LIZ CALLAWAY
Emmy winner, Tony and Grammy nominee Lizz Callaway sings the songs of Stephen Schwartz with her show The Wizard and I. It is a collection of songs from a career over 60 years.
Her performance features Oscar winning tunes from Wicked, Godspell, Pippin, The Baker’s Wife as well as lending her voice to animated movies Anastacia.
Piano & Music Director: Alex Rybeck
Bass: Ritt Henn
Drums: Ron Tierno
Cover: $73.50 ~ $139.50
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Roy Willox was born into a musical family in Welwyn, Hertfordshire, England on August 31,1929. At 16 he had a brief spell with Johnny Claes in 1945 and then with other bands before joining Ted Heath from 1950 to 1955.
About this time he worked in the jazz clubs in a group with Keith Christie, and with Jack Parnell followed with extensive freelance work in television, radio and the theatre. The jazz scene saw Willox in Harry South’s band during the 1960s and 1970s and returned to the Heath band for dates in the 1960s and 1970s.
He was in demand through the 1960s for many jazz big band dates, notably with Harry South and Tubby Hayes. He played throughout the 1990s and 2000s, first with The Ted Heath Band, (then led by Don Lusher), and in Lusher’s own big band until it’s last concert in 2007. He played in the Ted Heath band’s farewell concert at the Royal Festival Hall, London in 2000.
A fluent saxophonist, clarinetist and flutist Roy Willox, whose main instrument is alto saxophone, continues to perform and record.
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JULIE DEXTER
Join the Jazz Brunch audience for Julie Dexter is a world renowned, award winning, British singer, songwriter and producer considered by many to be one of the most influential female vocalists of her generation. Having shared the spotlight with a host of cutting-edge artists, including Mint Condition, Caron Wheeler, Jill Scott, Lalah Hathaway, Omar, Ledisi, Doug Carn, Third World and Maxi Priest to name a few, Julie not only holds up her own with them but has been praised and respected by them too.
Influenced by legends such as Nancy Wilson, Abbey Lincoln, and Bob Marley, as well as popular icons Omar and Sade, Julie takes classic soul to the heart of Artistry. Fans and critics across the globe have followed her journey through the circles of Jazz, Broken-Beat, Bossa-Nova, Reggae, Afro-Beat and Soul and she was recently honored at the Black Women in Jazz Awards with the Afro Caribbean Soul of Jazz Award.
It was in 1999 that Julie took a leap of faith and moved to Atlanta, Georgia where she now resides. She launched her own label, Ketch A Vibe Records and in 2000 released the critically acclaimed EP Peace of Mind, followed by Dexterity (2002) ,Conscious (2005) and New Again (2011). Moon Bossa, a collaboration with Khari Simmons was released in 2007 and her single “Ketch A Vibe” was featured in national radio ads for Democratic Presidential Candidate Senator Barack Obama.
Julie’s latest album “Deja Vu” takes us on a journey from Bossa to reggae. From Jazz to World Music, Soul and beyond, Julie Dexter is one of an elite few whose talent can transcend genres. She makes it all work on her own terms, as an audaciously independent artist with an undeniable connection to her audience.
Cover: $25.00 ~ $35.00
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KEVIN BALES
By some measures, Kevin Bales was a latecomer to jazz, already 17 when he encountered the sounds and structures and became captivated by the freedom and corresponding challenges of the music. But if late to the party, he wasted no time in immersing himself in the celebration, declaring total commitment to what would be his life’s work and backing his announcement by resigning his job and designated career in computer programming. Kevin could commit to jazz with a reasonable degree of expectation. He was already an accomplished pianist, with classical chops refined since the age of 10. So accomplished he was invited to audition for the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, then under the direction of its most storied conductor Robert Shaw, at age 16.
He has performed and/or recorded with Wynton Marsalis, Louie Bellson, Eddie Daniels, James Moody, Ben Tucker, Ira Sullivan, Marcus Printup, Sam Rivers, Nat Adderley, Bunky Green, Nathen Page and Jack Petersen. He counts among his mentors bassist Ben Tucker, multi-instrumentalist Ira Sullivan. He has recordings on Blue Note/Capital records. Ten years touring and recording with vocal iconoclast Rene Marie culminated in a Grammy Nominated album.
Cover: $25.00
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
John Douglas Surman was born August 30, 1944 in Tavistock, Devon, England. He initially gained recognition playing baritone saxophone in the Mike Westbrook Band in the mid-1960s, and was soon heard regularly playing soprano saxophone and bass clarinet as well.
His first playing issued on a record was with the Peter Lemer Quintet in 1966. After further recordings and performances with jazz bandleaders Westbrook and Graham Collier and blues-rock musician Alexis Korner, he made the first record under his own name in 1968.
In 1969, he founded The Trio along with two expatriate American musicians, bassist Barre Phillips and drummer Stu Martin. In the mid-1970s, he founded one of the earliest all-saxophone jazz groups, S.O.S., along with alto saxophonist Mike Osborne and tenor saxophonist Alan Skidmore.
During this early period, he also recorded with (among others) saxophonist Ronnie Scott, guitarist John McLaughlin, bandleader Michael Gibbs, trombonist Albert Mangelsdorff, and pianist Chris McGregor’s Brotherhood of Breath.
In 1972 he had begun experimenting with synthesizers. The musical relationships he established during the Seventies with pianist John Taylor, bassist Chris Laurence, and drummer John Marshall; singer Karin Krog and drummer/pianist Jack DeJohnette continued for decades.
Since the 1990s, he has composed several suites of music that feature his playing in unusual contexts, and has worked with bassist Miroslav Vitouš, bandleader Gil Evans, pianist Paul Bley and Vigleik Storaas, saxophonist and composer John Warren, guitarists Terje Rypdal and John Abercrombie and trumpeter Tomasz Stańko.
Baritone and soprano saxophonist, clarinetist, synthesizer player, and composer of free jazz and modal jazz, who continues to often use themes from folk music has also composed and performed music for dance performances and film soundtracks.
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