Bessie Smith News

BroadwayHD's CEO Bonnie Comley has announced a new initiative to put the spotlight on underrepresented voices in the theater community, with a special Trailblazers Category.

The week the stock market erases its year's gains may be just the right time to open a not-often produced play about swift changes in fortune.

As its final production of their 49th season, Black Theatre Troupe presents the current off Broadway smash hit, SISTAS! THE MUSICAL to the Helen K. Mason Performing Arts Center. SISTAS! THE MUSICAL is a nonstop celebration of African American women told through Top-40 music, from Bessie Smith to Beyonce.

Segerstrom Center for the Arts doubleheader evening of two performances by multi-Grammy Award-winning jazz vocalist Cécile McLorin Salvant and the esteemed Aaron Diehl Trio on March 28, 2020. Performances will be at 7:00 and 9:00 p.m. in Samueli Theater. Since winning the prestigious Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition in 2010, Salvant has evolved into one of today's most prescient forces in jazz She opens the evening with a fearless approach to art that transcends the conventional. Said Rolling Stone, 'Salvant is regularly and rightly considered one of the greatest jazz singers of her generation, but that label sells her short.' She is joined by her musical director and jazz piano virtuoso Aaron Diehl at the helm of his trio who then take Center stage as one of the preeminent interpreters of the Great American songbook.

February is Black History month celebrating the richness of African American culture. Michelle Johnson, known as the Las Vegas First Lady of Jazz, will present Sankofa: a Celebration Concert of African American Music and History at Myron's Cabaret Jazz at The Smith Center Feb. 23.

Avery Sommers will make her debut at Feinstein's/54 Below in New York City on Thursday, March 19, 2020 at 9:30 PM with her acclaimed show, For Sentimental Reasons. One of the most versatile performers, who can sing anything from blues and gospel to musical theater and standards, Avery brings to the stage a blend of it all plus some very personal stories and highlights from her successful career including Broadway, cabaret performances, and appearances at major venues like Carnegie Hall.

Artistic Director Mark Clements and Executive Director Chad Bauman are thrilled to announce Milwaukee Repertory Theater's 2020/21 Season with 15 productions across four venues in the Patty & Jay Baker Theater Complex. 

Eilen Jewell, self-styled 'queen of the minor key,' brings her blend of noirish rockabilly, surf-tinged country, retro-rock and jazzy folk to Club Helsinki Hudson on Friday, April 17, at 9pm. Jewell will be playing old favorites and songs from last year's terrific album, 'Gypsy.'

Ovation West Performing Arts and the Evergreen Jazz Festival present a?oeQueen City Jazz Band: A Shining Stars Concerta?? on Saturday, February 1 at 7:30 p.m., at Center Stage, 27608 Fireweed Drive, Evergreen, CO, 80439. Tickets are $24/adults, $22/seniors (62 & 0ver) and $18/students, and are available by phone 303-674-4002 or online at www.ovationwest.org.

Kat Riggins brings her Blues Revival tent to Gulf Coast Records. Happy to join the team with Guy Hale and Mike Zito in their hurricane of a journey with the new label. Mike Zito will be at the helm as producer in an undisclosed Memphis studio this week.

It's the Roaring 20s Again and Granny is back and Grander than ever! Rev. Mary returns with her All-Man Band in Granny's Blue-Mers: Sex, Drugs, and Rock & Roll ... before 1950!

This February, Lincoln Center will present a plethora of music, dance, theater, and panel events across the campus and beyond. David Rubenstein Atrium continues to offer free programming, consisting of diverse live performances, and panel conversations. The 2019-20 season of LC Kids (October 5a?"June 7, 2020) is in full swing with free and ticketed events developed for toddlers, children, and teenagers stepping into young adulthood. The ongoing Great Performers series (October 29a?"May 16, 2020) brings an array of beloved musicians and up-and-coming artists to the Lincoln Center stage. American Songbook (January 22a?" February 29) concludes its latest season with artists performing Broadway, folk, classical, and more. 

The JCCSF welcomes the new year and the next decade with a collection of Arts & Ideas events for 2020, including the Bay area premier of a?oeLove Heals All Woundsa?? with Jon Boogz and Lil Buck, a special Mother's Day program with Alice Waters and Fanny Singer, and the return of Giants of Jazz on Film series with Mark Cantor.

The Recording Academy® is honored to announce its 2020 Special Merit Awards recipients. The Lifetime Achievement Award honorees are Chicago, Roberta Flack, Isaac Hayes, Iggy Pop, John Prine, Public Enemy and Sister Rosetta Tharpe. Ken Ehrlich, Philip Glass and Frank Walker are Trustees Award honorees; and George Augspurger is the Technical GRAMMY® Award recipient. A special award presentation ceremony and concert celebrating the honorees will be held on April 18, 2020, at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium. Additional details regarding the ceremony will be announced shortly.

The Frist Art Museum and Fisk University Galleries present Terry Adkins: Our Sons and Daughters Ever on the Altar, concurrent presentations of sculptures, prints, installations, and video by the multidisciplinary and multimedia artist and musician, on view at the Frist from February 20 through May 31, 2020, and at Fisk from February 20 through September 20, 2020.

The Frist Art Museum and Fisk University Galleries present Terry Adkins: Our Sons and Daughters Ever on the Altar, concurrent presentations of sculptures, prints, installations, and video by the multidisciplinary and multimedia artist and musician, on view in the Frist's Gordon Contemporary Artists Project Gallery from February 20 through May 31, 2020, and the Carl Van Vechten Gallery at Fisk from February 20 through September 12, 2020. Presented forty-five years after Adkins's graduation from Fisk, the exhibition pays special attention to the influence that his time in Nashville had on the late internationally acclaimed artist.

If you've ever wanted to find out all there is to know about the a?oeEmpress of the Bluesa??, Bessie Smith, Swindon Arts Centre's engaging and entertaining Ma Bessie And Her Blues Troupe is the place to be this January. And, with tickets already on sale, book yours before the New Year to secure the best seats in the house.

Austin-based duo Pike & Sutton recently announced their new self-titled band project earlier this fall. Led by 'hometown favorites' (Austin American-Statesman) Patrice Pike and Wayne Sutton, the band has evolved out of the longtime alternative rock band Sister 7 and will release their debut full-length Heart Is A Compass in early 2020. To close out the year, they've teamed up with Blues Traveler's John Popper for a reimagined version of Otis Redding and Carla Thomas' classic 'New Year's Resolution.'

During Lisa Viggiano's critically-praised 2018 Bruce Springsteen Tribute Shows (which helped earn her a 2019 Bistro Award for “Outstanding Vocalist”), she included a section of songs by iconic musicians and singers discovered over five decades by talent scout/record producer John Henry Hammond, who also championed Springsteen and recorded “The Boss's” first demo. Now, like a spinoff from a hit TV sitcom, Viggiano has created an entire cabaret show featuring songs and performers produced by Hammond during his long career at Columbia Records. In FROM LADY DAY TO THE BOSS: 50 YEARS OF TALENT DISCOVERED BY LEGENDARY COLUMBIA RECORD PRODUCER JOHN HENRY HAMMOND, Viggiano will deliver her unique renditions of classic tunes recorded by Bessie Smith, Benny Goodman, Billie Holiday, Harry James, Count Basie, Pete Seeger, Bob Dylan, Aretha Franklin, Leonard Cohen, George Benson, and Springsteen.

THE NEW YORKER NEW YORK FESTIVAL OF SONG presents a new show that sheds light on Harlem's gay underground: Tain't Nobody's Business If I Do: Songs from Gay Harlem