Louis Armstrong News

The singer Carole J. Bufford sings about the "dry" years in SPEAK EASY, her new Prohibition-era show running at the Metropolitan Room, 34 West 22nd Street, from May 5 to 24. Backed by the Grammy Award-winning jazz-age band, Vince Giordano and the Nighthawks, Bufford pours out classics made famous by Sophie Tucker, Al Jolson, Bessie Smith, Louis Armstrong, Helen Kane, Annette Hanshaw and more.

For the last two years, all 250 raffle tickets have sold out out for Chenango River Theatre's annual Spring Raffle. Cash prizes, including a $7,500 grand prize, will be drawn at the party Saturday, April 28 from 6-9pm. Winners do not have to be present to win.

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.

Louis Armstrong House Museum is throwing a Garden Party on May 5 & 6, 2012 and all are invited. The Garden Party is a free event, family friendly and will be held rain or shine. The weekend Garden Party will be jam-packed with hot fun and cool jazz. Event hours are Saturday, May 5 and Sunday, May 6 from 12 Noon - 6pm. In addition, the Garden Party will include a satellite event: a free film screening on Saturday, May 12th from 6 pm - 8 pm.

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 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.

To celebrate Jazz Appreciation Month, Louis Armstrong House Museum (LAHM) Historic House Tours will highlight one-of-a-kind portraits featured in Louis and Lucille's home by noted artists: Calvin Bailey, Tony Bennett, Samuel Countee and LeRoy Neiman throughout the month of April.

Dancing in the Street, the current show featured at the Barnyard Theatre, gives you the opportunity to party all over the world at various famous carnivals, celebrations and festivals. It will criss-cross the globe and visit exotic destinations like the Rio Carnival, the Mardi Gras Carnival in New Orleans, The Cape Minstrel Carnival in Cape Town, St Patrick's Day in Ireland, The Halloween Festival, The Soccer World Cup 2010 in South Africa and a New Year's Eve celebration at Times Square - New York.

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.

The 43rd Annual Jazz Festival at Loyola University New Orleans presents world-renowned trombonist Ed Neumeister in a one-night-only concert with the Loyola Jazz Band on Saturday, March 10 at 4:30 p.m. in Louis J. Roussel Performance Hall. The two-day festival, presented by Loyola's Jazz Studies Program, also includes a performance by the Loyola Faculty Jazz Ensemble, masterclasses with Neumeister and other acclaimed jazz musicians and performances by high school jazz bands and combos from across the country.

Texas Performing Arts will welcome jazz drummer Roy Haynes and his Fountain of Youth Band to Bass Concert Hall on Friday, March 30.

TJL Productions announced today that BIG BAND VOCALISTS, the latest installment of the popular MY MUSIC series, will premiere on PBS stations nationwide March 3, 2012.

The April 2012 at the B. B. King Blues Club and Grill, NYC, has been announced, featuring Melanie and Oleta Adams.

Leslie Uggams will appear at Barnes & Noble to promote her new CD UPTOWN DOWNTOWN as part of the 'Live at Barnes & Noble' Series on March 8th at 7p.m, according to Theatremania. Also set for appearances are playwright Katori Hall and saxaphonist Tim Berne.

Tony has graciously donated the new painting to the Louis Armstrong House Museum, to be auctioned off on Charitybuzz.com, the leading destination for online charity auctions, to raise funds for the Museum. The oil painting depicts Armstrong performing on his gold-plated Selmer trumpet. In the lower right corner is Bennett's signature, "Benedetto."

Performing at such prestigious venues as New York's Lincoln Center and Chicago's Auditorium Theatre has earned After Dark Award-winning vocalist and Naperville native Joan Curto the title of 'cabaret icon' by NBC TV Chicago.

Airing nationally on PBS on March 3, 2012 (check local listings) BIG BAND VOCALISTS looks back at the "crooners" and "canaries" of the 1940s, featuring the greatest vocalists of the period when they started their careers performing with orchestras and dance bands.