Tony Bennett News

Four time Grammy award and eight time Canadian Juno award-winning singer-songwriter k.d. lang and her new band, the Siss Boom Bang, will make a stop along her Sing it Loud tour in Modesto on June 29, 2012 to play at the Gallo Center for the Arts.

Start spreading the news! Big Band Legends, a dazzling new production that honors the great crooners and songbirds from Bing Crosby to Michael Bublé, is entertaining theatregoers of all ages at the Huron Country Playhouse through July 14th.

Feinstein's at Loews Regency continues its Spring 2012 season with the debut of double Grammy Award winning jazz and pop singer Jack Jones through June 30. For the performance, Jones features songs from his Greatest Hits Tour as well as a few gems from his latest album "Love Ballad." Jones is accompanied by Music Director Lou Forestieri on piano, Chris Colangelo on bass, Kendall Kay on drums and New York's acclaimed Houston Person on saxophone. BroadwayWorld brings you photos from the first concert below!

This summer, audiences are invited to visit the Huron Country Playhouse to jump and jive withan original production that swings, scats, stomps, and soars through the most memorable tunes of the greatest crooners and songbirds. The Canadian premiere of Big Band Legends runs for three weeks beginning tonight, June 27th through July 14th.

If the California desert wasn't hot enough this time of year, Grammy Award winning singer k.d. lang & the Siss Boom Bang promise to 'heat up the summer night' when they bring their eclectic, signature musical style to The McCallum Theatre tonight, June 26 at 8:00 pm as part of the Fitz's Jazz Cafe Series. Lang launched her career 25 years ago with a blend of country-rock and a playfully punk-like attitude. With her 1992 Platinum-selling Ingenue, she had fashioned a unique sound and an elegant and impassioned adult contemporary approach that yielded her a Grammy Award, her second, and her biggest career hit, 'Constant Craving.'

Feinstein's at Loews Regency will continue its Spring 2012 season with the debut of double Grammy Award winning jazz and pop singer Jack Jones from tonight, June 26 to June 30. For the performance, Jones will feature songs from his Greatest Hits Tour as well as a few gems from his latest album "Love Ballad." Jones will be accompanied by Music Director Lou Forestieri on piano, Chris Colangelo on bass, Kendall Kay on drums and New York's acclaimed Houston Person on saxophone. The show runs at the Loews Regency Hotel (540 Park Avenue at 61st Street.

On Thursday, three-time Tony Award-winning Broadway composer Richard Adler passed away at the ripe old age of 90. Responsible for two of the biggest Broadway smash hits of the 1950s, THE PAJAMA GAME and GAMN YANKEES, Adler never quite managed to equal his career-high double-hitter of that era, yet his earlier work with Tony Bennett ('Rags To Riches'), Doris Day ('Everybody Loves A Lover') and Marilyn Monroe (the iconic 'Happy Birthday, Mr. President') surely shall solidify his place in the firmament of entertainment history along with his two classic musicals from the Golden Age. Winning both Best Score and Best Musical for both THE PAJAMA GAME and DAMN YANKEES, Adler's partnership with lyricist Jerry Ross - which began on Broadway in 1953 with JOHN MURRAY ANDERSON'S ALMANAC - was tragically cut short just months after the DAMN YANKEES premiere when Ross was diagnosed with lung disease and passed away soon thereafter. Yet, thanks to the beloved film versions of THE PAJAMA GAME and DAMN YANKEES and continued interest in the entities as expressed in the revivals and reappraisals of both onstage from Broadway to Biloxi to Bombay year after year, the snappy, snazzy tunes of Adler and Ross live on eight times a week all around the world - even now, more than fifty years after they premiered. Unfortunately, Adler's subsequent shows with other collaborators post-1955 failed to capture the early magic of his previous projects with Ross and his earlier musical and theatrical endeavors in the pop arena, with the racially charged KWAMINA flopping on Broadway in 1961 (though he took home a Best Composer Tony Award for his efforts anyway) and the awkwardly titled MUSIC IS failing to recreate the magic of its source material, Shakespeare's TWELFTH NIGHT, in 1976. A MOTER'S KISSES, starring Bea Arthur and a young Bernadette Peters, died on the road, as well. In the intervening years, Adler attempted musical adaptations taken from a number of intriguing sources - OF HUMAN BONDAGE and others among them - though only his ballet scores seemed to reach an audience; particularly his last, commissioned for a new production of Lorca's THE HOUSE OF BERNARDA ALBA in 1998. Of course, THE PAJAMA GAME has had two Broadway revivals - most recently the rapturously received Kathleen Marshall-directed production starring Harry Connick, Jr. and Kelli O'Hara; and DAMN YANKEES famously returned to the Great White Way with much ado in 1994 starring Victor Garber. Now seems particularly ripe for remounting YANKEES, as we approach twenty years in its absence - especially given the musical's seriously smashing showing at Encores! in 2007. Who knows, perhaps some risky producer will even take a chance on a new production of KWAMINA, MUSIC IS, A MOTHER'S KISSES or one of the bottom drawer shows someday soon to see if they possess any of the limitless potential shown by Adler's earlier work. Or maybe a stage treatment of his TV musical GIFT OF THE MAGI (originally composed for then-wife Sally Ann Howes)? Or, better yet, how about a revue? What a stupendous songstack Adler created over the course of his career - 'Whatever Lola Wants' to 'Hey There' to 'Hernando's Hideaway' to 'You Gotta Have Heart' to 'Steam Heat' to the aforementioned Bennett, Day and Monroe standards and so many more chestnuts.

