“The Attitude of Doing”, set to the music of violinist Regina Carter and “Sextet”, based on the music of drummer Horacee Arnold, will be among the performances at Carolyn Dorfman Dance’s 40th Anniversary Celebrations at the Morris Museum on Thursday, April 13, and Saturday, April 15.
“The Attitude of Doing” was premiered in November during the TD James Moody Jazz Festival (“Invitation to the Dance”, Jersey Jazz, November 2022). The title, Dorfman said, “comes from a line in an Ella Fitzgerald song, ‘Accentuate the Positive’ (written by Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer).
Carter burst on the jazz scene in 1987 as a member of Straight Ahead, an all-female quintet. After moving to New York from Detroit, she played with such well known jazz artists as bassist Ray Brown, pianist/bandleaders Arturo O’Farrill and Eddie Palmieri. This year, Carter was named a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master. She was featured on the cover of the January 2021 Jersey Jazz.
Arnold has been successful as a mainstream and jazz-rock artist, playing with the fusion group Return to Forever and the tenor saxophonist Stan Getz, among many others. Early in his career, he played with bebop pianist Bud Powell and once toured Asia with Alvin Ailey Dance. Dance Magazine, reviewing a performance of “Sextet”, said the dancers “fly deft and agile, through fast shifting shapes riding the current of movement.” The dance begins with two dancers and transitions to three, four, five and, finally, to the full sextet.
The Carolyn Dorfman performances, at 7:30 p.m. on April 13 and 7 p.m. on April 15, will also include other Dorfman iconic works such as “Echad” and “Love Suite Love”. For more information on tickets, log onto
https://morr-internet.choicecrm.net/ChoiceCRM.NET/templates/MORR/#/events.
