BIRDLAND SCHEDULE
Concert Grand Piano Courtesy of...
Since June 2004, Birdland's 9 foot Concert Grand Piano has been made available through the generous support of Bosendorfer New York. The instrument was selected by the late Dr. Oscar Peterson for his first New York Engagement in many years. Since then, the piano has been enjoyed by some of the greatest pianists in Jazz including Toshiko Akiyoshi, Geri Allen, Kenny Barron, Richie Beirach, Paul Bley, Bill Charlap, Freddy Cole, Marc Copland, Connie Crothers, Barry Harris, Andrew Hill, Hank Jones, Roger Kellaway, Frank Kimbrough, Steve Kuhn, Michel Legrand, Bill Mays, Sal Mosca, Arturo O'Farrill, Danilo Perez, Enrico Pieranunzi, Cedar Walton, Randy Weston, and others. For more information about Bosendorfer pianos and sponsored events, visit the Bosendorfer New York Website.
REGINA CARTER
Wednesday through Saturday, May 7-10 @ 8:30pm & 11pm
Music Charge: $30 general admission, $40 orchestraDetroit native Regina Carter started her musical career as a classical violinist. She was introduced to jazz via the music of vocalist Ella Fitzgerald. After garnering attention as a member of the Detroit Civic Symphony Orchestra, she turned more exclusively to jazz as a student at the New England Conservatory and as a member of the all female quintet "Straight Ahead." She went on to record three albums for Atlantic Records and then moved to the Verve label and international renown.
In December 2001, Carter played a concert in Genoa, Italy on "Il Cannone Guarnerius," a violin (and Italian national treasure) built by Guarneri in 1743 and once owned by Niccolo Paganini. Carter was the first African American woman to play the violin and also the first artist to use it for non-classical music. The resultant recording, "Paganini: After a Dream" (Verve), recorded with "Il Cannone," was a critical and popular success. In 2006 Carter released her 6th recording as a leader, "I'll Be Seeing You: A Sentimental Journey," a tribute to her late mother, Grace Carter, one of the primary influences in her life, music and career.
In performance Carter is as likely to explore Detroit's rich musical history through the songs of Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye as she is through Tin Pan Alley, classical repertoire, and jazz standards. Time Magazine calls her, "...wonderfully listenable, probingly intelligent, and breathtakingly daring." Her current quintet includes Adam Rogers (guitar), Gary Versace (accordian), Alvester Garnett (drums), and Mamadou Ba (double bass).
Visit Regina Carter's web site
THE BIRDLAND BIG BAND directed by TOMMY IGOE
Every Friday from 5:15-7pm
Music Charge: $15*Special prime-time performance: Tuesday, June 24th @ 8:30 & 11pm!
(Music charge $25)
Featuring the finest musicians in New York!
The BBB roars into action every Friday, playing the finest Jazz, Latin and Brazilian music from the world's best arrangers. After work or before a show, drinks or a great dinner, come hear one of the world’s best drummers driving the hardest swinging band in New York. Experience why the BBB is fast becoming the must-see weekly jazz event in New York and kick off your weekend with what critics are calling “the best live music bargain in all of NYC!” Visit TOMMYIGOE.com for our surprise special guest line-up.
ANDY FARBER & HIS ORCHESTRA
featuring Vocalist Hilary Kole
Sundays May 11,18,25; June 1,8,15,29 from 6-8pm
Music Charge: $20
Award winning composer/arranger and saxophonist Andy Farber leads his 17-piece jazz orchestra through a program of original compositions and new arrangements of standards.
Vocalist Hilary Kole is a star in the midst of a meteoric rise. The NY Observer calls her, "Hip and lovely...a musical marvel... sexy, charming and funny." While the NY Post raves, "Kole is drop dead gorgeous." And Time Out NY notes, "Kole has a sophisticated sex appeal...and presents her own distinctive style. She is the best at selling a song."
