Andy Karl and Brandon Victor Dixon will join Champian Fulton and Catherine Russell.
Broadway's Andy Karl (Groundhog Day, On the Twentieth Century) and Brandon Victor Dixon (The Color Purple, Hell's Kitchen) will join jazz artists Champian Fulton and Catherine Russell for "Louis Armstrong: A Celebration of the Father of Jazz" on February 24.
Music will be provided by an all-star band featuring Adam Birnbaum on piano and Alphonso Horne on trumpet. The evening of music and song will take place at 7 PM at The Sylvia and Danny Kaye Playhouse at Hunter College. Tickets are on sale now.
Andy Karl made his Broadway debut in Saturday Night Fever. Since then, he has appeared in Groundhog Day (Olivier, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle winner and Tony nominee), Rocky (Tony nomination), On the Twentieth Century (Tony nomination), Pretty Woman, Legally Blonde, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, 9 to 5, Pretty Woman, The Wedding Singer, Jersey Boys, Wicked, and Moulin Rouge.
Brandon Victor Dixon has played Aaron Burr in Hamilton, Harpo in The Color Purple (Tony nomination), Berry Gordy Jr. in Motown: The Musical (Grammy nomination), Haywood Patterson in The Scottsboro Boys (Drama Desk, Lucille Lortell, Outer Critics Circle, Drama League and Olivier nominations), and Davis in Hell's Kitchen (Tony nomination, Grammy winner). He appeared in the televised productions of Rent and the Emmy-nominated Jesus Christ Superstar. His producing credits include Tony Award-winner Hedwig and the Angry Inch.
Champian Fulton, as a jazz pianist and vocalist, has released 19 albums and has performed in more than 25 countries. She has been recognized with numerous awards, including Album of the Year in the NYC Jazz Record (2018, 2020, 2023) and Pianist and Vocalist of the Year (2019) by Hot House Magazine. In addition to jazz festivals, she has performed at Jazz at Lincoln Center, the Carlyle Hotel, the Jazz Corner, and Birdland, where she is a regular artist.
Catherine Russell carries on a rich jazz tradition practiced by her father, pianist and composer Luis Russell, the collaborator and musical director for Louis Armstrong. Over her career, Russell has recorded or performed with numerous artists, including David Bowie, Paul Simon, Rosanne Cash, Levon Helm, and Steely Dan. As a solo artist, she has recorded nine albums, including her most recent, My Ideal, a collaboration with Sean Mason, which was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal, her fourth nomination. She won a Grammy for her contribution to the soundtrack for the HBO series Boardwalk Empire.
The evening is meant to celebrate the enduring legacy of Louis Armstrong as well as the success of the recently published Stomp Off, Let's Go, an Armstrong biography by two-time-Grammy-winner Ricky Riccardi.
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