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2006 Tanglewood Jazz Festival has many Broadway Ties

By: Sep. 01, 2006
 Highlighting this year's festival include Dr. John, Wynton Marsalis, Elvis Costello, Dave Brubeck, Ann Hampton Callaway, Irma Thomas, Catherine Russell, the Dizzy Gillespie All-Star Big Band, The Big Three Palladium Orchestra, The Spanish Harlem Orchestra, and Marian McPartland.

Opening the festival Friday, September 1, at 8 pm at Ozawa Hall will be two leading Latin orchestras in the supreme "battle of the Latin big bands" starting with the Spanish Harlem Orchestra led by Oscar Hernandez. Hernandez, in addition to being pianist, arranger and musical director for the globally renowned Ruben Blades, has enjoyed a prolific musical career recording and performing with such world famous artists as Latin music king, Tito Puente, Queen of Salsa Music, Celia Cruze, Latin pop star, Julio Iglesias, Juan Luis Guerra, Ray Barretto, Dave Valentin, Johnny Pacheco, Ismail Miranda and dozens of others. Hernandez was also the Musical Director for Paul Simon's Broadway show, "The Capeman," working closely with Simon in the studio constructing the musical arc of the controversial show. The thirteen-piece Spanish Harlem Orchestra, including three vocalists, recently released their CD, "Across 110th Street" on Libertad Records.

The red hot Latin big band music of Machito and Tito Rodriguez is faithfully recreated by the maestros' sons, Machito, Jr. and Tito Rodriguez, Jr. and The Big Three Palladium Orchestra. Americans have always loved the mambo and in the 1950's the best place to hear this electrifying music was at the Palladium Ballroom in New York City. Huge crowds came to see the now legendary musical battles that took place between the giants of the Latin music world--Machito, Tito Rodriguez and Tito Puente, otherwise known as "the big three."

Saturday's lineup will kickoff at 3 pm at Ozawa Hall with a live taping of NPR's "Piano Jazz" with host Marian McPartland in her fifth anniversary at Tanglewood. Her guest for this year's taping is vocalist and composer, Elvis Costello. Ms. McPartland has interviewed over 500 musicians and performers including Norah Jones (recorded live at Tanglewood), Diana Krall, Dave Brubeck, Dizzy Gillespie, Rosemary Clooney, Herbie Hancock, Bill Evans, Brad Mehldau, Ray Charles, Carmen McRae and even William F. Buckley. Her easy, comfortable style, charm and quick wit engage her guests in fascinating and sometimes revealing conversations while seated at the piano.

Elvis Costello is best known for his performances with The Attractions, The Imposters and for concert appearances with pianist, Steve Nieve, and acclaimed collaborations with Burt Bacharach, The Brodsky Quartet, Paul McCartney, Anne Sofie von Otter, Bill Frisell, The Charles Mingus Orchestra and T Bone Burnett.

Costello's songs have been recorded by a great number of artists reflecting his interest in a wide range of musical styles: George Jones, Chet Baker, Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, Dusty Springfield, Charles Brown, No Doubt, Solomon Burke, June Tabor, Howard Tate, the gospel vocal group, The Fairfield Four, and the viol consort, Fretwork, with the counter tenor, Michael Chance. In 2003 he began a songwriting partnership with his wife, the jazz pianist and singer, Diana Krall, resulting in six songs included in her highly successful album, "The Girl in the Other Room."

Headlining the festival on Saturday, September 2 at the 5,100 seat Koussevitsky Music Shed will be Wynton Marsalis at 8 pm followed by Dr. John and Special Friends.

Wynton Marsalis has won nine Grammy Awards and the distinction of being the only artist ever to win Grammy Awards for both jazz and classical records and the only artist ever to have won Grammys in five consecutive years. His latest CD, "Live at the House of Tribes," was released on Blue Note Records in August, 2005.

Following Wynton Marsalis, Dr. John and Special Friends will take the stage in an exclusive Tanglewood concert. Vocalists Ann Hampton Callaway, Irma Thomas, Catherine Russell and John Pizzarelli will join Dr. John in a tribute to composer Johnny Mercer.