Saxophonist Dave Koz is joined by GRAMMY-winner BeBe Winans for an evening of contemporary jazz and R&B, tonight, June 23rd at 8PM at bergenPAC.

A five-time Grammy winner, humanitarian, singer, songwriter, producer and Reggae icon, Ziggy Marley has had a fruitful career, in which he has released twelve albums to much critical acclaim. Don't miss him perform live at bergenPAC, tonight June 21st at 8PM.

This summer, audiences are invited to visit the Huron Country Playhouse to jump and jive withan original production that swings, scats, stomps, and soars through the most memorable tunes of the greatest crooners and songbirds. The Canadian premiere of Big Band Legends runs for three weeks beginning June 27th through July 14th.

More than 25 years ago, retired music executive Joe Smith accomplished a Herculean feat-he got more than 200 celebrated singers, musicians and industry icons to talk about their lives, music, experiences and contemporaries. The Library of Congress announced today that Smith has donated this treasure trove of unedited sound recordings to the nation's library. The list of noted artists and executives is a veritable who's who in the music industry. They include Artie Shaw, Woody Herman, Ella Fitzgerald, Ray Charles, Barbra Streisand, Little Richard, Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Elton John, Paul Simon, David Bowie, Billy Joel, Sting, Tony Bennett, Joan Baez, James Taylor, Dick Clark, Tina Turner, Tom Jones, B. B. King, Quincy Jones, David Geffen, Mickey Hart, Harry Belafonte and many others. All types of popular music are represented-from rock 'n' roll, jazz, rhythm & blues and pop to big-band, heavy metal, folk and country-western.

If the California desert wasn't hot enough this time of year, Grammy Award winning singer k.d. lang & the Siss Boom Bang promise to 'heat up the summer night' when they bring their eclectic, signature musical style to The McCallum Theatre on Tuesday, June 26 at 8:00 pm as part of the Fitz's Jazz Cafe Series. Lang launched her career 25 years ago with a blend of country-rock and a playfully punk-like attitude. With her 1992 Platinum-selling Ingenue, she had fashioned a unique sound and an elegant and impassioned adult contemporary approach that yielded her a Grammy Award, her second, and her biggest career hit, 'Constant Craving.'

BrightSide Theatre wraps up their inaugural season with, "My Way: A Tribute to Frank Sinatra" conceived by David Grapes and Todd Olson and book by Todd Olson. Frank Sinatra is the icon of cool - from classic elegance to contemporary "fedora" hipster. "My Way: A Tribute to Frank Sinatra" celebrates the pivotal moments of Sinatra's life which would solidify his legendary status. The show runs from tonight, June 15, 2012 8 p.m. (reception following) at the Theatre at MeileySwallow Hall, North Central College, 31 S. Ellsworth, Naperville, IL 60540 until Sunday, July 1, 2012. Performances are Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m., and Sundays at 3 p.m.

"Stand By Me," the song written by Leiber & Stoller and Ben E. King will receive the Towering Song Award at the 2012 Songwriters Hall of Fame (SHOF) Gala Event to be held at the Marriott Marquee Hotel in New York City tonight, June 14, 2012, Songwriters Hall of Fame Chairman, Jimmy Webb, announced. Mike Stoller will accept the award along with Ben E. King, who will also be honored with the Towering Performance Award for his performance on the Leiber & Stoller produced recording of "Stand By Me."

FEINSTEIN'S AT LOEWS REGENCY continues its Spring 2012 season with Maude Maggart and her new show "Into The Garden." Inspired by the recent centennial of the Titanic, the evening will focus on landmark events, music, cultural shifts one hundred years ago.

Sony Holland, the acclaimed vocalist who is a longtime San Francisco favorite, will return to The RRazz Room with a series of concerts to welcome her back to the Bay Area. Her all-star band will include Andy Langham on piano, David Hughes on bass, Jerry Holland on guitar and Kendall Kay on drums. Ms. Holland has toured Asia, performed in prestigious jazz festivals and in premier nightclubs such as the Blue Note, Catalina's, the Dakota and many more. Her recent CD Sanssouci (Van Ness, 2010) features Sony backed by an organic trio of acoustic guitar, upright bass and djembe drum.

Cristina Fontanelli, the renowned soprano who recently made her fourth annual performance at the prestigious Feinstein's at The Loews Regency and served as host for PBS television specials starring Andrea Bocelli ( "Live From Central Park"), Il Volo, the Vienna Boys Choir and the Qi ong specials, will perform a benefit concert for the Enrico Caruso Museum tonight, Tuesday, June 5, at 8 PM at the Enrico Caruso Room at Grotta Azzurra Ristorante, 177 Mulberry Street, in historic Little Italy.