Jazz pianist Luke Carlos O’Reilly next for Pastorius Park

Posted 7/13/18

Pianist Luke Carlos O'Reilly by Carole Verona Jazz pianist and composer Luke Carlos O’Reilly will make his Pastorius Park debut on Wednesday, July 18, at 7:30 p.m. Accompanying him will be Melanie …

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Jazz pianist Luke Carlos O’Reilly next for Pastorius Park

Posted

Pianist Luke Carlos O'Reilly

by Carole Verona

Jazz pianist and composer Luke Carlos O’Reilly will make his Pastorius Park debut on Wednesday, July 18, at 7:30 p.m. Accompanying him will be Melanie Charles, a Brooklyn born vocalist with Haitian roots, and drummer and Philly native Anwar M. Marshall.

“For this concert, I’m excited to bring a New York artist to the area,” O’Reilly said. “Melanie’s creative fluidity spans jazz, soul, experimental music, and her own Haitian roots. We’ll do some traditional jazz, Haitian music and original compositions.”

Marshall has played on O’Reilly’s two albums, “3 Suites and Living in the Now.”

“I’m also excited to do this series because I’ve heard really good things about the audience – that it’s a very devoted audience,” O’Reilly added.

Pastorius Park is located at the corner of Millman Street and Hartwell Lane. If it rains, the show will move to Springside Chestnut Hill Academy, 8000 Cherokee St. The concerts are supported by the Chestnut Hill Community Association and Chestnut Hill Hospital.

O’Reilly’s American parents – an Italian mother and an Irish father – adopted him from Cali, Colombia, when he was just a toddler. He grew up in Lexington, Mass., right outside of Boston.

He started piano lessons when he was four.

“I was a big kid with big hands, which is good for piano,” he said. “I was good enough, so my parents let me keep up with it.”

During his middle school years, he listened to and was influenced by the music of Ray Charles, Oscar Peterson, and other jazz greats.

“I ended up getting a music and academic scholarship to Temple University,” he said. “That’s what brought me to Philly. I love the people and the food here.”

O’Reilly lived in the Fairmount area for many years and recently moved to Fishtown.

In his early 20s, soon after he graduated from Temple University, he was playing with famous jazz musicians, including world-renowned trombonist Curtis Fuller, a member of Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, and Dave Valentin, an American Latin jazz flutist. Fuller regaled him with amazing stories about jazz greats Wayne Shorter and John Coltrane.

“He really humanized them,” O’Reilly recalled.

O’Reilly also traveled and performed many times with Valentin, who passed away last year. “Dave unfortunately had some demons that wound up taking him out,” O’Reilly said.

“Those two were most influential because I did a lot of work with them and got to have a personal relationship with them. I learned a lot about professionalism and about how being a musician is just part of who you are. Just studying music, just playing music is not really it. There’s a lot to it, especially the traveling aspect. When you travel, it’s hard not to have your eyes open to the world and different cultures.”

O’Reilly, 35, is one of three 2017-18 jazz residency artists at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts. As such, he was commissioned to produce new work that speaks to an aspect of Philadelphia’s history or culture.

“It was a great opportunity because they give you grant money, which enables you to hire a larger group of musicians than you would normally be able to have. It also gives you access to the Kimmel Center’s resources, audience and rehearsal space,” he said.

O’Reilly chose the Black Lives Matter movement as his theme. He worked with choreographer and dancer Sanchel Brown and lyricist and vocalist Pannan Hewitt.

“I never worked with a dancer before so writing and composing original music with a dancer in mind was completely out of my element,” he said. “I’ve written and arranged for vocalists, but the whole dance aspect was interesting and challenging.”

O’Reilly’s inspiration for the piece was based on his own personal experience.

“For me, everything was spawned in 2008 when I was brutalized by a police officer in Philadelphia,” he said. “That was the first time I had a close experience with police brutality and the mindset of black/brown lives seemingly not mattering the same as others and being disposable to some people, of course. I didn’t tell that story specifically in a song but it’s my feeling about it, my concept about it.”

O’Reilly will perform a few songs from the Black Lives Matter project at Pastorius Park. He plans to release a full video of his project soon on YouTube and hopes to release it as an album.

What fuels O’Reilly’s creativity? What continues to inspire him to compose? “It’s life. It’s that you’re living an interesting life that influences you daily. It’s my family, relationships, and hanging out, hearing and playing with other musicians.”

O’Reilly also likes words, even though he composes songs without lyrics.

“Sometimes I’ll hear a word that I never heard before and once I find out what it is, I’ll write something – and it may not be specifically for that word,” he said. “I go to church every Sunday and I’ll hear a Greek word that I never heard before – and that may spawn something, some kind of thinking that creates a song. Most of what I write starts out as solo piano, then I work it into a trio, depending on what I’m writing for.”

O’Reilly takes great pride in the work he does with students. Most recently, he has collaborated with Live Connections, a Philadelphia-based organization that brings artists into public schools.

“We don’t often wind up in schools that have booming music programs,” he said. “More often, we’re in schools that have interest but may not have the facility or money to do what they want.”

This past year, O’Reilly spent time at Hill-Freedman World Academy. He was there two times a week for seven months. Along with other teaching artists, he worked with the students on a Motown-inspired music project. The students’ compositions are featured on a 24-track album called “What’s Going On” that can be found on SoundCloud.

More information about Luke and to listen to his music, go to lukecarlosoreilly.com. Stay tuned to the Chestnut Hill Local for previews of each upcoming band or go to chestnuthill.org for more information about the Pastorius Park Summer Concert Series.

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