Heath Brothers Quartet, Karrin Allyson, Paquito D'Rivera, Regina Carter, Jeff Daniels, Nancy Anderson, Melissa Errico, David Berger & The Sultans Of Swing Play The Music Of Duke Ellington, Chico O'Farrill's Afro-Cuban Jazz Big Band, Jim Caruso' “Cast Party," & More!
Birdland (315 West 44th Street between 8th & 9th Aves.) is pleased to announce an exciting line-up of extraordinary entertainment for the month of May. A detailed schedule follows:
Ptaszyn Wroblewski Quartet
Polish composer and tenor saxophonist Jan “Ptaszyn" Wroblewski came to prominence in the late 1950's in groups which included fellow Poles Krzysztof Komeda and Tomasz Stanko. Wroblewski's music challenges the boundaries of the so-called “third stream" with its combination of composed, almost chamber music-like sections, and hard swinging American style post bebop jazz improvisation. This performance by Wroblewski's quartet, presented by the Polish Cultural Institute, represents an extremely rare New York appearance.
Tuesday, May 1 @ 7pm ($25)
Heath Brothers Quartet - w/ Jimmy Heath (sax), Tootie Heath (drums), Jeb Patton (piano), David Wong (bass)
The Heath Brothers have been contributing mightily to the language of jazz since the 1940's. Jimmy Heath, contemplating on the family legacy, remarked “We're lucky enough that [we] are still here. Among us, we've got more than 150 years of experience and more than 900 recordings. We've all played with the jazz legends Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, J.J. Johnson, Miles and the Modern Jazz Quartet. That seems to make us the elders of the surviving families of Jazz." Which, in typical Heath Brothers fashion, is a cool and modest understatement. These are jazz's elder statesmen who are swinging hard and having fun, gleeful in the fact that they can still make music together.
Wednesday-Saturday, May 2-5 @ 9 & 11pm ($40)
Nancy Anderson with Ross Patterson & His Little Big Band
Two-time Drama Desk nominee (Fanny, Jolson & Co.) Nancy Anderson is back to celebrate her new recording, “Ten Cents a Dance," featuring standards and lost treasures from the 1920's and 30's including “The Trouble With Me Is You," “My Romance," “But Not for Me," and the title track “Ten Cents a Dance." She will be joined by her musical director Ross Patterson and His Little Big Band. Ms. Anderson has appeared on Broadway in Wonderful Town and A Class Act.
Monday, May 7 @ 7pm ($30)
Karrin Allyson
Grammy nominated jazz vocalist Karrin Allyson first started performing in the Kansas City jazz scene, which explains why she swings so hard! She is also an impressive bop-based improviser who both scats and improvises within lyrics. “Not only is Karrin Allyson one of the most artful jazz singers on the current scene, but she's also doing more than any other to expand the jazz vocal repertoire" (New York Times).
Wednesday - Saturday, May 9-12 @ 9 & 11pm ($40)
Jeff Daniels
Best-known for such films as “Terms of Endearment" and “Dumb and Dumber," actor/singer/songwriter Jeff Daniels makes a return visit to Birdland. He has been writing songs since the 1970's, something most people didn't know, because - unlike numerous other celebrities - he kept them to himself. A few years ago, someone suggested that he might be able to raise funds for his pet project, the Purple Rose Theater in his hometown of Chelsea, Michigan, by going out on stage and singing some of those songs. Lo and behold, a musical star was born! The subsequent CD, “Live and Unplugged," is a collection of live performances, which humorously and often touchingly reflect on his life and career. “If William Shatner Can, I Can Too" is Daniels' take on celebrities trying to be taken seriously as musicians. “The Dirty Harry Blues" describes the joy of being killed by Clint Eastwood. He bares his heart in “Kathy," which describes his first date with his wife, and then thanks his mother for support and guidance in “Momma Never Left Her Oldest Boy Alone."
