Lincoln Center's American Songbook Enters Week Three

Lincoln Center's acclaimed series American Songbook enters Week Three of its twelfth season celebrating the diversity of American popular song. On February 17th the elegant jazz songstress Dee Dee Bridgewater (above, left) will pay tribute to the emotionally-charged Billie Holiday. The
following night, February 18th, belongs to Nellie McKay (above, middle), who is honoring the
quintessentially American singing of Doris Day. On February 19th Songbook takes an abrupt turn with Dirty Projectors, one of the most critically acclaimed rock groups to come on the scene. They will perform music from "The Getty Address", an animated opera about Don Henley. The week closes out on February 20th with the great Leslie Uggams (above, right), a dynamic singer/actress who blazed a trail for African-American women in television and on stage.

American Songbook is presented in the spectacular Allen Room of Frederick P. Rose Hall.
The Allen Room possesses one of New York's greatest settings - a stunning vista of Central Park and the Manhattan skyline that provides an evocative backdrop for the performers.

Sponsored by Pfizer

TICKETS can be purchased online at Lincoln Center's website AmericanSongbook.org, via
CenterCharge at 212-721-6500, at the Avery Fisher Hall Box Office, or at the Frederick P. Rose Hall Box Office.

Lincoln Center's American Songbook 2010 Season Week Three February 17 - 20, 2010 The
Allen Room, Frederick P. Rose Hall, Broadway at 60th Street

Wednesday, February 17, 2010, 8:30 pm: Dee Dee Bridgewater: To Billie with Love -
A Celebration of Lady Day Dee Dee Bridgewater is American jazz royalty. A two-time Grammy winner, she has sung in concert and in recordings with Sonny Rollins, Max Roach, Dizzy Gillespie, Stanley Clarke and Dexter Gordon among other jazz giants, and she counts Ella Fitzgerald as her greatest artistic inspiration. While some can hear Ella in the way she scats and swings, the way Bridgewater acts each lyric is uniquely her own. That she has been a huge success in musicals is no surprise, and she won a Tony for The Wiz and nominated for an Olivier for Lady Day, along with critical acclaim for roles in Sophisticated Ladies and Cabaret. Her thrilling theatricality, beauty and
musicianship carry the day. In this evening of song, Bridgewater will perform songs from her new CD, Eleanora Fagan (1917-1959): To Billie with Love from Dee Dee.

Thursday, February 18, 2010, 8:30 pm: Nellie McKay As a songwriter Nellie McKay is critically acclaimed for her genre-crossing compositions, brilliant wordplay and terrific melodies. She has made two critically acclaimed albums of original songs, and she won a Theater World Award for her portrayal of Polly Peachum in the Broadway production of Threepenny Opera. For her new CD McKay is doing something different: Normal as Blueberry Pie - A Tribute to Doris Day. The songs - produced, arranged and performed by McKay - are from the 1940s big band era through to Day's later film career. McKay interprets a selection of songs drawn from more than 600 of Day's recordings and finds the reservoirs of deep feeling behind the sunny smile.

Friday, February 19, 2009, 8:30 pm: DIRTY PROJECTORS Six LPs in and Dirty Projectors still defies categorization. Described as everything from "New England soul music" to "completely strange and oddly familiar at the same time," the Brooklyn-based band plays experimental rock that references everything from Congolese music to medieval antiphonal singing, synthesizing them into
something altogether new. The group, whose collaborators include Bjork and David Byrne, is led by David Longstreth, whose soaring vocals are paired with intricate guitar work, tight harmonies and more than a dose of genius.

Saturday, February 20, 2010, 8:30 and 10:30 pm: Leslie Uggams Uggams has been captivating audiences of stage, screen and TV since her debut at the age of 6. As a child she opened for acts
including Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald and Dinah Washington at the Apollo Theater, then appeared at age 15 on Name That Tune on television, catching the eye of Mitch Miller. Impressed
with her vocal ability, Miller put her on Sing Along with Mitch and she entered American pop culture history, becoming the first African-American to be a regular on a national, prime-time series. Uggams went on to Broadway, earning a Tony for Hallelujah, Baby! and accolades for her work in On Golden Pond, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Anything Goes and King Hedley II. She had her own musical variety show on CBS in 1970, was Emmy-nominated for her role as Kizzy in Roots, won an Emmy for her show "Fantasy" on NBC, and appeared in numerous feature films. Uggams has not stopped- she tours the country appearing with major symphony orchestras and records in
her splendid voice, most recently On My Way to You - The Songs of Marilyn and Alan Bergman.