San Diego Symphony Previews, Reviews and Features: November & December

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SUNDAY • NOVEMBER 19, 2017

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Pianist Mike Wofford at Copley Symphony Hall, where he will perform at Saturday’s “First Lady of Song: An Ella Fitzgerald Tribute.”

Wofford’s week ‘Genius’ pianist will star in two San Diego concerts on consecutive Saturdays

BY GEORGE VARGA

M

ike Wofford is very likely the only pianist anywhere whose recording and performing credits range from such vocal legends as Ella Fitzgerald, James Brown, John Lennon and Donna Summer to such jazz instrumental giants as James Moody, Joe Pass, George Lewis and Charlie Haden. He also has at least 16 solo albums to his credit, beginning with 1966’s acclaimed “Strawberry Wine.”

■ So if anyone is qualified to be the star attraction at two concerts at two San Diego venues in a single week — with two distinct musical themes and two talent-packed lineups — it’s this soft-spoken, selfeffacing keyboard great. ■ The first concert, on Friday, is “First Lady of Song: An Ella Fitzgerald Tribute” at Jacobs Music Center’s Copley Symphony Hall.

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Part of the San Diego Symphony’s Jazz at the Jacobs series, it will showcase singers Mary Stallings, Sara Gazarek and Jazzmeia Horn — and a five-man band.

Assembled by trumpeter and Jazz at the Jacobs curator Gilbert Castellanos, the quintet features Wofford, who was Fitzgerald’s pianist and musical director from 1989 until her retirement in 1993.

“Mike is a true genius and jazz royalty,” Castellanos said of Wofford, who has at least 16 solo albums to his credit.

“I think San Diegans sometimes take him for granted, but he’s a national treasure, not a local treasure. Even during rehearsals, what he plays blows my mind.

His voicings are so deep and rich that he makes the piano sound like it’s an orchestra or a jazz quintet. The only other two pianists I know of who could do that were Art Tatum and Horace Silver.”

‘The real deal’ The second concert, on Dec. 2, is “Mike Wofford: Some of My Best Friends Are …” at TSRI Auditorium.

Part of the La Jolla Athenaeum’s Fall Jazz at TSRI series, the concert will feature Wofford performing duets with an array of his musical pals. They include saxophonist/clarinetist Ken Peplowski, bassist John Clayton, guitarist Larry

Koonse, drummer Lewis Nash, flutist Holly Hofmann (who is Wofford’s wife and frequent musical partner), and a surprise guest.

Since his Athenaeum debut in 1989, Wofford has performed a record two dozen times as a band leader and accompanist at the storied La Jolla venue and the Athenaeum’s jazz series at the nearby TSRI Auditorium. His sold-out 2003 TSRI performance resulted in the album “Live at Athenaeum Jazz,” while his sold-out 2007 duo concert with Hofmann produced “Live at Athenaeum Jazz, Vol. 2.”

“In jazz we often talk about a very talented musician as being ‘the real deal,’ ” said Athenaeum Jazz program coordinator Daniel Atkinson.

“With Mike’s decades of outstanding playing, associations with so many major figures in the music, and his generosity in sharing his art with others, he takes this to another level. He is the ‘real real deal,’ and San Diego is so very fortunate to have him as a member of our community.”

Wofford’s ability to enhance any setting is further demonstrated by his past collaborations with the Count Basie Orchestra, The Jackson 5 and surf-rock kings The Ventures. His credits also include musical contributions to an array SEE WOFFORD • E5

San Diego Symphony Jazz at the Jacobs presents “First Lady of Song: An Ella Fitzgerald Tribute” With: Mike Wofford, Gilbert Castellanos, Mary Stallings Sara Gazarek and Jazzmeia Horn When: 8 p.m. Saturday Where: Jacobs Music Center’s Copley Symphony Hall, 600 B St., downtown Tickets: $30-$68 Phone: (619) 235-0804 Online: sandiegosymphony.org

La Jolla Athenaeum Jazz at TSRI presents “Mike Wofford: Some of My Best Friends Are …”

