Here is part 2 of the examiner article by Jennifer Haaland
www.examiner.com/article/today-s-singular-music-of-two-emily-bear-and-zuill-baileyPart 2 of 2:
Piano and composing prodigy Emily Bear puts a secret ingredient in her banana bread. That unexpected, sweet zing characterizes well the kind of lively, creative talent and wise soul apparent always in her consummate musicianship. Having gained international acclaim, headlining with major symphonies and world-renowned classical and jazz musicians, Bear’s visit yesterday with Examiner about the concert she’s composed and will play at Mesa Arts Center next week, finds her nonetheless, first and foremost, an open-hearted, exuberant girl.
She tries on silly hats and reads Percy Jackson novels. She cheers at her sister’s skating competitions and laughs out loud at the goofy contortions a cell phone app creates of selfies with her friends. Most of those pals are ‘tweenagers,’ just like her. Some of those peers, however, have decades of professional musical experience beyond her own.
What makes those famous musicians her peers is her uncanny talent and the manner in which it has developed in the last eight or nine years. As one of the most astonishing musical talents of our time, Bear composes, orchestrates, and performs in a bewilderingly diverse collection of styles. Some of her huge talent is on display in the appropriately-named albumDiversity, her first album for Concord Records/Quest Records, whichQuincy Jones produced.
Bear, at just 5 years, made her concert debut at the Ravinia Festival in Chicago, playing a 40-minute solo program performing classical pieces side by side with jazz standards and her own compositions. She was invited to perform at the White House at age 6. Later that year, she opened for Ramsey Lewis and his Trio with a 30-minute set of her own. Her orchestral debut came at age 7, playing Mozart Piano Concerto no. 23, K488 and by age 8, she was playing concerts abroad in Italy and China. At the age of 9 she made her Carnegie Hall debut with a 110-piece orchestra, a 220-voice choir, and R&B soloists performing one of her compositions, “Peace – we are the future.”
Now that her hands are finally big enough, she just last week debuted her performance of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, one of her all-time favorite pieces, for a concert series in Connecticut run by a member of the Gershwin family. Next week, as the kick-off artist for Mesa Art Center’s Classical Series curated by master cellist Zuill Bailey (who plays on the Diversityalbum with her), Bear, in a first visit to the state, will wow Arizona.
X: Why might a musician the caliber of Zuill Bailey say that you are a “real prodigy in a true sense of the word”?
EB: Maybe it’s just that music is so natural. I mean, I play classical, I play jazz. I write music and I do orchestral stuff and film. When we met [Zuill and I], age just kind of fell away. He’s funny, very funny. I guess I like to think music is language, and we both speak it naturally.
X: How about Quincy Jones? How did you decide he’d be the best manager for you?
EB: I think we’re a pretty good fit. And he’s also really diverse. He writes for big bands. He orchestrates, too. Does films. Things I like to do. Really, he does everything. I call him The Walking Encyclopedia of Music. The one main thing he’s taught me is that music can only be as good as you are inside.
X: Beyond what a textbook or encyclopedia is going to tell us, what’s the difference between classical and jazz for you, personally? When you write, when you play?
EB: Classical and jazz come from the same roots, but that’s where the similarities stop. Classical is where you have to pay attention to every little dot, every little marking. It’s kind of strict in a way, with just a little bit of flexibility. But jazz, you just have the bass that’s set, and you can just do whatever the heck you want with it, and it’s super-free. It’s really, really fun.
X: What kind of fun do you have in store for Mesa?
EB: The concert will have so many things. There's a mix of classical and jazz. Lots of originals I wrote, and a few surprises. I can maybe tell you one of them. One surprise is a game I like to do when I'm home. Someone in the audience will tell a little story, and I'll write a piece of music about it on the spot. I did it awhile ago on NPR [National Public Radio], and it was really fun.
