Musician inspired by Matisse's 'Jazz'

CHICOPEE - The sick-bed "painting with scissors" paper cut-outs French painter Henri Matisse created before his death and the text that accompanied them when they were published in 1947 inspired Elms College music lecturer and artist-in-residence Christopher G. Bakriges - a pianist, composer and educator - to create a musical reflection on the work.

"Teaching the Eye to Hear: Musical Reflections on Matisse's 'Jazz'" is Bakriges' musical interpretation of the artist's visual images. His son, violinist David C. Bakriges, is featured on the CD.

The series of 20 Matisse plates, collectively called "Jazz," "really stimulated me to look at his composition, form and color and really respond to that in a musical way," Bakriges said. "I could see what he was doing in my mind's eye and really respond to it musically."

Bakriges also has another new release: "Dreams and Visions," by the Oikos Ensemble, features his original compositions and his piano playing.

"We have to take the responsibility for creating and disseminating our own music," said the Whitingham, Vt., resident. He said the Internet helps with that and is a way for musicians to find one another. "I'm communicating with musicians all over the world who really are kindred spirits."

A native of Detroit, Bakriges, 51, has led his own groups since the early 1980s. He has performed in countries including India, Pakistan, Turkey, England, France, Canada and the Czech Republic.

"This is really an exciting time," Bakriges said. "The notion of jazz as worldwide music is a global phenomenon."

Bakriges earned his doctorate in ethnomusicology and musicology from York University in Toronto and regularly lectures throughout the world.

He was music director and house pianist at Mo'Jazz Café in Wilmington, Vt., from the late 1990s until its closing in 2007. He performed regularly at Pink's Alley in Manchester, Vt., through 2008 and tours the United States with the Oikos Ensemble, a Cleveland-based jazz group.

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Bakriges' next CD, "Transculturation," is just out. In consort with other musicians, it is what he called "a collision of cultures musically" using a jazz lens.