The Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County is proud to announce the stellar lineup for the third consecutive year of its highly acclaimed concert series, JAZZ ROOTS: A Larry Rosen Series. The new JAZZ ROOTS 2010-2011 season begins in November 2010 and runs through April 2011 in the John S. and James L. Knight Concert Hall, spotlighting a diverse and thrilling program of legendary, Grammy Award-winning jazz greats. From the marvelous legacy of the great Miles Davis to the timeless tunes of the Great American Songbook, this season’s program highlights the greatest moments in the evolution of this beloved American musical genre.
JAZZ ROOTS series subscriptions, which include tickets to all six performances, are now on sale to the public with seating priority given to renewed subscriptions and Adrienne Arsht Center members. Subscriptions range in price from $150-$780 and can be purchased through the Adrienne Arsht Center box office at 305.949.6722 or online at www.arshtcenter.org. Single tickets, if available after the subscription campaign ends, range from $25-$130.
“24,000 people, including 1,600 school children, have enjoyed our fantastic JAZZ ROOTS performances over the past two years, filling the Knight Concert Hall with swing and soul, blues and bebop, New Orleans funk and Latin jazz flavor,” said M. John Richard, president and CEO of the Adrienne Arsht Center. “This year’s season offers a momentous lineup of legendary artists representing every unique style and incarnation of this rich musical genre, so deeply rooted in American culture, and alive and well in Miami.”
“This season we are celebrating the roots of the American song, which forms the basis for much of the literature of jazz, with a concert featuring Michael Feinstein, one of the greatest proponents of the American Songbook,” said producer Larry Rosen. “Additionally, since jazz is an ever-evolving art form, we feel it’s important to present new and exciting artists. This season we are introducing 16-year-old vocal phenomenon Nikki Yanofsky and trumpet virtuoso Christian Scott. Presenting local Miami talent is also a foundation of our series and, to that end, we are excited to present Miami-based Latin jazz sensation Tiempo Libre.”
The concert lineup for the JAZZ ROOTS 2010-2011 season in the John S. and James L. Knight Concert Hall is as follows:
JAZZ ROOTS: AMERICAN SONGBOOK
Michael Feinstein and Ann Hampton Callaway
November 5, 2010
The Great American Songbook encompasses America’s most familiar and beloved tunes, from Broadway shows to Hollywood musicals, and from Tin Pan Alley hits to classic jazz standards. Including hundreds of songs of enduring popularity, the Great American Songbook is the soundtrack to our national story. Multi-platinum selling, five-time Grammy-nominated entertainer Michael Feinstein has been dubbed “The Ambassador of the Great American Songbook.” Feinstein is considered one of the premier interpreters of American popular songs, and appears throughout the country performing more than 150 times a year at the most prestigious venues in the world including Carnegie Hall, The White House, and Buckingham Palace.
Ann Hampton Callaway is a multi-platinum recording artist, Broadway star, composer, lyricist, TV host, and producer. Her unique singing style is unmistakable, seamlessly blending jazz and traditional pop. Callaway is best known for her Tony-nominated performance in the Broadway hit Swing! and for penning and singing the theme song to the hit TV series “The Nanny.” Her songs are featured on five of Barbra Streisand’s recent CDs and she is the only composer to have collaborated with Cole Porter.
JAZZ ROOTS: DESCARGA! LATIN JAM SESSION
Poncho Sanchez and Tiempo Libre
December 3, 2010
Rhythm is gonna getcha! Latin jazz will heat up the Knight Concert Hall for a sizzling jazz jam session with the hottest Latin artists on the scene. Grammy Award winner, master conga player, Latin jazz band leader, and salsa singer Poncho Sanchez is respected as one of the top American percussionists of our time. His signature sound is a rhythmic blend of Latin jazz, swing, bebop, salsa and infectious grooves. Sanchez has released 24 albums and performed around the globe with top-tier artists including Cal Tjader, Hugh Masakela, and Tower of Power.
Miami-based, three-time Grammy-nominated Tiempo Libre is one of the hottest young Latin bands today. Tiempo Libre was the subject of a stunning stage musical that premiered at the Adrienne Arsht Center and recently appeared on ABC’s smash hit, “Dancing with the Stars.” Tiempo Libre’s members were all classically trained at La ENA in their native Cuba, and are now a major hit in the U.S. with the band’s incendiary, joyful performances of timba, an irresistible, dance-inducing mix of high-voltage Latin jazz and the seductive rhythms of son. Recently signed to Sony Music, the group has performed with Joshua Bell and appeared on PBS in “Live at Lincoln Center” and “The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien.” From Bach to conga, Tiempo Libre brings a dynamic Afro-Cuban beat to modern-day Latin jazz. This evening’s pairing will remind everyone why Miami is the center of the hottest Latin music scene in the world.
JAZZ ROOTS: AN EVENING WITH KEITH JARRETT
With Gary Peacock, and Jack DeJohnette
January 21, 2011
A multi-platinum-selling artist and DownBeat Lifetime Achievement Award winner, Keith Jarrett is a piano virtuoso extraordinaire. Jarrett, appearing at the Adrienne Arsht Center in a rare performance, is a premiere jazz and classical pianist and composer, renowned throughout the world for his riveting performances and inspired approach to improvisation. An artist who has played extensively with Art Blakey, Charles Lloyd, and Miles Davis, Jarrett’s career spans more than 50 years and includes countless recordings and honors. Joining Jarrett onstage are his longtime collaborators, bassist Gary Peacock and drummer Jack DeJohnette. Together, this legendary all-star trio has performed as the Standards Trio for more than 25 years. Since the early 1980s the Standards Trio has been one of the premier working groups in jazz, best known for their performances of classic jazz repertory material, challenging original songs, and distinguished as perhaps the only jazz ensemble to successfully play both straight-ahead and free jazz.
