Riley Mulherkar is looking forward to sharing “Songs We Love” with Park City.
The trumpeter and music director for Jazz at Lincoln Center Presents will lead an octet of crafty musicians in the program, scheduled for Feb. 11 at the Eccles Center for the Performing Arts, that musically documents the first 50 years of recorded jazz music in America.
“The original program was put together in 2016 and 2017 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of recorded jazz music, and it was performed back-to-back nights,” Mulherkar said. “The first celebrated the first 50 years, and the second night celebrated the next 50 years. So, this show we’re bringing to Park City came from the first night. I love it so much because it focuses on the singers, songs and composers that helped define what the music is.”
“Songs We Love” comes from Jazz at Lincoln Center’s program, “Let Freedom Swing,” which is a curriculum built on the parallels of jazz as America’s music, democracy and “the history of this country that includes the Great Migration and the Civil Rights Movement,” according to Mulherkar.
“Jazz offers such a lens for us to understand the history of this country, and I think it can be an incredible gateway to follow the music of Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong, and then learn about the music and history in the context of their lives,” he said.
Mulherkar is also keen that the stop in Park City is during Black History Month.
“We were just talking about that when we did a performance for students in Santa Fe, New Mexico,” he said. “Jazz is a Black-American music, and when you learn the history of the music, you will learn the history of this country. At the same time, it’s such an inclusive music. And I think the overall lesson it offers us is what America could be.”
The songs in the concert also highlight much of what Mulherkar loves about jazz, he said.
“It’s rooted in the songs and artists of that time — Duke Ellington, Ma Rainey, Louis Armstrong, and others,” he said. “The songs that we’re playing are rooted in the tradition of jazz from the ’20s, ’30s and ’40s.”
That said, Mulherkar said the interpretations of those works change every night, in the true spirit of jazz music.
“The repertoire is entirely driven by the personalities of the folks we have on stage,” he said. “This has been a place for community, concerts and jazz sessions.”
The ensemble features the following artists:
- Tyreek McDole, vocals
- Brianna Thomas, vocals
- Shenel Johns, vocals
- Andy Clausen, trombone
- Evan Harris, reeds
- Mathis Picard, piano
- Barry Stephenson, bass
- TJ Reddick, drums
“I’m excited to introduce these musicians to Park City,” he said. “They are a dream to work with.”
Another dreamlike element of the tour for Mulherkar is performing the songs for live audiences.
“What I value about this tour is that we’re sharing this thing we have built over years of working together in New York, and seeing how they react to the exchange,” he said.
While Mulherkar, a faculty member of The College of Performing Arts at The New School in New York City, did say the program is a way to educate and entertain the audiences, he sees that not so much a responsibility to preserve the music as much as it is an honor to perform it.
“I think all of us have been handed down so many of these songs and values from our mentors, some of whom are folks who helped define what this music is as well as some of the original creators of the music,” he said. “We have been passed down the love and lessons, and I suppose there is a responsibility to play the music in a way that is generous and inclusive that uplifts those who you share it with. But for us to share it with audiences and students wherever we go, feels like a privilege.”
Mulherkar’s draw to jazz started while a child growing up in Seattle, Washington.
“In Seattle there was a huge scene around music education, particularly jazz education, in the public schools,” he said. “My babysitters all played instruments. My older brother played, so I was exposed to this stuff at a very young age.”
Through that exposure, Mulherkar decided that the trumpet was the “coolest instrument in the whole band,” so he started playing when he was 8.
“The first thing I did was go to the hardware store to buy a toilet plunger, because I heard recordings of trumpet players who played with plunger mutes,” he said.
Mulherkar played throughout elementary, middle and high school.
“There were also a couple of band directors who changed my life in middle school and high school,” he said.
Throughout his career, Mulherkar has been recognized as a “smart young trumpet player” by The New York Times, praised by The Wall Street Journal as a “youngster to keep an eye on,” and is a 2020 recipient of Lincoln Center’s Emerging Artist Award for his work as “an original bandleader, composer, arranger, educator, community activist and advocate for jazz and the arts.”
While he had landed the music director role for some smaller Jazz at Lincoln Center shows, Mulherkar was contacted in 2021 to see if he would be interested in taking “Songs We Love” on the road with Jazz at Lincoln Center Presents, a touring initiative that provides an affordable opportunity to present jazz performances by up-and-coming musicians.
“We did a small tour last year, and then made it bigger this year,” he said. “We’re taking it to 50 cities.”
Mulherkar is happy that Park City is the next stop on the schedule.
“It’s coming up at the perfect time,” he said. “We’re warmed up and ready to go, and we’re not worn out.”