CHICO O'FARRILL'S AFRO-CUBAN JAZZ ORCHESTRA
Directed by Arturo O'Farrill:
Sundays May 11,18,25; June 1,15,22
9 & 11pm shows
Music Charge ($25; $30, May 11,25)Arranger-bandleader Arturo “Chico” O’ Farrill, Sr. began introducing Afro-Cuban rhythms into jazz in the 1940’s. The band that bears Chico’s name (and is directed by his son Arturo) “continues to showcase the most seamless blend of clavè rhythm and bebop harmony anywhere.” (Time Out)
JIM CARUSO'S "CAST PARTY"
with pianist Billy Stritch
Mondays May 5,12,19,26; June 2,9,16,23,30
10pm until 1am, $10 minimum"No one can call themselves a true New Yorker until they've been to the 'Cast Party,' which is to Broadway what the Conde Nast cafeteria is to publishing. Divas and dapper-dans insouciantly sip cocktails while watching each other sing and perform at the open-mic event during Broadway's dark night." (Next Magazine) Broadway impresario Jim Caruso hosts a combination open-mic, networking event and party in which the biggest stars on Broadway relax on their night off by performing their favorite songs in an informal setting.
The Music of Duke Ellington & More...
with David Berger & The Sultans of Swing
Tuesdays May 6,20,27; July 1,8,15,22,29
show times 8:30pm & 11pm
Music Charge: $25
In an ongoing Tuesday night Birdland residency, David Berger -- acclaimed bandleader, composer/arranger, and historical expert on all things Ellington -- leads his 16 piece “Sultans of Swing” Big Band in a program of authentic, swinging arrangements by Ellington, Basie and other big band icons.
JEREMY SCHONFELD
CD Release "37 Notebooks"
Hailed by The New York Times as a blend of Jonathan Larson and Billy Joel for his unique rock-theater fusion, Schonfeld will be showcasing hits from his new studio release, "37 Notebooks," which features some of today's hottest vocal talents. To celebrate the album's release, many of the album's featured artists will join Schonfeld to perform, including: Julie Danao-Salkin, Jarrod Emick, Donnie Kehr, Lauren Kennedy, Kate Shindle, Amy Spanger, Greg Naughton, Tracie Thoms & Kevin Townley, among other surprise guests. Music charge includes a copy of the album, proceeds of which benefit the Broadway Dreams Foundation.
Monday, May 5 @ 7pm
Music Charge: $25
Visit Jeremy Schonfeld's web site
Watch Jeremy with Tracie Thoms singing "Falling Apart":
THE BIRDLAND SONGBIRDS
Tuesday, May 6 @ 6pm
Music Charge: $20
Birdland's own talent will drop the tray and take to the stage in a very special, one-night affair! Performing jazz, cabaret, and pop standards these actor/waitresses will knock your socks off. The Songbirds are: Dawn Derow, Anna Howington, Tina Jensen, Michelle Niklas, Liz O'Donnell, Dee Sams, Chauntel Williams, and special guests!
PAMELA LUSS
Monday, May 12 @ 7pm
Music Charge: $25
For her Birdland debut, Pamela will introduce songs from her new album "Magnet" on Savant/HighNote Records. Hear what Jazz Times has described as, "...quite possibly the finest-to-date interpretation of Alan and Marilyn Bergman's 'How Do You Keep The Music Playing?". In addition, the Jazz Times says, "She knows how to break [your heart] with excruciating tenderness."
PHAROAH SANDERS
Tuesday through Saturday, May 13-17 @ 8:30pm & 11pm
Music Charge: $35 general admission, $45 orchestra
Despite admiring Charlie Parker and gaining early performing experiences backing blues greats Bobby 'Blue' Bland and Junior Parker, Pharoah Sanders emerged as an artist from the New York free jazz scene of the 1960s performing with Sun Ra and Don Cherry among others. After a 1964 show at the Village Gate, John Coltrane invited Sanders to sit in with his band. A year later, Sanders was a regular member of the Coltrane circle and a participant in now famous recordings for Impulse Records including: "Om," "Live at the Village Vanguard Again," and "Live in Seattle." These records represented a conscious abandonment of swing and functional harmony in favor of a teeming, irregularly structured, organic mixture of sound and rhythm. In the years after John Coltrane's death Sanders explored more traditional jazz styles in a continuing relationship with Impulse and other labels. But he did so without sacrificing any of the intensity that defined his work with Coltrane. For three subsequent decades Pharoah Sanders has fully assimilated each of the elements from his unique musical biography, bebop, blues, the avant-garde, and beyond.
