Jane Monheit News

Nine-time Grammy winner and seventeen-time Grammy nominee, Janis Siegel, will join Songbook Academy founder, Michael Feinstein, for this one-of-a-kind music and performance intensive for high school students.

?GABRIELLE STRAVELLI - the celebrated pop/jazz vocalist and songwriter called an "outstanding singer" by The Wall Street Journal and "hotter than the equator" by The Village Voice - will introduce a new evening celebrating the legendary songwriters Johnny Mercer and Hoagy Carmichael at Kitano Jazz (66 Park Avenue at 38th Street) on Wednesday, July 13 with sets at 8:00 PM and 10:00 PM. In addition to well-known standards by Mercer ("Dream") and Carmichael ("Stardust") and compositions they wrote together ("Skylark," "In The Cool Cool Cool of the Evening"), the show includes collaborations with other composers and lyricists. The evening also features rare material by the pair from their Broadway Show I Walk With Music and movies from the 1950s and 60s. She will be joined by Art Hirahara on piano, Pat O'Leary on bass and Eric Halvorson on drums.

Celebrated vocalist Julie Benko, stepping off the Broadway stage where she appears in Fiddler on the Roof, returns to the Cornelia Street Cafe on Sunday, July 31st at 8:30PM to present an evening of jazz. She is backed by a virtuosic sextet including Jason Yeager (piano), Danny Weller (bass), Jay Sawyer (drums), Andy Warren (trumpet), Kenny Pexton (reeds), and Walter Harris (trombone).

Coming up at The Iridium are: NYC's all-women blues band JANE LEE HOOKER on July 23; ELLEN KAYE with UK guitarist PAUL ROSE and Ethan Fein and the LiveIt!LIVE Band on July 26; VERNON REID POWER TRIO on July 29; and soul singer/songwriter/guitarist RAUL MIDON on September 24 & 25. Scroll down for details!

SPARKLE & CIRCULATE with JUSTIN SAYRE - the official monthly podcast of the International Order of Sodomites - has posted its new episode, which features an interview with Robert W. Richards.

?Acclaimed vocalist GABRIELLE STRAVELLI and celebrated jazz pianist MICHAEL KANAN will release the powerfully intimate new duet recording Stairway to the Stars on June 24. The album is currently available in digital formats. Stairway to the Stars is produced by Gabrielle Stravelli and Pat O'Leary. 

Summer in the city begins on July 4th, Louis Armstrong's traditional birthday, when the Louis Armstrong House Museum kicks off its signature summer concert series Hot Jazz / Cool Garden - now in its 10th year. For three days this summer, hot jazz is served up with red beans 'n' rice in the Armstrongs' Japanese-inspired garden. Birthday cake will be served on July 4th and Hot Jazz / Cool Garden series subscribers will enjoy a soul food luncheon too. It's a wonderful world at the Louis Armstrong House Museum.

Erin Markey, Josh Sharp, April Kidwell, Michael Cyril Creighton and Phillip Taratula will join the cast of the sixth annual "Night Of A Thousand Judys" - the Pride concert to benefit The Ali Forney Center presented by The Meeting* hosted by Justin Sayre. The event will take place at Merkin Concert Hall at the Kaufman Center (129 West 67th Street in Manhattan) on Monday, June 6.

Barrett Foa and Marissa Mulder will join Annie Golden, Lillias White, Alice Ripley, Nathan Lee Graham, Vivian Reed, Lady Rizo,Gay Marshall, Carol Lipnik, Rob Maitner, Gabrielle Stravelli, T. Oliver Reid and Nadia Quinn & Ahna O'Reilly with the Playbillies to headline the sixth annual 'Night Of A Thousand Judys' - the Pride concert to benefit The Ali Forney Center presented by The Meeting* hosted by Justin Sayre.

Tony Award nominee Jarrod Spector (Beautiful: The Carole King Musical) will join Songbook Academy founder, Michael Feinstein, for this one-of-a-kind music and performance intensive for high school students.

THE MEETING* hosted by Justin Sayre, the acclaimed comedy/variety show, will return to Joe's Pub at The Public Theater to conclude its Spring 2016 season on Sunday, May 22 at 7:00 PM. The May show will honor the beloved late superstar Prince, with music director Tracy Stark leading a four-piece band and special musical guests Tony DeSare, Bridget Barkan, Michael Cavadias, Mark Aaron James and Ali Grieb.

