Esperanza Spalding News

Superstar John Legend dropped by KCRW to talk with KCRW DJ Eric J. Lawrence about his love for Christmas music. Legend's conversation and guest DJ set, during which he shares some of his favorite holiday tunes, airs Tuesday, December 24, at 10AM, on the station's flagship music program, Morning Becomes Eclectic. 

Recording Academy® President/CEO Deborah Dugan alongside Academy Chair of the Board of Trustees and renowned record producer Harvey Mason Jr., as well as GRAMMY Awards® host Alicia Keys and past two-time GRAMMY® nominee Bebe Rexha, today revealed nominees for the 62nd GRAMMY Awards in select categories. This year's nominees reflect a melting pot of artistic innovation that defined the year in music, showcasing the unparalleled craftsmanship of established artists and the industry-shifting impact of rising music creators. Leading nominees Lizzo (8), Billie Eilish (6) and Lil Nas X (6) not only topped the charts but ignited a cultural conversation around their genre-bending hits. As the only peer-selected music award, the GRAMMY Awards are voted on by the Recoding Academy's membership body of music makers, who represent all genres and creative disciplines, including recording artists, songwriters, producers, mixers and engineers.

On Saturday, December 7, 2019 at 8:00 p.m., jazz supergroup Artemis make their Carnegie Hall debut in Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage. Each renowned for their outstanding solo work, these powerhouse musicians including Cécile McLorin Salvant (Vocals), Renee Rosnes (Music Director and Piano), Anat Cohen (Clarinet and Bass Clarinet), Melissa Aldana (Tenor Saxophone), Ingrid Jensen (Trumpet), Noriko Ueda (Bass), and Allison Miller (Drums) captivate audiences with bold new arrangements of classics by The Beatles to Thelonious Monk, as well as strikingly original compositions by the group's members.

Five-time Grammy Award winner and preeminent Jazz vocalist Dianne Reeves brings her unique Jazz and R&B stylings to Yuletide favorites in Christmas Time is Here, presented at SOPAC on Saturday, December 7 at 8 p.m.

Leslie Odom, Jr. ascended to international fame by originating the role of 'Arron Burr' in the hit musical HAMILTON and won a Tony for Best Actor in a Musical in 2016. He will be joining the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra for a one night only concert, Nov. 1, 2019. Coincidentally, that is also the date of the film HARRIET opens in which he has a leading role. On November 8 his newest album will be released.

Singer Lynn Henderson will reprise her performance of A Skitch in Time: My Friendship with Maestro Skitch Henderson, on Nov. 2nd at Don't Tell Mama, at 4pm. A Skitch in Time tributes the New York Pops founder who built the Pops from an idea to a beloved international institution. Lynn Henderson and Skitch were not related a?" they shared a surname and admiration of the Great American Songbook. After bonding over music at a benefit in their Connecticut town,

This November, Julia Nunes and Elizabeth and The Catapult have set a run of east coast co-headlining dates for their The Holidays CAN Be Fun Tour with special guest Chase Burnett. The tour kicks off at New York City's Le Poisson Rouge on November 12th and runs through Thanksgiving week, wrapping at Subterranean in Chicago on November 22nd. Tickets for all shows are on-sale now and can be found at www.julianunes.com & www.elizabethandthecatapult.com.

New York Butoh Institute presents the New York Butoh Institute Festival 19 from Thursday, October 10 through Sunday, October 27, 2019 at Theater for the New City. This year will mark the 60th anniversary of the Japanese performance art form butoh.

 Music and photography share a common nexus for experiencing feeling and are linked in contextualizing human emotion. During a five-year project led by photographer Richard Ehrlich, these two art forms came together in a unique and moving way and aimed to redefine the profound and transcendent influence music has on human emotion through facial expression. Ehrlich accomplished this by capturing close-up facial expressions of artists listening to their favorite songs as seen in his photography book Face The Music published by Steidl. To showcase these portraits, the GRAMMY Museum®proudly announces Face The Music, a new photography exhibit showcasing 41 legendary musicians including Dee Dee Bridgewater, Michael Bublé, Kenny Burrell, Sheryl Crow, Gustavo Dudamel, Quincy Jones, Iggy Pop, RZA, Esperanza Spalding, Ringo Starr, and many more. The exhibit will open to the public on Sept. 12 and will run through Jan. 6, 2020.

