The Augusta Symphony will perform with Chris Brubeck and Bill Crofut at Saturday's pops concert. Photo by Steve Shelton/Staff

  On Stage

Web-Posted

By Bill Syken
Staff Writer

Chris Brubeck can remember when symphonic pops concerts were first becoming popular in the 1960s. His father, jazz great Dave Brubeck, would of- ten play with a symphony and then take a taxi downtown to play a jazz club that same night.

Chris Brubeck is carrying on that tradition, but he's saving himself the taxi fare by doing it all in one building.

When he performs with musical partner Bill Crofut, their set list goes all over the musical map. On their live album Red, White and Blues, they play Fats Waller, Bach, Scott Joplin and Woody Guthrie.

The pair, along with guitarist Joel Brown, will bring that same versatility to Augusta when they perform with the Augusta Symphony on Saturday at Bell Auditorium. The guest artists will perform two pieces by Bach, mixed in with popular musical styles.

The first half will feature two orchestral performances by the Augusta Symphony. It will open with music from this summer's Disney film The Hunchback of Notre Dame. and a medley of Beatles tunes.File

Mr. Crofut is a folk musician by inclination. Mr. Brubeck, a trombonist, was trained in classical and jazz styles.

Mr. Brubeck said that he and Mr. Crofut select songs that intersect their musical inclinations.

``For example, you take a tune like Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?'' Mr. Brubeck said. ``In one sense, it's a jazz standard, so that's why jazz musicians can play it. In another way, it's one of the great folk songs, and with his voice it sounds great.''

Many symphony musicians played in jazz bands when they were young, or were at least exposed to jazz, and it shows in the pops concerts, Mr. Brubeck said. After shows, musicians in the symphony will often tell him they got into music because it was fun.

Mr. Crofut and Mr. Brubeck will perform Brother, Can You Spare a Dime? and six other works in the second half of the concert. They will perform three songs on the first half of the show, including Fats Waller's poignant Black and Blue and Dave Brubeck's Unsquare Dance.

The first half will feature two orchestral performances by the symphony. It will open with music from this summer's Disney film The Hunchback of Notre Dame. It will also play a medley of Beatles tunes, including Long and Winding Road, Here, There and Everywhere, And I Love Her, When I'm 64, I've Just Seen a Face, A Hard Day's Night and Norwegian Wood.

Donald Portnoy, music director of the symphony, said Beatles songs are among the most common sources of material for pops concerts. About a half-dozen major music arrangers have translated the Beatles for a symphony.

While the Beatles songs are already some of the best-loved music of this century, Mr. Portnoy said symphonic arrangements, by using more and different instruments, can give the songs fresh life.

``You can change the whole mood of the piece,'' Mr. Portnoy said. ``It adds a great deal to it.''

The program will likely end with Guthrie's This Land is Your Land. Listening to the Brubeck-Crofut concert album, many people mistakenly think the group has been joined onstage by a chorus, but in fact that is the audience singing along. They hope to get similar participation here in Augusta.

``It's hard to follow something like that,'' Mr. Portnoy said.

On Stage

• What: Augusta Symphony pops concert with Chris Brubeck, Bill Crofut and Joel Brown.
• When: 7:30 p.m. Saturday
• Where: Bell Auditorium
• How much: $11-$22.
• Phone: 826-4705