“Tribute to late sculptor John Scott is concert highlight,” The Advocate

John T. Scott's sculptures reflect the life and music of his native New Orleans. (Provided Photo) Keyword Arts

Multiple disciplines and genres will come together in “The Art of Music,” a concert featuring art, dance and film Thursday at the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts.

The performance will include a special tribute to the late New Orleans sculptor and Xavier University professor John T. Scott, played by his friend Ellis Marsalis and cellist Jee Yeoun Ko; the Faubourg Quartet’s performance of music by Wynton Marsalis, Philip Glass, Claude Debussy and Tania Leon; and visual art by Ron Bechet, Michel Varisco and Ayo Scott.

Specifically for “The Art of Music,” Marsalis, a composer, pianist and former faculty member of NOCCA and UNO, created a cello and piano arrangement of a spiritual that Scott loved.

Scott’s large-scale sculpture graces many public places in New Orleans. His “Spiritgate,” for instance, stands at the entrance of the New Orleans Museum of Art. In 2005, the museum mounted a career retrospective of Scott’s work, art that reflects the city’s African-American, Caribbean and Creole heritage.

“John Scott is a really big name here,” said Ko, Faubourg Quartet member and chair of NOCCA’s classical instrument department. “His sculpture is everywhere. And the artists we’re presenting in ‘The Art of Music,’ they were all influenced by John Scott.”

Like Ko, Scott saw the connection between various arts disciplines.

“He always talked about the relationship between music and art,” she said. “He believed art and music are not two different genres, but actually one thing. We are using our notes and they are using their pictures to make art.”

Ko, a native of Korea who joined the NOCCA faculty in 2008 after receiving her doctorate in music from LSU, regrets that she never met Scott. The artist died at 67 in 2007. Following his evacuation from New Orleans prior to Hurricane Katrina, Scott spent his final years in Houston.

“Although I didn’t meet him, just listening to his audio interviews, he was amazing,” Ko said. “People are so happy that we are honoring him. Ellis is excited, too.”

In addition to her teaching and administration work at NOCCA, Ko is the founder of the musically adventurous Faubourg Quartet. Through the quartet’s genre-crossing collaborations, she hopes to expand classical music’s reach in New Orleans.

“Classical music alone is very challenging here,” Ko explained. “So, if I present 10 pieces but four of them are nonclassical, people may come because of the nonclassical pieces and then think, ‘Oh, classical music is not that bad. It’s beautiful.’ ”

Beyond the traditional concert hall, Ko and the Faubourg Quartet have performed at Snug Harbor Jazz Bistro, the New Orleans Museum of Art and the Ogden Museum of Southern Art. Marsalis has asked the quartet to perform at the Ellis Marsalis Center for Music in the Musicians’ Village.

At the Faubourg Quartet’s annual “Coats for Kids” concerts in St. Louis Cathedral, the ensemble traditionally ends with a performance of “What a Wonderful World” featuring a jazz soloist. Past guests included trumpeter Jeremy Davenport, trombonist Delfeayo Marsalis and percussionist Jason Marsalis.

“They are just amazed at how great string quartet can sound with jazz musicians,” Ko said.

Although Ko founded the Faubourg Quartet in 2008 for altruistic reasons, its members have since benefited from their community outreach.

“When we started we didn’t get many calls,” she said. “But now we are getting a lot of gigs, which make us very happy. We began because we were interested in helping the community, but now we are receiving back from the community.”