Wolf Trap Announces Their Lineup For Summer 2010

The Filene Center Presents a Star-Studded Week Featuring Earth, Wind & Fire, Chick Corea Freedom Band & Béla Fleck, Zakir Hussain, Edgar Meyer Trio, Yes & Peter Frampton, Natalie Cole, RAIN-A Tribute to the Beatles, and Gordon Lightfoot.

Earth, Wind & Fire
Monday, June 21, 2010 at 8 p.m.
$45 in-house, $30 lawn

GRAMMY-award winning '70s soul band Earth, Wind & Fire is one of the most notable acts in R&B. The group is known for their eclectic sound that combines dance, funk, jazz, pop, and rock. Their Top 10 hits "Shining Star," "September," and "Let's Groove" led to gold success and an induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2000. Earlier this year Earth, Wind & Fire participated in the recording of "We Are The World-25 For Haiti" to support earthquake-relief efforts in Port Au Prince. Founding member Maurice White understands the power of music and strives to harness it for the better saying, "Expanding awareness and uplifting spirits is so important in this day. People are looking for more. I hope our music can give them some encouragement and peace."

Chick Corea Freedom Band
Béla Fleck, Zakir Hussain, Edgar Meyer Trio
Tuesday, June 22, 2010 at 8 p.m.
$42 in-house, $25 lawn

Chick Corea Freedom Band

The Chick Corea Freedom Band is visiting Wolf Trap in their debut appearance. Corea discovered his passion for music early and learned how to play the piano at age four. He began to pursue music professionally in the '60s and went on to record with numerous jazz greats including Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, Stanley Clark, Chaka Khan, and Wynton Marsalis. In 2006 the National Endowment for the Arts presented Corea with the NEA Jazz Masters Award, the highest honor in the jazz community. Corea's latest releases include Return to Forever (2008) and Duet with Hiromi (2009).

Alongside Corea, saxophonist Kenny Garrett, bass player Christian McBride, and drummer Roy Haynes comprise the Chick Corea Freedom Band. The talented quartet has performed on more than 250 albums combined and won a collective five GRAMMYs with Corea. This latest ensemble is a platform for limitless artistic self-expression. Corea describes what drives the group saying, "the Freedom Band is a meeting of free spirits in music...The quartet will be celebrating freedom of expression and freedom to make music the way we feel at the moment. This is our definition of ‘freedom.'"

Béla Fleck, Zakir Hussain, Edgar Meyer Trio

The combination of Béla Fleck's banjo, Zakir Hussain's tabla, and Edgar Meyer's bass creates an inimitable fusion of acoustic, bluegrass, classical, jazz, and world music. Fleck has won 11 GRAMMY Awards and has been nominated in more categories than any other person in GRAMMY history. The trio members have won 15 GRAMMY Awards combined. In 2009 the trio released The Melody of Rhythm: Triple Concerto & Music for Trio, which was recorded with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. The album garnered Fleck, Hussain, and Meyer a GRAMMY nomination for Classical Crossover Album. Also in 2009 Fleck released Throw Down Your Heart, which features his signature banjo accompanied by African lyrics.

Yes/Peter Frampton
Wednesday, June 23, 2010 at 7 p.m.
$45 in-house, $30 lawn

Yes

Jon Anderson (vocals) and Chris Squire (bass) formed Yes while working in a London club in 1968. The group rapidly gained popularity in England after opening for Cream and later Janis Joplin. The following year, they released their self-titled debut album. During the early '70s, the progressive rock band established a fan base in the United States. The band is well known for their top hits "Roundabout" (1972), "Owner of a Lonely Heart" (1983), and "Love Will Find a Way" (1987).In 1984 the group won a GRAMMY Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance for "Cinema."The band scored multi-platinum success with 90125 (1972)and Close to the Edge (1983). Yes continued to release albums in the '90s and 2000s. The band's Wolf Trap performance will reunite the band with Peter Frampton for the first time since 1976. That year they played stadium shows including one with more than 100,000 people at JFK Stadium in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Peter Frampton

As a child, Peter Frampton was a musical prodigy. At age seven, Frampton taught himself to play his grandmother's banjolele (banjo-shaped ukulele) and by 10 he was playing guitar in his first band. As a teen, he performed in the British band Herd and co-founded Humble Pie. The London native's innate discipline has inspired him to practice every day of his 45-year career. Frampton garnered much success with his multi-platinum selling release Frampton Comes Alive! (1976) andhis 1977 follow-up I'm in You. In 2006 Frampton won his first GRAMMY for Fingerprints. This April he released Thank You Mr. Churchill, a socially conscious album that discusses the economic crisis and Frampton's former bouts with alcoholism. As his music evolves, he strives for improvement, saying "I've realized success isn't what you think, it's what I think. Until I drop, I'll still be trying to make myself a better person and that's how I do it, through my music."

Natalie Cole
Thursday, June 24, 2010 at 8 p.m.
$42 in-house, $25 lawn

Born to two singers, Maria and the incomparable Nat "King" Cole, Natalie Cole was exposed to the music business at an early age. Cole began performing at age six, but deferred pursuing music until college. "This Will Be," "Inseparable," and "Sophisticated Lady" are among the jazz and R&B singer's early hits. At the onset of Cole's career, she strove to establish an identity distinct from her legendary father. She later embraced their musical ties and recorded their duets "When I Fall in Love" (1996) and "Unforgettable" which earned a GRAMMY for record of the year in 1991. Her album Unforgettable sold five million copies. The nine-time GRAMMY winner released Still Unforgettable in 2008.

RAIN-A Tribute to the Beatles
Friday, June 24 and Saturday, June 25, 2010 at 8 p.m.
$40 in-house, $25 lawn

RAIN was formed in the mid-'70s by keyboardist Mark Lewis following the break-up of the Beatles in 1970. Lewis and other Los Angeles-based musicians generated a major buzz as they covered classic Beatles hits at local gigs. The group gained national recognition when Dick Clark hired them to record the music for the 1979 made-for-TV movie Birth of the Beatles. David Leon, Joey Curatolo, Joe Bithorn, and Ralph Castelli joined at later times. RAIN does not perform pre-recorded tapes or sequences, only live music-requiring strategic execution of lyrics and notes. On the 40th anniversary of the Beatles' historic appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, the members of RAIN performed the same songs at Seattle's Boeing Field for 7,000 fans. RAIN has performed more than 4,000 shows. The tribute band's fame continues to grow as they prepare for RAIN -A Tribute to The Beatles On Broadway, a limited 11-week engagement this fall at the Neil Simon Theatre.
An Evening with
Gordon Lightfoot
Sunday, June 27, 2010 at 8 p.m.
$40 in-house, $22 lawn

This Canadian began his musical career in the mid-'60s penning hits like "Early Morning Rain" for Peter, Paul & Mary and "Ribbon of Darkness" for Marty Robbins. Gordon Lightfoot began gaining solo success with his 1970 release Sit Down Young Stranger. Lightfoot's appeal encompasses adult contemporary, country, contemporary folk, and pop/rock. Lightfoot scored Top 10 hits with "Sundown," "If I Could Read Your Mind," and "Carefree Highway." Barbara Streisand, Bob Dylan, Don Williams, Elvis Presley, and Glen Campbell have covered the folk singer's music. Even after the decline of folk music in the late '70s, Lightfoot continued to record and perform. While on tour in 2002, Lightfoot endured a life-threatening abdominal hemorrhage followed by a coma. After six weeks in a coma, four surgeries, and two years of extensive rehab, Lightfoot released his 20th album, Harmony, in 2004 and went on tour in 2005.

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