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An evening concert sound installation by Neil Leonard made in response to Fog x Ruins, Fujiko Nakaya’s site-specific fog sculpture for Franklin Park’s Overlook Shelter Ruins, the site where Elma Lewis invited Duke Ellington to perform annually for Playhouse in the Park.
Leonard’s composition fills the site of Nakaya’s dancing fog and lighting design by Shiro Takatani, with sound that also pays tribute to the visionary concepts of Fujiko Nakaya and the sonic imagination of Duke Ellington. The work revisits selected themes by Ellington including Lady of the Lavender Mist, The Kissing Mist, Atmosphere (Moon Mist), A Blue Fog That You Can Almost See Through (Transblucency), The Fog That Clouds It (Schwiphti). As these titles suggest, the music is atmospheric, lush and mist-like. The sound is reminiscent of Duke Ellington’s Boston-area born saxophonists, Harry Carney, and Johnny Hodges, who recorded these themes with Ellington and performed with his orchestra in the Ruins.
This 20-minute sound installation, playing at 6:00 pm and 7:00 pm, comprises an array of speakers located at the Overlook Shelter Ruins surrounding the fog sculpture and audience.