Freda Payne News

                Music, dance and special events fill the Lackland Performing Arts Center as Centenary Stage Company announces its 2017 - 18 full season line up of events.  In addition to CSC's theatrical events the 2017 - 18 season will see the return of audience favorite series, such as, the January Thaw Music Festival and the annual Dance Fest all while hosting an array of exciting guest artists.

The Iridium has announced its lineup of Mother's Day programming. See the full schedule below!

Acclaimed Jazz harpist-pianist-vocalist Corky Hale will present a 102nd Birthday Show honoring Billie Holiday on Thursday, April 6 at the Catalina Jazz Club in Hollywood.  Hale is one of the few people still performing who was actually a close friend of Holiday's, playing for her on the 'Stars of Jazz' TV show, and on several recordings and live appearances.

Musical Theatre Guild, the winner of the Los Angeles Drama Critic's Circle Margaret Harford Award for sustained excellence in the theatre, will celebrate Black History Month with the rarely produced HALLELUJAH, BABY!. The one-night-only concert event will take place at Glendale's historic Alex Theatre on Sunday, February 12, 2017 at 7:00 PM with original cast members Frieda Payne and Robert Hooks scheduled to be in attendance.

South Orange Performing Arts Center has released its lineup for the first half of 2017. See the newly released Winter-Spring events schedule below: 

American Soul/R&B singer Freda Payne and Grammy Award nominee B. Slade, who brought down the house during the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts' co-production of For The Record: Scorsese - American Crime Requiem, bring their signature vocal styles to The Wallis for special one-night-only concerts in The Sorting Room on January 7 and 8, respectively. The Sorting Room, an exciting new intimate space for live performance, temporarily transforms The Wallis' Lovelace Studio Theater into a 150-seat nightclub that offers Los Angeles audiences the opportunity to see some of the best established and upcoming talent in cabaret, comedy, live contemporary music, dance performance and more, now through January 14.

Martin Sheen, Debra Messing, James Cromwell, Bob Odenkirk, J. Smith Cameron, Michael Uriee, Steven Pasquale & more appear in special message to Electors.

CEK Productions presents the World Premiere of WHEN JAZZ HAD THE BLUES, book by Carole Eglash-Kosoff, musical direction and arrangements by Rahn Coleman, choreography by Cassie Crump and direction by John Henry Davis. WHEN JAZZ HAD THE BLUES begins previews Friday, November 11, 2016 and opens Friday, November 18 at 8pm. The production runs through Sunday, December 18 at the Matrix Theatre, 7657 Melrose Ave. in West Hollywood.

CEK Productions presents the World Premiere of LUSH LIFE, book by Carole Eglash-Kosoff, musical direction and arrangements by Rahn Coleman, choreography by Cassie Crump and direction by John Henry Davis. LUSH LIFE begins previews Today, November 11, 2016 and opens Today, November 18 at 8pm. The production runs through Sunday, December 18 at the Matrix Theatre, 7657 Melrose Ave. in West Hollywood.

CEK Productions presents the World Premiere of WHEN JAZZ HAD THE BLUES, book by Carole Eglash-Kosoff, musical direction and arrangements by Rahn Coleman, choreography by Cassie Crump and direction by John Henry Davis.

CEK Productions presents the World Premiere of LUSH LIFE, book by Carole Eglash-Kosoff, musical direction and arrangements by Rahn Coleman, choreography by Cassie Crump and direction by John Henry Davis. LUSH LIFE begins previews Today, November 11, 2016 and opens Today, November 18 at 8pm. The production runs through Sunday, December 18 at the Matrix Theatre, 7657 Melrose Ave. in West Hollywood.

CEK Productions presents the World Premiere of LUSH LIFE, book by Carole Eglash-Kosoff, musical direction and arrangements by Rahn Coleman, choreography by Cassie Crump and direction by John Henry Davis. LUSH LIFE begins previews Friday, November 11, 2016 and opens Friday, November 18 at 8pm. The production runs through Sunday, December 18 at the Matrix Theatre, 7657 Melrose Ave. in West Hollywood.

Coming up at The Iridium are: NYC's all-women blues band JANE LEE HOOKER on July 23; ELLEN KAYE with UK guitarist PAUL ROSE and Ethan Fein and the LiveIt!LIVE Band on July 26; VERNON REID POWER TRIO on July 29; and soul singer/songwriter/guitarist RAUL MIDON on September 24 & 25. Scroll down for details!

Freda's show at Catalina Jazz Club on June 3rd & 4th will include her R&B and Jazz material there are even some surprise guests vocalist to share the stage with her and you never know who will be in the audience attending, but last time it was her dear friend Quincy Jones. For Tix catalinajazzclub.com  or 323.466.2210.

The eagerly-anticipated David Gest tour is going ahead as planned, including a show in Warrington, despite the sad death of the music and reality TV star earlier this month.

I hear music, mighty fine music . . . Host Michael Feinstein sings with pristine bass accompaniment, as Musical Director Tedd Firth's Big Band filters in musician by musician. The sweetest sounds I ever heard . . . he continues as a light saxophone joins syncopated rhythm. Then whomp! All 17 players swing. Rarely have I heard sound design so perfectly balanced, appropriately favoring vocals. Feinstein remains smooth and easy riding the wave. 'You may wonder about the role of jazz in popular song . . . ' our host begins at the start of Jazz at Lincoln Center's first of three segments of the Jazz & Popular Song Series in the Appel Room. At a time when popular songs came and went with alacrity, jazz artists meeting for improvisational jam sessions needed pieces they all knew. Thus jazz mined popular music creating an intersection of the two art forms. Aided and abetted by four very different featured guests, Feinstein illuminates by example, not narrative.

Michael Feinstein, director of Jazz at Lincoln Center's Jazz & Popular Song series brought The Great Jazz Standards to The Appel Room last night and BroadwayWorld was there.

Once again, beginning Wednesday evening at 7 pm in Jazz at Lincoln Center's spectacular Appel Room, Michael Feinstein shares his taste, knowledge, and infectious enthusiasm with concerts of diverse music and vocals. This year's concert schedule with The Tedd Firth Big Band and special guests includes The Great Jazz Standards, A Right To Sing the Blues, and Sing Me a Swing Song. In a recent interview with BroadwayWorld.com, Feinstein says he thinks the shows are popular not only because they reflect imagination and variety, but also because “they're so clearly spontaneous at a time when music is often pre-canned.” Each evening different vocalists join our host presenting his or her singular style.

In her show entitled, FROM THE BRILL BUILDING TO THE METROPOLITAN ROOM: SANDRA PILLER SINGS RUTH ROBERTS, the audience will hear songs recorded by such artists as Petula Clark, Dean Martin, Buddy Holly, Jimmy Dean, Lawrence Welk, Freda Payne, Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, and many more.

In her show entitled, FROM THE BRILL BUILDING TO THE METROPOLITAN ROOM: SANDRA PILLER SINGS RUTH ROBERTS, the audience will hear songs recorded by such artists as Petula Clark, Dean Martin, Buddy Holly, Jimmy Dean, Lawrence Welk, Freda Payne, Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, and many more.