Monday, May 14 @ 7pm ($30)
Paquito D'Rivera
A prodigy from the beginning, Grammy award-winning saxophonist/clarinetist Paquito D'Rivera has performed with a “who's who" in the music world from Dizzy Gillespie to Yo-Yo Ma, Phil Woods, James Moody and Wynton Marsalis, just to name a few. He is one of the founders of the innovative musical group Irakere, and recently received the Kennedy Center's “Jazz Legend Award." The New York Times says he has become “the man to call for Pan-Latin music."
Wednesday-Saturday, May 16-19 @ 9 & 11pm ($40)
Melissa Errico
Broadway leading lady Melissa Errico performs a fresh set of standards, theater music, original songs and lullabies in her second Birdland appearance. The song list includes: “I Remember," “The Man That Got Away," and “From This Moment On," as well as highlights from her first album “Blue Like That" (EMI) and her upcoming symphonic album with Michel Legrand. Produced by Phil Ramone, featuring such Oscar-winning classics as “The Summer Knows" and “What Are You Doing The Rest of Your Life?" The show will feature Andy Ezrin on piano and Tim Lefebvre on bass. Tony-nominated for her work in Amour, Errico has also been seen on Broadway in Dracula: The Musical, High Society, My Fair Lady, and Anna Karenina. Off-Broadway credits include Aunt Dan and Lemon and Finian's Rainbow. She has also been seen at Encores! in One Touch of Venus and at the Kennedy Center in Sunday in the Park with George.
Mondays, May 21 & May 28 @ 7pm ($30)
Regina Carter
Time Magazine calls violinist Regina Carter “wonderfully listenable, probingly intelligent, and at times breathtakingly daring." As the most recent in a long line of important and eclectic jazz artists from Detroit (including Tommy Flanagan, Kenny Burrell, Barry Harris, cousin James Carter and others) Regina Carter is as likely to explore that city's rich musical history through the music of Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye as she is through Tin Pan Alley and classical music where she first garnered attention as a member of the Detroit Civic Symphony Ochestra.
Wednesday-Saturday, May 30-June 2 @ 9 & 11pm ($30/$35)
Birdland (315 West 44th Street between 8th & 9th Aves.) is pleased to announce an exciting line-up of extraordinary entertainment for the month of May. A detailed schedule follows:
Ptaszyn Wroblewski Quartet
Polish composer and tenor saxophonist Jan “Ptaszyn" Wroblewski came to prominence in the late 1950's in groups which included fellow Poles Krzysztof Komeda and Tomasz Stanko. Wroblewski's music challenges the boundaries of the so-called “third stream" with its combination of composed, almost chamber music-like sections, and hard swinging American style post bebop jazz improvisation. This performance by Wroblewski's quartet, presented by the Polish Cultural Institute, represents an extremely rare New York appearance.
Tuesday, May 1 @ 7pm ($25)
Heath Brothers Quartet - w/ Jimmy Heath (sax), Tootie Heath (drums), Jeb Patton (piano), David Wong (bass)
The Heath Brothers have been contributing mightily to the language of jazz since the 1940's. Jimmy Heath, contemplating on the family legacy, remarked “We're lucky enough that [we] are still here. Among us, we've got more than 150 years of experience and more than 900 recordings. We've all played with the jazz legends Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, J.J. Johnson, Miles and the Modern Jazz Quartet. That seems to make us the elders of the surviving families of Jazz." Which, in typical Heath Brothers fashion, is a cool and modest understatement. These are jazz's elder statesmen who are swinging hard and having fun, gleeful in the fact that they can still make music together.
Wednesday-Saturday, May 2-5 @ 9 & 11pm ($40)
Nancy Anderson with Ross Patterson & His Little Big Band
Two-time Drama Desk nominee (Fanny, Jolson & Co.) Nancy Anderson is back to celebrate her new recording, “Ten Cents a Dance," featuring standards and lost treasures from the 1920's and 30's including “The Trouble With Me Is You," “My Romance," “But Not for Me," and the title track “Ten Cents a Dance." She will be joined by her musical director Ross Patterson and His Little Big Band. Ms. Anderson has appeared on Broadway in Wonderful Town and A Class Act.
