline Schwab: Ken Burns’ collaboration

Thursday, September 28, 7:30 p.m.

• the Studio, 228 Clinton Ave., Oak Park, IL 60302
• Suggested donation $20 per person or sliding scale
  

Ken Burns’ Pianist Jacqueline Schwab in Concert

Pianist Jacqueline Schwab spins musical stories out of the myriad strands in the American quilt and with the spirit of community music making at their heart. Her signature playing features in over a dozen of Ken Burns’ documentaries, including his Grammy-winning Civil War, Baseball, Lewis and Clark, Mark Twain, The War and his recently-released Benjamin Franklin, as well as in other PBS documentaries, such as The Irish in America—The Long Journey Home. She has performed at the White House for President Clinton and (twice) on national PBS with the American Pops Orchestra, and she has accompanied Scottish singer Jean Redpath on public radio’s A Prairie Home Companion and on CBS’s Late Show with David Letterman. She is well known to the traditional dance world for her groundbreaking playing with the Bare Necessities ensemble. Her recently-released solo album I Lift My Lamp—Illuminations from Immigrant America celebrates vintage music from American immigrants. Jacqueline graduated from New England Conservatory, majoring in piano improvisation. She grew up in Pittsburgh and has since lived in Boston and on Cape Cod.

For more information, see: https://www.jacquelineschwab.com

For Jacqueline’s Oak Park, Thursday, Sept. 28 performance, at 7:30 p.m., she will feature pieces from some of her Burns soundtrack performances, as well as some of her own work inspired by her collaborations with Burns and his colleagues. You’ll hear vintage American dance music and reflective song tunes from a sampling of times and places in American history. Jacqueline will speak about Ken’s unusual way of working with music, how he elicits emotive performances from his musicians and what he seeks for the music for his films.

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  Dance music and improvisation lessons for pianists and others

• for all dance musicians (not only for pianists)
• private, duos or trios
• during the day Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday, September 26-28
• preferred location, Oak Park studio, or TBA
• Cost $75 – $100/hour (depending on number of people)