Byrdcliffe Theater Presents Freddie Bryant: Upper West Side Love Story at Byrdcliffe Theater

Upper West Side Love Story (music and lyrics by Freddie Bryant), a work for chamber-jazz ensemble, is a musical journey through the iconic neighborhood made famous by Leonard Bernstein's West Side Story. It is a personal history of memories from Bryant's youth and upbringing as well as a commentary on development and gentrification that is happening world-wide. He lived in the neighborhood for fifty-four years, from birth until 2019 when he moved to the Bronx. It covers children's playground rhymes, the world-renowned musicians and artists who have lived and performed there, the culture and joys of community as well as the challenges of homelessness and crime throughout the 70s/80s until today. It also contextualizes the development and gentrification that has been underway since the early 60s when Lincoln Center was built, discussing issues of race and class....

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Upper West Side Love Story (music and lyrics by Freddie Bryant), a work for chamber-jazz ensemble, is a musical journey through the iconic neighborhood made famous by Leonard Bernstein's West Side Story. It is a personal history of memories from Bryant's youth and upbringing as well as a commentary on development and gentrification that is happening world-wide. He lived in the neighborhood for fifty-four years, from birth until 2019 when he moved to the Bronx. It covers children's playground rhymes, the world-renowned musicians and artists who have lived and performed there, the culture and joys of community as well as the challenges of homelessness and crime throughout the 70s/80s until today. It also contextualizes the development and gentrification that has been underway since the early 60s when Lincoln Center was built, discussing issues of race and class.

The music is acoustic jazz with influences from straight-ahead sounds of early neighborhood residents (Billie Holliday, Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis, Max Roach, Lee Konitz) as well as Latin Jazz (Dizzy Gillespie, Mario Rivera) and blues and funk. There is also a thread of classical music which comes from the influence of Freddie's parents (his mother was an opera singer, and his father was a concert pianist and accompanist) and other African American artists who lived on 87th street.

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