Ella Fitzgerald News

Brighton Thomas is the 2016 winner of the Great American Songbook Youth Ambassador Award. The 17-year-old is from Burbank, CA. During the final concert on July 23, 2016, she sang American standards: "It Had to be You" and "Happy Days Are Here Again.'

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and Artistic Advisor at Large Renee Fleming today announced the artists for the inaugural season of Renee Fleming VOICES, a new concert series that heralds the power of the voice across a wide range of genres. The series includes Broadway favorites such as Hamilton Tony Award® winner Leslie Odom Jr., Tony® winner Alan Cumming (Cabaret), and Tony® favorite Megan Hilty, plus acclaimed jazz vocalist Jane Monheit, opera sensation Lawrence Brownlee, multidisciplinary performance artist Rinde Eckert, and composer and jazz pianist Billy Childs, who will bring to life his Grammy Award® Treasure: Reimagining Laura Nyro.

First a play, then a children's book and soon a documentary, THE GREEN BOOK CHRONICLES tells of a guide for African American travelers.

Actor MARCUS NANCE from Shaw Festival, Actor/Director HUNTER FOSTER and Singer/Songwriter NINA ET CETERA Are Special Guests on This Week (Friday, July 22) on the LIVE Broadcast of State of the ARTS on WPKN-FM (89.5)

Audiences attending the show entitled 'Sandra Piller Sings More Hit Parade Music of Ruth Roberts' will hear songs from the Hit Parade that were chart-toppers for such artists as Dean Martin, the McGuire Sisters, Buddy Holly, Patti Page, Jimmy Dean, Lawrence Welk, Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, and others.

Returned to use as part of a $65.8 million restoration project, the original 11'-4' front doors of the historic John Anson Ford Amphitheatre open to visitors today for the first time in 70 years, as the Los Angeles County Arts Commission welcomes audiences back to the Ford Theatres for the 2016 Summer Season.

Audiences attending the show entitled 'Sandra Piller Sings More Hit Parade Music of Ruth Roberts' will hear songs from the Hit Parade that were chart-toppers for such artists as Dean Martin, the McGuire Sisters, Buddy Holly, Patti Page, Jimmy Dean, Lawrence Welk, Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, and others.

Jazz greats will be honoring jazz legends during Segerstrom Center's Jazz Weekend taking place October 7 - 9, 2016.

Bay Area Cabaret, now in its 13th season of presenting world-renowned Broadway, pop and jazz vocalists, announces the 2016-2017 season of shows at San Francisco's most elegant and historic showroom, the Fairmont Venetian Room (950 Mason Street atop Nob Hill).

Segerstrom Center for the Arts is celebrating its 30th Anniversary with an array of performances that represent the range of music, dance and theater that have been seen and heard on its stages since opening night of September 29, 1986.

 Last evening, the Apollo Theater celebrated its 11th Annual Spring Gala raising $1.7M for its year-round artistic and community programming initiatives.  The concert portion of the evening was hosted by LL COOL J, and opened with the dynamic dancing duo Laurent & Larry Bourgeois of Les Twins.  The concert also featured performances by legendary R&B group, The O'Jays including rousing version of Love Train, The Backstabbers, For the Love of Money and more.  Rising star vocalist, Leon Bridges brought the crowd to its feet with a performance of Mustang Sally and vocalist Andra Day performed her hit song City Burns,followed by a touching performance of Unforgettable in tribute to legendary songstress Natalie Cole. Host LL COOL J also joined DJ D-Nice for a tribute to Phife Dawg of A Tribe Called Quest - one of several iconic artists lost in 2016. 

Audiences attending the show entitled 'Sandra Piller Sings More Hit Parade Music of Ruth Roberts' will hear songs from the Hit Parade that were chart-toppers for such artists as Dean Martin, the McGuire Sisters, Buddy Holly, Patti Page, Jimmy Dean, Lawrence Welk, Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, and others.

Jazz at Lincoln Center's 2016 Popular Song series at the Appel Room ended this year's agenda on June 8 with host Michael Feinstein's appreciation of the interconnection between swing and popular song, a subject about which he's clearly enthusiastic. Each musical era, he suggests, is previewed by a song marking change: “Alexander's Ragtime Band” ushered in ragtime, “Sing, Sing Sing,” prefaced swing, “Rock Around the Clock” heralded rock n' roll. With the able assistance of Musical Director Tedd Firth (also on piano), Firth's Big Band, and special guest vocalists Allyson Briggs, Jeremy Jordan, and Catherine Ross, Feinstein and Co. delivered a lively evening of familiar and eclectic material.

This week marks the one-year anniversary of the start of "A New York Minute with Jim Caruso," a weekly showbiz radio segment heard at 8:20am Wednesdays on "The Morning Lounge" with Rich and Jill Switzer on Legends 100.3 FM radio and online.  The fifty-two segments have celebrated Broadway shows (Hamilton, Bright Star, Fully Committed, Fiddler on the Roof, Something Rotten, School of Rock, The Color Purple, The Phantom of the Opera, Waitress, On The Town, etc.), cabaret, and off-Broadway events.

Verve/UMe is proud to announce, as part of Verve's 60 th anniversary celebration, new vinyl reissues on June 24 for two long unavailable live performance classics by a pair of jazz legends the peerless Ella Fitzgerald's Mack The Knife: Ella In Berlin and funk-master Jimmy Smith's Root Down: Jimmy Smith Live!.

Summer in the city begins on July 4th, Louis Armstrong's traditional birthday, when the Louis Armstrong House Museum kicks off its signature summer concert series Hot Jazz / Cool Garden - now in its 10th year. For three days this summer, hot jazz is served up with red beans 'n' rice in the Armstrongs' Japanese-inspired garden. Birthday cake will be served on July 4th and Hot Jazz / Cool Garden series subscribers will enjoy a soul food luncheon too. It's a wonderful world at the Louis Armstrong House Museum.

 Midsummer Night Swing celebrates the dance bands and soloists who fill the dance floor. Happening in a specially designed, open-air ballroom in Damrosch Park (West 62nd Street between Columbus and Amsterdam Avenues) Tuesdays through Saturdays, June 21-July 9, Midsummer Night Swing kicks off with the Catherine Russell Septet. The Grammy Award-winning vocalist will pull from her vast repertoire of swing standards for the opening night concert.

Directed by B'Anca and written and starring singer Sybil Harris, the production is billed as 'a show with songs.' The latter part is certainly true.

Reji Woods, a Lancaster area stage and song fixture, has a full plate this summer, with his PORTRAIT OF A LADY series and two summer shows in Philadelphia and Vermont. He talks about producing and performing at the same time.

Initial casting is announced today (26 May 2016) for Qdos Entertainment's London Palladium production of Cinderella.  The 32 strong cast will be led byPaul O'Grady as The Wicked Stepmother, Julian Clary as Dandini, Lee Mead as Prince Charming, Paul Zerdin as Buttons, Nigel Havers as Lord Chamberlain and Count Arthur Strong as Baron Hardup.  The roles of Cinderella, the Fairy Godmother and the Ugly Sisters will be announced soon.