|
contents | jazz | |||||||||||||
| David Berger & The Sultans of Swing at Birdland  David Berger and The Sultans of Swing have sold out Birdland for the past two weeks (December 26 & January 2) of their regular Tuesday night engagement. The legendary vocalist Jon Hendricks and daughter Aria Hendricks, the band's regular singer for the past seven years, are in the midst of a four week guest spot with the band: remaining dates are January 9th & 16th. Commenting on having Jon as a featured guest with the band, Berger simply said, "Whenever Jon sings with us, it is jazz history. Not to be missed." He continued, "here is an opportunity to hear swinging acoustic big band jazz in an intimate club--the way the music was designed to be experienced--where the band and the audience can feel each other breathe-to the rhythms and inflections of American life. This is what we live for."Jon Hendricks is not only one of the world's favorite jazz vocalists, but is widely considered to be the "Father of Vocalese", the greatest innovator of the art form. Vocalese is the art of setting lyrics to recorded jazz instrumental standards (such as the big band arrangements of Duke Ellington and Count Basie), then arranging voices to sing the parts of the instruments. Thus is created an entirely new form of the work, one that tells a lyrically interesting story while retaining the integrity of the music. Hendricks, founder of the legendary vocal trio Lambert, Hendricks and Ross, is the only person many jazz greats have allowed to lyricize their music, for no one writes hipper, wittier, or more touching words, while extracting from a tune the emotions intended by the composer, more sympathetically than Hendricks. For his work as a lyricist, jazz critic and historian Leonard Feather called him the "Poet Laureate of Jazz, " while Time dubbed him the "James Joyce of Jive." On July 4, 2006, critically acclaimed bandleader, arranger and conductor David Berger and his 16 piece big band The Sultans of Swing kicked off a new Tuesday night residency at one of NYC's most prestigious venues, Birdland. At Birdland Berger leads his crack ensemble through original music from his four CD releases, including his new recording Hindustan (available now), classics from the books of Ellington and Basie and, during November and December, music from The Harlem Nutcracker. write your comments about the article :: © 2007 Jazz News :: home page |