Angels Play the Harp, Printup Plays the Trumpet
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NPR Home | News | Arts & Life | NPR Programs DONATE | NPR Shop | NPR Social Media | Welcome, Riza Printup (RizaPrintup) | Your Account | Logout SEARCH FIND A STATION Angels Play The Harp, Printup Plays The Trumpet by KEVIN WHITEHEAD March 8, 2011 text size A A A Angels play the harp — except Gabriel, who blew trumpet. Marcus Printup isn't the first trumpeter to combine the trumpet and the harp: Harpist Betty Glamman played on half of Kenny Dorham's Jazz Contrasts in 1957. Printup tips his hat by opening his album with Dorham's most famous tune, "Blue Bossa." Some folks say the harp is ill-suited to jazz, but its deep bass, ringing long notes and spiky percussive attack aren't exactly liabilities. Jazz Enlarge Clay Patrick McBride/Courtesy of Jazz at Lincoln Center harpists have never been common, but there Marcus Printup. have been some very good ones: Caspar Reardon and Adele Girard played swing harp in the 1930s, followed by Ruth Berman in the '40s and queen of the harp Dorothy Ashby in the '50s; it was an instrument where jazz women could make their mark. A few modern harpists have recorded good jazz, including Deborah Henson-Conant and Park Stickney. Riza Hequibal sounds like she's still growing into jazz: She's not the heaviest swinger, but bassist Kengo Nakamura is on hand to buttress the rhythm. And harp and bass effectively frame Marcus Printup's lovely trumpet, the tone of which is as juicy as a bowl of cherries. The program is all ballads, which keeps his formidable technique in check and lets him revel in nice melodies. Printup's A Time for Love is casual almost to a fault; except for the Filipino favorite, "Dahil Sa'yo," the tunes are all jazz standbys, unencumbered by fancy arrangements and taken at an easy clip. Not that there's anything wrong with that. Jazz is often informal, and fans cherish recordings made on the fly in hotel rooms and noisy bars. Since the trumpeter and harpist married not long after the recording — she now goes by Riza Printup — you could look at this as a kind of domestic music: quiet and cozy, but never dull. It's their little slice of heaven. Genres Listen Concerts Programs Music Blogs More Rock/Pop/Folk Song Of The Day Live In Concert from All Alt.Latino A Blog Supreme: Find Artists A-Z Classical First Listen Songs Considered All Songs Considered NPR Jazz Find Music Heard On Air Jazz & Blues All Songs 24/7 Music Tiny Desk Concerts From The Top All Songs Considered: Find NPR Music Stations The Blog Hip-Hop/R&B Channel Live at the Village JazzSet NPR Music Mobile Vanguard Deceptive Cadence: World The Mix Marian McPartland's Piano NPR Music Newsletters Classics in Concert NPR Classical Station Streams Jazz NPR Music Podcasts The Record: Music News Mountain Stage Mountain Stage From NPR RSS Feeds JazzSet with Dee Dee The Thistle & Shamrock Follow Us On Facebook Interviews Bridgewater Station Blogs World Cafe Follow Us On Twitter XPN Live Fridays World of Opera Careers & Internships Music News GlobalFEST Public Radio Programs Music Lists South by Southwest A-Z Bonnaroo Reviews All Tomorrow's Parties Newport Folk Festival Newport Jazz Festival Studio Sessions npr always on Newsletters Podcasts Mobile RSS Feeds Widgets API Radio Copyright 2011 NPR Terms of Use Privacy Policy Permissions Corrections Text-Only Site Help Contact Us Donate.