Chris Pattishall

Saturday, November 21, 2020 | 8:00 pm

Duke Performances is excited to present our Virtual Fall season – The Show Must Go Online! High-quality, commissioned films featuring artists originally slated for in-person performances will premiere on Vimeo for ticket holders. Each film, shot following local safety protocols, is made in collaboration with an audio and video crew in each artist’s home city. 

General admission tickets are $10 per presentation and Duke Student tickets are available free of charge through the support of the Provost and the Vice Provost for the Arts at Duke University. Before the premiere, ticket buyers will receive a unique Vimeo link to stream each performance online at the scheduled time. After the conclusion of the premiere, films will be available for viewing for 24 hours.

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For his Duke Performances film, GRAMMY-nominated jazz wunderkind and Durham native Chris Pattishall will present a diverse body of material for solo piano and piano-vocal duet spun out of his decade of participation in Durham and Duke University music scenes, as well as his long, serious investigations of the music of Billy Strayhorn, Thelonius Monk, and Mary Lou Williams.

During the performance, Pattishall will play a mix of repertoire, including reinterpretations of the legendary Mary Lou Williams’ 1945 collection The Zodiac Suites. Additionally, Pattishall will perform his favorite jazz standards, like Billy Strayhorn’s “Just A-Sittin’,” and will duet with featured vocalist Vuyo Sotashe on classics from Dave Brubeck and Louis Armstrong.

Pattishall’s appearance will span from his passion and virtuosity in jazz to his deep understanding of other styles—from classical to soul to folk. Expect a prepared a solo transcription of the second movement of William Dawson’s Negro Folk Symphony, selections from the Bill Gunn film Personal Problems, a Stevie Wonder cover, and, with Sotashe, some hymns and folk songs of Zulu and Xhosa origins.

— Alexa Peters

Click to view the full program for this performance.

“Pattishall seems to have creative energy to burn, plus a desire to push at the harmonic borders.”