MARA DAVI
Monday, May 19 @ 7pm
Music Charge: $25
Making her Birdland debut in "Dreaming Wide Awake," Mara Davi will share the songs that fuel her fantasy life, make her heart soar and her toes tap. The evening of song, which will include two hits from the recently premiered musical Dancing in the Dark, is a blend of jazz, musical theatre, and contemporary music all arranged with Davi and conductor Adam Waite’s fanciful touch. Mara Davi is known best for her work on Broadway as Maggie Winslow in A Chorus Line and more recently as Janet Van De Graaff in The Drowsy Chaperone. At City Center Encores! she played Emily Benson in Of Thee I Sing, and will be seen in the upcoming No, No Nanette in the title role. Davi played Princcess Buttercup in the workshop of The Princess Bride and toured USA and Japan as Peggy Sawyer in 42nd Street. Currently, Davi is developing the role of Gabrielle Gerard in Dancing in the Dark, a new musical based on the beloved movie “The Bandwagon.” Davi’s favorite piano man, composer/conductor/pianist Adam Waite has had the privilege of performing alongside many great jazz musicians including Claudia Acuna, Kenny Burrell, and Charlie Biddle. Since 2005, he has been the Music Director for Broadway's Greatest Gifts: Carols for a Cure, and is the recently appointed Artistic Director of the Lyrica Chamber Orchestra. His compositions and arrangements have garnered numerous ASCAP awards and have received performances from ensembles throughout the country.
MARCIN WASILEWSKI TRIO
Tuesday, May 20 @ 6pm
Music Charge: $20
Celebrating the release of their latest ECM album, "January," the Marcin Wasilewski Trio returns to Birdland without their mentor, trumpeter Tomasz Stanko. It was through Stanko's 2001 recording, "Soul
of Things," that the wider world first had a hint of this trio's potential. "In the entire history of Polish jazz we've never had a band like this one. They just keep getting better and better." (Tomasz Stanko).
"January" nods to some of the greatest modern composers: Gary Peacock, Carla Bley, Keith Jarrett,
Paul Bley, and even Prince. Dancing between graceful, graspable improvisation and tasteful athleticism, the Marcin Wasilewski Trio illustrates the bright evolution of jazz!
JAMES CARTER SEPTET
Celebrating the CD release "Present Tense" (Emarcy/Universal Music)
James Carter - Saxophones, bass clarinet, flute
Dwight Adams - Trumpet
D.D. Jackson - Piano
TBA - Bass
Victor Lewis - Drums
Bruce Edwards - Guitar
Eli Fountain - Percussion
Wednesday through Saturday, May 21-24 @ 8:30pm & 11pm
Music Charge: $30 general admission, $40 orchestra
Detroit-born tenor saxophonist James Carter has established himself as one of the leading saxophone stylists of his generation, versed in everything from gypsy-jazz to funk and a master of many reed instruments from sopranino to contrabass saxophone and clarinet. When he arrived in New York City in 1988 to play in trumpeter Lester Bowie's band, Carter shocked the jazz world with his raucous energy. Recording deals with Columbia Records (1993's exhilarating "JC On The Set" among others) and Atlantic Records (Check out "Chasin The Gypsy" (2000)) led Rolling Stone to call him, "...near as jazz gets nowadays to a Young Turk -- not some ironically avant-post-rock experimentalist but a cocky scene stealer with a knack for coming up with noticeable records."
Carter went on to perform with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, the late Julius Hemphill, Ronald Shannon Jackson, the Charles Mingus Big Band, soprano Kathleen Battle, Aretha Franklin, David Murray, the Art Ensemble of Chicago, Ginger Baker, Sonny Rollins, and many others. He appeared in the 1994 PBS telecast of "Live At Lincoln Center" and portrayed saxophonist Ben Webster in Robert Altman's 1996 film, "Kansas City." He recently topped Downbeat's annual Critics Poll in the Baritone Saxophone category for the third year in a row.
This engagement features Carter's new Septet and celebrates their debut CD for Emarcy Records (Universal Music Group) entitled "Present Tense."
