Bobby Watson News

Miller Theatre at Columbia University School of the Arts kicks off the 2013-14 season of its Jazz series with ANAT COHEN QUARTET on Saturday, October 12, 2013 and WARREN WOLF QUARTET on Saturday, November 2, 2013.

The Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz today announced the 2013 Thelonious Monk International Jazz Saxophone Competition and All-Star Gala Concert will take place at the Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theater at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, September 16. The 2013 Competition and Gala is made possible through generous support from Cadillac, the presenting sponsor for the weekend.

Jazz pianist, composer and recording artist Matt Savage will release his tenth album, A Bigger Celebration, on September 17th.

Legendary jazz singer Marion Cowings, whose smooth baritone voice and considerable range has been delighting audiences all over the world for decades, will be performing the next two Today nights at clubs in Brooklyn and Manhattan.

Legendary jazz singer Marion Cowings, whose smooth baritone voice and considerable range has been delighting audiences all over the world for decades, will be performing the next two Friday nights at clubs in Brooklyn and Manhattan.

Taken from the plays, playlets, journals and poetry of "Theatre of the Absurd" playwright Eugene Ionesco (Rhinoceros, The Bald Soprano, Exit the King), IONESCOPADE is a zany musical vaudeville featuring mime, farce and parody - all hilariously balanced on the edge of madness.

The Monterey Jazz Festival on Tour 55th Anniversary Celebration makes its way to Segerstrom Center for the Arts today, January 13 in the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall. The all- star ensemble will perform classic jazz and original compositions by critically acclaimed, Grammy Award-winning artists: bassist and musical director Christian McBride, vocalist Dee Dee Bridgewater, saxophonist Chris Potter, trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire, pianist Benny Green and drummer Lewis Nash.

On the ninth of January, David Basse returns to New York's Metropolitan Room to join his pal Marilyn Maye for a double bill. Maye performs at 7pm with Basse doing the 9:30pm set. Basse's band will include veteran bassist Curtis Lundy, pianist Richard Johnson, and drummer Jason Brown.

On the ninth of January, David Basse returns to New York's Metropolitan Room to join his pal Marilyn Maye for a double bill. Maye performs at 7pm with Basse doing the 9:30pm set. Basse's band will include veteran bassist Curtis Lundy, pianist Richard Johnson, and drummer Jason Brown.

The Monterey Jazz Festival on Tour 55th Anniversary Celebration makes its way to Segerstrom Center for the Arts on January 13 in the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall. The all- star ensemble will perform classic jazz and original compositions by critically acclaimed, Grammy Award-winning artists: bassist and musical director Christian McBride, vocalist Dee Dee Bridgewater, saxophonist Chris Potter, trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire, pianist Benny Green and drummer Lewis Nash.

South Orange Performing Arts Center has announced it's Fall 2012 line-up, featuring Tony-Winner Norbert Leo Butz on October 13. For more details on the upcoming season, including a complete schedule and ticket information, visit SOPACnow.org, or contact the SOPAC Box Office at 973.313.2787 (ARTS)

In a blazing Labor Day finale to Rite of Summer's 2012 season, Todd Reynolds, 'New York's reigning Jazz and Classical Violinist' (The New Yorker), and fiddle-player of choice for avant-gardists everywhere, has assembled a stellar cast of characters to explore the vortex where bluegrass, electronica, minimalism and classical music swirl. Featuring music of glass harmonica virtuoso Jonny Rodgers, avant-bluegrass guitarist Jordan Tice (The Jordan Tice Trio), and the singular percussionist Mathias Kunzli, currently on tour with Regina Spektor. This will take place on Colonels' Row tonight, September 3rd.

In a blazing Labor Day finale to Rite of Summer's 2012 season, Todd Reynolds, 'New York's reigning Jazz and Classical Violinist' (The New Yorker), and fiddle-player of choice for avant-gardists everywhere, has assembled a stellar cast of characters to explore the vortex where bluegrass, electronica, minimalism and classical music swirl. Featuring music of glass harmonica virtuoso Jonny Rodgers, avant-bluegrass guitarist Jordan Tice (The Jordan Tice Trio), and the singular percussionist Mathias Kunzli, currently on tour with Regina Spektor. This will take place on Colonels' Row on Monday, September 3rd.

South Orange Performing Arts Center has announced it's Fall 2012 line-up, featuring Tony-Winner Norbert Leo Butz on October 13. For more details on the upcoming season, including a complete schedule and ticket information, visit SOPACnow.org, or contact the SOPAC Box Office at 973.313.2787 (ARTS)

On Thursday, June 28 at noon, singer Jimmy Webb (Up Up And Away, By the Time I Get To Phoenix) performs at Usdan Center, renowned summer arts day camp in Long Island, located at 185 Colonial Springs Road, Wheatley Heights, Huntington, NY.

On Thursday, June 28 at noon, singer Jimmy Webb (Up Up And Away, By the Time I Get To Phoenix) performs at Usdan Center, renowned summer arts day camp in Long Island, located at 185 Colonial Springs Road, Wheatley Heights, Huntington, NY.

Usdan Center for the Creative and Performing Arts (www.usdan.com), the Long Island summer arts day camp whose alumni include Mariah Carey, Natalie Portman and Olivia Thirlby, and once again chosen as a "Best Camp" for 2012 by TimeOutNY/Kids, presents its Festival Concerts lineup for its 45th season. These are a special feature of the Center: private, on-site daily educational performances by distinguished artists for students in Usdan's 1,000-seat McKinley Amphitheater. Many of the artists will also teach workshops and master classes during the season.

Usdan Center for the Creative and Performing Arts (www.usdan.com) announces its Festival Concerts lineup for its 45th season.

Let's face it, nobody produces a song and sketch revue based on the plays of Ionesco in a theatre on the western outskirts of 55th Street expecting a commercial smash.  During the ten days in 1974 when the original production of Ionescopade ran Off-Broadway, lovers of musical theatre were lining up at box offices to see stars like Carol Channing in Lorelei, Debbie Reynolds in Irene, and Patty and Maxene Andrews in Over Here!  Younger playgoers were discovering themselves with Pippin and rocking out to Grease, while those who go for intellectual snob hits had their choice of the revival of Candide or the new Sondheim/Prince romance A Little Night Music.  Those venturing to Off-Broadway were still flocking to that fresh new musical, The Fantasticks, then in only its fifteenth year.

New York's jazz heart wasn't always located downtown. Once it was found on 52nd Street and before that on 125th, and for many decades its most powerful radio voice has been WKCR-FM on the campus of Columbia University. Just a few yards away, jazz finds an uptown home at Columbia's Miller Theatre. This season, Melissa Smey has programmed groups from the top of her wish list in a Jazz series that begins with the inventive Lionel Loueke Trio and the Renee Rosnes Quartet.