With: Holly Hofmann, Ken Peplowski, John Clayton, Larry Koonse and Lewis Nash When: 7:30 p.m. Dec. 2 Where: TSRI Auditorium, 10620 John Jay Hopkins Drive, La Jolla Tickets: $30 members; $35 nonmembers Phone: (858) 454-5872 Online: ljathenaeum.org/jazz-at-tsri

Rita Sanchez

NEW BOOK IS A TRIBUTE TO SAN DIEGO’S CHICANA PIONEERS Writers profile more than 60 women who made a difference

BY JOHN WILKENS “Chicana Tributes” tells the stories of 61 San Diego County women who challenged stereotypes about what they could do and became leaders in government, education, the arts and other fields.

“When women come together with a collective intention, powerful things happen,” co-editors Rita Sanchez and Sonia Lopez write in the preface, which

“Chicana Tributes: Activist Women of the Civil Rights Movement — Stories for the New Generation” Edited by Rita Sanchez and Sonia Lopez; Montezuma Publishing; 440 pages

traces the emergence of female activists here to the wider civil rights movement that flourished around the nation in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Among those featured are the late Laura Rodriguez, often considered the matriarch of Chicano Park; Gloria Serrano Medina, the county’s first affirmative action officer; muralist Gloria Rebolledo Torres; Norma Hernandez, the first Latina president of Southwestern College; and playwright Evelyn Diaz Cruz.

Each of the chapters is written by a different author.

Sanchez is a retired San Diego State and Mesa College professor of English and Chicana studies. She has

helped organize a series of public events to highlight some of the women in the book, including one scheduled for Dec. 6 at 6 p.m. at the Logan Heights branch library, 567 S. 28th St.

Q: A:

How did this book come about?

There are many, many factors behind it. I came here in 1974. I graduated from Stanford and I heard about a job at San Diego State in the Mexican-American studies department that was just forming. I started participating and observing all these things that were happening, all these women who were speaking out for women’s rights in the neigh-

borhoods.

They were so active, they did so much, but they were not recognized. Part of it was the men were so formidable, painting murals in Chicano Park. They were very, very visible. The women were at work behind the scenes.

These are strong, forceful women, and their stories haven’t been fully told. They aren’t silent, but they’ve been hidden, and they are all in the book.

Q: A:

How did you decide which women to include?

My co-editor Sonia Lopez and I are on the committee for the San Diego State University archives.

Along with my husband, Richard Griswold del Castillo, we proposed they look at the civil rights movement in San Diego. There is an amazing history. It’s subtle to a lot of people, but we lived it. Robert Ray (head of special collections at the San Diego State library) was so open to it, and we’ve been working on it ever since.

During one of our fundraisers, I proposed something called a tribute wall. A year earlier, two young Chicanas had asked, “How come we never hear anything about these important women in San Diego?

Let’s have an event and SEE SANCHEZ • E7

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LAWMAKERS TO BEGIN TAX LEGISLATION DEAL-MAKING

House, Senate aim to reconcile measures into cohesive bill to send to Trump by Christmas U-T NEWS SERVICES WASHINGTON

Republicans muscled the largest tax overhaul in 30 years through the Senate early Saturday, taking a big step toward giving President Donald Trump his first major legislative triumph after months of false starts and frustration on other fronts.

“Just what the country needs to get growing again,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said in an interview after a final burst of negotiation closed in on a nearly $1.5 trillion package that impacts the breadth of American society.

He shrugged off polls finding scant public enthusiasm for the measure, saying the legislation would prove its worth. “Big bills are rarely popular,” he said. “You remember how unpopular

‘Obamacare’ was when it passed?”

Trump on Saturday tweeted his thanks to Senate and House Republicans as they now begin trying to reconcile differences in legislation passed by both chambers, a behind-closed-doors process that is expected to move swiftly, though not without wrangling. Trump is aiming to sign the tax package into law before Christmas.

