Harbor Country

Performer Bios

David Drazin

Pianist and composer David Drazin is a music and motion picture archivist who has acquired a national reputation for his piano improvisations accompanying silent films. Among silent movie screenings for which he has performed are Cinevent Film Festival in Columbus, Ohio, the Gene Siskel Film Center of the School of the Art Institute in Chicago (staff accompanist since 1985), Silent Film Society of Chicago, Argonne National Laboratory, LaSalle Bank Theatre, North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh, the Cleveland Museum of Art and the Cleveland Cinematheque as well as at many universities, libraries and churches.

He is notable among contemporary film accompanists for his use of the 1920s-era jazz and blues, rather than classic ragtime, in playing for silent comedies. His improvisational ballet and dance accompaniment skills serve him well in developing music for dramas, such as the films in the Fritz Lang film series recently shown at the Art Institute.

Dennis Scott 

In addition to having served as President of the Silent Film Society of Chicago, Scott is a regularly featured organist at the "Silent Summer" film festivals. His photoplay style is warm, reflective, precise and always an absorbing experience. He has entertained audiences on numerous occasions at the Music Box Theatre, the Pickwick Theater, and the Chicago Theatre. He is the house organist at the Downers Grove, IL Tivoli Theatre, playing the might Wurlitzer during intermissions. Dennis provided the skillful and beautifully suited accompaniment to “Show People”, on the vintage Barton pipe organ at the Acorn Theater last year.  www.acorntheater.com

 

A native of Cleveland, Ohio, Mr. Drazin received his Bachelor of Music in Jazz Studies from Ohio State University. An accomplished performer, he moves easily from dramatic classical to lively jazz styles, boogie-woogie and blues, original novelty works and Harlem stride piano.   www.kendavies.net/daviddrazin/

Squirm Orchestra

This group of Midwestern musicians have been playing and experimenting with music for years. The sounds of ordinary objects add an interesting texture to their sound. Their music is best described as experimental jazz. Squirm has performed at the Sound of Silent Film Festival adding their impromptu waves of sound to hundreds of images flashed on the silver screen. In 2005, their ambient, yet edgy sounds were perfectly matched with the images filmed by Stan Brakhage. Last year Squirm rose to the occasion and performed a powerful set of music to “Storm Over Asia”.

Blue Dahlia

WORLD FUSION: MUSIC FOR EVERYONE bLuE daHLia's music is about making connections between people, cultures, and ideas. It is made possible by the very special connection between five people. And occasional guests. bLuE daHLia are (left to right): Levi Strickland (Bass, Acoustic Guitar), Carolyn Koebel (Drums, Percussion, Vibes, Dulcimer), Leslie Boughton (Vocals, percussion, poetry), Derek Menchinger (Guitars, Mandolin, Sound Engineering). Cara Lieurance (not pictured) plays flute, whistle, and saxophone.

bLuE daHLia is described by the Detroit Free Press as "more adventurous than anyone else dares to be." the exotic ripples through each composition, blending textural guitars, melodic bass, soaring multi-lingual vocals with ethnic, orchestral percussion. In 1997, bLuE daHLia began a decade of visual arts collaboration when they received their first commission from the Sound of Silents Film Festival. Not unlike the Alloy Orchestra and Devil Music Ensemble, bLuE daHLia's work with vintage film eschews the traditional and melodramatic for a modern approach to film scoring, as found in today's independent and major release films and television. Using a broad range of instrumentation and style, bLuE daHLia has developed a repertoire of over 10 silent film scores for live performance. Varying in emotional tenor from slapstick romantic comedies to drama and horror, these intricately orchestrated works are forging connections with great films across generations and cultures for audiences everywhere. bLuE daHLia's music stirs color and memory into a textural river, and combines fragments of meaning that slip into visual media, subtly informing perception. Viewers often say, "I forgot you were playing!" -- a testament to the success of the integral and transparent art of enhancing a visual experience with sound.

Royal Caribbean, Cunard Cruise Lines, and the Lincoln Center's Education for the Arts program have commissioned works from bLuE daHLia for commercial and artistic licensing. In the tradition of independent artists like Aimee Mann, Mark Mothersbaugh, Rare, Mellow, and About a Boy, bLuE daHLia has produed composed music and scores for independent films including "An Occurence at Owl Creek Bridge" which won a CINE Golden Eagle award and was an official selection at the Palm Beach International Film Festival, Londinium Productions' "Kalamazoo?", and "Abductees". Future collaborations may include work with independent Australian director Kereen Ely-Harper.