Trumpeter and SUNY New Paltz music teacher Rebecca Coupe Franks has lead an active career, releasing several albums and recording with jazz greats Joe Henderson, Kenny Barron, and Buster Williams. She’s also written a musical, Hubert’s Block, which she’ll premiere locally with performances on May 28 and 29.
According to Franks, Hubert’s Block is set on a block in New York’s West Village, where Hthe titular character is trying to find a cure for Alzheimer’s for his father, Henry, and thinking of ways to block the two different proteins that get tangled in the brain and can cause the disease. “The music is jazz and blues, with some Broadway styles weaved inside the melodies,” she explains. “You can hear layers of voices, harmonies, soft isolated moments, as well as three-part counterpoint melodies. The lyrics are vivid, bold, and sweep you off your feet.”
Hear and see Franks and her quartet live in 2011:
Rebecca Coupe Franks will perform Hubert’s Block at the Rosendale Café in Rosendale, New York, at 8pm on May 28 (admission is $10; for more information, visit http://www.rosendalecafe.com/) and at the Falcon in Marlboro, New York, on May 29 at 3pm (donation requested; for more information, visit http://www.liveatthefalcon.com/).
This article appears in May 2016.
