Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts Celebrates Ella Fitzgerald with PATTI AUSTIN: ELLA NOW AND THEN

Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts at Brooklyn College continues its 2016-17 season on Saturday, April 22, 2017 at 8pm with GRAMMY® Award-winning jazz singer Patti Austin performing Ella Now and Then: A Centennial Celebration of the First Lady of Song. This tribute concert marks the 100th birthday of the great Ella Fitzgerald (born April 25, 1917) and will feature selections from Ms. Austin's 2002 album For Ella, including timeless standards such as "How High the Moon," "Too Close for Comfort," and "The Man I Love."Tickets range from $36 to $55 and can be purchased at BrooklynCenter.org or by calling 718-951-4500 (Tue-Sat, 1pm-6pm).

About Patti Austin
GRAMMY® Award winner Patti Austin crosses all musical genres, has recorded 17 solo albums, and is a mainstay artist on the Billboard Jazz Albums charts. Her most recent release, Avant-Gershwin, won the 2008 GRAMMY® for Best Jazz Vocal Performance. The daughter of jazz trombonist Gordon Austin and goddaughter of musical legends Quincy Jones and Dinah Washington, Austin made her stage debut at age four at the world-famous Apollo Theater in Harlem. During the '70s she was the undisputed "queen" of the New York session scene; her voice was heard behind everyone from Paul Simon, Cat Stevens, James Brown, and Joe Cocker to Bette Midler, Roberta Flack, Luther Vandross, and Diana Ross, and on countless commercial jingles. Her early solo career resulted in the chart-topping, GRAMMY®-nominated hit "Baby Come to Me." Her 1998 album In and Out of Love spent almost two years on the contemporary jazz charts. She has written and created her own one-woman show, and co-created both the musical extravaganza Beboperella and Oh Freedom, a show exploring the African-American quest for freedom and equality in America. PattiAustin.com.

About Ella Fitzgerald

Dubbed "The First Lady of Song," Ella Fitzgerald was the most popular female jazz singer in the United States for more than half a century. She worked with all the jazz greats, from Duke Ellington, Count Basie, and Nat King Cole, to Frank Sinatra, Dizzy Gillespie, and Benny Goodman. Her long career included 13 GRAMMY® Awards, the Kennedy Center Honors, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the National Medal of the Arts, and more than 40 million albums sold. Ella recorded over 200 albums. In 1991, she gave her final concert at New York's renowned Carnegie Hall. It was the 26th time she performed there.

Patti Austin's Ella Now and Then: A Centennial Celebration of the First Lady of Song is part of Brooklyn Center's 2016-17 Con Edison Music Masters Series, which also includes the Yosvany Terry Afro-Cuban Sextet (May 6, 2017 at 8pm), and 10-time GRAMMY® winner Chaka Khan (May 13, 2017 at 7:30pm). Visit BrooklynCenter.org for a complete season lineup.

Patti Austin: Ella Now and Then
A Centennial Celebration of the First Lady of Song
Saturday, April 22, 2017 at 8pm
Walt Whitman Theatre at Brooklyn College

2900 Avenue H, Brooklyn, NY 11210

Tickets: $36-$55

Box Office: BrooklynCenter.org or 718-951-4500 (Tue- Sat, 1pm - 6pm)

Groups of 15 or more:718-951-4600 x3327

Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts' presentation of Patti Austin: Ella Now and Then is supported by Con Edison, TD Bank, and WBGO Jazz 88.3 FM.

Multibuy discounts (four or more shows) save 15% off individual ticket prices. Multibuyers enjoy flexible ticket exchanges and discounted parking for purchased performances. A 50% discount for children ages 12 and under is offered for select performances. Discounts are also available for seniors, students, Brooklyn College faculty/staff/alumni, active/retired military personnel, and groups. $10 student rush tickets available day-of-show.

About Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts

Founded in 1954, Brooklyn Center for the PerformingArts at Brooklyn College presents outstanding performing arts and arts education programs, reflective of Brooklyn's diverse communities, at affordable prices. Each season, Brooklyn Center welcomes over 65,000 people to the 2,400 seat Whitman Theatre, including up to 45,000 schoolchildren from over 300 schools who attend their SchoolTime series, one of the largest arts-in-education programs in the borough.

Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts' programs are supported, in part, by public funding from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council. Brooklyn Center's 2016-17 season is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

Major support for the 2016-17 season is provided by: Brooklyn College, Con Edison, TD Bank, National Grid, The Howard Gilman Foundation, the Jazz Touring Network, the Alice Lawrence Foundation, the Pierre and Tana Matisse Foundation, the Mertz Gilmore Foundation, the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, and the TD Charitable Foundation. Additional support provided by CNG Publications, The Brooklyn Eagle, Brooklyn Media Group, and WBGO Jazz 88.3 FM. The Fairfield Inn & Suites by Marriott New York Brooklyn is the official hotel of Brooklyn Center's 2016-17 season. Backstage catering is graciously provided by Applebee's.

Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts gratefully acknowledges generous support from New York State Assembly members Annette Robinson and Helene Weinstein; New York City Council Member Jumaane D. Williams; New York City Council Cultural Affairs Committee Chair Jimmy Van Bramer; New York City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, and Commissioner of Cultural Affairs Tom Finkelpearl.

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