Count Basie News

The New Jersey Symphony Orchestra and Music Director Jacques Lacombe present Brahms' First Symphony in concerts May 1-4 in Englewood, Princeton and Newark. Metropolitan Opera Orchestra Principal Clarinet Anthony McGill joins the Orchestra for Richard Danielpour's Clarinet Concerto, an NJSO co-commission written for McGill. On Saturday, May 3, the NJSO hosts Saturday Night Out-a post-concert champagne and dessert reception for ticketholders who are LGBT community members and friends-at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) in Newark.

Birdland Jazz Club is pleased to announce their great line-up of talent for April 7 - April 13, featuring: Jane Monheit with The MSM Big Band, Ben Rimalower Presents 'The Lady's Got Potential,' Jay Leonhart Duo, Jim Caruso's Cast Party, and more.

Face the Music Benefit with Jeff Pitchell & Texas Flood, Roomful of Blues, Eight to the Bar at Bridge Street Live is set for Thursday, April 10th, 2014 at 7:30 PM. Tickets are $35 GA, $45 VIP, and available at http://41bridgestreet.inticketing.com/events/FACEtheMUSIC.

On April 8, just two months before the New York-based artist Monty Alexander celebrates his 70th birthday, Motéma Music will release Harlem-Kingston Express Vol. 2: The River Rolls On

Team USA Olympic bobsled pilot Jazmine Fenlator joins the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra for 'From Sochi to Strauss'-a special post-concert session with NJSO Concertmaster Eric Wyrick tonight, March 21, at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) in Newark. The New Jersey-native Olympian and the Orchestra concertmaster will discuss what it takes to be at the top of their respective games. NJSO President & CEO James Roe will moderate the session, which will be held in NJPAC's Prudential Hall lobby following the 8 pm concert.

The New Jersey Symphony Orchestra presents Shostakovich's Fifth Symphony on a program of Romantic music this weekend, 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.

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 tonight, 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.

May and June sees some new artists and some returns at The Crazy Coqs, including: Harold Sanditen (May 2-3); Simon Green with David Shrubsole (May 6-10); Lauren Fox with Jon Weber (May 13 - 17); Gary Williams (May 20 -24); KT Sullivan and Mark Nadler (May 26-28); Opera Tottie (May 29 - 31); Bryan Batt (June 3 - 7); Judy Carmichael with Colin Oxley (June 10 -14); Elaine Delmar (June 17 - 21) and more. Details below!

On Sunday, April 13 2014, Pace Presents will welcome ORQUESTA ARAGON - Charanga Cubana, curated by LiveSounds.org at The Michael Schimmel Center for the Arts. Doors at 6:30pm, Show at 7:30pm. Tickets: $35.

Birdland Jazz Club is thrilled to announce their outstanding line-up of amazing talent for the month of April 2014. Birdland will kick-off their exciting month of programming with the following acts:

The world-renowned Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis arrives at Segerstrom Center for the Arts tonight, March 14 at 7:30 p.m. in Segerstrom Hall.

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 today, March 13-16 in Newark, Princeton and Morristown.

On Today, March 13, the Houston Symphony will continue its legendary centennial celebration by performing alongside one of the leading figures in the recording industry, Steve Tyrell. Under the leadership of Houston Symphony Associate Conductor Robert Franz, Tyrell and the orchestra will perform American standards like 'You're So Nice to Come Home To,' 'The Way You Look Tonight' and 'I Get a Kick Out of You,' to name just a few. The Grammy Award-winning Tyrell will also invite his friends Diane Schuur, Judith Hill and Lew Soloff to the stage to share the evening with him as he sings the night away to timeless classics in this one-night only special performance.

Smokey Joe's Cafe-The Songs of Leiber and Stoller transports audiences to the golden age of rock, rhythm and blues this spring at Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater. Director Randy Johnson returns to Arena Stage following the success of A Night with Janis Joplin (which enjoyed two runs at Arena Stage followed by a subsequent run on Broadway) to helm this Grammy Award-winning tribute to legendary songwriting duo Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, which originally opened on Broadway in 1995 and became the longest running musical revue, topping 2,000 performances. Bursting with hit tunes including 'Hound Dog,' 'Jailhouse Rock,' 'Stand by Me,' 'Love Potion #9' and 'On Broadway,' Smokey Joe's Cafe showcases choreography by Parker Esse (Arena Stage's The Music Man, Oklahoma!) and music direction by Victor Simonson (Center Stage's A Civil War Christmas, Arena Stage's 3 Mo' Divas) and runs April 25-June 8, 2014 in the Fichandler Stage.

The New Jersey Symphony Orchestra announces the NJSO Edward T. Cone Composition Institute, a multi-faceted program that promotes new music and emerging composers, presented in collaboration with the Princeton University Department of Music and generously funded in part by the Edward T. Cone Foundation. The Institute will select up to four composers to participate in five days of intense compositional evaluations and consultations July 15-19 on the Princeton University campus; the program will culminate in a live concert performance of the participants' works by the NJSO and Music Director Jacques Lacombe on July 19 at the Richardson Auditorium.

Tony Bennett earns a standing ovation the very moment he walks out on stage. The audience's response is both heartfelt and immediate, a mark of acclaim and a fitting tribute of respect for one of the greatest musical icons in the business.

Liz Kennedy (www.lizkennedymusic.com) had been composing wordless songs on the piano since she was 12, always wondering who was going to come along and finish them for her. By her late '40s, she finally gave up waiting and began adding the lyrics herself. Performing for the first time in her early '50s, she knew she was taking a bold risk. Divorced and remarried, facing the kind of fears that come with the pain of loss, never playing for anyone but her young children asleep on the floor below, she was protecting a budding need for self-expression. She worried that one sharp critique could destroy her deep connection to something that had always been her greatest passion.

Team USA Olympic bobsled pilot Jazmine Fenlator joins the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra for 'From Sochi to Strauss'-a special post-concert session with NJSO Concertmaster Eric Wyrick on Friday, March 21, at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) in Newark. The New Jersey-native Olympian and the Orchestra concertmaster will discuss what it takes to be at the top of their respective games. NJSO President & CEO James Roe will moderate the session, which will be held in NJPAC's Prudential Hall lobby following the 8 pm concert.

Birdland Jazz Club has announced their excellent line-up of talent for March 17-23, including Steve Ross in 'Ridin' High: Cole Porter on Broadway,' 'Now This' with Gary Peacock, Marc Copland & Joey Baron, The Puppeteers, Jim Caruso's Cast Party, and more.

Audiences of all ages are invited to spend an afternoon with Jack Jones, hailed by Frank Sinatra as 'One of America's Greatest Singers of Our Time' when he appears LIVE IN CONCERT at the Edgerton Center for the Performing Arts on the campus of Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Connecticut on Sunday, March 16 at 3pm.