Count Basie News

Birdland Jazz Club has announced their amazing line-up of talent for June 30 through July 6, featuring: Our Sinatra "A Musical Celebration" with Eric Comstock, Christopher Gines, Harmony Keeney, Jane Monheit, Arturo O'Farrill, Frank Wildhorn, and Introducing A New Segment: Mentor Mondays!

In 1939, seventy-five years ago, a young Billie Holiday took to the stage for the very first time to perform a protest song that would become her signature tune, Strange Fruit. It was at the end of her performance. Lights were dimmed, with just a pencil light on her or face. Waiters stopped serving; the bar was silent and there was no encore. Patrons were left to consider the message in the song.

The Memphis Black Arts Alliance FireHouse Community Arts Center's popular Last Sunday Jazz-A-F!RE Ensemble and BYOI (Bring Your Own Instrument) returns to perform again, Sunday June 29, 2014.

AEG Live announced today that the southern gothic, supernatural musical Ghost Brothers of Darkland County will tour across North America this Fall.

Robert Davi does not try to mimic Sinatra's voice, or blatantly copy his phrasing and styling.

Berkeley Repertory Theatre and Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (YBCA) present a series of public Town Halls featuring MacArthur Award-winning actress, playwright, and educator Anna Deavere Smith, who will present a staged reading of her work-in-progress, Field Notes: Doing Time In Education: The California Chapter.

Fiddle-and-Fa-La-La-Fest will bring together students from El Sistema-inspired music-instruction programs across New Jersey for a special performance today, June 7, at 1 pm at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) in Newark.

Best known for his ground-breaking jazz, multi reedman Chico Freeman has travelled a lifetime of musical adventures. The son of legendary Chicago tenor sax player Von Freeman, Chico's journey has taken him around the world alongside such musical giants as Dizzy Gillespie, McCoy Tyner, Elvin Jones, Charles Mingus, Jack DeJohnette, Art Blakey and Wynton Marsalis.

On Tuesday June 3, Hinton Battle unveiled a new chapter in his career when 54 BELOW, Broadway's Supper Club presented SOMETHING NEW, a performance introducing his soon to be released new CD, by the same name. With his unique take on classic tunes, Battle pays tribute to the genius of Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie, and Miles Davis and honors the memory of some of his dance contemporaries and legendary tap dancers that have influenced his career.

Looking at his resume, you are struck by the fact that he has done it all - starred in numerous hit Broadway Musicals, is a three-time Tony Award-winner, wrote, directed and choreographed for both television and theatre. On Tuesday June 3, Hinton will unveil a new chapter in his career when 54 BELOW, Broadway's Supper Club presents Hinton Battle Something New, a performance introducing his soon to be released new CD, by the same name. With his unique take on classic tunes, Battle pays tribute to the genius of Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie, and Miles Davis and honors the memory of some of his dance contemporaries and legendary tap dancers that have influenced his career.

On December 10, 2013 Diane Schuur turned 60. She also completed her first-ever recording in homage to her two most important and influential mentors: Stan Getz (who discovered her at the Monterey Jazz Festival in 1979) and Frank Sinatra, whose artwork hangs prominently in her Palm Springs home. Entitled I Remember You (With Love to Stan and Frank), the album of twelve songs, all previously recorded by Getz or Sinatra, or both, was produced by Diane and her new manager, Mary Ann Topper, at Avatar Studios in New York, and is set for release on Jazzheads, June 10, 2014. It also features a stellar cast of musicians, including: Alan Broadbent (arrangements/piano), Roni Ben-Hur and Romero Lubambo (guitars), Joel Frahm (saxophone) , Ben Wolfe (bass) and Ulysses Owens Jr. on drums.

Coming up this week, 54 BELOW, Broadway's Supper Club, presents some of the brightest stars from Broadway, cabaret, jazz and beyond. To purchase tickets or for more information, visit www.54Below.com or call (646) 476-3551.

Fiddle-and-Fa-La-La-Fest will bring together students from El Sistema-inspired music-instruction programs across New Jersey for a special performance on Saturday, June 7, at 1 pm at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) in Newark.

This June, July and August, 54 BELOW presents an exciting lineup of the brightest talent from Broadway and beyond. Located just below the legendary Studio 54 at 254 West 54th Street.

Media impresario and humanitarian Quincy Jones has been selected as the 99th recipient of the Spingarn Medal. Jones will receive the distinguished medal on July 23rd at 105th NAACP National Convention in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Birdland Jazz Club has announced the launch of a new summer series, Jane Monheit's Jazz Party, on Sundays at 6pm, beginning July 6. The series will provide Jane the opportunity to develop new material at Birdland and collaborate with invited musical guests, in a relaxed environment that is part concert, part jam session, part workshop and all fun.

The New Jersey Symphony Orchestra and Princeton University Department of Music announce the four composers of the inaugural NJSO Edward T. Cone Composition Institute, a multi-faceted program that promotes new music and emerging composers. The Institute is a collaboration between the NJSO and the Princeton University Department of Music and is generously funded in part by the Edward T. Cone Foundation.

Acclaimed actor Gareth Snook joins the cast of the new revised version of Cafe Society Swing that begins its first West End run on June 17th at the Leicester Square Theatre.

This summer Lincoln Center's Midsummer Night Swing will celebrate the great dance bands and soloists that drive the action on the dance floor.

New Jersey Ballet celebrates some of Broadway's most memorable dance sequences when it performs Ballet on Broadway at the Mayo Performing Arts Center tonight, May 17 at 8 pm.