Charlie Parker News

'Piano Cinema is how I describe my genre of music. It's equally a balance of improvisations and well thought-out compositions. Some pieces were composed and constantly reworked.  While others, like 'The Magic Hour', were completely improvised. My goal is to share this vision with the world.'  

Another all-star cast has been assembled for the third concert in this landmark 18th season of Town Hall's signature series, Broadway by the Year. The next concert in the series is on May 21st at 8pm & will star Tony-nominee Carolee Carmello, 4-time Grammy-winner John Easterlin, Drama Desk nominee Cheryl Freeman, Luke Grooms (Jerry Springer: The Opera), Douglas Ladnier (Jekyll & Hyde), Maxine Linehan (South Pacific), Kyle Selig (Mean Girls), Oakley Boycott (Bells Are Ringing), Joshua Israel (Annie) and more to be announced soon!

Jack Kleinsinger's Highlights In Jazz closes its 46thseason with a tribute to lauded jazz guitarist Russell Malone. A mainstay on the Manhattan music scene since the 1980s, as well as a regular at international festivals and concert halls, Russell has attracted critical and fan recognition for his work as an accomplished leader and in-demand sideman. 

It's a month of legends at Blue Note Hawaii with the Godfather of British Blues John Mayall, one of the most celebrated vocalists of our time, Dionne Warwick, and the band of reggae legend Bob Marley, The Wailers, all gracing the stage this May at Blue Note Hawaii. Local favorite Leipono kick us off on May Day, followed by Kuana Torres Kahele in his tribute to the island of Maui featuring Amy Hanaiali'i. Mike Lewis & Friends promise to bring the house down in a tribute to the music of Prince featuring sultry songstress Ginai. There's a night of Hawaii Jazz All Stars with Josh Kaye and Mike Lewis, welcoming some of the island's best jazz musicians. The Island 98.5 Rocksteady Reggae Series continues this month with the formidable Wailing Souls and The Wailers. Celebrate Mother's Day weekend with ukulele master Jake Shimabukuro, and the incomparable Willie K returns to the stage. Musical tributes this month from Mike Lewis & Friends include Thelonious Monk, Chuck Mangione, Chet Baker and Sade and Josh Kaye & Friends will pay homage to the great Aretha Franklin featuring vocalist Sherry Graham. The Honolulu Jazz Quartet will present a tribute to Broadway Classics with a jazz twist

It's a month of legends at Blue Note Hawaii with the Godfather of British Blues John Mayall, one of the most celebrated vocalists of our time, Dionne Warwick, and the band of reggae legend Bob Marley, The Wailers, all gracing the stage this May at Blue Note Hawaii.

Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts is proud to announce the performers and arts activity partners for the fifth annual Future Stages Festival. This free community event will be held at the Kauffman Center and will highlight diverse youth performing arts groups from the KC Metro area by giving them a chance to perform on the Center's stages. 

In the annals of jazz history, few events have been more influential than the Jazz at the Philharmonic concert series, and the album series of the same name. From 1944 to 1957, pioneering impresario, Verve Records founder, Norman Granz organized a series of prestigious all-star concerts that featured a who's-who of the genre's most popular and influential artists. These shows were instrumental in raising jazz's public profile, and were among the first high-profile performances to feature racially mixed bands performing for integrated audiences.

When tenor Lawrence Brownlee--he of the sweet, cultured tones and ringing high Cs--was first asked to put a recital together by Carnegie Hall, he chose Robert Schumann's “Dichterliebe (A Poet's Love),” the song cycle about rapture, disillusionment and regret as the centerpiece. But in filling out the program, he turned to something very different--a work, in fact, that hadn't been written yet, reflecting his life as a black man in America: “Cycles of My Being” by composer Tyshawn Sorey and poet/lyricist Terrance Hayes.

Lyric Opera of Chicago and the Chicago Urban League's collaborative program, EmpowerYouth! Igniting Creativity through the Arts, is excited to present Empower, an original opera developed with local African-American high-school students. Tickets are $10-20 and are available here for the one-night-only performance, which will take place Thursday, May 31 at 7:00pm at the Lyric Opera House. 