Monday, May 7 @ 7pm ($30)
Karrin Allyson
Grammy nominated jazz vocalist Karrin Allyson first started performing in the Kansas City jazz scene, which explains why she swings so hard! She is also an impressive bop-based improviser who both scats and improvises within lyrics. “Not only is Karrin Allyson one of the most artful jazz singers on the current scene, but she's also doing more than any other to expand the jazz vocal repertoire" (New York Times).
Wednesday - Saturday, May 9-12 @ 9 & 11pm ($40)
Jeff Daniels
Best-known for such films as “Terms of Endearment" and “Dumb and Dumber," actor/singer/songwriter Jeff Daniels makes a return visit to Birdland. He has been writing songs since the 1970's, something most people didn't know, because - unlike numerous other celebrities - he kept them to himself. A few years ago, someone suggested that he might be able to raise funds for his pet project, the Purple Rose Theater in his hometown of Chelsea, Michigan, by going out on stage and singing some of those songs. Lo and behold, a musical star was born! The subsequent CD, “Live and Unplugged," is a collection of live performances, which humorously and often touchingly reflect on his life and career. “If William Shatner Can, I Can Too" is Daniels' take on celebrities trying to be taken seriously as musicians. “The Dirty Harry Blues" describes the joy of being killed by Clint Eastwood. He bares his heart in “Kathy," which describes his first date with his wife, and then thanks his mother for support and guidance in “Momma Never Left Her Oldest Boy Alone."
Monday, May 14 @ 7pm ($30)
Paquito D'Rivera
A prodigy from the beginning, Grammy award-winning saxophonist/clarinetist Paquito D'Rivera has performed with a “who's who" in the music world from Dizzy Gillespie to Yo-Yo Ma, Phil Woods, James Moody and Wynton Marsalis, just to name a few. He is one of the founders of the innovative musical group Irakere, and recently received the Kennedy Center's “Jazz Legend Award." The New York Times says he has become “the man to call for Pan-Latin music."
Wednesday-Saturday, May 16-19 @ 9 & 11pm ($40)
Melissa Errico
Broadway leading lady Melissa Errico performs a fresh set of standards, theater music, original songs and lullabies in her second Birdland appearance. The song list includes: “I Remember," “The Man That Got Away," and “From This Moment On," as well as highlights from her first album “Blue Like That" (EMI) and her upcoming symphonic album with Michel Legrand. Produced by Phil Ramone, featuring such Oscar-winning classics as “The Summer Knows" and “What Are You Doing The Rest of Your Life?" The show will feature Andy Ezrin on piano and Tim Lefebvre on bass. Tony-nominated for her work in Amour, Errico has also been seen on Broadway in Dracula: The Musical, High Society, My Fair Lady, and Anna Karenina. Off-Broadway credits include Aunt Dan and Lemon and Finian's Rainbow. She has also been seen at Encores! in One Touch of Venus and at the Kennedy Center in Sunday in the Park with George.
Mondays, May 21 & May 28 @ 7pm ($30)
Regina Carter
Time Magazine calls violinist Regina Carter “wonderfully listenable, probingly intelligent, and at times breathtakingly daring." As the most recent in a long line of important and eclectic jazz artists from Detroit (including Tommy Flanagan, Kenny Burrell, Barry Harris, cousin James Carter and others) Regina Carter is as likely to explore that city's rich musical history through the music of Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye as she is through Tin Pan Alley and classical music where she first garnered attention as a member of the Detroit Civic Symphony Ochestra.
Wednesday-Saturday, May 30-June 2 @ 9 & 11pm ($30/$35)
For more information contact All About Jazz.
