Count Basie News

Yoshi's San Francisco announces updated calendar for club and restaurant through January 26, plus new shows through April 2014.

Franklin School for the Performing Arts (FSPA) invites area instrumentalists, ages 12 and older, to jam with two of Boston's best musicians, drummer Kenny Hadley and saxophonist Arnie Krakowsky, on Saturday afternoons at 2-4 p.m. from January 11 - March 22. Hadley and Krakowsky will lead FSPA's Jazz Krewe, an instrumental ensemble open to musicians of all levels that will explore such genres as jazz, R&B, rock, blues, funk and pop. The weekly ensemble sessions will provide students with the opportunity to supplement their instrumental studies in a dynamic, hands-on way. Hadley will also direct FSPA's Groovemasters percussion ensemble, exploring Latin drumming techniques and solo, ensemble and orchestral work, with participation by invitation only.

Yoshi's San Francisco announces updated calendar for club and restaurant through January 19, plus new shows through April 2014. Details below!

Tickets are now on sale for the fourth annual 'A Swinging Birdland Christmas' celebration at Birdland Jazz Club. To celebrate the holidays, Birdland regulars Klea Blackhurst, Jim Caruso and Billy Stritch will perform swinging arrangements of beloved seasonal specials like 'Christmas Waltz,' Kay Thompson's 'Holiday Season,' 'Sleigh Ride,' and 'I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm' among other favorites. The singers will be joined by Steve Doyle on bass and Carmen Intorre on drums.

The New Jersey Symphony Orchestra and Music Director Jacques Lacombe present Strauss' towering Alpine Symphony January 24-26 in Newark and New Brunswick as part of the Orchestra's 2014 Winter Festival: Earth. The program is the finale of the fourth and final season of the NJSO's multi-year 'Man & Nature' Winter Festival odyssey spotlighting the symbolic power of natural elements that have inspired composers for centuries.

Jim Caruso's Cast Party, Birdland's 'extreme' open mic, is proud to announce the upcoming MENTOR MONDAYS segment, which takes place on the last Monday of every month. MENTOR MONDAYS pairs up-and-coming singers and composers with established artists to create a featured performance for the historic Birdland stage. MENTOR MONDAYS gives emerging young performers the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to collaborate with some of New York's most talented musical theater songsmiths, including Adam Guettel, Lisa Lambert, Frank Wildhorn, Amanda Green, John Bucchino and Georgia Stitt, as well as singers Jane Monheit and Billy Porter.

Birdland Jazz Club has announced their thrilling line-up of impressive talent for December 30-January 5, including Jenna Esposito & Jim Van Slyke, Jay Leonhart Duo, The Birdland Big Band, Mentor Monday at Jim Caruso's Cast Party, and more.

Yoshi's San Francisco announces updated calendar for club and restaurant through January 5, plus new shows through March 2014.

Birdland Jazz Club has announced their line-up of impressive talent for the month of January 2014. Featuring: The Birdland Big Band, Lauren Kinhan, Diane Schuur, Regina Carter, Nicholas Payton & Action Affirmative, Joey DeFrancesco, Cyrille Aimee, Matt Baker, Jim Caruso's Cast Party, Birdland Jazz Party, and more!

National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Senior Deputy Chairman Joan Shigekawa announced today that Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts is one of 150 not-for-profit organizations nationwide to receive an NEA Challenge America Fast-Track grant. Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts is recommended for a $10,000 grant to support their April 27, 2014 presentation of the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra's A Tribute to Ella Fitzgerald.

The world-renowned Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis arrives at Segerstrom Center for the Arts on Friday, March 14 at 7:30 p.m. in Segerstrom Hall. The much admired and critically acclaimed orchestra performs the music of Count Basie and Duke Ellington for its return visit to the Center. "One rarely hears this music played with such technical brilliance, stylistic authenticity and tonal sheen...Here were the throaty reeds, percussive trumpet blasts and visceral sense of swing that have made the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra the greatest large jazz ensemble working today," notes Chicago Tribune.

Yoshi's San Francisco announces updated calendar for club and restaurant through January 5, plus new shows through March 2014.

The New Jersey Symphony Orchestra and Music Director Jacques Lacombe present Beethoven's Seventh and Eighth Symphonies on a program that features the U.S. premiere of Andre Previn's Concerto for Cello and Orchestra with Daniel Muller-Schott, the cellist for whom the concerto was written. NJSO Associate Concertmaster Brennan Sweet and Principal Oboe Robert Ingliss perform Edward T. Cone's Cadenzas for Oboe and Violin as part of the New Jersey Roots Project.

The Chicago Jazz Orchestra (CJO) under the direction of Jeff Lindberg is excited and honored to have been chosen to perform at the 36th Annual Kennedy Center Honors Gala tonight, December 8, 2013 in Washington, D.C. This performance marks the 25th consecutive year that the CJO has been chosen for this singular honor.

The five-time Grammy-winning San Francisco Girls Chorus-Lisa Bielawa, Artistic Director, and Valerie Sainte-Agathe, Music Director and Principal Conductor-- will present two holiday concerts, today, December 6 and the 22nd at First Congregational Church in Berkeley and Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco, respectively.

BIRDLAND RECORDS has just announced the release of 'A Swinging Birdland Christmas' CD. The CD was recorded live in winter 2012 during a performance of this annual holiday show at historic Birdland Jazz Club in Midtown Manhattan. 'A Swinging Birdland Christmas,' stars Birdland regulars Klea Blackhurst, Jim Caruso and Billy Stritch with special guest jazz violinist Aaron Weinstein. In the tradition of beloved seasonal specials, Blackhurst, Caruso and Stritch perform swinging arrangements by Billy Stritch of Kay Thompson's classics 'It's The Holiday Season,' 'Sleigh Ride,' and 'I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm,' among other favorites. The record also features Billy Stritch on piano, John Hart on guitar, Paul Gill on bass, Carmen Intorre on drums. The album is executive produced by Birdland's Gianni Valenti.

Stoneham Theatre is "jazzing up" January with three concerts: The Jay Geils Jazz & Blues Revue, Florence LaRue & the 5th Dimension, and Loretta LaRoche's new show, Life Is Not A Stress Rehearsal. This exciting line-up has something for everyone and gives audiences a chance to experience well-known acts up-close and personal in Stoneham Theatre's intimate, theatrical setting.

Legendary drummer and NEA Jazz Master Foreststorn 'Chico' Hamilton died on Monday, November 25, 2013, in New York City at the age of 92.

Ella Fitzgerald's vocal style was as incredible and diverse as the material that she sang. She started out a swing singer, moved to bebop, sang perfect scat, was an extraordinary jazz vocalist and had no fear of modern material as the 60s and 70s came along

When the legendary performer Lena Horne told Maurice Hines to 'Love them [the audience], make it real' you can tell he took that advice to heart when conceiving Tappin' Thru Life currently playing at Arena Stage. For Tappin' Thru Life seems determined not only to love the audience, but to entertain them, and it succeeds at doing just that! While Tappin' Thru Life does have some flaws, it's hard to find anyone who isn't won over by Hines showmanship, humor, timing and above all else, talent.