City Music Boston Ends the Year with Five Amazing Concerts

In the David Friend Recital Hall on May 3rd, the Berklee City Music Mentoring Program held their annual Completion Ceremony Concert. At this event, the ensembles performed an array of songs, ranging from jazz standards to current Top 40 hits. The ten graduating seniors were also given parting gifts to take with them on their future endeavors. This year, the Mentoring Program had record numbers, with forty-one students and forty mentors combining to make one great concert with some notable performances.

The Jazz Ensemble debuted their original group composition, “Q-Improvise” led by Milad Zendehnam.  Featuring mixed meters and several different key signatures playing simultaneously, it was entertaining to the ear on several levels.

The Rock Ensemble turned up the intensity in the room with their performance of Paramore’s “Ain’t It Fun” and “Still Into You”, finishing their set with “I Write Sins (Not Tragedies)” by Panic! At the Disco.

The Pop Ensemble, dressed in matching black, blue, and white, ending the show on a an energetic high note, getting the crowd dancing in their seats with Top 40 hits from Estelle, Bruno Mars, Justin Timberlake, and Pharrell Williams with an original rap thrown in.

City Music Boston also presented three other concerts on the weekend of May 3-4: the Preparatory Academy Completion Ceremony, the Composer/Songwriter/Arranger Concert, and the High School Academy Completion Ceremony. City Music Boston ended its year on Saturday, May 17 with the annual Faculty Outreach Concert, with featured performances by Boston Public School students at Berklee Performance Center.

Congratulations to all of the students, teachers, and staff on another successful year!

Photos by Photos by Dave Green, courtesy of Berklee College of Music

City Music Alumnus Aaron Liao Performs with Meshell Ndegeocello

On Saturday, September 28, former City Music student, Aaron Liao, took the stage at the Berklee Beantown Jazz Festival with renowned artist, Meshell Ndegeocello. Liao is in his final semester at Berklee and this performance marks a milestone in his career as an artist. In a post-concert interview  Liao shared what this experience meant for him.

When did you find out you would be playing with Meshell?

Terri Lyne Carrington contacted me in mid-August about the gig. She mentioned that Meshell  – someone who I’ve looked up to ever since hearing her song GOD.FEAR.MONEY when I was 15 – was coming to Boston and was going to play Beantown Jazz Fest with a student band. I confirmed without looking at my calendar, and she asked me to put a band together.

What was it like working with Meshell?

It was like breathing the freshest air your lungs have ever had. She was critical and precise, but maintained an incredibly uplifting and loving spirit the whole time rehearsing. She lived and breathed the music from the first to the last note. She is a one of a kind singer, writer, performer, and all around artist. She is also of course, one of the best bass players alive and even though I played maybe 80% of the time, one huge part of the experience was trading the bass role with her, from song to song, and even from section to section within a song. She would start off some songs and lay down the groove, and when she started singing, she’d stop playing bass and I would jump right in and pick up where she left off.

Observing what she focused on in rehearsal was also a huge lesson in itself. Meshell blew me away with how in tune she was to each element of the music, and how visually expressive she was. More than anything, she heightened my musical awareness in a playing situation to a whole new level. I felt like I made a big step forward as a leader, bass player, and overall person and musician from this experience. Before the first rehearsal, her first words to us were “Be yourself, otherwise it won’t work.” At the end of the last rehearsal, she said, “I don’t see you all as students; I see you as peers. We are fellow musicians making music together, and I am grateful for your time.” Hearing that from a hero of mine knocked me out.

What performances do you have coming up?

I am a member of an electronic ambient rock project called ISIS LUNE, hitting at the Middle East Upstairs in Cambridge on Monday, October 14th at 9pm(Columbus Day). This band formed just about a year ago, and I’m extremely excited about the recordings we are currently working on.

I’m playing bass and singing backups behind my dear friend and amazing guitarist/singer Maddie Rice for her show at the Copley Boston Book Festival in Copley Square, just down the street from Berklee on Saturday, October 19th at 2:30pm. (FREE SHOW)

I am the student musical director for the Berklee Dwele ensemble, taught by Tia Fuller, and we have our first recital this semester Monday, October 21st at 7:30pm at David Friend Recital Hall. (FREE SHOW)

What can we expect to see from Aaron Liao within the next few years?

Right now, I am going through what is probably the biggest transition period in my life: bridging the gap between being a student and being out of school. All I know is that my current idea of whatever life post-college is like is going to be very different than what it will actually be like. BUT, if I were to look into the next few years, I would say that the groups I’ve been playing with hopefully will have developed and become more seasoned, and I will likely be on tour with someone, somewhere. Maybe with one of those groups, maybe not. I also have some original music that I might decide to focus on. Who knows. Anything can happen…

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: Donna Summer

Photo Credit: Getty Images, taken from article: spinner.com

“I started crying and everyone else started crying,” recalls Donna Summer in a biography by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.  While making her debut performance at church, Donna recalls knowing that she would be famous.

Although she is originally from Boston, Donna began her career in Munich, Germany in 1967. It was not until 1975 when she released “Love to Love You” that she became known in the United States.

In 1979 Donna had four Number One hits for her songs, “MacArthur Park,” “Hot Stuff,” “Bad Girls” and the Barbra Streisand duet “No More Tears (Enough Is Enough).”

Her career stayed successful when Donna teamed up with another 2013 Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, Quincy Jones, to produce her self-titled album, Donna Summer, which included the Top 10 hit, “Love Is in Control (Finger on the Trigger).”

Photo credit: brooklynvegan.com

Proving herself as The Queen of Disco, Crayons, Donna’s first album of 17 original songs, came out in 2012 and included three songs which reached Number One on the U.S. dance chart.

Sadly, Donna succumbed to lung cancer and died on May 17, 2012.

Listen to some of Donna Summer’s music on our Rock and Roll Summer Playlist.