(TOMS RIVER, NJ) -- The first Nationwide Tour for Jazz At Lincoln Center Presents: Songs We Love comes to the Grunin Center on Friday, March 10th at 8:00pm. (Let Freedom Swing Student Show at Ocean County College at 11:00am) The show puts a spotligh on Next-Generation Jazz Stars and Iconic Songs from the 1920s to 1950s.
The concert features vocalists: Vuyo Sotashe, Brianna Thomas, and Shenel Johns with Gabe Medd (trumpet), Andy Clausen (trombone), Evan Harris (reeds), Mathis Picard (piano), Mark Lewandowsi (bass) and TJ Reddick (drums).
Jazz at Lincoln Center Presents: Songs We Love is a celebration of the history of American jazz -- and its future. Tickets are available for purchase online.
Songs We Love was first presented as the 2016 Season Opener at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City. True to its mission "to entertain, enrich and expand a global community for jazz through performance, education, and advocacy," JALC made the program available to other cities, but in short outings. Now, as a result of JALC's partnership with the international booking agency IMG Artists, Songs We Love will reach 47 cities across the country, from major markets including Los Angeles, CA, and Atlanta, GA, to smaller yet significant destinations such as Fish Creek, WI, and Orono, ME.
With this expanded 2023 touring initiative, Jazz at Lincoln Center provides a wide range of concert presenters an opportunity to offer excellent jazz programming while introducing to a broader audience the musicians who will reinterpret and reimagine the sound of jazz for years to come.
In Songs We Love, a superb ensemble of up-and-coming players, schooled and tested on the stages of Jazz at Lincoln Center and concert halls around the world, will revisit some of the great songs from the first decades of jazz. Under the musical direction of trumpeter Riley Mulherkar and featuring vocalists Vuyo Sotashe, Brianna Thomas, and Shenel Johns, the ensemble will bring to life songs and styles that define the sound of jazz singing from the 1920s to the early 1950s. It's a journey of blues, swing, and surprise, from the sound of Ma Rainey and the extraordinary storytelling of Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald to the easy swing of Frank Sinatra and the dramatic flair of Judy Garland.
The repertoire includes gems such as the traditional blues "See See Rider," first recorded in 1924 by Ma Rainey, and Billie Holiday and Arthur Herzog Jr.'s "God Bless the Child," a classic ballad first recorded in 1941. The song was sparked by the line "God bless the child that's got his own," which Holiday's mother used in an argument with her daughter. It was celebrated in 2001 as one of the Songs of the Century by the Recording Industry Association of America and the National Endowment for the Arts. The program also includes jewels by masters of songcraft such as George Gershwin ("I Loves You Porgy"), Cole Porter ("So in Love"), and Harold Arlen ("Over the Rainbow," sung by Judy Garland in The Wizard of Oz in 1939).
These songs have remained an inspiration and a reference for generations of jazz and pop performers and songwriters.
Musical director Riley Mulherkar has worked with leading artists such as trumpeter and composer Wynton Marsalis, singer Dee Dee Bridgewater, and actress, playwright, and educator Anna Deavere Smith. He is a founder of The Westerlies, a New York-based brass quartet that conjures a blend of jazz, roots, and chamber music influences in its music. Recognized by The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal and much decorated as a player and leader, Mulherkar is deeply engaged in educational outreach. He served as Artistic Director for Jazz at Joye in Aiken, South Carolina; directed the Summer Advanced Institute at Seattle JazzEd (2017-2019); and served as an ambassador for Jazz at Lincoln Center's "Jazz for Young People" program in New York and St. Louis (2016 – 2018).
Singer VUYO SOTASHE © Wil Pierce
The vocalists on tour include South African singer Vuyo Sotashe, now a Harlem resident, who was the first male singer ever to place in the prestigious Thelonious Monk Institute International Jazz Vocal competition; Brianna Thomas, described by The New York Times as an interpreter with "a strong voice and a big range, descended from Sarah Vaughan and Betty Carter and routed through Dianne Reeves, with clarity and confidence and a little dirt"; and Shenel Johns, whose personal style incorporates the influences of classic jazz voices such as Ella Fitzgerald, Abbey Lincoln, and Sarah Vaughn, but can move effortlessly from jazz to R&B to gospel.
For over three decades, Jazz at Lincoln Center has been a global advocate for jazz, culture, and arts education. Stops in select cities in the tour will also include Let Freedom Swing educational shows, bringing outstanding jazz artists and performances to student audiences. Inspired by conversations between former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor and JALC Manager and Artistic Director Wynton Marsalis, Let Freedom Swing includes three jazz concerts: "Jazz and Democracy," "Jazz and the Great Migration," and "Jazz and Civil Rights." Since 2013, "Let Freedom Swing" has reached nearly half a million students in over 3,000 concerts worldwide.
Jazz at Lincoln Center is dedicated to inspiring and growing audiences for jazz. With the world-renowned Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra and a comprehensive array of guest artists, Jazz at Lincoln Center advances a unique vision for the continued development of the art of jazz by producing a year-round schedule of performances, education, and broadcast events for audiences of all ages. These productions include concerts, national and international tours, residencies, weekly national radio programs, television broadcasts, recordings, publications, an annual high school jazz band competition and festival, a band director academy, jazz appreciation curricula for students, music publishing, children's concerts and classes, lectures, adult education courses, student and educator workshops, a record label, and interactive websites. Under the leadership of Managing and Artistic Director Wynton Marsalis, Chairman Clarence Otis, and Executive Director Greg Scholl, Jazz at Lincoln Center produces thousands of events each season in its home in New York City in Frederick P. Rose Hall, and around the world.
The Grunin Center is located on College Drive on the Ocean County Community College campus in Toms River, New Jersey.
