CAP UCLA's 23-24 Season Kicks Off With Opening Weekend Performances

 UCLA’s Center for the Art of Performance (CAP UCLA) opens its 2023-2024 season with a weekend of virtuosic stars and genre-blending collaborations including celebrated jazz legends Dee Dee Bridgewater and Bill Charlap at Royce Hall, followed by the inaugural performance at the new UCLA Nimoy Theater (The Nimoy) headlined by Grammy-winning spoken word artist J. Ivy. Tickets for the entire CAP UCLA season are available now at cap.ucla.edu, by phone 310-825-2101 or at the UCLA Central Ticket Office. 

ROYCE HALL

Two legends of the jazz genre, vocalist Dee Dee Bridgewater and pianist Bill Charlap, take the stage at Royce Hall on Friday, September 22 at 8 pm. Drawing on the canons of luminary composers, including Ellington, Porter, Monk and others, the duo craft a masterful performance with captivating storytelling. 

A Grammy and Tony Award-winning jazz icon and recipient of an NEA Jazz Masters Fellows Award, Dee Dee Bridgewater boasts a remarkable career spanning four decades. Her vocal prowess has earned worldwide praise as she masterfully puts her unique touch on standards and fearlessly reimagines jazz classics. Bridging musical genres, Bridgewater started her career as a member of the legendary Thad Jones/Mel Louis Big Band and throughout the '70s performed with such jazz notables as Max Roach, Sonny Rollins, Dexter Gordon and Dizzy Gillespie.

Grammy-winning pianist Bill Charlap is renowned for his performances alongside top artists like Phil Woods, Benny Carter, Gerry Mulligan and Wynton Marsalis. Charlap is acclaimed for his interpretations of the American popular songbook, having recorded albums featuring works by Hoagy Carmichael, Leonard Bernstein, George Gershwin and more. Since 1997, Charlap has been at the helm of the Bill Charlap Trio, with bassist Peter Washington and drummer Kenny Washington, which is hailed as one of the leading ensembles in jazz. 

THE NIMOY

Grammy Award-winning poet, spoken word artist, actor and songwriter J. Ivy opens the CAP UCLA season at The Nimoy on Saturday, September 23 at 8 pm with his singular style of performance poetry. Ivy is joined on stage by singer Tarrey Torae and musicians as part of the first installment of Poetry Uncut, a four-part series of curated poetry evenings and music hosted by Ivy and featuring special guest artists (February 3 & 17), culminating in a final poetry jam (April 6). 

Widely known for his appearances on HBO’s Def Poetry Jam and his feature with Jay-Z on Kanye West’s Grammy-winning album The College Dropout, Ivy was also instrumental in advocating for the Grammy Awards to add a new category strictly dedicated to Poets and Spoken Word Artists worldwide. In 2022, the Recording Academy finally created a new category for “Best Spoken Word Poetry Album.” Following this change, Ivy received his second Grammy nomination and his first Grammy Award for his Spoken Word Poetry album, The Poet Who Sat By The Door. 

Ivy’s recent works include his third book, Dear Father: Breaking the Cycle of Pain and albums The Poet Who Sat By The Door and CATCHING DREAMS: Live at Fort Knox Chicago, which was nominated for a Grammy in the Best Spoken Word Album category. He poetically narrated, acted and starred in the award-winning B.E.T. documentary, Muhammad Ali: The People’s Champ and the NAACP-nominated documentary Martin: The Legacy of a King. Ivy wrote and narrated Beyoncé’s Black Is King Clio Award-winning promo for the 2020 return of the NBA and was the lead writer for the Netflix documentary jeen-yuhs: A Kanye West Trilogy. Ivy was featured on the 2022 EBONY Power 100 list. 

The CAP UCLA 2023 programs continue on Friday, September 29 with Ethiocolor and Saturday, September 30 with Conrad Tao & Caleb Teichner: Counterpoint.
 

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