Ralph Rainger News

CLUB44 RECORDS has announced the new album Carol Sloane, Live at Birdland, which is available on streaming platforms and on CD in stores and online today, Friday, April 8. This release marks the veteran vocalist’s 60th anniversary as a recording artist, and her first album in over a decade. Recorded at the legendary New York jazz boite in September 2019, she was joined by an all-star trio, including the late Mike Renzi on piano, Jay Leonhart on bass, and Scott Hamilton on saxophone. The album features liner notes by award-winning writer James Gavin and is produced by Joel Moss and Mark D. Sendroff. Stream, download or order the album at club44.lnk.to/LiveAtBirdland.

CLUB44 RECORDS has announced the new album Carol Sloane, Live at Birdland, which will be available on streaming platforms and on CD in stores and online Friday, April 8. This release marks the veteran vocalist’s 60th anniversary as a recording artist, and her first album in over a decade.

Every time I attend something in jazz pianist Ronny Whyte's estimable weekly series at the welcoming, modern Saint Peter's Church (619 Lexington Avenue at 54th Street), I'm glad I came. The place is airy, peaceful, and sunny with spacious pew and tiered seating. Acoustics are splendid. The audience is respectful. And they have Billy Strayhorn's piano. Yesterday's easy-going hour featured Alex Leonard on piano and vocals (one forgets how fine a vocalist he is), David Kingsnorth on bass, and veteran Al Gafa on guitar.

How much do most of us know about Brooklyn's own Mary Jane 'Mae' West (1893-1980) other than that she was an iconic sex symbol who had a wicked sense of humor? It's common knowledge she acted and sang, but are you aware she was a playwright and screenwriter? Did you know she didn't make her first film until the age of 39 and never drank alcohol? Jazz vocalist Molly Ryan has done her homework, presenting a smart, multifaceted woman who was, outside her carefully constructed persona, "the epitome of modesty." Though narrative needs to be edited, her show Come Up and See Me Sometime at the Metropolitan Room (which completed a three-show run this past Wednesday night) is an excellent mix of history and anecdote making a case for increased appreciation of the subject.

Ken Greves, performing music from his new CD, will appear at Cafe Noctambulo on Thursday, July 2nd at 8pm with Frank Ponzio (piano), Saadi Zain (bass) and Jacob Melchior (drums). 

Just when one thinks Carole J. Bufford has thoroughly plumbed the genre for which she has so much affinity, the artist comes up with an audacious new show whose distinct focus, original format, and unblushing presentation delivers a fresh take. Heart of Gold: A Portrait of the Oldest Profession (this past Saturday night at 54 Below) offers a cavalcade of women who get paid to provide 'pleasure'--madams, streetwalkers, dancehall girls, and kept women from salty to sensuous, weary and bitter to a view from the catbird seat, enmeshed or looking back.

Vocalist Joey Arias is not what he appears to the uninitiated. This is not a drag performer executing pastiche, but rather an artist serious about music with the talent to offer a full-blooded show. Lifelong affinity for Billie Holiday first professionally surfaced in 1987's Recording Arias on Holiday and continued with the Off-Broadway run of Strange Fruit, an homage to the icon. Her concert Wednesday night for Lincoln Center's American Songbook series, with evocative musical arrangement by Matt Ray, brings Arias' devotion "all the way from downtown above 14th Street."

42nd Street Moon ends the 2009/10 season with Kiss The Boys Goodbye: The Songs of Broadway and Hollywood in the 1940s, a gala concert at the Alcazar Theater on June 21. For one magical evening, the company will celebrate the songs that kept the home fires burning (and singing) during World War II, and others that reflected the jubilation and prosperity of the post-war era.

42nd Street Moon ends the 2009/10 season with Kiss The Boys Goodbye: The Songs of Broadway and Hollywood in the 1940s, a gala concert at the Alcazar Theater on June 21. For one magical evening, the company will celebrate the songs that kept the home fires burning (and singing) during World War II, and others that reflected the jubilation and prosperity of the post-war era.

42nd Street Moon kicks off its upcoming 2009-10 Season with its annual fundraiser, this year titled We?re In The Money! -- Hollywood Sings Away the Depression Blues. A one-night-only event at the Alcazar Theatre on Monday, June 22, the evening salutes the whimsical, eccentric, and often, enchanted world of 1930s movie musicals ? the talking picture era.

42nd Street Moon annual fundraising evening will be called We're in the Money. Hollywood Sings Away the Depression Blues.

42nd Street Moon kicks off its upcoming 2009-10 Season with its annual fundraiser, this year titled We?re In The Money! -- Hollywood Sings Away the Depression Blues. A one-night-only event at the Alcazar Theatre on Monday, June 22, the evening salutes the whimsical, eccentric, and often, enchanted world of 1930s movie musicals ? the talking picture era.

42nd Street Moon annual fundraising evening will be called We're in the Money. Hollywood Sings Away the Depression Blues.