April 2014: Dear World: Emilie Sings Alec Wilder, Nationwide Tour Supported by the Arts Council

April 22nd

Good morning folks!

What a lovely Easter!

Well we've been had a lovely time performing in Droichead Arts Centre, the Mermaid and Dunamaise, all beautiful theatres and attended by wonderfully warm audiences and now ...

The finale concert of our tour "Dear World," Emilie Sings Alec Wilder

Johnny Taylor, piano, Damian Evans, bass, Dominic Mullan, drums & Brendan Doyle, saxophone/clarinet

this Friday 25th @ The Mill Theatre, Dundrum.

As you know we've put months of work into researching and arranging songs by American composer Alec Wilder, many which have never been recorded or sang before and we think we have created something unique and special, as does the Friends of the Alec Wilder Foundation in the States who ran an article on our project! (please see below)

We'd love to share this music with you! Do join us for a very special night of premieres at The Mill this Friday, 8pm. Tickets 01 2969340 www.milltheatre.ie

If you happen to be at the Ballina Arts Centre this Thursday, we have our penultimate concert Tickets: 096 73953 www.ballinaartscentre.com

I'm not sure what I'll do on Saturday 26th when this project finally comes to an end ....I have been quite lost in the "Wilder"ness these past few months but .... I suppose there will be time......" for all the works and days of hands

That lift and drop a question on your plate;

Time for you and time for me,

And time yet for a hundred indecisions

And for a hundred visions and revisions

Before the taking of a toast and tea."

And I'm tempted to say first person back to me with the name of that poem gets a guest pass to the Mill!.......

Warm wishes, take care of yourselves and each other and we hope to see you soon!

Emilie

Page 6 – Friends of Alec Wilder Newsletter, 3237A 16th Street, San Francisco, CA 94103

Dear World: Young singer tours Wilder thru Ireland

Emilie Conway, a versatile singer who in the recent past has sung Billie Holiday and Abbey Lincoln, will sing Alec Wilder when she tours her home country of Ireland in April, performing Dear World: Emilie Conway Sings Alec Wilder. With a setlist of about 20 tunes, and a few choice instrumental interludes, Conway and company will perform five concerts over two weeks, bringing Wilder to the people of the Emerald Isle, largely courtesy of their arts-generous government.

Conway, who has an appealingly direct and relaxed vocal style, has honed her jazz chops whilst migrating between Chicago and Europe, working with singers such as the great Sheila Jordan. Two years ago she released her debut CD, a collection of jazz standards called The Secret of a Rose, which included I'll Be Around. Most tracks on the recording feature a band, but for Wilder’s best known tune Conway opted for just piano and voice. “My pianist and I so loved the purity of the Wilder song that we went for a very sparse arrangement,” says Conway, who also discovered Wilder through the Sinatra recording of Where is the One? “I listened over and over. Equally Peggy Lee's Crazy in the Heart."

Conway has explored and embraces the full range of Wilder’s work. She says, “I really like the way Wilder wrote so diversely, the way he featured atypical instruments, as in the octets. I think he was quite postmodern. He might have gotten a kick out of that classification, at least blown bubbles at it!”

Bubbles actually play a big role in this story. Emilie elaborates: “The whole concept for the concert came together when I saw that image of Alec blowing bubbles and Marian McPartland laughing in the background. I just loved that. And then I found that quote of Wilder's:

‘I’m concerned with the miracle of life in all of its incredible forms. I’ll stop for a spider,

a bird, a tree, a flower, a child, a book, a storm, a sound, a scent, a smile. I’ll blow bubbles, watch bobble birds, read a dictionary, listen to a sad tale, make up a puzzle, row a boat.’

“I just thought the lightness in that image and in that quote was so beautiful and so summed up Wilder’s sensitivity

and fascination with life, and at the same time, complete resistance to being any way pinned to it.”

As the young singer’s curiosity about Wilder was building, she fortuitously met jazz promoter Allen Smith, founder of Jazz on the Terrace, and a Wilder enthusiast. Conway says, “We got to talking about Wilder which led to the idea of doing a whole concert of his work. Then Allen had the idea of applying for some support from the Arts Council here, which in turn led to the idea of doing a tour, a concert series of Wilder's music!”

The five concerts begin Friday April 11 at the Mermaid Arts Centre, Main Street, Bray, County Wicklow and end at the Mill Theatre Dundrum in Dublin on April 25. Along the way are stops in Drogheda, Co. Louth, Portlaoise, Co. Laois and Ballina, Co. Mayo. Backing Conway will be the quartet of Johnny Taylor, piano, Damian Evans, bass, Dominic Mullan, drums and Brendan Doyle, reeds.

“There are more beautiful songs than time will permit,” says the Dublin chanteuse, but certainly included in the setlist will be the poignant, rarely- performed Dear World, with words written by Bill Engvick nearly 50 years after Alec composed the unused Sand Castle soundtrack melody as Slow Waltz. www.emilieconway.ie for info and Youtube for songs.

Wilder and McPartland Photo by Louis Ouzer