Presiding over the Senate, Vice President Mike Pence announced the 51-49 vote Saturday morning to applause from Republicans. Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., was the only lawmaker to cross party lines, joining the Democrats in opposition. The measure focuses its tax reductions on businesses and higher-earning individuals, gives more modest breaks to others and SEE TAXES • A15

K.C. ALFRED U-T

Construction continues at a CityMark Development of townhomes in Bankers Hill.

HOW DOES MARIJUANA AFFECT YOUR HEALTH?

IN DEPTH

Solving San Diego’s housing shortage Digging out

an Diego County should be awash in new housing projects.

Unemployment is low and wages are rising. Many millennials are marrying, having children and aiming to buy. Their parents want to downsize.

But the market is not responding.

Last year only about 10,000 housing units were approved, and most were for rent, not for-sale homes and condos.

Norm Miller, a real estate economist at the University of San Diego, recalls attending a recent community meeting of Morena Boulevard-area residents.

They gathered to talk about development plans around the Tecolote Road trolley stop opening in 2021.

Nondescript big-box stores, industrial buildings and parking lots dominate the site.

Miller expected residents would welcome high-density housing, new retail and office development, steps SEE HOUSING • A16

San Diego’s housing shortage is years away from a solution.

S

BY GARY ROBBINS The FDA cried fraud in October, accusing companies in Florida, Colorado and California of illegally selling marijuana-derived products that supposedly could prevent, treat or cure cancer.

The advertising claims were unsubstantiated, said the FDA, and the products hadn’t been submitted for approval.

It was a public shaming that also served as a timely buyer-beware message for

DANGEROUS INTERSECTIONS IN S.D. RANKED IN REPORT

In 2016 builders obtained

BY JOSHUA EMERSON SMITH

10,791

Crossing the street in urban neighborhoods around San Diego County has become increasingly dangerous.

Drivers killed more pedestrians in 2016 than in any year in the last two decades, with fatalities rising sharply in the last five years, according to the county medical examiner’s most recent report.

Now, a new study compiled by the local law firm Estey & Bomberger has identified the

permits for homes and apartments.

But that still leaves a backlog of

40,500 homes to overcome.

California, where the sale of marijuana will be expanded from medical purposes to recreational use in January.

With the prospect of big sales just ahead, the cannabis industry has been stressing that marijuana can be highly beneficial not only in health, but wellness.

Some of the claims are true, notably those involving marijuana’s value in treating pain. Physicians began pointing to that benefit long before California voters approved SEE MARIJUANA • A17

Each house represents 1,000 homes

Source: London Moeder Advisors

most dangerous intersections in the region — from Chula Vista to downtown San Diego and El Cajon to Oceanside.

The findings, which analyzed data from the California Highway Patrol, spotlighted more than 200 hot spots, including a number of areas previously identified by pedestrian advocates.

University Avenue in the city of San Diego, for example, has increasingly been known as having dangerous sections SEE REPORT • A6

Critic’s Choice!

PARK DEDICATED TO MEDAL OF HONOR VET

“As eye-popping, ear-pleasing, and breezy fun as ever!”

In 1970, John Baca smothered grenade that exploded, saving 8 other soldiers in Vietnam

The San Diego Union-Tribune

BY JEANETTE STEELE In 1970, in Vietnam, a grenade landed in front of John Baca.

He put his helmet over it, and then his body, smothering the explosion and saving the eight other guys in his Army platoon. The nation awarded him the Medal of Honor, its highest decoration for valor in combat.

Baca was just 20 at the time, drafted fresh from Kearny High School in Linda Vista.

Nearly 50 years later, Baca’s friends from the neighborhood haven’t forgotten the sacrifice of their classmate — who spent long days at the Navy hospital in Balboa Park recovering from an abdomen ripped apart by grenade shrapnel.

On Saturday, the city dedicated John P. Baca Park, a long strip of green along Linda Vista Road.

Baca grew up not far away, in a home on Westinghouse Street.

SEE BACA • A3

Now Playing!

