(MORRISTOWN, NJ) -- Chart-topping multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and producer Brian Culbertson brings his XX tour to Mayo Performing Arts Center on Tuesday, April 7 at 7:30pm. Culbertson's catalogue includes recordings of jazz - contemporary and straight ahead - as well as R&B, funk, instrumental pop and New Age. "XX," which drops April 10, reflects his remarkable diversity. Tickets range from $39.50-$69.50.
"It's a mix of things that I've done throughout my twenty records. There's a lot of funky instrumentals, some pop-sounding tracks, a couple slow jams, straight-ahead jazz, gospel, some vocals, lots of horns and some straight-up FUNK! The album is very much a mixture of some modern sounding programming along with live instruments, too. Real drums on almost everything mixed with programming. Definitely a cool sound," said Culbertson.
Recreating that cool sound live for The XX Tour is Culbertson's favorite part. Like his massive Colors of Love Tour that played 77 shows in three months and was captured for "Brian Culbertson's Colors of Love Tour: Live in Las Vegas" Blu-ray disc and two-disc CD that dropped last Valentine's Day, Culbertson is creating the sound and look for The XX Tour as a sensory experience. The exuberant performer spends months in preproduction meticulously conceiving stunning visuals - staging, lighting, wardrobe and effects - in order to put on a mesmerizing show each time he takes the stage. In addition to spotlighting the new album, the setlist will include cuts from Culbertson's hit-filled songbook that has amassed 32 Billboard No. 1 singles. There will also be a segment showcasing songs from "Winter Stories," an album released last month that placed him in an acoustic jazz trio setting for the first time.
Culbertson burst onto the scene in 1994 with a chart-topping album that he recorded in his college apartment featuring keyboard-led contemporary jazz tracks. "Long Night Out" landed him a lengthy record deal and signaled that a star was born. Over the course of crafting a 20-album catalogue and architecting more than 30 Billboard No. 1 singles as a multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and producer, Brian Culbertson has charted his own unique course in music. Label him jazz and he makes a funk record. Call him an R&B artist and he drops an acoustic jazz trio collection. Brand him pop and he creates a 32-minute New Age opus. And you'd be hard pressed to name another instrumentalist of his ilk who can mount an elaborately designed concert production that will keep him on the road for three consecutive months.
Mayo Performing Arts Center is located at 100 South Street in Morristown, New Jersey. MPAC, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, presents a wide range of programs that entertain, enrich, and educate the diverse population of the region and enhance the economic vitality of Northern New Jersey. The 2019-2020 season is made possible, in part, by a grant the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a Partner Agency of the National Endowment for the Arts, as well as support received from the F.M. Kirby Foundation and numerous corporations, foundations and individuals. Mayo Performing Arts Center was named 2016 Outstanding Historic Theatre by the League of Historic American Theatres, and is ranked in the top 50 mid-sized performing arts centers by Pollstar Magazine.
