Donna Vivino, Karen Oberlin & More to Perform at Birdland, 4/21 - 4/27

Birdland Jazz Club has announced its schedule for April 21 - April 27, featuring James Carter Organ Trio, Donna Vivino in "Beautiful Dreamer," David Ostwald's Louis Armstrong Eternity Band, Karen Oberlin in Secret Love: A Tribute to Doris Day, and more.

April 21 (Monday) at 7PM
Broadway at Birdland
Donna Vivino
"Beautiful Dreamer"

In "Beautiful Dreamer," Donna Vivino weaves diverse songs into a thematically-cohesive collection from Broadway, Hollywood and Tin Pan Alley. Theater fans in particular will appreciate her bold reinvention of "Castle on A Cloud" from LES MISERABLES - which she introduced at age 8 as Broadway's original Young Cosette. Other highlights include a stirring "When Day Is Done" and an ingenious cool-jazz arrangement of the iconic standard "Over the Rainbow." She will also personalize works by Rodgers and Hart ("My Romance") George and Ira Gershwin ("They Can't Take That Away From Me"), Antônio Carlos Jobim ("How Insensitive"). In this outing, Donna shares the stage with both her sax and flute-playing father, Jerry Vivino, and guitar-playing uncle Jimmy Vivino. The Vivino Brothers can be seen and heard in the house band on the TBS late-night talk show "Conan." Rounding out the band will be drummer Shawn Pelton, (Saturday Night Live), bassist Conrad Korsch (Rod Stewart), and pianist Ken Levinsky (Woody Allen and John Pizzarelli). Donna Vivino starred for two years as Elphaba in the First National Tour of Wicked and performed the role on Broadway. Her other Broadway credits include Hairspray, Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me, Saturday Night Fever and LES MISERABLES. She recently starred Off-Broadway in Stars of David - a new song cycle celebrating Jewish identity. Her film and television credits include "A Gifted Man," "The Sopranos," "Everyday People," "Married to It" and "All My Children" as Young Erica Kane. She is currently a regular on the hit web series "Submissions Only."
All seats $25, $10 food/drink minimum

April 21 (Monday) at 9:30PM
Jim Caruso's Cast Party

Jim Caruso's Cast Party is a wildly popular weekly soiree that brings a sprinkling of Broadway glitz and urbane wit to the legendary Birdland in New York City every Monday night. It's a cool cabaret night-out enlivened by a hilariously impromptu variety show. Showbiz superstars, backed by Steve Doyle on bass, Tedd Firth on piano and Daniel Glass on drums, hit the stage alongside up-and-comers, serving up jaw-dropping music and general razzle-dazzle.
All tickets $25, $10 food/drink minimum

April 22-26 (Tuesday - Saturday) at 8:30PM & 11PM
James Carter Organ Trio
"Django Unchained" CD Release Celebration
Gerard Gibbs (organ) Dr. Prof. Leonard King, Jr. (drums)

By the time Detroit native saxophonist James Carter emerged on the New York jazz scene 1988 he was already a sensation, "it was akin to the second coming... not since the 1960s had someone emerged with so potent a combination of astounding advanced and extended techniques, fiery intensity, and unfettered imagination." (All About Jazz). Now, Carter the mature artist is firmly established as one of the leading saxophonists of his generation, well versed in everything from striaght ahead to gypsy-jazz to funk. His new release, "Django Unchained," is his second to celebrate music popularized by gypsy guitar legend Django Reinhardt, but this time within the modern sounds of Carter's favored ensemble, the organ trio.
All seats $40, $10 food/drink minimum

April 23 (Wednesday) at 5:30PM
David Ostwald's Louis Armstrong Eternity Band

Inspired by the noble jazz pioneers Louis Armstrong, Bix Beiderbecke, Duke Ellington, Jelly Roll Morton and their colleagues, David Ostwald's Louis Armstrong Eternity Band breathes life and passion into America's own great art form. Now in its 14th year of residency at Birdland, the weekly post-workday engagement is the city's best musical bargain! Tuba player David Ostwald leads a rotating lineup that features talents such as clarinetist Anat Cohen, trombonist/vocalist Wycliffe Gordon, pianist Ehud Asherie, drummer Marion Felder and more!
All seats $25, $10 food/drink minimum