"When James Carter burst onto the scene a dozen years ago, it was akin to the second coming. Not since the 1960s had someone emerged with so potent a combination of astounding advanced and extended techniques, fiery intensity, and unfettered imagination." (John Kelman, All About Jazz)
Watch James Carter play the rare bass saxophone:
GEORGIA STITT & Friends
with Kate Baldwin, Lauren Kennedy, Keith Byron Kirk, Emily Skinner
& Victoria Paterson on violin
Monday, May 26 @ 7pm
Music Charge: $25
Georgia Stitt makes her living as a composer, lyricist, musical director, conductor, arranger, and pianist. She has written several musicals for the theater, including "The Water," written with Jeff Hylton and Tim Werenko, and Big Red Sun, written with John Jiler. She contributed nine songs to the American Music Festival in Tono, Japan and served as composer-in-residence for the Tribeca Performing Arts Center in New York City. At present she is developing a musical revue with composer/lyricist David Kirshenbaum. She has recently recorded "Alphabet City Cycle," a song cycle for soprano and violin with lyricist Marcy Heisler, which was premiered by the New Voices Collective, of which she is a founding member. Georgia recently served as the on-camera vocal coach for the NBC reality TV show "Grease: You're The One That I Want." She also worked as the Production Music Coordinator for the Disney/ABC TV musical "Once Upon A Mattress" starring Tracey Ullman and Carol Burnett. On Broadway she was the assistant conductor of the 2003 "Little Shop of Horrors" revival and was the associate conductor of the Encores! production of "Can-Can" starring Patti LuPone. Georgia lives in New York and Los Angeles with her husband composer/lyricist Jason Robert Brown and their daughter Molly.
REBECCA PARRIS
Wednesday through Saturday, May 28-31 @ 8:30pm & 11pm
Music Charge: $30 general admission, $40 orchestra
Jazz vocalist Rebecca Parris has been a performer her entire life. Having performed all over the world with some of jazz's greatest legends, including Dizzy Gillespie, Buddy Rich, Woody Herman, Terry Gibbs, and David "Fathead" Newman, Rebecca comes to Birdland with her long-time trio: Brad Hatfield (piano) Peter Kontrimas (bass), and Matt Gordy (drums).
KATE SHINDLE
Monday, June 2 @ 7pm
Music Charge: $25
A Rare NYC Appearance by Legendary Jazz Vocalist
KEELY SMITH
Tuesday through Sunday, June 3-8 @ 8:30pm & 11pm
Music Charge: $40 general admission, $50 orchestra, $60 ringside (first row)
Known as "The Queen of Swing" and "First Lady of Las Vegas," Keely Smith rose to prominence as the duet partner and wife of Louis Prima. Smith and Prima drew enormous crowds to the lounges of Las Vegas throughout the 1950s scoring jukebox hits with their renditions of "I've Got You Under My Skin" and "That Old Black Magic." During this time, Capitol Records issued a series of albums of the Prima/Smith nightclub acts, resulting in the first ever Grammy Award in 1959 for Best Performance by a Vocal Group or Chorus. Later, Keely released "I Wish You Love," the solo debut that confirmed her own star power when it earned a Grammy nomination and sold over a million copies. Over the years, Keely's songs have also spiced up the soundtracks of hit films including "Raging Bull" and "Mad Dog and Glory." In 1985, Keely made a well-received comeback with "I'm In Love Again" (Verve), and in 2001 she was nominated for another Grammy for "Keely Sings Sinatra." Her increasingly rare club performances are a celebration of the classic and contemporary sounds of authentic vocal jazz.
Watch video clips of Keely, back then...
And now...
SIMPLY BARBRA Salutes The TONY Awards
Starring Steven Brinberg with Special Guests
Monday, June 9 @ 7pm
Music Charge: $25
SAXOPHONE SUMMIT:
DAVE LIEBMAN, JOE LOVANO, RAVI COLTRANE
Tuesday through Saturday, June 10-14 @ 8:30pm & 11pm
Music Charge: $30 general admission, $40 orchestra
Between 1996 and 2007, three of the most prolific and innovative saxophonists in jazz, Michael Brecker, Joe Lovano, and Dave Leibman, played together in an experimental group known as the Saxophone Summit. Their repertoire focused on the difficult and seldom heard late-career music of John Coltrane. After Brecker succumbed to Leukemia in 2007, it seemed natural to call upon Ravi Coltrane to participate in the evolving homage to his father.
