Rural Musicians Forum is delighted to present “Three Jazz Masters Pick Up the Beat,” a unique concert at 2:30 p.m. Sept. 5 at the Town of Wyoming Garage. The concert will feature the Rodrigo Villanueva Experimental Jazz Trio plus other guest artists performing on artist John Himmelfarb’s KB-3 truck sculpture.
The core trio includes Rodrigo Villanueva, composer, percussionist and professor of jazz studies at Northern Illinois University with guitarist Fareed Haque and bassist John Christensen. Rodrigo has composed a few original compositions that are inspired by the incredible sounds available in the KB-3 sculpture, and has also arranged well-known jazz standards to be performed during the concert incorporating sounds from KB-3.
Art pieces, especially sculptures, are traditionally objects to be looked at without touching. The wonderful thing about John Himmelfarb’s KB-3 sculpture, pictured at right, is that it is meant to be touched, and played on — as a musical instrument. Himmelfarb said that he first began thinking about the possibility while building the second such sculpture, when he noticed the sonority of many of the objects he was welding together. Trained as a classical musician before becoming an artist, and after listening to several contemporary percussion performances, he became convinced that his trucks could be used musically.
An artist with studios in Spring Green and Chicago, Himmelfarb’s work is exhibited nationally and locally including works in the permanent collections of the Chazen Museum of Art at the University of Wisconsin and the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art. His truck sculptures have been exhibited nationally at Farm Art D’Tour/Fermentation Fest, and, most recently, as part of Madison Music Day, at the jazz club Café Coda.
The Town of Wyoming Garage is located at 6294 State Hwy 23 in Spring Green. General admission tickets are $12 per person and free for students. Tickets may be purchased at RuralMusiciansForum.org or at the door. Please bring lawn chairs and comply with current COVID precautions.
This concert is also made possible with generous support from the Spring Green Area Arts Coalition, the Wisconsin Arts Board and from BlueStem Jazz Madison.