April 25 (Friday) at 5:00PM
The Birdland Big Band

Founded by drummer and musical director Tommy Igoe, the Birdland Big Band features the finest musicians in New York! The BBB roars into action every Friday, playing the finest Jazz, Latin and Brazilian music from the world's best arrangers. After work or before a show, drinks or a great dinner, come hear one of the world's best drummers driving the hardest swinging band in New York. Experience why the BBB is the must-see weekly jazz event in New York and kick off your weekend with what critics are calling "the best live music bargain in all of NYC!"
All seats $30, $10 food/drink minimum

April 26 (Saturday) at 6PM
Jay Leonhart Duo

Combining the skills of an old school entertainer and virtuoso jazz man, bassist, vocalist and composer Jay Leonhart has been a fixture of the New York scene for over forty years. When Jay was fourteen he started playing the bass in The Pier Five Dixieland Jazz Band in Baltimore and never looked back. After studying at The Peabody Institute, Jay attended The Berklee School of Music and The Advanced School of Contemporary Music in Toronto, before leaving school to start touring with the traveling big bands of the late 50's and early 60's. Upon moving to New York, Jay eventually began playing for many of the great jazz musicians, big bands, and singers who were to be found in New York - artists like Thad Jones and Mel Lewis, Tony Bennett, Marian McPartland, and Jim Hall. Jay became a very busy studio musician in New York City, visiting every musical genre from James Taylor to Ozzy Osbourne and Queen Latifah. Between 1975 and 1995 he was named The Most Valuable Bassist in the recording industry three times by the National Association of Recording Arts and Sciences. Jay has now recorded 15 solo albums. His first one-man show "The Bass Lesson" is being received warmly by critics and audiences. Jay's next show "Nukular Tulips" is in the works.
All seats $30, $10 minimum

April 27 (Sunday) at 6PM
Karen Oberlin in "Secret Love: A Tribute to Doris Day"

This very special event will celebrate the 90th birthday of the iconic star. The song list will include beloved favorites such as "Que Sera, Sera", "Sentimental Journey," the title song, "Secret Love," and also includes many rare, poignant songs that show the many sides of this intriguing icon. In Secret Love, Karen Oberlin delves deeply into the life and music of this intriguing and important cultural phenomenon -- from having a baby as a teenager, touring with big bands, recording sensational songs, surviving tumultuous marriages and becoming the highest paid woman in Hollywood history. The New York Times called Karen Oberlin's hit tribute to the great Doris Day "widely admired" and called her "a jazzier inheritor of Doris Day's impeccable pop style." Oberlin, the recipient of the 2011 New York Nightlife Award for Jazz Vocalist of the Year, has often been compared to Ms. Day in her work as a vocalist, and she couldn't be happier. "Doris Day is one of our greatest artists, and although she is truly American, like apple pie and jazz, she reaches the hearts and minds of people all over the world," says Oberlin.
All seats $25, $10 food/drink minimum

April 27 (Sunday) at 9:00PM & 11PM
Arturo O'Farrill Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra

Grammy Award winning pianist, composer and educator Arturo O'Farrill -- leader of the "first family of Afro-Cuban Jazz" (NY Times) -- was born in Mexico and grew up in New York City. Son of the late, great composer Chico O'Farrill, Arturo was Educated at Manhattan School of Music, Brooklyn College Conservatory and the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College. He played piano in Carla Bley's Big Band from 1979 through 1983 and earned a reputation as a soloist in groups led by Dizzy Gillespie, Steve Turre, Freddy Cole, Lester Bowie, Wynton Marsalis and Harry Belafonte.
All seats $30, $10 minimum