Birdland will kick-off their great week of programming with the following acts:

Deonté L. Warren is known for singing soul, gospel, and contemporary music theatre with his powerful, expansive, fully immersive sound. In a?oeA Simple Song,a?? Deonté brings all the things we love about his sound to the worlds of jazz and legit music theatre, backed by his friend and music director Eric Fotre Leach on piano and featuring double bass, cello and percussion. a?oeA Simple Songa?? will feature songs by Esperanza Spalding, Georgia Stitt, Leonard Bernstein, and Stephen Sondheim as well as songs made famous by Celine Dion, Barbara Streisand and many more. Come celebrate life and love in this intimate musical setting.

The Eli and Edythe Broad Stage in Santa Monica presents the return of pianist Joey Alexander, with his trio, on Sunday, September 22 at 7:30pm.  Alexander took the jazz world by storm as a self-taught concert pianist at the age of 10. Now in his teens, the bona fide star returns for a sensational evening of technical prowess. Hear astute, original compositions and unique covers from a true phenomenon. He will perform material from his 2017 release Eclipse in addition to new compositions.

With more than 1,000 artists and more than 500 free events in three new sunlit pavilions and more than 130,000 square feet of new landscaped green space at the nation's cultural capital, the REACH opens its doors in exactly one month's time with 16 full days of creativity in action, providing artists and audiences with the opportunity to experience art as never before. Marking the first expansion at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in its 48-year history, the REACH welcomes the public with an inclusive, multi-genre, multidisciplinary Opening Festival on September 7a?"22. See the video trailer here.

“Feels Like Home,” a soulful country ballad written by Yamaha Artist and saxophonist Grace Kelly has been named “Song of the Year” in the annual John Lennon Songwriting Contest.

Award-winning, Brooklyn-based 'silly jazz' singer Camille Harris returns for her fourth release with a team of brilliant jazz players who are in perfect sync with her own blazing vocal and instrumental talents. Camille's wildly creative new album, Baby on the Subway, is set for release on September 13, 2019.

More artists and activities have been added to the REACH Opening Festival, the free 16-day celebration highlighting the many and varied ways that the Kennedy Center's newly expanded campus will connect, inspire, and engage audiences and artists. Please see below for an updated artist roster, and visit https:cms.kennedy-center.orgfestivalsreach for additional information.

Birdland will kick-off their exciting month of programming with John Pizzarelli: A Tribute to Benny Goodman, Dee Dee Bridgewater, David Matthews Trio, The Count Basie Orchestra, Charlie Parker Birthday Celebration, Chris Byars Original Sextet, Nicki Parrott, Gunhild Carling, Ken Peplowski and Diego Figueiredo, Birdography: Celebrating Charlie Parker, Lorin Cohen, Sam Behr, Laila Biali, Carole J. Bufford, The Lineup with Susie Mosher, Jim Caruso's Cast Party, and more!

George Wein is known the world over as producer and co-founder of the Newport Jazz and Folk Festivals, but it is playing the piano that first stole his heart nearly nine decades ago. Newport Festivals Foundation (NFF) will present George Wein in One More Once, a free Bridgefest concert in celebration of his life as a musician and his love for Newport, on Thursday, August 1, 6:30 pm, on the Quad Stage at Fort Adams State Park.

More artists and activities have been added to the REACH Opening Festival, the free 16-day celebration highlighting the many and varied ways that the Kennedy Center's newly expanded campus will connect, inspire, and engage audiences and artists.

Birdland will kick-off their great week of programming with Veronica Swift with the Emmet Cohen Trio, Nancy Kelly, Eve Marie Shahoian, and more!