Randy Sandke News

Voting is now underway for Cabaret! We have a record number of votes in already, but if you haven't voted yet, click here to vote! If you have voted already, tell your friends.

Voting is now underway for Cabaret! We have a record number of votes in already, but if you haven't voted yet, click here to vote! If you have voted already, tell your friends.

If you're wondering whether or not 2013 was a fantastic year for the cabaret art form in New York, all you have to do is scan the amazing list of nominees for this year's BroadwayWorld New York Cabaret Awards and you'll know it was one of the best ever. So now it's time for all you cabaret performers and fans to vote for the best singers, musicians, songs, and shows of the year. Voting will continue until Sunday night January 5 and the winners will be announced later that week. We hope that all the winners will be able to perform in the Award show on Sunday night February 23 at Joe's Pub.

It's taken me two weeks to write this review of Ann Hampton Callaway's recent 8-shows-in-four-days run at Dizzy's Jazz Club at Lincoln Center, where she paid musical tribute to the late, great Sarah Vaughan, and I hope you buy the reason for such procrastination. Since late September last year, I've now seen four different Callaway cabaret shows at three different venues and reviewed two of them and, well, writing about how terrific Ann is on a cabaret/nightclub stage is getting a bit difficult as well as boring. I mean, I'm running out of words in my personal thesaurus to describe Callaway's consistent excellence, not to mention how she seems to provide a periodic master class in cabaret performance. But the more I thought about it, the more I felt I needed to prove I was up to this reviewing challenge, and a show as wonderful as From Sassy to Divine: A Celebration of Sarah Vaughan deserved more kudos on what Rachel Maddow calls, 'The Internet Machine.'

Ann Hampton Callaway returns to Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola to pay tribute to NEA Jazz Master and GRAMMY Lifetime Achievement Award winner Sarah Vaughan, the singer to whom Callaway is most often compared. Callaway takes the comparison as a compliment, having already demonstrated her comfort with several daring, assured, and well-received tributes to her influences and contemporaries; from covers of classic ballads that already have decades-old 'definitive' renditions, to the 'Streisand Songbook,' Callaway knows how to add her own voice to a wide range of popular repertoire. Check out photos from the concert below!

Tonight April 29, at 7:30 p.m., Nicola and Beatrice Bulgari and the Carnegie Hall Notables-a membership and ticket program for music enthusiasts in their 20s and 30s-will host the Ninth Annual Notable Occasion with award-winning jazz pianist Rossano Sportiello and his American Jazz Stars, performing works from the great American songbook in Zankel Hall.

On Monday, April 29, at 7:30 p.m., Nicola and Beatrice Bulgari and the Carnegie Hall Notables-a membership and ticket program for music enthusiasts in their 20s and 30s-will host the Ninth Annual Notable Occasion with award-winning jazz pianist Rossano Sportiello and his American Jazz Stars, performing works from the great American songbook in Zankel Hall. After the exclusive concert, the Notables will gather at Redeye Grill for cocktails and dinner stations. The Ninth Annual Notable Occasion is generously underwritten by Nicola and Beatrice Bulgari. The evening will benefit music education in the New York metropolitan area by supporting the many music education programs created by Carnegie Hall's Weill Music Institute.

This year's Highlight In Jazz Concert series will have a slight change. Randy Sandke will sub for Warren Vache, who was scheduled to play during the Tribute to Derek Smith on Thursday, March 10.

New York's Longest Running Jazz Concert Series Presents a Salute to Derek Smith Thursday, March 10, 2011 - 8 pm. This event features: Dick Hyman, Ken Peplowski, Statesmen of Jazz, Randy Sandke, Houston Person, Aaron Weinstein, Nicki Parrott, Jackie Williams with Guest of Honor Derek Smith.

This year's Highlight In Jazz Concert series will have a slight change. Randy Sandke will sub for Warren Vache, who was scheduled to play during the Tribute to Derek Smith on Thursday, March 10.

September at The Metropolitan Room features...

September at The Metropolitan Room features...

September at The Metropolitan Room features...

September at The Metropolitan Room features...

September at The Metropolitan Room features...

September at The Metropolitan Room features...

Trumpeter/author Randy Sandke, author of Where the Light and the Dark Folks Meet: Race and the Mythology, Politics and Business of Jazz (Scarecrow Press, 2010), has performed at festivals, clubs, and concerts around the world and has recorded over twenty albums as a leader as well.

Trumpeter/author Randy Sandke, author of Where the Light and the Dark Folks Meet: Race and the Mythology, Politics and Business of Jazz (Scarecrow Press, 2010), has performed at festivals, clubs, and concerts around the world and has recorded over twenty albums as a leader as well.

HARBINGER RECORDS has announced the release of the new CD from piano jazz legend BARBARA CARROLL. The CD Something To Live For: Live at Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola - the most improvisational album of a recording career that stretches back to 1951 - was captured in performance at New York's nightclub overlooking glittering Manhattan.

In May, The National Jazz Museum in Harlem will present a month-long focus on the birthplace of jazz, New Orleans.