Rodrigo Villanueva Experimental Jazz Trio

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Hanah Jon Taylor

Rodrigo Villanueva Trio (left to right): Fareed Haque, John Christensen, Rodrigo Villanueva.

Artist John Himmelfarb began the series now known as “Trucks” in 2004; what started with drawings eventually came to include real-life trucks reimagined as mobile sculptures. One of them, a 1946 International KB-3 repurposed as a musical instrument, will be employed by percussionist Rodrigo Villanueva, bassist John Christensen, guitarist Fareed Haque, and guests in a Rural Musicians Forum concert at the town of Wyoming garage, 6294 State Highway 23, north of Spring Green. The ensemble will play both arrangements of jazz standards and new compositions by Villanueva created for the KB-3.

media release: Rural Musicians Forum is delighted to present “Three Jazz Masters Pick Up the Beat,” a unique concert on Sept 5, 2:30 pm at the Town of Wyoming Garage. The concert will feature the Rodrigo Villanueva Experimental Jazz Trio plus other guest artists performing on artist John Himmelfarb’s KB-3 truck sculpture. The core trio includes Rodrigo Villanueva, composer, percussionist and professor of jazz studies at Northern Illinois University with guitarist, Fareed Haque and bassist, John Christensen. Rodrigo has composed a few original compositions that are inspired by the incredible sounds available in the KB-3 Sculpture, and has also arranged well-known jazz standards to be performed during the concert incorporating sounds from Himmelfarb's KB-3 sculpture.

Art pieces, especially sculptures, are traditionally objects to be looked at without touching. The wonderful thing about John Himmelfarb's KB-3 Truck Sculpture is that it is meant to be touched, and played on — as a musical instrument. Himmelfarb said that he first began thinking about the possibility while building the second such sculpture, when he noticed the sonority of many of the objects he was welding together. Trained as a classical musician before becoming an artist, and after listening to several contemporary percussion performances, he became convinced that his trucks could be used musically.

As an artist with studios in Spring Green and Chicago, John Himmelfarb’s work is exhibited nationally and locally including installations in the permanent collections of the Chazen Museum of Art at the University of Wisconsin and the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art. His truck sculptures have been exhibited nationally, on the Farm Art D'Tour/Fermentation Fest in Sauk County, and, most recently, as part of Madison Music Day, at the jazz club Café Coda.

The Town of Wyoming Garage is located at 6294 State Hwy 23 in Spring Green. General admission tickets are $12 per person and free for students Tickets may be purchased at RuralMusiciansForum.org or at the door. Please bring lawn chairs and comply with current COVID precautions.

This concert is also made possible with generous support from the Spring Green Area Arts Coalition, the Wisconsin Arts Board, and from BlueStem Jazz Madison.