arts & entertainment

Detroit Jazz Festival from page 61

The event also will have edu-
cational activities for adults and
children, fireworks, late-night
jam sessions and opportunities to
meet the artists.
"I think the design and plan-
ning of this event has an integrity
and intelligence about it that I
have not seen in other jazz festi-
vals," Israels says.
"The people who have planned
the program have done the best
kind of job in thinking about
music and art that I can find. I'm
honored to be part of it.
"Most jazz festivals over the
last 30 or 40 years have turned
into pop music festivals — in
which there is sprinkled a little
bit of worthwhile jazz. This is a
festival that has been designed
around jazz that I consider to be
worth hearing."
Israels built a career working
with acclaimed artists — Billie
Holiday, Benny Goodman,
Coleman Hawkins, Stan Getz,
Herbie Hancock and John
Coltrane, among many others.
With his National Jazz Ensemble
(1973-1981), he did pioneering
work in recalling the jazz reper-
toire.
Recording with the jazz greats
he joined on stages, Israels went
on to direct the jazz studies
program at Western Washington
University before moving to
Portland, where he formed his
current group and is getting
ready to make a new recording.

"I grew up with two extraor-
dinary classical musicians from
Detroit:' says Israels, who met
them at the music camp, Indian
Hill, run by his parents in
Massachusetts.
"Ruth Meckler Laredo became
a well-known pianist especially
known for her Rachmaninoff
interpretations, and Jerry Rosen
became a violinist and pianist
who has worked as pianist and
associate concertmaster of the
Boston Symphony.
"I have had a long relationship
with many jazz musicians from
Detroit, starting with Donald
Byrd, Barry Harris and the Jones
Brothers — Hank, Thad and
Elvin. I also have a friendship
with Rodney Whitaker, who's a
terrific bass player and heads
jazz studies at Michigan State
University, where I have appeared
twice:"
Although Israels started out
with other instruments at his
parents' camp, he concentrated
on the bass to become part of a
trio in Boston and built his career
from there.
"We moved to San Francisco
when my wife got a job sing-
ing in the San Francisco Opera
Company," he says. "Then
my teaching job moved us to
Bellingham in Washington, and
we have grown to appreciate liv-
ing in the Northwest."
Israels has traveled to Israel to
perform with pianist Alec Katz.

"Being Jewish doesn't have a
direct effect on my music:' he
says. "It has had an effect on my
culture and all the background
that led to the pursuit of music
and art in general, but the
music that I'm involved with is
American."
Israels, who develops new
music in his head and then writes
it out at the computer, is working
on a memoir that incorporates
the history of jazz. Since he does
not write lyrics, the songs that __
will be performed by his wife and
daughter will be by other com-
posers.
"It's wonderful performing
with family because there's so
much that you don't have to talk
about," explains Israels, whose
other daughter, Sarah Hanson, is
a social worker.
"Because we live music togeth-
er, there are so many things
already understood. Rarely are
there any significant adjustments I
that we have to make, and there's !!
an intimacy that's very satisfying. ''
"At the same time, there's a kind
of contact that we make with the
people with whom we're perform-
ing that also is intimate and makes
them feel like family:"

Chuck Israels Jazz
Orchestra will appear 6:45-
8 p.m. Saturday, Sept.1, on
the JP Morgan Chase Main
Stage. No charge.

Labor Day Weekend Fests

For more information on the festivals,
including hours, directions and a
complete schedule of events, access
the Internet addresses listed below:

Arts, Beats & Eats: Friday-Monday, Aug.
31-Sept. 3, downtown Royal Oak. Jewish
performers include Mayer Hawthorne of
Mayer Hawthorne and the County (Aug. 31),
Amanda Morgan (Sept. 1) and Kids Klez of
Michigan (Sept. 3). www.artsbeatseats.com .

Detroit Jazz Festival: Friday-Monday,
Aug. 31-Sept. 1, Downtown Detroit. Jewish
performers include the Fred Hersch Trio
(Sept. 2) and the Lew Tabackin Quartet
featuring Randy Brecker (Sept. 3). www.
detroitjazzfest.com .

Great Lakes State Fair: Friday-Monday,
Aug. 31-Sept. 3, Suburban Collection
Showplace, Novi. www.greatlakesstatefair.
org.

Mayer
Hawthorne

Fred Hersch

Hamtramck Labor Day Festival:
Saturday-Monday, Sept. 1-3, various locations. www.
hamtownfest.com .

Peach Festival of Romeo: Thursday-Monday, Aug. 30-Sept.
3, various locations. www.peachfestromeo.com .

Michigan Renaissance Festival: weekends (plus Labor Day
and Friday, Sept. 14) through Sept. 30, Holly. www.michrenfest.
com.

Village of Franklin Roundup: Monday, Sept. 3, downtown
Franklin. www.franklin.mi.us .

42ws

smal Nate Bloom

Special to the Jewish News

in

New Flicks

Three films with Jewish connections
(plus The Possession, previewed on
page 64) are scheduled to open in the
Tio Detroit area on Friday, Aug. 31.
Killer Joe, a violent film, is not for
all audiences, but it is the first film in
decades directed by William Friedkin
(The Exorcist, The French Connection),
76, to get good reviews.
The plot: Chris (Emile Hirsch) is in
debt to a drug lord.
Lusting after his
mother's life insur-
ance money, he hires
a Dallas cop and
sometime-contract
killer (Matthew
McConaughey) to mur-
,.1.
der her. Chris' equally
Friedkin
creepy stepmother is

CO

till

62

August 30 2012

played by Gina Gershon, 50. (Hirsch's
paternal grandfather is his only Jewish
grandparent.)
French Jewish actor
Alexandre Nahon
(he's in his mid-30s),
has a supporting role
in 2 Days in New York,
directed by and star-
ring Julie Delpy (born
in France, she now
Nahon
lives in the States).
This comedy is a
follow-up to Delpy's 2 Days in Paris, in
which Marion, a Frenchwoman (Delpy),
and her American boyfriend (played
by her then real-life boyfriend Adam
Goldberg, 41) toured France and met
Manu (Nahon), Marion's ex-boyfriend.
Manu is a goofball and a womanizer.
In New York, Marion is now living
in Manhattan with a hip talk-show
host (Chris Rock). Chaos ensues when
Marion's French father (played by

Delpy's real-life father), her oversexed
sister and her sister's boyfriend (Manu,
again) decide to visit her in New York.

Celeste and Jesse
Forever stars Rashida

Jones, 36, and Andy
Samberg, 34, in the
title roles. Celeste
and Jesse have been
friends and (later)
lovers since child-
hood. As the film
Jones
opens, their marriage
is in serious trouble.
Celeste is a workaholic,
and Jesse is a slacker
artist. This difference
and others drive them
apart, but they both
find it difficult to move
on and finalize their
divorce. The script was
co-written by Jones.
Graynor
Ari Graynor, 29,

has a large supporting role as Beth, a
best friend of the couple. Virtually all
reviews of this film have been positive.
David Cronenberg,
69, has been direct-
ing films almost as
long as Friedkin.
Unlike Friedkin, he
has never had a mon-
ster hit, just a steady
stream of mostly
Cronenberg
well-received films.
His new film,
Cosmopolis, opening Friday, Sept. 7, is
a thriller starring Robert Pattinson
(of Twilight fame) as Eric, a financial
whiz kid. The movie follows one long
day in Eric's life. He has many sur-
realistic encounters while at the same
time risking all his wealth by wagering
that the Chinese currency will col-
lapse. The supporting cast includes
French Jewish actor-director Mathieu
Amalric, 46. E