Like Jazz - 2003 - Los Angeles Articles Page 19

The Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts is offering a wide variety of entertainment as it opens its 36th arts season a?" including a bevy of shows at the historic Brown Theatre and the newly opened standing room venue, Old Forester's Paristown Hall.

The Orchestra Now (TŌN), the visionary orchestra and master's degree program founded by Bard College president, conductor, educator, and music historian Leon Botstein, begins its fifth season on September 14, 2019. Five different series and three special events will offer 19 diverse programs and 31 performances presenting novel combinations of both time-honored and lesser-known repertoire through May 17, 2020. Since the Orchestra's launch in 2015, the young members of TŌN have performed 261 works by 137 composers for more than 50,000 people in 23 venues, with 158 soloists and 15 conductors.

Something magical happens when the sultry hot jazz made famous by Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli meets the hard-driving Western swing sound pioneered by Bob Wills and early string bands of the American Southwest. The ear-catching result of this surprising marriage is the Hot Club of Cowtown, the effervescent Austin-based trio beloved for more than two decades by devoted fans across the United States and around the world. Romantic and rhythmic, happy-making and heart-breaking, sophisticated and elegant while still down-to-earth and rugged, the Hot Club of Cowtown now returns with its much-anticipated eleventh album, an enticing new collection of original compositions (plus a few inspired standards) entitled Wild Kingdom.  The album will be available to the public on September 27, 2019.

Internationally acclaimed choreographer Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker highlights the season opening of New York Live Arts (Live Arts) with two early benchmarks of postmodern dance, Fase (September 24-28, 2019) and Rosas danst Rosas (October 1-5, 2019).

Jazz singer Mark Winkler has just released a new album on singer Bobby Troup and will do a CD release party at Feinstein's Upstairs at Vitello's on August 23. In our chat, Winkler talks about his background, his love for Troup, jazz and the overall world of music. Tell our readers about your background. Where are you from? How did you get interested in music, especially jazz?

The whole world is getting hip to Bobby Rush.  After decades of tearing up the chitlin' circuit on a nightly basis with his sweaty, no-holds-barred funkfests, Bobby has thoroughly broken through to the mainstream. He won a long-overdue 2017 Grammy Award for his spectacular album Porcupine Meat and consistently tours the globe as a headliner. What's more, Bobby's brand-new album Sitting on Top of the Blues on his own Deep Rush imprint (distributed by Thirty Tigers), due out August 16, 2019, promises to further spread the news that this revered legend, well past 80 years of age even if his stratospheric energy level belies the calendar, is bigger and badder and bolder than ever.

The whole world is getting hip to Bobby Rush.  After decades of tearing up the chitlin' circuit on a nightly basis with his sweaty, no-holds-barred funkfests, Bobby has thoroughly broken through to the mainstream. He won a long-overdue 2017 Grammy Award for his spectacular album Porcupine Meat and consistently tours the globe as a headliner. What's more, Bobby's brand-new album Sitting on Top of the Blues on his own Deep Rush imprint (distributed by Thirty Tigers), due out August 16, 2019, promises to further spread the news that this revered legend, well past 80 years of age even if his stratospheric energy level belies the calendar, is bigger and badder and bolder than ever.

Supersense is thrilled to announce a once in a lifetime line-up bringing together two legendary ensembles of contemporary music, jazz and improvisation: ground breaking pioneers of American free jazz the Art Ensemble of Chicago and transcendent, internationally revered Australian trio The Necks. In a never-to-be repeated double bill at Hamer Hall on Sunday 25 August, the closing concert will present an afternoon of sonic mastery of profound impact, virtuosity and secular spiritual expression.  

THE SPITFIRE GRILL begins its previews July 10, 2019 at the Garry Marshall Theatre under the direction of its artistic director Dimitri Toscas. This musical (by James Valcq and Fred Alley) takes place in the rural town of Gilead, Wisconsin during a simpler era. I had the opportunity to interview a stunning vocalist I have seen on various Los Angeles stages, Ashley Argota, who will be imbuing her powerful vocals to the role of Shelby Thorpe, a pivotal part of the Gilead community.

American Symphony Orchestra announced the 58th season of its three-concert Vanguard series at Carnegie Hall, now expanded to include an additional performance at Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall. The season also marks the return of the Orchestra's popular series to New York City's Symphony Space-which originally took place between 1998 and 2015-with a performance of Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 in conjunction with the ASO's celebration of the great composer's 250th birthday. This series combines complete concerts of well-known, major orchestral works with interactive educational demonstrations. The full 2019-20 season runs from October 31, 2019 through March 12, 2020.

Usdan Summer Camp for the Arts (www.usdan.org), one of the preeminent nonprofit arts day camps in the country, today announced the Festival lineup for its 2019 Season, which kicks off on July 2. Curated by Usdan's Festival Artistic Director Jonathan Shmidt Chapman, the 2019 program consists of student performances as well as 14 different professional acts, representing genres from classical and pop music to dance, poetry, musical theater, and more.

