- Monday June 16, 1:30-4:30 PM, Casey Sutherland, Make it Funky: It All Began in New Orleans
- Tuesday June 17, 1:30-4:00, PM, Frank Chadwick, Standing in the Shadows of Motown
- Wednesday, June 18, 1:30-4:30 PM, Chuck Cowger, Big Family: The Story of Bluegrass Music
- Thursday, June 19 - No session due to Juneteenth holiday
- Friday, June 20, 1:30-4:30 PM, Sam Reese and John Bennett, Jazz on a Summer Day (1958 Newport Jazz Festival)
MONDAY
Make it Funky! is a 2005 American documentary film directed and written by Michael Murphy. Subtitled in the original version as "It all began in New Orleans", the film presents a history of New Orleans music and its influence on rhythm and blues, rock and roll, funk, and jazz. Using an April 27, 2004 concert at the Saenger Theatre in New Orleans as the backdrop, the film also includes archival performance footage, still photographs, and interviews with many musicians and others involved in the early years and heyday of New Orleans music. This film was presented in a 2019 OLLI study group, and was favorably received by participants.
About the Presenter: Casey Sutherland is a retired librarian and happy OLLI member since 2013. She was born and raised in New Orleans and spent many an evening in her formative years in that city’s various music venues. To this day, she can’t help but shake her booty when she hears classic New Orleans music!
TUESDAY
Standing in the Shadows of Motown is a 2002 American documentary film directed by Paul Justman that recounts the story of the Funk Brothers, the uncredited and largely unheralded studio musicians who were the house band that Berry Gordy hand-picked in 1959 and who were responsible for creating the distinctive Motown Sound. The film combines interviews, historical clips, and great contempory renditions of those classic Motown songs with the Funk Brothers themselves playing backup to a variety of artist you've probably never associated with that music.
About the Presenter: Frank Chadwick is a long-time OLLI Member and music fan, writes an occasional music blog, and organized a study group on the early music of Tom Waits.
WEDNESDAY
Big Family: The Story of Bluegrass Music provides a comprehensive look at a distinctly American genre of music. The film explores what bluegrass music is, what makes it unique, and key musicians who have shaped its sound. Historical segments trace the beginnings of bluegrass in the traditions of Scots-Irish immigrants and African-Americans and how these influences coalesced in the music of a young rural Kentuckian, Bill Monroe, in the 1920s.
About the Presenter: Chuck Cowger, a U of I faculty retiree (Social Work) and long time blue grass fan has played mandolin in two blue grass bands; The Old Coyote String Band (New Concord Mass.) and Sloe Jam (Columbia Missouri). He brags about once playing backup guitar with Allyson Krauss, her brother Victor, and mother Louise, at a U of I Football weekend event many years ago. Chuck is an active member of OLLI and some years ago taught a study course on World War I Peace Films.
FRIDAY
The 1959 Jazz on a Summer’s Day may make you think you are smelling salty ocean air as strains of lively, mid-century jazz greet your ears. It was filmed by Bert Stern and Aram Avakian during two days of the Newport Jazz Festival at the same time that America’s Cup yacht races were being run in this beautiful seaside resort town. It’s a “slice of life” film that richly captures all the sensory experiences of being among fashionable tourists and inquisitive listeners. It presents luminous performers like Louis Armstrong, Thelonius Monk, Anita O’Day, Dinah Washington, Gerry Mulligan and many others, including those on the edges of jazz like Chuck Berry and Mahalia Jackson. The film was added to the National Film Registry in 1999, and the new 4K restoration is bright and vividly colorful. Often considered to be the first feature-length concert film, it set the stage for later impactful films like Monterey Pop and Woodstock.
About the Presenters: Sam Reese is Associate Professor Emeritus of Music Education, U of I School of Music. A popular OLLI instructor of jazz history and appreciation, he has 50+ years of experience teaching the joys of music to people from age 3 to 93. He is the author of numerous publications and was a frequent presenter at national and international conferences. He has experience as a jazz performer and led a number of highly successful tours to the Chicago Jazz Festival for both OLLI and Road Scholar programs.
John Lansingh Bennett was Associate Editor of Highlights for Children and Senior Editor for Publications at the National Council of Teachers of English. He also taught humanities at the University of Scranton and Lake Land College, with several of his courses covering film appreciation. Semiretired since 2011, he does a bit of freelance writing and editing from his Coffee Break Studio and is a part-time docent at Krannert Art Museum.