David Liebman states that, "late Coltrane" [has been] "largely under appreciated and unexplored. In his final years, Coltrane's music included amazingly beautiful, lyrical melodies offset by intense, abstract and dissonant free group improvisation." Saxophone "battles" have traditionally inspired musicians to raise their game. But this group is more than just a cutting contest. It has become a multi-faceted musical equation greater than the sum of its parts.
KLEA BLACKHURST & BILLY STRITCH
"Dreaming of A Song: The Music of Hoagy Carmichael"
Monday, June 16 @ 7pm
Music Charge: $30 General Admission, $40 Orchestra
Don't miss these two powerhouse performers as they bring the music of one of America's most treasured songwriters to Birdland. Blackhurst & Stritch have mined the Carmichael catalogue to unearth lesser known gems as well as beloved treasures such as "Skylark," "Georgia On My Mind," and "Stardust." You won't want to miss this "remarkably entertaining show with all the Heart and Soul of the legendary composer himself." (Theatre Scene.net) "Blackhurst and Stritch are as compatible as caviar and champagne." (Cabaret Scenes)
PHOEBE SNOW
Tuesday through Sunday, June 17-22. *One show nightly @ 7pm
Music Charge: $40 general admission, $60 orchestra
Since the release of her self-titled debut album in 1974, Phoebe Snow has remained one of the most distinctive voices in popular music. A 1972 performance at The Bitter End spawned the Top 5 hit single, "Poetry Man," winning Snow a Grammy Award nomination for Best New Artist. Platinum records, the cover of Rolling Stone magazine, and legions of fans followed. Snow went on to record a slew of solo albums over the next 15 years. She has performed with a who's who of contemporary music including Paul Simon, Billy Joel, Zoot Sims, Chaka Khan, Mavis Staples, and Jackson Browne. Her latest CD "Natural Wonder" features her first original material in 14 years!
Watch Phoebe perform her hit song "Poetry Man" in 1989:
CHRISTINE PEDI
is UNCAGED at Birdland!
Monday, June 23 @ 7pm
Music Charge: $25
Longtime Forbidden Broadway diva Christine Pedi comes out of her shell, let's her hair down and throws caution to the musical comedy winds in UNCAGED. Expect hilarity, heartbreak and the occasional "channelling" of more than a few legendary leading ladies.
PAQUITO D'RIVERA
Tuesday through Saturday, June 17-21 @ 9pm & 11pm
Music Charge: $30 general admission, $40 orchestra
Clarinetist and saxophonist Paquito D'Rivera was a Cuban musical prodigy. While only a teen D'Rivera was a founding member of the Orquesta Cubana de Musica Moderna and a member of the Cuban National Symphony Orchestra. Later he co-founded the Grammy award winning musical ensemble Irakere along with pianist Chucho Valdes and trumpeter Arturo Sandoval. In 1981, faced with career constraints imposed by the Cuban government, Paquito sought asylum in the United States. He quickly earned the respect and admiration of American jazz musicians including Dizzy Gillespie and record company executive Bruce Lundvall. Recognition as a solo artist came in 1996 with a Grammy award for the highly acclaimed recording "Portraits of Cuba." He has since been honored with a Living Jazz Legend Award, a National Medal for the Arts, and an Achievement in Music Award from the National Hispanic Academy of Media Arts. His latest release, "Funk Tango" (Paquito Records), earned D'Rivera his 9th Grammy award for "Best Latin Jazz Album" in 2007. While Paquito D'Rivera's discography includes over 30 solo albums in Jazz, Bebop, and Latin music, his contributions to classical music are equally impressive including solo performances with the London Philharmonic, the London Symphony, the National Symphony Orchestra, and the Brooklyn Philharmonic.
KURT ELLING
Wednesday through Sunday, June 25-29 @ 8:30pm & 11pm
Music Charge: $30 general admission, $40 orchestra, $50 ringside (first row)
By now, Chicago native and Concord recording artist Kurt Elling’s journey from graduate student at the University of Chicago's Divinity School to top male jazz vocalist and seven time Grammy nominee, is well known. The strange and sometimes hilarious sound effects, audaciously fast scat work and consistently ingenious vocalese passages that are Elling's stock-in-trade have done more than announce the arrival of a major jazz singer. They have redefined the idiom’s possibilities. The Chicago Tribune proclaims, “The art of jazz singing may never be the same. Elling has invented new rules for the singer's art, even as he set about breaking them."
