Count Basie News

The New Jersey Symphony Orchestra presents Shostakovich's Fifth Symphony on a program of Romantic music March 21–23 in Newark, Red Bank and New Brunswick. NJSO Concertmaster Eric Wyrick makes his annual solo appearance with the Orchestra performing Strauss' Violin Concerto. The program also includes Goldmark's In Springtime; Gerard Schwarz conducts.

Joffrey Ballet School, a world-renowned dance center offering the most versatile and highest quality training, will present a Winter Concert collaboration highlighting the schools' Jazz and Contemporary Trainees and the Joffrey Concert Group. The celebrated fusion of performers will take place tonight, February 22, 8:30 p.m. and tomorrow, February 23, 4:00 p.m. at the Salvatore Capezio Theater.

When the Harlem Renaissance was in vogue at the dawn of the 20th Century, the jazz clubs around Jungle Alley, between Lenox and Seventh Avenue - The Savoy Ballroom, Small's Paradise, Minton's Playhouse, Clark Monroe's Uptown House, The Ubangi Club, Park Palace, Connie's Inn, and others - were the place to be. These immortal nightclubs, concert halls, cabarets, speakeasies and ballrooms, will be channeled and showcased May 4 - 10 at the Fourth Annual Harlem Jazz Shrines Festival.

The San Francisco International Arts Festival (SFIAF) is joining with the School of Music & Dance at San Francisco State University to present an exclusive Bay Area engagement with the legendary Cuban music ensemble Orquesta Aragon from Havana. Aragon brings the musical genius of generations of musicians to the Bay Area dedicated to sharing their rich musical heritage with both young and old music fans throughout the world.

The Broadway at Birdland concert series has announced that Donna McKechnie's new Talk/Variety show will return on Monday, March 24 at 7pm. Andrea McArdle has signed on to be Donna's Very Special Guest.

Birdland Jazz Club has announced their sensational line-up of incredible talent for February 24 - March 2, including: Quest: With Dave Liebman, Richie Beirach, Ron McClure & Billy Hart, Broadway Belts, David Ostwald's Louis Armstrong Eternity Band, Arturo O'Farrill Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra, and more. Details below!

Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts at Brooklyn College continues its 2013-14 season with the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra's A Tribute to Ella Fitzgerald, featuring vocalist Deloris King Williams,on Sunday, April 27, 2014 at 3:00pm. Tickets are $35 and can be purchased by phone at 718-951-4500 (Tues-Sat, 1pm-6pm) or online at BrooklynCenterOnline.org.

Yoshi's San Francisco has announced its upcoming lineup, now through March 9, 2014. Details below!

The New Jersey Symphony Orchestra hosts its 2014 Spring into Music Gala on Saturday, April 26, at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) in Newark. The event includes cocktails, dinner and a silent auction, followed by an NJSO POPS concert featuring a screening of The Wizard of Oz with live orchestral accompaniment. The gala's honorees are former Governor Brendan Byrne and his wife, Ruthi, in honor of the Governor's 90th birthday. Former Governors Richard J. Codey, James J. Florio, Thomas H. Kean and Christine Todd Whitman are honorary gala chairs.

Grammy-winning violinist Hilary Hahn joins the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra for Brahms' Violin Concerto on a program that also features Stravinsky's The Firebird Suite (1945) and Salonen's Giro March 13-16 in Newark, Princeton and Morristown. Yan Pascal Tortelier conducts. The March 15 performance at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark is the NJSO's Music Education Night event, which ends with #OrchestraYou-a special post-concert session in which audience members can perform their own orchestral instruments alongside NJSO musicians (advance registration is required).

Joffrey Ballet School, a world-renowned dance center offering the most versatile and highest quality training, will present a Winter Concert collaboration highlighting the schools' Jazz and Contemporary Trainees and the Joffrey Concert Group. The celebrated fusion of performers will take place February 22, 8:30 p.m. and February 23, 4:00 p.m. at the Salvatore Capezio Theater. The program will feature seven new and restaged works from legendary choreographers Jennifer Archibald, Donald Byrd, Daniel Gwirtzman, Brian McSween, Davis Robertson, Margo Sappington and Chet Walker.

