Van Dyke Parks & Steve Dawson
~ The Big Broadcast ~
'THE BIG BROADCAST' A musical escapade into the Golden Age of Radio. An evening of fine entertainment that will bear out William Faulkner: “The past isn’t dead and buried. In fact, it isn’t even past.” On shows like “The Big Broadcast”, the airwaves were bursting with new tunes each week, artfully arranged. Great composers/arrangers emerged in the Golden Age of Radio. Decidedly retro, our process of discovery promises to be a prism through which we see the present tense.
Two generations
Two legends
&
The Golden Age of Radio
Van Dyke Parks, well yes he's been around alright, in various musical roles: as producer, arranger, musician one time or another with Little Feat, Phil Ochs, Frank Zappa, the Byrds, Harry Nilsson, the Beach Boys, Ry Cooder, an exquisite honor roll to be sure ... but ... he was there earlier on too - listening ... to the Golden Age of Radio!
Steve Dawson Over the past few years Van Dyke Parks joined up with multi award winning musician & producer Steve Dawson (selected by the Globe and Mail as one of 10 people who shaped Vancouver) on the Mississippi Sheiks Tribute Project and now the two are embarking on an entirely new journey ... and a very exciting one at that ...
~ Van Dyke Parks speaking...
"Steve Dawson and I are creating a musical escapade into the Golden Age of Radio. We capture nuggets dug out of a decade of weekly radio shows, many of which treasures never migrated to digitalized download.
Great composers/arrangers emerged in the Golden Age of Radio. We plan to steal their work and mess around with it: Ferde Grofe (who also penned Gershwin’s “Rhapsody In Blue” for orchestra, and composed “The Grand Canyon Suite”. William Grant Still, the first Black American symphonist, (whose orchestral work Gershwin would imitate), who toiled long through The Depression, to lift society’s spirits with intricate, powerful lyrics and tunes. Willard Robison, who like Still, would fuse solid White and brand-new Black vernacular to music,. It all brought the heat of the street into the parlour. Following his fluency, Hoagy Carmichael followed. A stream of Brill Building tunesmiths hammered out music that beat that era’s blues, wit hints of Blacks and Tans. Ribbon mikes and radio tubes.
Steve and I decided to unite in this, as we’re both associated with Jazz Preservation, fine Folk and Roots, spruced up enough to frame an evening entertainment that will bear out William Faulkner: “The past isn’t dead and buried. In fact, it isn’t even past.”
Booking inquiries: Frank Hoorn - Email: Frank Hoorn/Near North Music Phone: (250) 847-5228