Watch the EPK for Kurt's recent CD "Night Moves":
Kurt performs "The Waking":
CHRISTINE EBERSOLE & BILLY STRITCH
In A Concert Celebrating Their New Recording:
"Sunday in New York"
Monday, June 30 @ 7pm
Music Charge: $40 General Admission, $60 Orchestra
The legendary Christine Ebersole and Billy Stritch bring their acclaimed live performance to disc on their latest CD, 'Sunday in New York.' Set for May 13th release on Ghostlight Records, the jazzy new vocal album was produced by Grammy Award winner Russ Titelman (Steve Winwood, Eric Clapton, Paul Simon,) and features 13 tracks ranging from Rodgers & Hammerstein's "Surrey With The Fringe On Top" to Stephen Sondheim's "Not While I'm Around." The collection was culled from material the pair arranged for one of their many Birdland appearances. In a recent review of their performance at Lincoln Center, The New York Times' Stephen Holden commented: "Ms. Ebersole, a bright, zany soprano and ebullient clown, can whirl on a dime and in a show like "Grey Gardens" evoke an inexpressible sorrow under a facade of garrulous pluck. When she adds a spinning vibrato to her lemony voice, she can turn into a playful latter-day Kathryn Grayson or Jeanette MacDonald, which she began to do on Friday during "The Surrey With the Fringe on Top." Mr. Stritch, a pop-jazz pianist, gifted arranger and Liza Minnelli protégé with a photographic musical memory...is a solid exponent of the gregarious, swinging Las Vegas style epitomized by Steve Lawrence."
Lew Tabackin Quartet
Featuring Toshiko Akiyoshi
Wednesday through Saturday, July 2-5 @ 8:30 & 11pm
Music Charge: $30 General Admission, $40 Orchestra
Lew Tabackin maintains a dual musical personality. As a tenor saxophonist, he is a hard-driving, tough-toned player reminiscent of Sonny Rollins or Don Byas. But as a flutist, he can also sound like a master of Asian classical music. Lew moved to New York in the mid 1960s, where he was involved with the big bands of Cab Calloway, Maynard Ferguson, Thad Jones & Mel Lewis among others. His distinctive sound has also graced various studio bands such as Dick Cavett’s television orchestra. Tabackin met and married jazz pianist Toshiko Akiyoshi in 1968, moved to Los Angeles and co-founded the award winning Toshiko Akiyoshi Jazz Orchestra, which had a New York residence at Birdland from 1996 until it disbanded in 2002.
POP GOES THE GUYTUNES
with Nick Blaemire, Justin Keyes & Jason Michael Snow
Monday, July 7 @ 7pm
Music Charge: $25 General Admission
Guytunes is the exciting a capella cabaret trio comprised of Nick Blaemire (ALTAR BOYZ), Justin Keyes (THE APPLE TREE) and Jason Michael Snow (PIRATES OF PENZANCE). After selling out a critically acclaimed, extended run at the prestigious Signature Theatre in Arlington, VA The Guytunes made their NYC debut in August of 2007 at Birdland’s ‘Cast Party’, and their "strong, clear voices," "adventurous choice in material" and "sharp stage presence" were a big hit with the Broadway crowd. The Guytunes return to ‘Cast Party’ with fun new material to get the party going.
VINICIUS CANTUARIA
Wednesday through Saturday, July 9-12 @ 8:30 & 11pm
Music Charge: $30 General Admission, $40 Orchestra
Vinicius Cantuária was born in Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil, living there until he was seven, when his family moved to Rio. As singer, songwriter, guitarist and percussionist, his career connects several zones of Brazilian music. And though his music is known for its decidedly twenty-first century feel, Cantuária’s band might best be described as ‘post-electronica acoustic’ – a band that includes jazz bassist Paul Socolow, Michael Leonhart (the young Steely Dan trumpeter) and a rotating crew of Brazilian percussionists Nanny Assis, Mauro Refosco and legendary drummer Paulo Braga. His albums, always critics' favorites, have featured collaborations with Brian Eno, Laurie Anderson, Brad Mehldau, Arto Lindsay, Bill Frisell, Marc Ribot, David Byrne and Ryuichi Sakamoto.Though Vinicius pioneered the world of neo-Brazilian music and pushes boundaries with each of his albums, he strives to keep his music beautiful and pure, stating “I try reminding people of Miles Davis and Chet Baker – the music and harmonies are so sweet.”
