Party: JAZZ NOIR PRESENTS MORNING FOLLOWS NIGHT

Party: JAZZ NOIR PRESENTS MORNING FOLLOWS NIGHT

Jazz Noir Returns on Jazz88 KBEM with Morning Follows Night, an Original Radio Drama Live Broadcast from
Vieux Carré – Sunday, April 26

Created by the Award-Winning Playwrights Christina Ham, Dominic Orlando and Josh Wilder and Composers Chris Bates, Steven Hobert and Solomon Parham

Jazz88 will host its original radio drama series Jazz Noir in front of a live audience from the beautiful new Dakota venue Vieux Carré in the historic Hamm building in downtown Saint Paul on Sunday, April 26, with shows at 5 and 8 p.m. The 8 p.m. performance will be broadcast live on Jazz 88.5 FM.

For those who long for “the grand old days” of radio, Jazz88 has once again answered the call. Jazz Noir is an original radio drama series complete with live voice actors and musicians in front of a live audience, just like in the days of radio’s infancy. The next episode is Morning Follows Night, an original radio drama in which playwrights Christina Ham, Dominic Orlando and Josh Wilder have been commissioned to collaborate and explore the rich Minneapolis jazz club scene between 1946 and 1956. The playwrights will collaborate with composers Chris Bates, Steven Hobert and Solomon Parham who will create and perform an original jazz music score for the drama. The remarkable cast includes Ansa Akyea, Bruce Bohne, Jane Froiland, Carolyn Pool, Eric Sharp and Edwin Strout. Ed Jones, veteran actor and Jazz88’s morning show host will direct the production.

The Playwrights’ Center and American Composers Forum partnered to assist with the call and jury process for the writer and composer for this Jazz Noir production.

Jazz Noir is made possible through funding provided by the Minnesota Arts & Cultural Heritage Fund.

Plot Summary- Morning Follows Night

Cutty Franklin is many things: a decorated World War II hero, a fan of the Near North Jazz scene…and an ex-con. After he’s released from prison, Cutty will stop at nothing to find out the real reason why he was double-crossed in a blackmail scheme that went South really quickly. Over a 10 year time span, the radio drama captures the 24-karat Jazz clubs of the Near North Side to the mint movie houses of Minneapolis in this violent game of blackmail and revenge.

Originated and produced by Kevin Barnes, Jazz Noir debuted in 2013 with Charles & Avon, an original radio drama set in Saint Paul’s Rondo neighborhood in 1929, written by Alex Lewin with an original jazz score by composer George Maurer. In 2014, playwright Christina Ham collaborated with jazz composer John Penny on Ham’s original drama The Black Hand Side That Feeds You, set during the pulsating period of the 1960s in the North Side neighborhood of Minneapolis. The production was performed and broadcast live from The Dakota in downtown Minneapolis.

In addition to sold out houses at the AQ and Dakota, thousands of Jazz88 listeners locally, nationally and internationally have experienced the Jazz Noir broadcasts at 88.5 FM or at the web stream at www.jazz88fm.com. “I’m delighted to have the opportunity to bring a team together to produce another edition of Jazz Noir,” says Barnes. “I’m particularly excited to bring three award winning playwrights together with three gifted composers to play and collaborate on the radio drama. ”

The Dakota is excited to partner once again with KBEM’s Jazz Noir in their soon to be open space in Saint Paul: Vieux Carré. Get a preview of the room in progress before the unveiling.” This type of collaboration in the arts community is exactly what we like to see happening in the community,” says The Dakota founder Lowell Pickett, “and we are thrilled to partner with KBEM on this project. We are excited to see how the theme develops both musically with the direction of Chris Bates, Steven Hobert and Solomon Parham and theatrically from the gifted Ms. Ham, Mr. Orlando and Mr. Wilder. This will be a unique experience for everyone involved.”