Brenna Whitaker to Play Blackbox at the Edye at The Broad Stage

The Broad Stage continues their second year of blackbox @ the edye performances with Brenna Whitaker on Friday, November 1 at 8:00pm.

Raised in Kansas City, Brenna Whitaker fell in love with singers from an era long-ago. "Ruth Brown, Peggy Lee, Cab Calloway, Etta James - those are my people," says the LA-based vocalist. "I don't know how I ended up knowing so many of their songs and standards. It's almost like they found their way to me, like I'm from another time." Her "larger-than-life stage presence and haunting vocals" landed Brenna a recording contract with Verve/Universal Records, and the legendary David Foster produced her debut, self-titled album (2015). Brenna is featured on the 2015 album We Love Disney, and was a featured singer on Andrea Bocelli's tour. She is hard at work on new music, and touring the world with The Brenna Whitaker Little Big Band.

Tickets are now on sale at www.thebroadstage.org or by calling 310.434.3200. Jazz & Blues at The Broad Stage made possible by a generous gift from Richard & Lisa Kendall. blackbox @ the edye at The Broad Stage made possible by a generous gift from Ann Petersen & Leslie Pam.

After landing her first professional theater gig at age 11, studying with Broadway veterans in New York at 17, and spending her early twenties leading jazz bands in Missouri, Brenna headed to Los Angeles with her family.

Early on, she built a series of residencies around Hollywood attracting fans like Stevie Wonder, Quincy Jones, Tom Jones, Gladys Knight, John Mayer, and Michael Bublé. With her Little Big Band, Brenna performs each holiday season for tech mogul and philanthropist Larry Ellison, in Lanai, HI at the Four Seasons resort. She performs monthly at Herb Alpert's Vibrato Jazz Grill in Bel Air, CA, and is often invited to entertain at exclusive private events hosted by Gene Simmons, Mercedes Benz, Porsche, and the late Hugh Hefner to name a few.

About blackbox @ the edye at The Broad Stage | Curated and hosted by The Reverend Shawn Amos

New York's Cotton Club and Village Vanguard, Chicago's Kingston Mines, Kansas City's Reno Club, Los Angeles's Dunbar Hotel - these were more than just nightclubs. The Great American 20th century jazz and blues scene was a crucial gathering place where stories were shared and traditions handed down. In these sanctuaries, blacks, whites, rich and poor crossed lines to congregate and hold hands. In the early 1960s, curator Shawn Amos' mother, Shirl-ee May, sang jazz and blues at Club Harlem - a storied Atlantic City night spot home to a generation of African American performers. Throughout the early-mid 20th century, jazz and blues clubs like Club Harlem were the epicenter of urban American nightlife. Shawn Amos writes, "No doubt, people, souls were being saved. It's in the American rhythm and the rhyme. Jazz and blues is our music. It belongs to us. This music is ours. Jazz and blues is the tragedy and triumph of our shared history. It's the continual battle of our current circumstance. Jazz and blues cuts the shortest path from our heart to our head and up to a higher power. These deep grooves hold our fears, hopes and darkest demons. In this trying 21st century, jazz and blues reminds us of our interdependence. We let this music open our hearts."

Information, subscription packages and tickets starting at $29 are available at thebroadstage.org or by calling 310.434.3200, or visiting at the box office at 1310 11thSt. Santa Monica CA 90401 beginning three hours prior to performance.

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