Meredith Patterson Brings 'Sweet Old Fashioned Girl' to Birdland, 3/15

Broadway's Meredith Patterson, Emmy nominated Musical Director Rob Berman, and pianist Ross Patterson have been collaborating and developing material for Sweet Old Fashioned Girl since the summer of 2009. They will bring the concert to Birdland on March 15, 2010 at 7pm. Sweet Old Fashioned Girl promises to be a fresh and exciting evening of jazz standards. Drawing from childhood memories with her jazz percussionist father, Patterson's sound is lush and rich bringing together her musical theatre background with her jazz roots.

Although Broadway is where her home has been, jazz music has been the soundtrack of her life. From the time she was a little girl, her father played jazz around the house. It was during family dinners on Sunday's that she was introduced to some of the great jazz musicians. She would borrow her Dad's albums and steal away into her bedroom to listen for hours and sing along with the greats.

Her father was tutored as a kid under the great Bob Soder (whose other prodigies were jazz greats Jon Faddis, George Duke). While studying under Soder at age 15, he started playing jazz clubs around the San Francisco Bay Area. In 1965, at the age of 19, he got his first gig touring the country with a big band. They toured all the major cities, but before he made it to NYC, he was drafted into the Army. Like many veterans, it was difficult to pick up where he left off, so he decided to set aside his dream and move back to California, marry my mother and start a family.
Sweet Old Fashioned Girl is a realization of a dream come true; to not only play the legendary Birdland but to play a show with her father, jazz drummer Bill Patterson.

Sweet Old Fashioned Girl contains a 14 song set list, musical directed & arranged by Rob Berman & and co-arranged by the gifted jazz pianist Ross Patterson. Along with her father, she will be accompanied but a stellar trio of jazz musicians on piano, upright bass and guitar.

The concert features Meredith Patterson on vocals, Ross Patterson on piano, Tom Hubbard on bass, Brian Koonin on guitar, and Bill Patterson on drums.

For tickets and more information, visit www.birdlandjazz.com.

Recently, Ms. Patterson made her soap opera debut as Francesca on ABC's All My Children, was featured in the critically acclaimed documentary Every Little Step, and originated the role of Judy Haynes on Broadway in Irving Berlin's White Christmas. She made her hilarious primetime television debut as Missy Tiggs, opposite Tom Selleck & Candace Bergen on ABC's Boston Legal, garnered glowing reviews as Polly Browne in THE BOY FRIEND under the direction of the legendary Julie Andrews, and received critical acclaim in her Los Angeles theater debut starring in Steve Martin's play THE UNDERPANTS. Ms. Patterson is best known in the theater world for her amazing life imitating art story of being plucked out of the chorus to star as Peggy Sawyer in her first Broadway musical, 2001's Tony Award winning revival of 42nd ST.

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