'The best jazz repertory band in the country' (The New Yorker) honors The First Lady of Song-Ella Fitzgerald-by seizing a special moment in American history. Pulling original, little played arrangements done for Ella in the '40s and '50s-charts penned by superstar arrangers such as Billy May, Count Basie, Billy Strayhorn and Benny Carter- Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra and the ever-elegant Kim Nazarian will join together in an evening at Harris Center for the Arts of 'fascinating rarities...each played with as much skill as authenticity' (Chicago Tribune).

The New Jersey Symphony Orchestra presents Grieg's Piano Concerto on a program that also features Dvor?a?k's Eighth Symphony and Sibelius' Spring Song February 27-March 2 in Englewood, Red Bank and Newark. Conductor Santtu-Matias Rouvali, a 26-year-old prote?ge? of Gustavo Dudamel whom Gramophone has called a "dynamic young Finn" whose "career is developing at a rapid pace," makes his NJSO debut. The March 2 performance at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark is the NJSO's second College Night event of the season.

The Broadway at Birdland concert series is pleased to announce that Broadway/television leading man CHEYENNE JACKSON will return to the historic music room for two shows only on Thursday, March 27 and Saturday, March 29, with shows at 6:15pm.

Birdland Jazz Club announces its February 2014 schedule, featuring: 4 Generations of Miles with Jimmy Cobb, Mike Stern, Buster Williams & Sonny Fortune; Reflections of Monk with Tom Harrell, Greg Osby, Melissa Aldana, Aaron Goldberg, Ben Allison & Matt Wilson; Quest with Dave Liebman, Richie Beirach, Ron McClure & Billy Hart; Joey DeFrancesco Organ Trio; Cyrille Aimee; Barbara Carroll; Christina Bianco's Birthday Bash; Jay Leonhart Duo; Tim Rosser and Charlie Sohne; Anne Tofflemire; Jim Caruso's Cast Party, and more!

The New Jersey Symphony Orchestra (NJSO) today announced its programs for the 2014-15 concert season, conductor Jacques Lacombe's fifth year as the Orchestra's Music Director. Fulfilling its mission as a statewide orchestra, the NJSO brings subscription programs to venues in Newark, New Brunswick, Princeton, Morristown, Red Bank and Englewood, with 14 weeks of subscription classical programs, four pops programs and three family concerts, as well as several special concerts.

The SOURCE Theatre Company will stage the company created musical production 'The Five Points Wrapped Around My Soul' in February.

Nine-time Grammy Award winning artist John Legend has announced dates for his 2014 North American tour titled 'An Evening with John Legend: The All of Me Tour.' The tour which begins March 20th in Temecula, CA and goes through early June will feature John in an intimate and acoustic setting, highlighted by guitar/vocal accompaniment as well as a string quartet. The tour will stop at Santa Rosa's Wells Fargo Center for the Arts on Tuesday, April 1, with an 8 p.m. performance, and other stops on the tour will include a night at the prestigious Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, CA on March 26th as well the Brooklyn Academy of Music in Brooklyn, NY on May 31st.

Nine-time Grammy Award winning artist John Legend has announced dates for his 2014 North American tour titled 'An Evening with John Legend: The All of Me Tour.' The tour which begins March 20th in Temecula, CA and goes through early June will feature John in an intimate and acoustic setting, highlighted by guitar/vocal accompaniment as well as a string quartet. Other stops on the tour will include a night at the prestigious Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, CA on March 26th as well the Brooklyn Academy of Music in Brooklyn, NY on May 31st.

Birdland Jazz Club has announced their exciting line-up of exciting talent for February 3-9, including: 4 Generations of Miles: with Jimmy Cobb, Mike Stern, Buster Williams and Sonny Fortune, Tim Rossmer and Charlie Sohne in Tim and Charlie Go Solo, David Ostwald, The Mike Bono Group, Barbara Carroll Duo with Jay Leonhart, Arturo O'Farrill, Jim Caruso's Cast Party and more.