BRATTLEBORO — Where do creative ideas come from? What inspires? How does one go from the first germ of an idea to a finished composition? Do artists, in their awareness of the creative process, have something to offer others as they create their careers and lives?
In the next forum in the local Making it in the Arts series sponsored by Brattleboro-West Arts and the Arts Council of Windham County, musician Eugene Uman will offer his perspective on these questions at 7:30 p.m. on June 1 at the Brattleboro Museum & Art Center.
The event is free and open to the public. Using specific musical ideas and pieces, he will explore the process of artistic creation and its relevance to all of us, whether we consider ourselves artists or not.
Uman is well-known to Brattleboro in his roles as jazz pianist, teacher, composer and director of the Vermont Jazz Center.
Initially trained as a forester, Uman was running his own private forestry business in East Bethel in the 1980s when he met trumpeter Howard Brofsky at a jam session at the Hotel Coolidge in White River Junction. They became fast friends. Brofsky subsequently invited Uman to participate in the master's program at Queens College, a program that Brofsky had initiated and designed.
After receiving his master's degree in jazz performance from Queens College, Uman taught in New York City at the Third Street Music Settlement. He moved to Colombia in 1994, where he taught at El Colegio de Musica and Universidad de Antioquia, as well as Universidad EAFIT, where he designed the curriculum and initiated its Jazz Studies program.
Uman returned to the United States in 1997 and has been director of the Vermont Jazz Center since then.
Under his direction, and with the help of his wife, Elsa Borrero, and a hugely supportive board and staff, the Vermont Jazz Center has flourished and expanded to include a top-tier concert series, an emerging artist series, individual and ensemble instruction, weekly jam sessions, a big band, a bebop sextet, many community events, outreach to local schools, and a summer intensive jazz workshop.
In 2013, the VJC received an Acclaim Award from Chamber Music America, giving it formal recognition for providing “extraordinary cultural contributions in a locality or region.” Each year, the Acclaim Award honors two U.S. arts organizations that have served their community by providing access to art and culture.
In addition to an active gigging schedule and teaching at the Jazz Center, Uman is adjunct professor of music at Amherst College and Marlboro College. He has taught for 10 summers at the Governor's Institute of the Arts and Jazz Vermont.
Throughout his career, Uman has been an active composer of music as well as a performer. The Vermont Jazz Center's concert schedule has included a yearly performance of his original music.
On June 6, he will be playing with The Convergence Project, a sextet that brings together the vocabulary of jazz, the edge of rock and the inspiration of Colombian folkloric rhythms. Uman will have recently returned from a composition retreat at the Marble House Project in Dorset. Previously, he has composed music at the MacDowell Colony in Peterborough, N.H.
During the June 1 forum, Steve West will interview Uman in a format similar to the radio show Live and Local, which West hosted for seven years on WKVT-AM.
During that time, along with interviewing local, state and national dignitaries, he brought Uman on the air dozens of times. On the radio, West had a reputation for wit, wisdom, humor, intelligence, thought-provoking eloquence, inspiration, and a radically creative voice.
Like Uman, West is a professional musician, having shared the stage with many stars of the '80s music scene. In addition to running his own computer business, he currently works as a composer.