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| Highlights In Jazz Announces Schedule For 43rd Season Jack Kleinsinger's Highlights In Jazz, New York's Longest Running Jazz Concert Series Proudly Announces The Schedule For Its 43rd Season Featuring Four Concerts Celebrating Jazz Past, Present And Future At The Tribeca Performing Arts Center Borough Of Manhattan Community College Trombonist Wycliffe Gordon To Receive Annual Highlights In Jazz Award Jack Kleinsinger's Highlights In Jazz, New York's longest running jazz concert series, proudly announces the schedule for its 43rd season featuring four monthly star studded Thursday night concerts taking place at the Tribeca Performing Arts Center at the Borough of Manhattan Community College, 199 Chambers Street, NYC. Each show begins at 8:00 PM. The season kicks off on February 19, 2015 with Highlights In Jazz 42nd Anniversary Gala featuring the swinging jazz and blues of vocalist Catherine Russell and her group making their first Highlights In Jazz appearance plus the classic sounds of clarinetist/saxophonist Dan Levinson and singer/trumpeter Bria Skonberg with pianist Gordon Webster and bassist/vocalist Nicki Parrott. Kleinsinger notes, "I'll probably bring them all together because as a producer, that's what producers do - at least this one does, so I'm very excited about our 42rd Anniversary Gala concert". The season's second concert on March 19, 2015 will mark another milestone for Highlights In Jazz. "We're going to have the concert recorded, in part, " Kleinsinger says. "It will be a live recording, our March concert; it's a Battle of the Saxes." The show billed as Saxophones Supreme will feature the Anderson Twins (Peter and Will, who appeared with the Heath Brothers on last season's Brothers In Jazz concert), Ken Peplowski, last year's recipient of the Highlights In Jazz Award honor, along with tenor saxophonist Grant Stewart and a very good rhythm section with pianist Ehud Asherie, the bass player Neal Miner and young drummer Aaron Kimmel. Also appearing on the show will be NEA Jazz Master alto saxophonist Lou Donaldson and his group. On Thursday May 7, 2015 Highlights In Jazz will present A Salute To Wycliffe Gordon honoring the versatile trombonist/tuba player who will be the recipient of this year's Annual Highlights In Jazz Award which has been presented since 1974 to honor an outstanding living jazz musician for, in Kleinsinger's words, their "matchless musical achievements." He proclaims, "The first year I decided that everybody else waits for people to die and then they do memorial concerts. Why not honor these artists while they're still alive and playing and let them know that we love them? The first year we honored Lionel Hampton and it was a thrilling night for me as a fledgling producer. Teddy Wilson showed up and Clark Terry was there. It was just such a wonderful evening and we've done it every year since." The youngest artist to ever be honored with the award, Gordon, who will be performing with his working quintet featuring clarinetist/saxophonist Anat Cohen, trumpeter Terrell Stafford, pianist Aaron Diehl, bassist Yasushi Nakamura and drummer Alvin Atkinson, as well as with frequent collaborators bassist/vocalist Jay Leonhart and pianist Ted Rosenthal. Wycliffe says, "I feel really honored to have been selected. Especially in light of the one's that have come before me." Previous honorees have been Roy Eldridge, Lionel Hampton, Roy Haynes, Hank Jones, Maxine Sullivan, Frank Wess and Dr. Billy Taylor and Sonny Fortune to name a few. The season's concluding concert on June 11, 2015 will celebrate Jazz, Past and Present. The first half of the show will have the ever popular Vince Giordano and the Nighthawks featuring Ms. Vinnie Knight playing and singing the swinging sounds of the 20's, 30's and 40's. The concert's second half will feature young players Kleinsinger describes as "some of my kids." He proudly proclaims, "When I say my kids, I mean musicians who played with us when they were just students at the New School and the Manhattan School of Music and Julliard. These kids are great, Steven Frieder on saxophone, Dylan Meek on piano – they've actually lived with me for various periods of time (laughing). Benny Benack is a young up and coming trumpeter and scat singer and is also a semifinalist in the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Trumpet Competition for 2014. Devin Starks is a young bass player who plays with Charles Tolliver. And the drummer Kosta Galanopoulos, who is still studying at the New School, is one of the new, hot, young jazz talents on the scene today. It's important to me because a lot of younger musicians that are not so young any more, got their start at Highlights In Jazz; Kenny Washington, John Pizzarelli, Jane Monheit, Greg Hutchinson, Peter Bernstein and so many others". A long-running tradition of every Highlights In Jazz concert is to feature a surprise guest, chosen from among the music's finest players. Some of the biggest stars in jazz who have appeared as surprise guests in previous years have been Eubie Blake, Cab Calloway, Dizzy Gillespie, Stan Getz, Savion Glover, Earl Hines, Branford Marsalis, Carmen McRae, Gerry Mulligan, George Shearing, to name a few. You can expect more great jazz surprise guests too for the Highlights In Jazz 43rd season. -30- Highlights In Jazz 2015 Schedule Who Jack Kleinsinger's Highlights In Jazz What Thursday, February 19, 2015 - 8 pm Highlights In Jazz 42nd Anniversary Gala Featuring Catherine Russell-vocals with Jon-Erik Kellso-trumpet John Allred-trombone Mark Shane-piano Tal Ronen-bass Mark McLean-drums Matt Munisteri-guitar + Dan Levinson-clarinet Bria Skonberg—trumpet & vocals Nicki Parrott-bass Gordon Webster-piano Thursday, March 19, 2015 - 8 pm Saxophones Supreme Battle of the Saxes Featuring Peter & Will Anderson -reeds Grant Stewart-tenor saxophone Neal Miner-bass Ken Peplowski-clarinet & alto saxophone Ehud Asherie-piano Aaron Kimmel-drums + The Lou Donaldson Quartet With Randy Johnston-guitar Fukushi Tianaka-drums Akiko Tsuruga-Hammond B3 Organ Thursday, May 7, 2015 - 8 pm Salute to Wycliffe Gordon Featuring Anat Cohen-clarinet ° Jay Leonhart-bass ° Terrell Stafford-trumpet Aaron Diehl-piano ° Ted Rosenthal-piano Alvin Atkinson-drums ° Yasushi Nakamura-bass Guest of Honor Wycliffe Gordon-trombone Thursday, June 11, 2015 - 8 pm Jazz, Past & Present Music of the 20's, 30's & 40's Featuring Vince Giordano and the Nighthawks with Ms. Vinnie Knight-vocals + Highlights In Jazz New Stars Featuring Steven Frieder-tenor saxophone Benny Benack-trumpet Dylan Meek-piano Devin Starks-bass Kosta Galanopoulos-drums All Shows At BMCC TRIBECA Performing Arts Center Borough of Manhattan Community College 199 Chambers Street, New York, NY 10007 http://tribecapac.org write your comments about the article :: © 2014 Jazz News :: home page |