|
contents | jazz | |||||||||||||
| Mike Longo to Perform at John Birks Gillespie Auditorium Mike Longo, former pianist for Dizzy Gillespie, will perform at John Birks Gillespie Auditorium, in the heart Greenwich Village, Jan. 17. Longo will be accompanied by his band, “The NY State of the Art Jazz Ensemble, ” featuring the new young vocal sensation Hilary Gardner. The theater, located in the NYC Baha'i Center at 53 E. 11th St, was dedicated to the late Dizzy Gillespie on Jan. 6, 2004, on the eleventh anniversary of Gillespie's death. Longo and his 18-piece band have been raising the roof there with hard-swinging arrangements that won them the #1 band of the year award in the 2004 South American Jazz Poll. His last appearance on Oct. 18 was to a standing room only crowd of eager jazz fans. “I was just amazed at the response, ” says Longo, who has been playing jazz professionally for over forty years. “The house was completely sold out with standing room only, and people were even paying five dollars just to stand in the lobby to hear the music without being able to see us.” Longo, who began his professional career at the age of fifteen with the late great Cannonball Adderley, wants to bring this quality of jazz to people at prices they can afford while listening in an acoustically perfect, smoke- and alcohol-free environment. “Judging from the overwhelming audience response at our last concert, we will be filling the lobby area with extra seats this time in anticipation of the same overflow, ” says Longo. write your comments about the article :: © 2006 Jazz News :: home page |