Red Cedar Chamber Music to host encore of Crossover Quartet

Red Cedar Chamber Music’s Directors and core ensemble, violinist Miera Kim and cellist Carey Bostian, will be joined by electric guitarist Dan Padley and double bassist Blake Shaw to present a free encore performance of Crossover Quartet on Sunday.

The concert is at 3 p.m. at the Eastern Iowa Arts Academy, 2630 B Ave. NE, Cedar Rapids.

The program includes jazz standards by Herbie Hancock, Bill Evans, George and Ira Gershwin, and Iowa’s own John Rapson. In addition, Red Cedar has commissioned new works from both Shaw and Padley; each has written a four-movement suite for the ensemble.

Dan Padley’s Turkey River Suite is inspired by a family cabin in Northeast Iowa that sits on the bank of the Turkey River. The movements evoke the methodical churning of the water, surprisingly majestic bluffs and landscapes, as well as a final reminder of the animals and other humans with which we coexist.

Blake Shaw’s A Suite to Remember takes the listener through four movement portraying community, empathy and kindness. Being rooted in tradition while moving forward has been the catalyst of evolution. Thinking things through together has led to some great collaborations. Taking control of your surroundings and creating fresh opportunities helps everyone's success. When we move together as one, everyone wins.

Shaw and Padley perform together often in a variety of ensembles - Freegrass, River Glen, Dan Padley Trio, and Blake Shaw’s BIG(ish) Band. Both are regarded as some of the areas’ best instrumentalists and are excellent improvisors and composers. This program marries elements of both traditional jazz and chamber music while allowing for solos, both written out and improvised, to make the most of each player’s skill set.

The program includes a new arrangement by Shaw and Padley of John Rapson’s The Sun will Never Set on the Prairie. Rapson was the longtime beloved Professor and Director of Jazz Studies at the University of Iowa. Both Shaw and Padley studied and and performed with him. In 2019, John founded the Rapson Collaborative, a non-profit with the mission of supporting the diverse voices of local artists in the creative development and production of socially-engaged musical projects. Rapson passed away in 2021.