Ella Fitzgerald News

Encounter the timeless wonder of the music made famous by an American treasure when Vocalist Hilary Kole makes her Houston debut performing her 'Over the Rainbow' program for two performances, tonight, March 27, 2015, at 7 and 9:30 p.m., in Jones Hall, presented by Society for the Performing Arts.

René Marie – singer, actress, writer. Earth Kitt – singer, actress, writer. Never before has there been a vocal recording devotion to the divine Ms. Kitt and her fiery, sensual, and clever interpretations of songs. With her incredible range of vocal ability, powerful emotional resonance and strong independent streak, René is without a doubt the right artist to conceive of this historic project on the adventurous, multi-Grammy-nominated label Motéma Music. I Wanna Be Evil (With Love to Eartha Kitt) is René's third recording for the label and her 10th career album.

Following the success of the previous two festivals, the 3rd Annual New York Hot Jazz Festival -- produced by the impresario Michael 'Misha' Katsobashvili, performer Bria Skonberg, and composer/producer Patrick Soluri (of Prohibition Productions and The Salon) -- returns to The Players this year and promises some of the biggest stars of the Hot Jazz and swing scenes in a summit of uptown and downtown talent spanning three generations.

The 5th Annual World Wish Day Concert, featuring a 10 piece jazz band orchestra, with crooners Michael Pytura and Johnny Vegas performing, comes to Ottawa April 23, 2015.

Freda Payne is a Detroit native who never realized her talents until the early age of twelve. Her piano teacher discovered her singing ability and from that point on Freda was singing for local affairs around Detroit and even entered talent contest on local TV as well as the national TV show, Ted Mack Original Amateur Hour. At age fourteen she joined The Don Large's Make Way for Youth radio show broadcasted on station WJR in the penthouse of the Fisher Bldg. Freda's first album deal was on the Impulse label with ABC Paramount in New York. After The Lights Go Down Low and much more. Recording her next album three years later on MGM records. Was an early protege of Quincy Jones during his big band era, also performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 2008 in honor of Quincy's seventy fifth birthday celebration.

GABRIELLE STRAVELLI - the acclaimed pop/jazz vocalist called 'ingenious' by The Wall Street Journal and known from her tours with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, appearances at the 92nd Street Y and her long-running Soho jazz brunch - will join tenor saxophonist Ed Finkel as he brings a group of well-known New York jazz artists to the Heinz W. Otto Gallery at the Watchung Arts Center in Watchung, NJ on Saturday, March 28 at 8 PM. A dessert reception will follow the performance.

The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra welcomes Grammy Award-winning a cappella gospel group Take 6 will headline the popular Classical Roots concert at Cincinnati's Music Hall tonight. Conductor Charles Floyd will lead the full Orchestra, along with the Classical Roots Community Mass Choir in the one-night-only performance tonight, March 20 at 7:30 p.m.

EPAC is proud to once again present the Dave Stahl Big Band on April 9th, at 7:30 at EPAC's Sharadin Bigler Theater! Dave Stahl draws some of the finest musicians in the world for these concert events, and this concert will be sure to satisfy any big band enthusiast.

Villanova Theatre presents The Threepenny Opera, with book and lyrics by Bertolt Brecht, music by Kurt Weill, directed by Valerie Joyce, and on stage April 14-26, 2015. Villanova's reimagined production will feature actors playing instruments, a striking industrial aesthetic, and a timely message.

Maureen McGovern took the stage at 54 Below for 'Celebrating Women Singer/Songwriters' from March 10-14, where she was visited by a slew of stars, including Tony Bennett and Sam Underwood. Check out photos below!

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.

Acclaimed Jazz harpist-pianist-vocalist Corky Hale will present a 100th Birthday Show honoring Billie Holiday on Monday, April 6 at the Catalina Jazz Club in Hollywood. Special guests will include singers Freda Payne, Eloise Laws and Tricia Tahara, with Hale on piano and harp, Lyman Medeiros on bass, John Chiodini on Guitar and Christopher Jones on drums. Holiday, who was born on April 7, 1915 and died in 1959, was one of the most important and influential jazz legends of all time.

theatreWashington announced today that the 2015 Helen Hayes Awards will be held on Monday, April 6, 2015, at two of Washington's most renowned theatrical venues: the historic Lincoln Theatre will host the Awards ceremony and the Awards After-Party will be held a few blocks away at the legendary Howard Theatre.

Emerging as a pop diva in the 1970s, Maureen McGovern has been somewhere on the scene for decades. She still has a powerful, well-honed instrument, sufficient to perform confident acapella. However, It's difficult to tell from her new 54 Below show, Sing, My Sisters, Sing! Celebrating Women Singer/Songwriters, whether the artist's range has vastly diminished or arrangements and rhythms, often unsympathetic to original tunes, are so similar as to make an otherwise diverse selection of songs homogeneous.

Linda Miller's 'Legendary Ladies of Music' will come to Stage 72 at The Triad on three Sundays - April 5, 19 & 26 at 4:30 p.m.

This May, StarVista Entertainment/Time Life will bring home audiences front row seats for THE BEST OF THE ED SULLIVAN SHOW

On May 3, 2015, the Kennedy Center will open its doors for the 2015 Spring Gala: It Don't Mean A Thing...A Celebration of Swing. Renowned artists Audra McDonald, Paquito D'Rivera, Megan Hilty, John Clayton, Terence Blanchard, the Puppini Sisters, and Paul Taylor Dance Company will join for a festive evening in celebration of the Swing Era.

54 BELOW, Broadway's Supper Club, presents Maureen McGovern in 'Celebrating Women Singer/ Songwriters.' Maureen celebrates women singer/songwriters in her powerful new show and forthcoming CD, Sing, My Sisters, Sing!.

April is Jazz Appreciation month and in recognition, the Nash announces a new series of classes for the public to learn about the history of jazz by examining the great masters. This four-part series will be led by ASU jazz instructor, Dr. Jeffry Libman, who will present four weekly Wednesday morning sessions in April each focusing on a different jazz instrument and its master musicians and vocalists. Dr. Libman will lead the discussions with histories and recordings from the great masters such as John Coltrane, Dizzie Gillespie, Thelonious Monk and Billie Holiday.

The former pop star and Broadway headliner brings her tribute to female singer-songwriters to 54 Below.