City Parks Foundation is thrilled to announce the 2018 season of SummerStage, New York City's largest free outdoor performing arts festival, bringing more than 100 performances to Central Park and 17 neighborhood parks throughout the five boroughs. This year's festival, presented by Capital One, will showcase over 200 unique artists hailing from New York City and around the globe, performing shows across a diversity of genres and disciplines, including indie-rock, hip-hop, Latin, jazz, R&B, salsa, opera, contemporary dance, and spoken word.

OneTrickDog* Records is pleased to announce release of Meshugenah, violinist Benjamin Sutin's second album of Klezmer-inspired contemporary music with Klazz-Ma-Tazz on June 15, 2018. Klazz' 2016 debut album, Tangibility, has been described as “one of the year's best.” Like the earlier album, Meshugenah is “part noir jazz, part Klezmer, part Balkan and Middle Eastern,” and “astonishingly original.” (Music Daily). The tracks include both originals and re-inventions of iconic Yiddish vaudeville tunes, and reflect Sutin's effort to “do with this repertoire what Charlie Parker and John Coltrane did with Broadway songs, establish a new Great American Song Book.” The tracks re-imagine the music of Sutin's childhood in a contemporary mode, borrowing from varied folk traditions as well as from contemporary jazz, rock and funk. Ultimately, however, they are linked by an exploration of what Sutin calls the search for nostalgia and novelty. 

First Unity announces the launch of ARTS46/4. Named for First Unity's location on 46th Avenue and 4th Street North in St. Petersburg, ARTS46/4 is an independent-yet-integrated venue / producing partner to bridge the Arts community with First Unity Spiritual Campus.  In April, ARTS46/4 will kick-off with a five month arts initiative, which includes both a dedicated Arts component in all the Sunday services, and producing a series of public special events featuring well-known members of Tampa Bay's thriving Arts community.      

Betsy Wolfe (Falsettos, Waitress), Eddie Korbich (A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder, The Drowsy Chaperone), Sal Viviano (The Full Monty, The Life), Olivier Award winner Lesli Margherita who has won fans across the length and breadth of Broadway with her starring roles in Matilda & Dames at Sea, Tony Yazbeck (Tony Award nominee for On the Town), Jenny Lee Stern (Rocky: The Musical & Spamilton), and Mia Gerachis (Jekyll & Hyde) performed at Broadway by the Year at Town Hall on March 26th at 8pm.

Betsy Wolfe (Falsettos, Waitress), Eddie Korbich (A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder, The Drowsy Chaperone) & Sal Viviano (The Full Monty, The Life) have been added to Broadway by the Year at Town Hall on March 26th at 8pm which will also star Olivier Award winner Lesli Margherita who has won fans across the length and breadth of Broadway with her starring roles in Matilda & Dames at Sea, Tony Yazbeck (Tony Award nominee for On the Town), Jenny Lee Stern (Rocky: The Musical & Spamilton), and Mia Gerachis (Jekyll & Hyde).

When Opera Philadelphia's inaugural Festival O launched the present season, the opera world responded with a standing ovation, welcoming it as 'one of the most enjoyable additions to the fall calendar in years'

When Opera Philadelphia's inaugural Festival O launched the present season, the opera world responded with a standing ovation, welcoming it as "one of the most enjoyable additions to the fall calendar in years"

On Friday, April 13, 2018, at 8 PM, Da Camera of Houston presents the Brad Mehldau Trio. This performance-the jazz pianist's long-awaited Houston debut- takes place at the Cullen Performance Hall on the University of Houston campus.

Taking over York city centre for the fourth year running, The Great Yorkshire Fringe promises exciting theatre and comedy to entertain the whole family, plus world food and craft beer galore. Spread over eleven days, the 2018 festival will take place in the heart of York, transforming Parliament Street into a village green with the spectacular White Rose Rotunda and Turn Pot Spiegeltents, as well as hosting events at the stunning Grand Opera House and pop up venues throughout the city.

The Highlights In Jazz 46th Season continues Thursday, March 22, 2018, at 8 P.M., when The Millennials Meet The Masters.

Da Camera of Houston brings Mingus Big Band, with Houston natives Helen Sung, piano and Frank Lacy, trombone, to the Cullen Performance Hall on the University of Houston campus on Saturday, March 24, 2018, at 8 PM. This critically acclaimed jazz collective celebrates the music of legendary composer and bassist Charles Mingus (1922-1979).