Johnny Mandel News

The acclaimed vocalist Mafalda Minnozzi's latest record Cinema City - Jazz Scenes from Italian Film intimately unveils a new side of the artist as she explores the Italian cinematic songbook. Jazz music has long taken cues from the silver screen.

Songwriter Marilyn Bergman died at age 93 on January 8, 2022. Now, Barbra Streisand has paid tribute to the Bergmans in a new video on her YouTube channel, featuring clips and photos of them together.

According to deadline.com, Marilyn Bergman passed away at 1:15 this morning in her Los Angeles residence. Her husband and musical collaborator, Alan Bergman, and daughter, Julie Bergman, were at her bedside. At the age of 93, the award-winning lyricist and seventeen-time Oscar nominee died of non-Covid related respiratory problems.

Sometimes advertising and catch phrases become outdated and are not reflective of the current environment.  Not so with “The Jazz Corner Of The World”.  Birdland is still the rightful possessor of that Charlie Parker quote, and one need have only been in the audience Saturday night to hear Jazz great Alan Broadbent and his trio to understand the legitimacy of that nickname. 

The Great American Songbook is an exhaustive, evolving canon of standards that includes work by the likes of Cole Porter, Jerome Kern, George Gershwin and Richard Rogers. Tony Bennett called the work, “the best popular music ever composed.” Music held in such high regard could have no finer ambassador than Michael Feinstein.

Just as the indelible vibe of the legendary Burt Bacharach was beginning to take hold of our culture and become the soundtrack of everyone's lives, three-time GRAMMY nominated vocalist Denise Donatelli, then a young girl growing up in Allentown, PA, found a deep connection to Dionne Warwick's original version of “Walk on By.” 

Following the success of their last album together, Celestial Anomaly, renowned L.A.- based vocalist Janis Mann and New York master pianist Kenny Werner decided to collaborate on a new project which ended up encompassing both East and West coasts.

The ASCAP Foundation is pleased to announce the recipients of the inaugural Peggy Lee Songwriter Award, an honor created to mark the centennial of the extraordinary artist while nurturing the careers of promising new songwriters.

Award-winning vocalist Celia Berk returns to Birdland Theater on Tuesday, April 28, 2020 at 7pm with a show of all-new material. Berk is again joined by pianist and collaborator Sean Gough, with whom she earned a 2019 BroadwayWorld Best Duo award nomination. Meeting at an intersection between jazz and cabaret, their unique program will again feature hidden gems by great songwriters, including Carly Simon, Johnny Mandel, Jerry Herman, and Billy Goldenberg, who has entrusted Celia and Sean with songs never before heard by New York audiences.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas. That's a sentiment that has been expressed for many years, sometimes merely through the utterance of the sentence, but usually through the singing of the popular song written by Meredith Wilson in 1951. While many attribute the song to the 1963 Broadway musical Here's Love, it was actually written simply as a Christmas song and singers have been crooning the tune ever since.

For her 4th CD release, vocalist/violinist Calabria Foti wanted to do an album like her vocal heroes did back in the day; that is, with a big orchestra and legendary arrangers on the podium in an iconic Hollywood recording studio. Ms. Foti says, “This is the most expansive project I have ever done, and at the same time, it's the most intimate and personal. I recorded at Capitol Records with a full orchestra, singing some of the most endearing, sentimental songs ever written, all for my loved ones. This album is a full-production tear-jerker!”

Jackie Draper and Repeal the Blues returned to the Laurie Beechman Theatre last night. Draper performed in song and dance, in English and French, to banish the blues. Composers and lyricists presented include Charles Aznavour, Irving Berlin, Cy Coleman, Dietz & Schwartz, the Gershwins, Jerome Kern, Michele Legrand, Lieber & Stoller, Johnny Mandel and many more.

Jackie Draper and her musicians, along with her dance partner, will blast the blues with songs in English and French, on Thursday, October 24 at 7 PM at The Laurie Beechman Theatre. Draper's musical team is Music Director Gregory Toroian at the piano, Robbyn Tongue on woodwinds and Frank Wagner on bass, with guest artist/dancer Milo Saidl. Kimberly Vaughn directs.

Sam Moore and Dave Prater – the groundbreaking duo, Sam & Dave, who brought their gospel roots to Soul music, were one of the primary chart stars at the Stax and Atlantic labels in the '60s. Bringing the passion of call and response to their wailing soul side, the duo were honored by The Recording Academy as one of the recipients of the Special Merit Awards, The Lifetime Achievement Award in May in Los Angeles.

When Paul Francis Weber and Johnny Mandel created 'The Shadow of Your Smile' for the 1965 film The Sandpiper, they may not have known that the beautiful piece would go on as an American Classic. First, Tony Bennett lent his acclaimed vocals and led the song to win Song of the Year at the 1966 Grammy Awards and Best Original Song at the Academy Awards. Throughout the decades, artists have tackled the classic, and now, Korean artist Elli K lends her breathtakingly subdued vocals to recreate the intense feelings of parting love.

In collaboration with PBS' 'Great Performances' series, the Recording Academy presents 'GRAMMY Salute To Music Legends®,' the fourth annual all-star concert offering a primetime spotlight for the Academy's 2019 Special Merit Awards recipients. Recorded in May at Los Angeles' Dolby Theatre, the event premieres nationwide Friday, Oct. 18 at 9 p.m. on PBS (check local listings),pbs.org/gperf and the PBS Video app.

Last year, when Drama Desk Award Winner and Tony Nominee, Saycon Sengbloh, was in Dallas, she joined us for a mini-set at the Opening night of the Dallas Cabaret Festival.  This year, Ms. SENGBLOH returns to headline the  4th Annual Dallas Cabaret Festival!!  An accomplished performer of song, stage and screen, she comes back to close out the Festival the way she brought it in last year a?' with a BANG!

Birdland will kick-off their great week of programming with the following acts:

Birdland Jazz Club announces July 2019 Schedule featuring Veronica Swift with the Emmet Cohen Trio, Freddy Cole Quartet, Steve Smith's Groove Blue Organ Trio, John Pizzarelli: Two-week engagement, Nancy Kelly, Konrad Paszkudzki and Pasquale Grasso, Lew Tabackin Trio, Michael Wolff Trio, Laura Osnes, Alyssa Allgood Quartet, Ladybugs, The Lineup with Susie Mosher, Jim Caruso's Cast Party, and more.

For her 4th CD release, vocalist/violinist Calabria Foti wanted to do an album like her vocal heroes Frank Sinatra, Peggy Lee, Judy Garland, and Nat “King” Cole did back in the day; that is, with a big orchestra and legendary arrangers on the podium in an iconic Hollywood recording studio. Ms. Foti says, “This is the most expansive project I have ever done, and at the same time, it's the most intimate and personal. I recorded at Capitol Records with a full orchestra, singing some of the most endearing, sentimental songs ever written, all for my loved ones. This album is a full-production tear-jerker!”