Three legendary icons. Three beloved motion pictures. Three best-selling soundtrack albums. One epic concert celebration.Feinstein's at the Nikko is thrilled to present A Star is Born: The Concert on Friday, August 9 (8 p.m.) and Saturday, August 10 (8 p.m.). Judy Garland, Barbra Streisand, and Lady Gaga each stole our hearts with "A Star is Born."

The French Institute Alliance Fran aise (FIAF), New York's premier French cultural and language center, today announced the 2019 Crossing the Line Festival, featuring 11 performances and a gallery exhibition from a geographically, generationally, and artistically diverse group of artists whose work transcends genres and boundaries. All performances are world, US, or New York premieres; they are united by their convention-breaking fearlessness as they confront topics from social injustice to personal demons. Many of the performances pay homage to legendary artists of our time and previous eras, while the theme of migration and its transformational effects on identity informs several others. The festival runs from September 12 to October 12. Ticket are available at crossingtheline.org.

Queensland Music Festival today launches a transformative state-wide program unfolding an unforgettable musical journey through the cities, regions and remote corners of Queensland and celebrates twenty years of bringing the gift of music to all corners of the state. A program which focuses on musical excellence, curiosity and creation, public participation and making a difference through music, the biennial event cements its place as the 'largest, most diverse music festival in the world'.

Luis Salgado is quickly becoming known as an acclaimed director and choreographer. He has just returned from Germany where he served as Associate DirectorChoreographer for Cirque du Solieil's PARAMOUR. Two years ago he directed and choreographed the Helen Hayes winning musical IN THE HEIGHTS at the GALA Hispanic Theatre. He is now returning to GALA with his own version of FAME, The Musical.

The Grammy Museum will be hosting NOTES ON LIVING: ALL-STAR JAZZ WITH TALES BY BRIAN DOYLE May 14, 2019 as a joint benefit for WordTheatre in the Schools (WITS) and the Grammy Museum. WordTheatre's artistic director Cedering Fox will be producing and directing this evening of selected stories by award-winning author Brian Doyle, read by a star-studded cast, and accompanied by an all-star jazz band led by Starr Parodi. Cedering opened up some of her early evening time to speak to me.

Garry Marshall Theatre presents Deidrie Henry in the Broadway play Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill by Lanie Robertson for 15 performances May 15 to June 2, 2019 (press opening is Friday, May 17). The director is Gregg T. Daniel and playing Jimmy Powers is musical director Abdul Hamid Royal. Daniel most recently directed The Mountaintop for Garry Marshall Theatre.

Birdland will kick-off their great week of programming with Frank Catalano Quartet, Emmet Cohen Trio, Julie Budd, and more!

Legendary pianist André Watts will share a program of master composers on Thursday, May 9, 2019, as part of the 2019 Hamlen-Palm Series of exclusive house concerts. The series is produced by and benefits Classical Action, a program of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.

Baruch Performing Arts Center, along with New York-based theater company Blessed Unrest and Teatri ODA of Kosovo, will co-present the World Premiere of Refuge from April 25 - May 11 @ 7:30, with a variable weekly schedule and a 5pm performance Sun May 5 (Opening Night April 27) at Baruch Performing Arts Center, 55 Lexington Avenue (25 Street between Third and Lexington Avenues), NYC. 

Birdland has announced its upcoming May program!

Intra Muros has its UK premiere at Park Theatre, London from 3 April - 4 May 2019. Alexis Michalik's latest play opened in Paris in 2017 and is still running at La Pepiniere Theatre.

Garry Marshall Theatre presents the Broadway play Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill by Lanie Robertson for 15 performances May 15 to June 2, 2019 (press opening is Friday, May 17).  The time is 1959, a seedy bar in Philadelphia. The audience is about to witness one of Billie Holiday's last performances, given four months before her death. More than a dozen musical numbers - including "What a Moonlight Can Do," "Crazy He Calls Me," "Easy Living," "Strange Fruit," "Taint Nobody's Biz-ness If I Do," and "God Bless the Child" -- are interlaced with salty, often humorous, reminiscences to project a riveting portrait of the lady and her music.

Jazz pianist Matt Baker returned to a capacity crowd at Birdland (315 West 44th Street NYC) with the world premier of his NEW project: A Rhapsody of Gershwin on Monday, March 18 to huge standing ovations! This brilliant show presented a whole new spin on the music one of America's most celebrated composers, with an all-star lineup from the heart of New York's jazz scene. Joining Matt Baker - Piano; were Endea Owens - double bass; Curtis Nowosad - drums; Alex Goodman - guitar; and special guests: Nico Sarbanes- trumpet & voice; and Grammy nominated vocalist Nicole Zuraitis.

Jacob's Pillow announces that internationally sought-after Colombian-Belgian choreographer Annabelle Lopez Ochoa is the recipient of the 2019 Jacob's Pillow Dance Award.