AFTER MIDNIGHT's 'Jazz at Lincoln Center All-Stars' Musician Roster Announed

Producers Scott Sanders and Wynton Marsalis have announced the roster of musicians who will form the Jazz at Lincoln Center All-Stars and play nightly on Broadway in the new musical After Midnight. Hand-picked by Marsalis, Jazz at Lincoln Center's nine-time Grammy and Pulitzer Prize Award-winning Artistic Director, the band includes 17 of the finest soloists and ensemble players in the music world today. Directed and choreographed by Warren Carlyle, After Midnight begins preview performances at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre (256 West 47th Street) on Friday, October 18, 2013 with an official opening night set for Sunday, November 3, 2013.

Steeped in the tradition of The Duke Ellington Orchestra, The Jazz at Lincoln Center All-Stars include 17 world-class soloists, ensemble players and composers ranging in age from 25 to 57. Individually, they have performed alongside music's greatest artists of past and present including Count Basie, Cab Calloway, Ella Fitzgerald, BB King, Tony Bennett, Aretha Franklin, Alicia Keys, Jay-Z and the legendary Ellington, himself. All career jazz artists, many have composed for television, feature films and fine arts and lead award-winning orchestras of their own, performing at prestigious International Jazz Festivals in Japan, London, Germany, Canada, Italy, and beyond.

The Jazz at Lincoln Center All-Stars will include Mark Gross, Godwin Louis, Daniel Block, Andrew Farber and Kurt Bacher on woodwinds; Gregory Gisbert, Bruce Harris, Alfonso Horne and James Zollar on trumpets; Wayne Goodman, Arthur Baron and James Burton III on trombones; Adam Birnbaum on piano; James Chirillo on guitar; Jennifer Vincent on bass and Alvester Garnett on drums.

The Jazz at Lincoln Center All-Stars will celebrate jazz's large-ensemble tradition in a way never-before-heard on Broadway as they perform a vast repertoire of Duke Ellington's original arrangements. After Midnight will explode with masterpieces by the greatest jazz composers of the time, including Jimmy McHugh and Dorothy Fields ("I Can't Give You Anything But Love" and "Digga Digga Doo"), a young Harold Arlen ("Stormy Weather," "I've Got the World on a String," "Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea,"), and of course, the legendary Duke Ellington ("Rockin' in Rhythm," "Cotton Club Stomp," "Black and Tan Fantasy," and "Creole Love Call").

The evocative After Midnight will take the sexy, smoky glamour of the original Jazz Age and catapult it into a whole new era of heart-pounding, mind-blowing entertainment for modern Broadway audiences. Refracted through a contemporary lens, After Midnight will celebrate Duke Ellington'syears at the Cotton Club using his original arrangements and performed by a world-class big band of 17 musicians hand-picked by living jazz legend,Wynton Marsalis. The timeless tunes set against a narrative of Langston Hughes poetry will provide an authentic backdrop for an array of cutting-edge performances by 25 sensational vocalists and dancers, including special guest stars, whose interpretations will shatter everything you think you know about music, nightlife and Broadway.

The cast of After Midnight includes Grammy Award-winning "Special Guest Star" Fantasia; Dulé Hill, who will lead the audience through the heat and glamour of the Harlem Renaissance as "The Host"; Tony Award-winner Adriane Lenox reprising her critically acclaimed role as the blues singer with a sense of humor; Julius "Iglide" Chisolm from the renowned dance crew RemoteKontrol, reimagining Harlem's popular 1920's "snakehips" dance; hip hop star Virgil J. Gadson; Tony Award-nominated modern dancer Karine Plantadit; Michael Jackson's tap coach Dormeshia Sumbry-Edwards and tap-dancing choreographer Jared Grimes in stunning tap routines. The cast will also include a male quartet comprised of Grammy Award-nominee and member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band Everett Bradley, Cedric Neal, T. Oliver Reid and Monroe Kent III; a female trio of Broadway vets including Carmen Ruby Floyd, Rosena M. Hill Jackson and Bryonha Marie Parham; and accomplished dancersMarija Abney, Phillip Attmore, Christopher Broughton, Taeler Elyse Cyrus, C.K. Edwards, Danielle Herbert, Bahiyah Hibah, David Jennings, Erin N. Moore, Justin Prescott, Tony Award nominee Desmond Richardson, Allysa Shorte, Monique Smith and Daniel J. Watts.

As previously announced, After Midnight will reintroduce the Cotton Club's exciting tradition of welcoming the stars of today in limited engagements throughout the musical's run. Following Fantasia, "Special Guest Stars" will include Grammy winners k.d. lang (2/11/14 - 3/9/14) and Toni Braxton and Kenny "Babyface" Edmonds (3/18/14 - 3/30/14).

After Midnight is a new production of Cotton Club Parade which played two smash-hit, sold-out engagements at City Center. Conceived by Jack Viertel, After Midnight features direction and choreography by Warren Carlyle, musical direction by Wynton Marsalis and musical supervision by Daryl Waters.

The design team for After Midnight will include prolific design couple Isabel Toledo (costumes) and Ruben Toledo, Tony Award-winners John Lee Beatty (set design), Howell Binkley (lighting design) and Peter Hylenski (sound).

After Midnight is produced by Scott Sanders Productions, and Wynton Marsalis, in association with Marks-Moore-Turnbull Group; Stephen and Ruth Hendel; Tom Kirdahy.

The performance schedule for After Midnight will be as follows: October 18 through November 3, 2013: Mondays through Saturdays at 8 p.m. with matinee performances on Wednesdays and Saturdays at 2 p.m. There will not be a performance on Thursday, October 31 and curtain will be at 6:30 p.m. on Sunday, November 3 (opening night). Beginning November 5, 2013: Tuesdays through Thursdays at 7:30 pm, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 pm, and matinee performances on Wednesdays and Saturdays at 2 pm and Sundays at 3 pm. Tickets range from $60.00 to $142.00 (premium tickets will be available for $199). Tickets for groups of 12 or more can be purchased by calling 212-239-6262 or 800-432-7780 or by visiting http://groups.telecharge.com.