More Summer Music

The Metro Arts Alliance has released the schedule for the 2008 Jazz in July program. Highlights of this year’s program include the music of seven giants of jazz (Thad Jones, Scott Joplin, Fats Waller, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Irene Myles, Michelle LeGrand, Duke Ellington, Modern Jazz Quartet, Stephane Grapelli) and a fundraiser at the Fort Des Moines Museum and Education Center.

Des Moines has had a community jazz organization dedicated to helping young musicians since 1988. You can catch jazz musicians at Java Joe’s Coffeehouse on 4th Street downtown on the first and third Sundays of each month. For more information, visit the Des Moines Community Jazz Center’s website.

Nitefall on the River has been challenged this year due to the level of the Des Moines River. The opening performance on June 5th had to be moved and the June 12th show was cancelled. The Parks and Recreation Department’s webpage for the city-sponsored event is silent on future shows but apparently the June 19th and the June 26th shows have been moved to People’s Court, upstairs at 216 Court Avenue.

The Des Moines Metro Opera starts its 36th Festival Season with A Masked Ball on Thursday, June 20, 2008. The season runs through July 13th. Other operas being presented are Regina and The Elixir of Love. Catch the performances at the Blank Performing Arts Center at Simpson College in Indianola. Tickets start at $40 but there are some $30 seats on June 20th and 21st. Curtain time is at 7:30 p.m. with Sunday matinees at 2:00 p.m. There will also be a matinee of Regina on Friday, July 4th. For details about the operas, the dates of performances, and directions to Simpson College, visit the Metro Opera’s website.

If you can’t make it to any of the performances, the Des Moines Public Library has a collection of compact disks available for patrons to check out. Recently I borrowed a CD of Thelonious Monk performing with John Coltrane. For years I had heard comments about Monk but I had never listened to his music. The very first note of Ruby, My Dear demanded I pay attention. With the second bar I began to melt onto the floor. By the third bar I couldn’t move. The CD also included Ray Copeland on the trumpet. None of the high school concerts I’ve attended even came close to suggesting the instrument could sound that smooth.

M.R. Field writes a weekly Weekend Pick column for AroundDesMoines.com.