Cecile Licad tries the movies

MANILA, Philippines - Cecile Licad tries the movies when she joins the ensemble of acclaimed jazz trumpeter Wynton Marsalis in providing live music for the world premiere of the film Louis directed by Academy Award-winning cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond.

The much-anticipated landmark film — created in the style of a silent film and exploring the early days of jazz — will have its world premiere at Chicago’s Symphony Center on Aug. 25 and will also have its Detroit premiere on Aug. 26 under the auspices of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.

Producer and co-director Dan Pritzker has described his silent film as “an homage to Louis Armstrong, Charlie Chaplin, beautiful women and the birth of American music.” Pritzker — described by the New York Times as a professional musician who considers himself a connoisseur of American music — is a billionaire’s son best known as founder of and guitarist for the off-center soul-rock band Sonia Dada. He bankrolled the the film with money he inherited from his father, Jay Pritzker, co-creator of the Hyatt hotel chain. This enabled him to hire veteran filmmakers, including cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond, who shot The Deer Hunter and The Black Dahlia.

Licad got into the picture when producer Pritzker heard the Filipino pianist’s recording of Louis Moreau Gottschalk’s music and was probably fascinated by her interpretation. After several negotiations, Licad found herself working with Marsalis whose ensemble will provide the live music for the landmark silent film.

It is some kind of déjà vu for Licad because her great granduncle, Francisco Buencamino, Sr., used to provide live music for silent films in Manila in the 1920s and 1930s.

Louis, incorporating music of Marsalis and Louis Moreau Gottschalk, will be accompanied live by Marsalis’ ensemble with Licad playing selected Gottschalk music. Filipino music lovers got their taste of Gottschalk music when Licad played Gottschalk’s Pasquinade as encore piece in her solo and orchestra concerts at the Philamlife Theater and at the Ayala malls.

Louis tells the story of a poverty-stricken boy in 1907 New Orleans who dreams of becoming a trumpeter. That plot essentially reflects the biography of Louis Armstrong, the first great soloist in jazz.

Cinematographer and co-director Zsigmond gained prominence during the 1970s after being hired by Robert Altman as cinematographer for McCabe & Mrs. Miller. Subsequent major films he shot include Altman’s The Long Goodbye[1], John Boorman’s Deliverance and Steven Spielberg’s The Sugarland Express and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, the latter of which won him the Academy Award for Best Cinematography. Zsigmond has worked with Brian De Palma on Obsession, Blow Out, The Bonfire of the Vanities, and The Black Dahlia, with Michael Cimino on The Deer Hunter and Heaven’s Gate, with Richard Donner on Maverick and Assassins, and with Woody Allen on Melinda and Melinda and Cassandra’s Dream.

Licad herself is no stranger to show business. Acclaimed Filipino film director Mike de Leon is her cousin and so is the award-winning film scorer Nonong Buencamino.

The pianist’s maternal grandfather — Gumersindo Buencamino — worked in the administrative section of LVN pictures while her mother’s sister was finance person in the same studio.

“For many years before my marriage,” said Mrs. Rosario B. Licad, “we lived in the LVN compound and my family were close to the famous stars of that time.”

It was understandable that during her first piano recital, Mrs. Licad had an array of famous movie stars led by Lilia Dizon (mother of Christopher de Leon) as her concert usherettes.

“In that LVN compound, we lived during the heyday of the likes of Rogelio de la Rosa,” said Mrs. Licad.

Meanwhile, the then very young Cecile Licad grew up watching the early films of Dolphy, Leopoldo Salcedo and other stars of LVN.

Television and films were Licad’s only respite from piano playing.

Licad who just finished another acclaimed concert in Portland, Oregon last week will be heard again in Manila on July 2 and 3 playing De Falla’s Nights in the Garden of Spain and Saint-Saens’ Piano Concerto No. 2 at the Philamlife Theater. She is the new soloist of FILharmoniKA orchestra under conductor Gerard Salonga. She will also debut with Russia’s State National Orchestra at the Tchaikovsky Hall in Moscow in April next year as soloist in Brahms’s Piano Concerto No. 1.

(Note: Limited CDs of Licad-interpreted Gottschalk music used in the Dan Pritzker film Louis are still available in Manila. For details, call 748-4152 or 0906-5104270.)