The Stage at Rockwells Presents Cecile McLorin Salvant Tonight

Critically-acclaimed jazz phenom Cécile McLorin Salvant will perform two concerts at Westchester'sThe Stage at Rockwells tonight, August 23 at 7:30 and 9:30 p.m.

McLorin Salvant comes to The Stage at Rockwells in celebration of her much buzzed about Mack Avenue Records debut, WOMANCHILD. The 23-year old virtuoso, known for her astounding vocal range and riveting performances, won the prestigious Thelonious Monk International Jazz Vocals Competition in 2010. Describing how McLorin Salvant has, virtually overnight, taken the music world by storm, the New York Times proclaimed, "If anyone can extend the lineage of the Big Three - Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughan, and Ella Fitzgerald - it is this 23-year-old virtuoso." Tickets are $35 and available now at rockwells.laughstub.com/show.cfm.

Born in Miami to a French mother and Haitian father, McLorin Salvant's first language was French. She immersed herself in the classical music tradition, long before she turned to jazz - starting on piano at age five and joining the Miami Choral Society at age eight. When it came time for college, McLorin Salvant bypassed all the US conservatories and jazz schools, heading instead to Aix-en-Provence in France, where she continued to develop as a singer, but with an emphasis on classical and baroque vocal music before exploring jazz. There, McLorin Salvant entered into a fruitful partnership with reed player and teacher Jean-François Bonnel, first as a student and soon as a performer. Before returning to the US, she gave concerts in Paris, recorded with Bonnel's quintet, and immersed herself in the early jazz and blues vocal tradition.

By the time she returned to her home country to take the stage in the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition, she had developed a set of formative experiences to express a uniquely personal style of jazz singing. She brings her outsized stage presence to the Stage at Rockwells for two performances tonight, August 23 at 7:30 and 9:30 p.m.

The Stage at Rockwells is a new music venue presenting singer-songwriter, jazz, blues, folk and Americana at venerable Westchester restaurant, Rockwells.