Lillias White, Annie Golden, T. Oliver Reid, Lady Rizo, Vivian Reed, and Nadia Quinn & Ahna O'Reilly with the Playbillies will join the previously announced headliners Alice Ripley, Nathan Lee Graham, Gay Marshall, Carol Lipnik, Rob Maitner and Gabrielle Stravelli for the sixth annual "Night Of A Thousand Judys" - the Pride concert to benefit The Ali Forney Center presented by The Meeting* hosted by Justin Sayre. The event will take place at Merkin Concert Hall at the Kaufman Center (129 West 67th Street in Manhattan) on Monday, June 6.

The Meeting* hosted by Justin Sayre, the acclaimed comedy/variety show, will return  to OASIS (298 Eleventh Street, San Francisco CA) on Saturday, May 28 at 7:00 PM after three packed shows last year. The Meeting* has been called "delicious and delightfully droll" by The New York Post and "hilarious and sardonic" by The Village Voice. A story for Slate.com called the evening "so deliciously icy that it left me shivering with fear and delight." The New York run of The Meeting* - currently running monthly at Joe's Pub at The Public Theater - has been sold out since the New York Times "Arts & Leisure" piece ran last September. Tickets are $20 and are available at SFOasis.com.

My association with Scott Dreier dates back to a cabaret for his first album named aptly Scott Dreier.  I was exceedingly impressed with his fine voice, boyish charm and affability.Then followed his show Doris and Me, which I reviewed once in Escondido and later in Los Angeles. The show about Doris Day and his love for her went beyond what I would call an ordinary cabaret presentation. He literally blew me away. It is really two shows in one: a biography of Doris's career told through the songs she made famous and then a semi-biography of Dreier, who grew up from a young age loving Doris Day, her songs, and her movies. It is the second show that makes it all work so beautifully, because, as fans of Doris Day, we see and appreciate the effects that her persona has had on all of us. As an individual Scott Dreier is expressing what we all feel, that intense love and admiration for one of the greatest screen legends of all time.

Alice Ripley, Nathan Lee Graham, Gay Marshall, Carol Lipnik, Rob Maitner and Gabrielle Stravelli have joined the cast of the sixth annual "Night Of A Thousand Judys" - the Pride concert to benefit The Ali Forney Center presented by The Meeting* hosted by Justin Sayre. The event will take place at Merkin Concert Hall at the Kaufman Center (129 West 67th Street in Manhattan) on Monday, June 6.

SPARKLE & CIRCULATE with JUSTIN SAYRE -- the official monthly podcast of the International Order of Sodomites - has posted its new episode, which features an interview with 'RuPaul's Drag Race' star Alaska 5000, who discusses her time on the hit Logo TV reality show, her debut album and the current 'Battle of the Seasons' tour.

The Carlyle, a Rosewood Hotel, will welcome Jim Caruso & Billy Stritch to Bemelmans Bar for a Sunday night residency throughout the spring 2016 season. Featuring top artists from the worlds of jazz, cabaret and Broadway alongside special unannounced guests, Sunday nights at Bemelmans Bar have become a favorite spot for a wide range of performing musicians across the city. Additionally, the classic watering hole has drawn crowds consisting of socialites, politicians, movie stars and moguls for more than five decades.

SPARKLE & CIRCULATE with JUSTIN SAYRE - the official monthly podcast of the International Order of Sodomites - has posted its new episode, which features an interview with author Michael Schulman who discusses his new book "Her Again: Becoming Meryl Streep." He also talks about his work in The New York Times and "You Like Me," the annual evening of acceptance speeches he co-produces in New York. Also, Justin muses on gays and their favorite iconic divas. The show is available on iTunes here.  

Gabrielle Stravelli -- the celebrated pop/jazz vocalist and songwriter called an "outstanding singer" by The Wall Street Journal and "hotter than the equator" by The Village Voice --will preview her new Willie Nelson tribute at Birdland Jazz Club (315 West 44th Street) on Monday, April 11 at 7:00 PM.

Vocalist Jane Monheit had long thought about recording an Ella tribute. Fitzgerald's beloved songbook albums held “Biblical” importance for her when she was growing up and have never lost their hold on her.