Ella Fitzgerald News

CENTRIC, BET Network's signature channel kicks off auditions for its new original series APOLLO LIVE.

Jazz at Lincoln Center announces the competition at the 17th Annual Essentially Ellington High School Jazz Band Competition & Festival will be video streamed live online. The free webcast from the Rose Theater at Frederick P. Rose Hall on May 5th and 6th will feature performances by the fifteen competing high school jazz band finalists, as well as the announcement of the top placing bands. The video will also be available online for one week following the Competition & Festival.

Uptown Downtown, the new CD by Tony and Emmy Award-winning actress, singer, and recording artist Leslie Uggams (On Golden Pond, King Headley II, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Anything Goes, Jerry's Girls, Her First Roman, Hallelujah, Baby! and television's Roots) is now available for download at iTunes, CDBaby.com, and Amazon.com. This 2-CD cast album includes 21 tracks (24 songs) from her critically acclaimed one-woman musical autobiography that charts her historic career from Harlem (Uptown) to Broadway (Downtown), and everywhere in between.

R&B vocalist Brian McKnight has spent the better part of the last two decades on top of the charts, churning out one romantic hit after another for the Mercury, Motown, Warner Bros. and E1 Music labels. The multi-instrumentalist and 16-time Grammy nominee will explore some relatively new musical territory as a frontman for The Duke Ellington Orchestra from May 16 - 18 at the Blue Note. The Ellington Orchestra will perform without McKnight on May 19.

Gary Naylor sees a musical full of classic songs.

Catalina Bar & Grill will present "A Birthday Tribute To Billie Holiday" starring Billie Holiday's pianist Corky Hale and singer Freda Payne, with Special Guest, singer Tricia Tahara for One Night Only!!! The performance will be presented on Wednesday, April 25, 2012 at 8:30 p.m. at Catalina Bar & Grill; 6725 West Sunset Boulevard (just east of North Highland Avenue); Los Angeles, CA 90028. There is $20 Cover Charge. Valet Parking is available.

Now in its eighth season, Millennium Park will host free concerts, events, exhibitions and open rehearsals that showcase the very best of Chicago throughout the summer.

Tickets go on sale today for Lincoln Center's 24th season of Midsummer Night Swing taking place Tuesdays through Saturdays, June 26-July 14. Swing's 15 dazzling nights of dancing, and one free daytime lesson for children, take place at the bandshell and elevated dance floor in Damrosch Park, on West 62nd Street between Columbus and Amsterdam Avenues. Midsummer Night Swing offers an array of dance music styles including salsa, swing, tango, rock 'n' roll, and bhangra. Because of the national holiday there will be no Swing on July 4th, so a special Monday night will be added on July 2nd.

Supported by a superb 10-piece orchestra (including six horn players), Catherine Russell's set at the Allen Room for Jazz at Lincoln Center was a tribute to songs her dad Luis recorded or performed with the great Louis Armstrong from the late 1920s through the 1930s. By the end of her show, Russell had clearly proven that she has become one of the finest interpreters of jazz and blues on the contemporary music scene.

The GRAMMY Foundation® Grant Program announced today that $250,000 in grants to help facilitate a range of research, archiving, and preservation projects on a variety of subjects will be awarded to 18 recipients, in the United States, Canada, and the Dominican Republic. Research projects include a project that will use technology to enable parents of premature babies to have a presence at their child's bedside even when they are away from the hospital. Preservation and archiving initiatives include a Los Angeles Philharmonic project that will protect live recordings of such performers as Marian Anderson, Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Mstislav Rostropovich, and Nina Simone, among others; and an effort to digitally transfer and provide access to an archive of fragile reel-to-reel recordings of live performances and related oral histories in the collection of the oldest continuously running folk music coffeehouse. A complete list of grant awards and projects is below. The deadline each year for submitting letters of inquiry is Oct. 1. Guidelines and the letter of inquiry form for the 2013 cycle will be available beginning May 1 at www.grammyfoundation.org/grants.