Dr. John, or Mac Rebennack as known to family and friends, is the embodiment of the rich musical heritage exclusive to New Orleans. His colorful musical career began in the 1950's when he wrote and played guitar on some of the greatest records to come out of the Crescent City, including recordings by Professor Longhair, Art Neville, Joe Tex and Frankie Ford. In the 1960's he headed west where he continued to be in demand as a session musician playing on recordings by Sonny and Cher, Van Morrison, Aretha Franklin and many others. It was then that he launched his solo career as Dr. John The Night Tripper. Adorned with voodoo charms and regalia, a legend was born with his breakthrough 1968 album, "Gris-gris," which established his unique blend of voodoo mysticism, funk, rhythm and blues, psychedelic rock and Creole roots.

Ann Hampton Callaway is a singer, pianist, composer, lyricist, arranger, actress and educator. Her talents have made her equally at home in jazz and pop as well as on stage, in the recording studio, on tv and in film. She is best known for starring in the hit Broadway musical, "Swing!" and for writing and singing the theme to the internationally successful tv series, "The Nanny." Ann is a devoted keeper-of-the-flame of the great American songbook and is the only composer recognized by the Cole Porter Estate to have collaborated with Cole Porter having set her music to his posthumously discovered lyric, "I Gaze in Your Eyes." Ms. Callaway's honors include receiving a Tony Award nomination for "Best Featured Actress in a Musical" for her work in "Swing!" and winning the Theatre World Award for "Outstanding Broadway Debut." She has received an unsurpassed 14 awards from the Manhattan Association of Cabarets and Clubs, two Backstage Bistro Awards, the 2005 Nightlife Award, the Johnny Mercer Songwriter Award and the Norman Vincent Peale Award for Positive Thinking.

Irma Thomas is the unrivaled "Soul Queen of New Orleans" and ranks among the Crescent City's greatest and most enduring musical ambassadors. A Louisiana native, Ms. Thomas's career began in her teens as a singing waitress at New Orleans' Pimlico Club. When the club's owner dismissed her for spending more time singing than waiting tables, bandleader Tommy Ridgley agreed to help her land a recording deal. Ronn Records issued her single, "You Can Have My Husband (But Don't Mess With My Man)," in the spring of 1960 and the record quickly reached number 22 on the Billboard R & B Chart.

Ms. Thomas's collaboration with songwriter and producer, Allen Toussaint, began with her first Minit Records release, "Girl Needs Boy," and continued throughout her tenure with the label. Numerous singles throughout the 1960's were highly acclaimed but were never huge national hit songs except for "Wish Someone Would Care" which vaulted into Billboard's Top 20. Subsequent recording contracts over the years with Chess, Canyon and Roker kept Thomas in the studios but failed to place her on the charts again. In the aftermath of the devastating Hurricane Camille, she relocated her family to Los Angeles and supported her children by working at retailer Montgomery Ward. Thomas returned to New Orleans in 1976 and, with husband/manager Emile Jackson, she opened the Lion's Den, a New Orleans club where she regularly headlined. She also toured Europe where her records still merited regular airplay and in 1985 she was approached by Rounder Records to make a comeback record. By 1991 Thomas had received her first Grammy nomination.
 
Jazz guitarist and vocalist, John Pizzarelli, is known for his urbane interpretations of the Great American Songbook. His light swinging style has been compared to guitarists Les Paul and Django Reinhardt. Son of guitarist, Bucky Pizzarelli, John began performing with his father at age 20 and made his recorded debut with his 1983 release, "I'm Hip--Please Don't Tell My Father." Subsequent recordings included "P.S. Mr. Cole " (a tribute to Nat King Cole), "Kisses in the Rain, " and "Let There Be Love." He has recorded an album with George Shearing and celebrated ten years of performing with his trio by releasing the concert album, "Live at Birdland," in 2003 and "Bossa Nova" in 2004. Pizzarelli is probably best known to millions of Americans for his theme song for Foxwoods Casino, "The Wonder of It All....." His latest CD, "Dear Mr. Sinatra" is on Telarc Records.

Catherine Russell is a native New Yorker with an enviable jazz pedigree. Her father, the late Luis Russell, was a pioneering pianist, composer, and bandleader. In 1935, Louis Armstrong, a fellow transplant from New Orleans to New York, named Luis Russell as his musical director and Russell's orchestra as his backing group. Catherine's mother, Carline Ray, is an outstanding bassist and vocalist who has performed with Mary Lou Williams and Wynton Marsalis.

Tickets for the 2006 Tanglewood Jazz Festival are available by calling SymphonyCharge at 888-266-1200 or online at www.tanglewood.org. and in person at the Tanglewood Box Office in Lenox. All ticket prices include a $1 Tanglewood Grounds Maintenance Fee. For further information, please call the Boston Symphony Orchestra at 617-266-1492.




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