The Tunes:
The Orange In Bloom
Princess Royal
My Lord of Sherborne’s Jig
The Orange In Bloom
Princess Royal
My Lord of Sherborne’s Jig
Dexter founded New York City’s Bouwerie Boys Morris Dancers in
1979. Still dancing strong today, this team exemplifies a manly and
elegant grace that is admired by all who see them.
John
Dexter
Some morris musicians are notorious for subverting the rhythms and
phrases of their tunes to more closely match the movements of the
dancers— adding loft to leaps and capers.
Dexter and the other Bouwerie musicians (most notably, Jessica Murrow on Pipe and Tabor) are among those who flex their timing, creating a unique and idiosyncratic music that is a perfect fit to their interpretation of the English Cotswold morris dancing tradition from the village of Sherborne.
Dexter and the other Bouwerie musicians (most notably, Jessica Murrow on Pipe and Tabor) are among those who flex their timing, creating a unique and idiosyncratic music that is a perfect fit to their interpretation of the English Cotswold morris dancing tradition from the village of Sherborne.
John Dexter is a fine dancer and fiddler for his team. He's also a
conservatory trained classical violist who performs with the
celebrated Manhattan String Quartet. He travels the world playing
Beethoven and Schubert, Shostakovich and Dvořák.
So... when he got hooked on the Anglo concertina a few years back,
we were all wondering what he would do with it. Using his knowledge
of arrangement, harmony and voice leading, Dexter taught himself to
play a handful of the Sherborne tunes on his Jefferies 38 button
C/G with full accompaniment. Not surprisingly, he has come up with
a rich distinctive harmonic style employing the punchy flowing
rhythms that the Bouwerie Boys are known for.
Daniel Friedman
Michael Duffy
Barbara Gorin