The Howard Theatre, the historic arts landmark that launched the careers of Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Marvin Gaye and The Supremes, announces their grand re-opening after a $29 million renovation and a 32-year hiatus. The Howard Theatre will re-open the week of April 9 with an opening lineup that includes Wale, Wanda Sykes, The Roots, Robert Randolph, Taj Mahal, Yasiin Bey (aka Mos Def), Meshell Ndegeocello, Bad Brains, Chuck Brown, Chuck Berry, Esperanza Spalding and a weekly Sunday Brunch featuring the Harlem Gospel Choir. The full schedule is available at www.thehowardtheatre.com.

The GRAMMY Foundation® Grant Program announced today that $250,000 in grants to help facilitate a range of research, archiving, and preservation projects on a variety of subjects will be awarded to 18 recipients in the United States, Canada, and the Dominican Republic.

Tony and Emmy Award-winning actress, singer, and recording artist Leslie Uggams (On Golden Pond, King Headley II, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Anything Goes, Jerry's Girls, Her First Roman, Hallelujah, Baby! and television's Roots) has launched her new CD Uptown Downtown, now available online at CDBaby.com. This 2-CD cast album includes 21 tracks (24 songs) from her one-woman autobiographical musical that charts her career from Harlem (Uptown) to Broadway (Downtown), and everywhere in between.

Capitalizing on the rave reviews of its initial debut as "The Ultimate Elvis Tribute Artist Tour" in 2010, the touring production has been enhanced to capture the imaginations and interests of all types of fans including Broadway, concert and Elvis aficionados. The nationwide tour kicks off in Morganton, N.C., on January 14. Subscription and single tickets are now on sale for all tour engagements. For more information visit: www.ELVISLIVESTOUR.com.

Chicago's summer concert season kicks off on Memorial Day with the opening of Millennium Park's popular cutting-edge indie rock and pop music series, Downtown Sound: New Music Mondays. Premiering a week later is Millennium Park's all-new program, Loops and Variations, a series of six concerts that mix new music with electronica. The music continues with the return of the beloved Grant Park Music Festival celebrating its 78th anniversary and the acclaimed Made in Chicago: World Class Jazz series, which this year will showcase jazz with a distinctively Chicago flavor on six separate nights, culminating in the 34th Annual Chicago Jazz Festival.

Albany's Capital Repertory Theatre announces its 2012 - 2013 season -- and a new play development collaborative effort with Proctors, the Schenectady-based arts and entertainment complex.

Catalina Bar & Grill will present "A Birthday Tribute To Billie Holiday" starring Billie Holiday's pianist Corky Hale and singer Freda Payne, with Special Guest, singer Tricia Tahara for One Night Only!!! The performance will be presented on Wednesday, April 25, 2012 at 8:30 p.m. at Catalina Bar & Grill; 6725 West Sunset Boulevard (just east of North Highland Avenue); Los Angeles, CA 90028. There is $20 Cover Charge. Valet Parking is available.

On March 16, 2012 at 8:00pm, The New York Pops orchestra, led by Music Director Steven Reineke, celebrates the 65th anniversary of Ella Fitzgerald's Carnegie Hall debut with a commemorative performance at Carnegie Hall's Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage.

Tony and Emmy Award-winning actress, singer, and recording artist Leslie Uggams (On Golden Pond, King Headley II, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Anything Goes, Jerry's Girls, Hallelujah, Baby!) launched her new CD Uptown Downtown "Live at Barnes & Noble" before a standing room only crowd on Thursday, March 8 at 7 p.m. Ms. Uggams sang eight selections from her cast album, a two-CD set which contains 24 songs from her musical autobiography Uptown Downtown. She was accompanied by Don Rebic on piano, Steve Bargonetti on guitar, and Ray Kilday on bass. Following the performance Uggams also signed copies of her CD for her many fans.

Creative Alliance and Coppin State University, CSU Sharing the Stage: Creating Community Through Dance, present Buster, Baby and Hawk: Masters of Maryland Tap Sat Mar 10, 7:30pm at James Weldon Johnson Auditorium, Coppin University 2500 W. North Ave.