Limited engagement through December 24 Book and Lyrics by Timothyy Mason Music by Mel Maarvinn Directed by James Vasqquez Original Production Conceived n i and Directed by Jack O’Brien HAYNE PALMOUR IV U-T

(619) 23-GLOBE! (234-5623) www.TheOldGlobe.org

John Baca is congratulated after a ceremony to rename a Linda Vista park the John P. Baca Park on Saturday.

T O DAY ’ S D E A L

Fix that broken windshield and pay $15 for $100 toward windshield replacement or insurance deductible, plus get a free $25 gift card. Buy now at SanDiegoUnionTribune.com/UTDeals.

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Edward Watts and Dan DeLuca. Photo by Jim Cox.

BY ROGER SHOWLEY & PHILLIP MOLNAR

Scientists’ review of 10,000 studies confirms some benefits, risks, yet much still is unclear

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SUNDAY • DECEMBER 3, 2017

CLASSICAL MUSIC REVIEW

‘OVERTURE’ BRINGS DEPTH TO AN UNFOCUSED EVENING

BY MARCUS OVERTON

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December is the most challenging month for orchestra managers. From shopping to travel planning, party-going and partygiving — not to mention efforts of other arts organizations to fill seats for theater and dance programs — distractions abound, and assembling symphony concerts that can attract audiences with performances at high quality levels is daunting.

The San Diego Symphony put its hopes in an Eastern European basket Friday night with music by Grazyna Bacewicz (Poland), Frédéric Chopin (France, with roots in his Polish homeland), and Antonín Dvorák (a Bohemia-born Czech). Austrian conductor David Danzmayr led the program, and although Copley Symphony Hall in the Jacobs Music Center was far less than fully occupied, the audience gave both pianist George Li — soloist in Chopin’s E-minor piano concerto — and Danzmayr a warm reception.

Bacewicz’s “Overture” opened the program, but I want to save this five-minute piece for last. Its composer is a major discovery, and she deserves a special place.

Chopin’s “Piano Concerto No. 1 in E-minor, Op. 11” is nothing of the sort, of course, having been given that number only because it was published, in 1833, before the one he had composed earlier in 1829.

What can be done to save this huge, lumbering piece of music from itself? The first movement seems endless, and lacks invention, wandering aimlessly through musical ideas that never seem to be developed. The slow-movement “Romanze” is lovely but empty-headed, and the final-movement “Rondo” alternately frolics and simpers until it runs out of steam.

The conductor and or-

COURTESY PHOTO

Austrian conductor David Danzmayr led the San Diego Symphony’s program on Friday. chestra have little more to do than occasionally interject gravely. So that leaves the pianist to face music that demands the highest technical skill, and a sprawling, unfocused piece that seems to have nothing to say.

Li approached these with calm determination and awesome pianism. At this point in a young career, he plays with note-perfect brilliance. And he deserved every hurrah he received at the work’s conclusion.

Danzmayr and the orchestra concluded the concert with Dvorák’s “Symphony No. 8 in G Major, Op. 88.” This, like the Chopin, is a sprawling work which challenges the conductor to find its musical coherence, its inner structure, and then to articulate some statement about what all this varied music means, so much of it inspired by folk melodies.

But that enlightenment did not come on Friday evening. Intonation was a problem across the entire orchestra. And although Danzmayr started each

movement with rhythmic crispness, every one of them deteriorated into frazzled phrasing and attempts to create sonic effects.

But the beginning of the evening was a revelation.

Bacewicz’s “Overture” should send all of us scurrying to YouTube to listen to as much of this extraordinarily gifted woman’s music as we can find, which ranges from symphonies to string quartets, seven violin concertos and much more.

Written in 1943, when just surviving in Warsaw was a testament to courage, it is driven by urgency and unexpected jubilation, its low undertone of uncertainty momentarily lightened by melancholy. Like Shostakovich’s “Festival Overture,” it acknowledges menace while shaking a fist in its face.

And maybe that’s a good start for December after all.

The discovery of an unknown composer whose music promises so much pleasure — well, you can’t get a better Christmas gift than that.

Overton is a freelance writer.

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