Jay T. Jenkins, director of Jetté, focuses on jazz dance with borrowings from other idioms.
Armstrong, Bailey, Billie Holiday and Jimmy Rushing prospered in jazz, just as other singers found audiences in country, gospel and other idioms.
Classical technique, as part of a blend with other idioms, was on display in the 1999 "South African Suite".
And yet the central subject is ballet classicism, or rather simply dancing, and, less simply, the way that classical ballet can absorb other idioms.
The company has long been multiracial and has always relied on a repertory that covers modern dance, ballet, African dance and other idioms.
At the same time, players like the clarinetist and saxophonist Charlie Gabriel, 77, have experience in other idioms as well as traditional jazz.
"Lady in the Dark" remains one of only a handful of classic American musicals not adapted from history or works in other idioms.
His ability to excise the superfluous, and his focus on almost exclusively jazz materials rather than borrowings from other idioms were key ingredients of his genius.
The music, by Nico Muhly, switches between friendly minimalism and other idioms; the organ part is a recording of Muhly, but there is also live playing from Hiedaki Aormori (clarinet) and Michi Wiancko (violin).
"In a way, it's no different from what composers have always done, finding ways of referring to and acknowledging other cultures".And how much of an advance will this project represent over pop music's longtime involvement with other idioms around the world?
