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Friday, July 30, 2010

And now, it's time for the men to sing

By David Steinberg
Journal Staff Writer
          The Women's Voices concert has been a staple of the New Mexico Jazz Workshop's Jazz/Blues Under the Stars series. It has been so popular that it split into two this summer.

Men's Voices     WHEN: 7 p.m. Saturday, July 31     WHERE: Amphitheater, Albuquerque Museum, 2000 Mountain NW     HOW MUCH: $15 general public, $13 seniors and students, $12 museum and New Mexico Jazz Workshop members. For advance tickets go to the Jazz Workshop office at 5500 Lomas NE or visit www.brownpapertickets.com

    So why not a Men's Voices concert?
        That's exactly what the Jazz Workshop is presenting for the first time on Saturday, July 31, at the Albuquerque Museum's amphitheater.
        The lineup will feature Michael Herndon, Gene Corbin, Clay Benard, Chris Dracup, Tommy Gearhart and 12 of the New Mexico Gay Men's Chorus' 44 singers.
        "We thought a chorus would be a nice addition to the evening. We've never had a chorus on the Women's Voices," said Maud Beenhouwer, the Jazz Workshop's director.
        The chorus' program will include "Shore on the Shining Night," "And So It Goes" and a rendition of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow," which will close the evening, said Scott Reiber, the chorus' board president.
        Corbin said he'll be on stage with "my voice and my guitar with some a cappella. I will do some original material. There are some songs I'm really glad I wrote as a young man, but they mean more to me now. I'll do some of those."
        He said some of the songs will be folk-ish, some jazzy and some that don't fit into a particular style.
        "One song I will do is 'Moments of Peace,' which I use in churches where I sing. It's basically just about being thankful that I've made it this far and happy to be in the shape I'm in," said Corbin, who has been performing at the Mine Shaft Tavern in Madrid for almost 22 years.
        Benard said he's singing lead and playing keyboards with two groups. One is a folk-rock trio, The Peacemakers, with bassist Earle Brown and guitarist Andrew Poling. The other, a group called The Soul Sanctuary, has Brown on bass, Poling moving to drums and Mike Altamare on electric guitar. It will more pop and R&B oriented.
        With his acoustic guitar, Dracup will perform tunes he's sung over the last 25 years, including the time he worked in Nashville.
        "I'll be doing a bunch of my original music, which tends to be in the folk-rock vein but also country blues and Delta blues," he said.
        "I'm looking forward to the show. I don't do a lot of solo acoustic performances anymore."
        Gearhart said he'll primarily sing standards. "It will be an ode to past male vocalists and the songs they popularized," he said.
        They include Tony Bennett, Johnny Hartman and Jon Hendricks.