MR. GREEN'S OPUS
The Songs of David Green with Sebastian Arcelus,
Stephanie J. Block, Sierra Boguss & Matthew Morrison
Monday, July 14 @ 7pm
Music Charge: $25 General Admission; $40 Orchestra
LUCIE ARNAZ
Wednesday, July 16 & Thursday, July 17 - 7pm show
Friday, July 18 and Saturday, July 19 - 8:30pm & 11pm shows
Music Charge: $35 general admission; $50 orchestra
Believe it or not, Lucie Arnaz is celebrating her 40th year in show business. She began her long career in a recurring role on television on The Lucy Show, opposite her mother, Lucille Ball. She has been unstoppable ever since, starring on the big and small screens as well as stages on and off Broadway, releasing solo albums, taking her cabaret act to the road, and co-founding a production company with her husband, Laurence Luckinbill. The NEW YORK POST raves, "Lucie Arnaz is not good- she's great!... She sings like a dream, and is a fabulous saloon singer. Her voice, with its muted trumpet tones and charming trill, is a remarkable instrument". This charismatic Emmy winner and Golden Globe nominee lights up the stage at Birdland once again for four nights!
VALARIE PETTIFORD
Monday, July 21 @ 7pm
Music Charge: $25 General Admission
Valarie Pettiford’s diverse and exciting career began at a young age as a “Fosse Dancer,” working with the late great Bob Fosse. Her credits include FOSSE, SOPHISTICATED LADIES, and WEST SIDE STORY, TV credits such as UPN’s HALF AND HALF and CSI MIAMI, and film credits such as THE WIZ and THE COTTON CLUB, and has recorded and toured with many R&B and Rock in United States and abroad.
TRIO 3
Andrew Cyrille (drums), Reggie Workman (bass) & Oliver Lake (sax) plus special guest Geri Allen (piano)
Wednesday through Saturday, July 23-26 @ 8:30 & 11pm
Music Charge:
$30 General Admission, $40 Orchestra
Experience musical symmetry as three world-renowned musicians, Oliver Lake (reeds) Reggie Workman (bass) and Andrew Cyrille (drums), merge to apply a sparse yet tight, rhythmic concept to the totally open harmonics of the reeds, bass and drums. Noted for their uncanny communication, TRIO 3 covers a broad spectrum, “pushing the envelope" while taking the audience gladly swingin' with them. Along with pianist and producer Geri Allen, who is hailed by the New York Times as “a jazz pianist who dares to follow an unmarked road,” the ensemble is sure to bring a revolutionary avant-garde edge to their foundations in the jazz tradition.
Tituss Burgess
Monday, July 28 @ 7pm
Music Charge: $TBA
Guytunes is the exciting a capella cabaret trio comprised of Nick Blaemire (ALTAR BOYZ), Justin Keyes (THE APPLE TREE) and Jason Michael Snow (PIRATES OF PENZANCE). After selling out a critically acclaimed, extended run at the prestigious Signature Theatre in Arlington, VA The Guytunes made their NYC debut in August of 2007 at Birdland’s ‘Cast Party’, and their "strong, clear voices," "adventurous choice in material" and "sharp stage presence" were a big hit with the Broadway crowd. The Guytunes return to ‘Cast Party’ with fun new material to get the party going.
SAM HARRIS
Wednesday through Saturday July 30-August 2 - 7pm show
Music Charge: $30 general admission, $50 orchestra
Sam's recent role on the CBS comedy, “The Class,” is the latest incarnation of a career than has spanned more than two decades in the public eye and run the gamut from singer/songwriter to stage, film, television actor to writer, producer, director. Sam has worked with many of the legends who influenced him such as Stevie Wonder, Elizabeth Taylor, Elton John, Al Green as well as a long time collaboration and friendship with the great Liza Minnelli. Performing at the White House, making guest appearances on major talk shows, touring with Andrew Lloyd Webber’s "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat," receiving a Drama League Award, and performing at Carnegie Hall are just a few accomplishments this critically acclaimed and multi-talented perfomer has made thus far in his career.
"Birdland, The Jazz Corner of the World" - - Charlie Parker
