THIS CLUB’S MARIMBAS ONLY
Leigh Howard Stevens, the maestro of the mallets, is in the middle of the annual Summer Marimba Festival in Asbury Park.
The Musser-Stevens Grip! What is it? Some sort of secret handshake? Some manner of accessing an exclusive club?
Well, yes. But even though this club is technically “marimbas only,” the public is more than welcome to observe its arcane rituals — for this is the annual Summer Marimba Festival in Asbury Park, a generally below-the-radar event that gathers the nation’s premier classical marimbists in one seaside city, with a couple of historic churches as the setting.
If you encounter difficulty naming any of the nation’s premier classical marimbists, we’re fortunate to have Leigh Howard Stevens in charge of the series, which kicked off its 30th year(!) this past weekend with recitals at the Holy Spirit Church on Second Avenue, and Trinity Episcopal Church on Asbury Avenue. It was the Jersey-born Stevens who modified the existing “Musser grip” into a frankly revolutionary vertically held, four-mallet technique that broadened the sonic spectrum of the percussion player’s palette — and his (based in Neptune) Marimba Productions stands as the biggest name in publishing, record distribution and products for the instrument.
While it may seem a stretch to call LHS the Boss of the marimba, it should be noted that he once played drums in a band managed by Max Weinberg, who would later say of Stevens, “I wanted to rock, and he wanted to become a musician.”
The Marimba Festival continues on Thursday evening at 7pm, with Susan Powell, Professor of Percussion at Ohio State University, in recital. Belmont University’s Christopher Norton performs at 7pm on Friday, June 5, while the following evening finds Stevens welcoming the Eastman School of Music’s Michael Burritt. All three events will be presented at Trinity Church.
Next Thursday, June 11, features another Burritt — Thomas Burritt — in a 7pm performance at Trinity, followed on Friday, June 12 by Stevens himself taking the mallets for the last of the Trinity Church events. The series takes a curtain call two days later on Sunday, June 14, when a student recital takes place at 4pm inside Holy Spirit Church.
A minimum donation of $7 per person is accepted for the benefit of the host churches at each event. For more info, call (732)774-0011 or email seminar@mostlymarimba.com.
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June 03, 2009
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