Quincy Jones News

Birdland Jazz Club and Birdland Theater have announced jazz programming running July 10 through July 23.

New Village Arts (NVA), North County's cultural hub, is presenting a season filled with Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize-winning plays and musicals. Taken together, the two plays and two musicals included in the subscription season total over eight Tony Awards and two Pulitzer Prizes. The season also includes the holiday production of 1222 OCEANFRONT: A BLACK FAMILY CHRISTMAS which is quickly becoming a Christmas tradition at New Village Arts as well as a return engagement of Herbert Siguenza's A WEEKEND WITH PABLO PICASSO. 

MUSE/IQUE continues its yearlong concert series, MUSIC = POWER with CENTRAL AVENUE: OPEN HOUSE -- The Extraordinary Story of the South LA Music Legends Who Changed the World.

Wish Upon A Star is filled to the brim with new takes on classic songs from Jerry Reed, Elvis, The Beatles, Cat Stevens, and The Carpenters among others. Produced by Alpert and recorded at his home in Los Angeles, the album continues to serve up the unmistakable trumpet playing of the Tijuana Brass master, who just turned 88 this year.

A cappella group Straight No Chaser, whose fall tour has become a holiday tradition for families around the country, recently kicked off a different holiday season: summer.  The beloved nine-member group embarked on “The Yacht Rock Tour” and released Yacht On The Rocks last week, their ode to the summer’s most enduring soft rock genre.

Chris Pinnella is on a mission. The vocalist who has shared the stage with the legendary Julie Andrews, landed a platinum record touring and recording with the prog / rock locomotive Trans-Siberian Orchestra wants you to hear some of the greatest songs ever written, the way they were intended to be heard.

True Orleans 2 was recorded and produced by Allen at his own studio in New Orleans and features the multi-talent playing trumpet, trombone, drums, keyboards, and bass as well as programming the electronic drums. The album includes a new version of the hometown favorite “Weekend Dance” featuring guest appearances by G. Love and Dee-1.

Individual tickets for THE WIZ in Baltimore are on sale now! THE WIZ makes its return to Baltimore at the Hippodrome Theatre September 23 – September 30, 2023. Ticket prices start at $57.00.

Taraji P. Henson, Danielle Brooks, Blitz Bazawule, and more brought The Color Purple to the 27th American Black Film Festival. Check out photos from the first look screening and Q&A at day four of the festival now!

The full cast has been revealed for the First National Tour of MJ the Musical, joining Roman Banks in the title role. Find out who's starring in the tour here!

Additional casting has been announced for The Wiz, coming to Broadway next year following a national tour. Award-winning recording artist Deborah Cox will take on the role of Glinda with Melody A. Betts as Aunt Em and Evillene.

World-famous trumpeter/arranger/composer/producer Quincy Jones will be given a new eponym on Friday, June 16 – The Quincy Jones Conservatory – formerly the Conservatoire de la Communauté urbaine Grand Paris Seine & Oise, located in Mantes-la-Jolie in France.

Emmy winner and Grammy Award nominee Wayne Brady (Hamilton, Whose Line Is it Anyway?) and Alan Mingo Jr. (Kinky Boots, Doom Patrol) will lead the production as the Wiz in the all-new production of the groundbreaking, Tony Award-winning hit musical The Wiz. Learn more about the show and how to get tickets here!

Known for its Broadway-caliber productions, Musical Theatre West (MTW), Long Beach’s premier theatre company, will debut its summer musical, The Wizard Of Oz.

Casting has been revealed for the beloved roles of the Lion, Tinman and Scarecrow in the all-new production of The Wiz, in advance of its Broadway return in the Spring of 2024. Learn how to purchase tickets!

Kandi Burruss, the Tony Award® and Emmy Award®-nominated, and Grammy Award-winning singer/songwriter, actress, entrepreneur, alongside Todd Tucker, will join the producing team for an all-new production of The Wiz. 

Kassa Overall unveils his latest single “Going Up.' The final track on Kassa’s forthcoming record ANIMALS, “Going Up” brings the album to a surreal, bittersweet end, featuring verses by indie rap icons influential to Kassa: Lil B and Ishmael Butler of Shabazz Palaces/Digable Planets.

MUSE/IQUE honors Duke Ellington in performances entitled THE DUKE: Ellington as America's Ultimate Renaissance Man, conducted by Artistic and Music Director Rachael Worby, Sunday, May 21, 7:30 pm at the Skirball Cultural Center in West Los Angeles and Wednesday, May 24, 7:30 pm at the Huntington Library in San Marino.

The Umbrella Stage Company presents the musical adaptation of Alice Walker's Pulitzer Prize-winning classic novel, The Color Purple, and the 1985 film by Steven Spielberg.

IN Series Opera closes their 2022-23 season with CHUCK AND EVA, an evening celebrating the Great American Songbook through Chuck Brown and Eva Cassidy's only album: The Other Side. CHUCK AND EVA performances are June 1- 2 at the True Reformer Building and June 24 at the Baltimore Theatre Project.