On June 23, three outstanding musicians put on a great show in the MCES gym for patients and staff.
Leon Jordan, Sr., Chris Aschman, and Alex Day wowed their audience with a tremendous display of talent and skill as they effortlessly worked their way through songs both modern and classic. Leon, a gifted percussionist, commanded the drums, while the multi-talented Chris seamlessly moved from the steel drum to the trumpet to the keyboard and Alex Day’s gorgeous voice cut through the air and filled the gym.
Even though the musicians came prepared with a carefully-constructed set-list, they threw all that out the window and instead accommodated request after request from the audience, including songs by Billie Holiday, Bruno Mars, and an especially powerful and moving Alicia Keys number. At times, folks were up out of their chairs dancing, singing along (especially to “My Girl”) or just listening intently to three fine musicians who provided an outstanding hour of music on a stormy Tuesday night.
Leon has long been a prominent Philadelphia-based musician and has studied at the University of the Arts Conservatory. He has recorded with Chaka Kahn, The Stylistics, and Grover Washington, Jr., just to name a few, and heads his own twelve-piece band. The versatile Chris has been featured at World Café Live, the TLA, the Kimmel Center’s Verizon Hall and many other venues nationwide. Alex has been performing with Leon Jordan’s band for many years and she has released two albums, “No Castles, No Moats” (2008) and “Untangle” (2011).
This concert was a joint collaboration between Art-Reach and Musicopia, two arts-based non-profit organizations in Philadelphia working to increase outreach, education, and access to the arts. The concert was paid for by a grant from the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation and is part of MCES’s 2014-2015 Inpatient Concert Series.