JAZZ ROOTS: CELEBRATING MILES
Marcus Miller Tutu Revisited featuring Christian Scott
And Wallace Roney sextet featuring Ron Carter
Plus many more!
February 25, 2011
Miles Davis has been hailed by critics and fans around the world as one of the greatest jazz innovators of our time. CELEBRATING MILES presents the two musical sides of this legendary artist’s work. The first half of the concert celebrates the acoustic period, with music culled from Davis’s classic Columbia albums, “Milestones,” “Round About Midnight,” and leading up to what critics and fans alike call, the most important jazz record in modern history, “Kind of Blue.” Multiple Grammy Award-winning trumpeter and band leader Wallace Roney is the foremost proponent of the Miles Davis legacy, and headlines the first section of this concert. In 1983, after years of playing with jazz greats Dizzy Gillespie and Art Blakey, Roney met Miles Davis and became his protégé – in fact, Davis gave Roney his trumpet. Roney spent the next eight years studying, performing, and hanging with Davis. Joining Roney onstage is for this special tribute performance is acclaimed bassist Ron Carter. One of the most original, prolific, and influential bassists in jazz history, Ron Carter is a multiple Grammy Award winner and an original member of the second great Miles Davis Quintet. Among his many honors, Carter was named Jazz Bassist of the Year by DownBeat Magazine and Most Valuable Player by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.
The second half of this historic concert pays tribute to the electric side of Miles Davis with Tutu, the album released in 1986 in tribute to Bishop Desmond Tutu. Legendary musician, producer, and bass player Marcus Miller co-produced Tutu, wrote nearly all of the songs on the album, and performs on every track. Miller brings his highly anticipated show, “Tutu Revisited, The Music of Miles Davis,” to the Knight Concert Hall stage for an inside look into the making and artistry of one of the greatest pieces of music ever produced, as it was performed by one of the greatest jazz artists of our time. Joining Miller on the Tutu program is Grammy-nominated, young jazz lion, Christian Scott. A native of New Orleans, Louisiana, Scott plays a trumpet named Katrina, at age 27 is the progenitor of the fabled “whisper technique” of playing the trumpet, and is garnering worldwide critical acclaim for his fifth studio album.
JAZZ ROOTS: THREE GENERATIONS OF DIVAS
Dianne Reeves, Jane Monheit, and introducing Nikki Yanofsky
March 18, 2011
Four-time Grammy Award winner Dianne Reeves is one of the premier vocalists of the world. Her virtuosity, improvisational prowess and unique jazz and R&B stylings have garnered Reeves international acclaim on the jazz circuit and far beyond. She has performed and recorded extensively with Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra conducted by Daniel Barenboim, and the Berlin Philharmonic among many others. Reeves recently released her much-anticipated first solo album in several years, When You Know, a stunning array of old and new standards with infectious, uplifting originals, on the famed Blue Note label.
The second generation of divas is represented by the honey-voiced chanteuse Jane Monheit. A multiple Grammy nominee, Monheit has released seven albums and two DVDs and has collaborated with artists such as Michael Bublé, Tom Harrell, and Terence Blanchard. Monheit has been featured in Christmas at The White House, the Capitol Fourth of July Celebration and on television shows including “The Today Show,” “Ramsey Lewis’ Legends of Jazz,” and “The Late Show with David Letterman.” Best known as a red-hot jazz vocal phenom from New York, Monheit also embodies a retro-styled vocal delivery full of emotion and warmth.
Nikki Yanofsky is a 16-year-old musical phenom who recently rose to international stardom wowing audiences when she sang the theme song for the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. Yanofsky was the youngest singer ever to appear on a Verve Records release, and at her tender age, is already a veteran of the touring circuit, having appeared at Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center, Dizzy’s at Jazz at Lincoln Center, and at festivals throughout the world.
JAZZ ROOTS: GUITAR VIRTUOSOS
Al Di Meola World Sinfonia and Lee Ritenour
April 1, 2011
A bona fide guitar hero and virtuoso of the highest order, Grammy Award-winning Al Di Meola is a highly acclaimed composer and performer. His career spans over 30 years and includes numerous critical accolades, three gold albums, and more than six million in record sales. Di Meola is a pioneer in the art of blending jazz and world music, and his work reflects the rich influence of flamenco, tango, Middle Eastern, Brazilian, and African music. His engagement at the Adrienne Arsht Center will spotlight the complex rhythmic syncopation and sophisticated harmonies of his latest ensemble, World Sinfonia, featuring some of the world’s very best musicians.
Lee Ritenour is a Grammy Award-winning guitar giant who boasts an eclectic and storied 40-year career. From his first sessions with the Mamas and the Papas at age 16 to his accompanying Lena Horne and Tony Bennett at 18, Ritenour has worked alongside the greats in the jazz, pop, and even opera worlds. He has recorded more than 40 albums, garnered 17 Grammy® nominations, and played on more than 3,000 sessions with a broad spectrum of artists including Ray Charles, Pink Floyd, Dizzy Gillespie, Steely Dan, and Frank Sinatra. In the 1990s Ritenour was a founding member of Fourplay, the most successful band in contemporary jazz, whose first album spent an unprecedented 33 weeks at No. 1 on Billboard’s contemporary jazz chart.
JAZZ ROOTS also features an in-depth educational partnership with Miami-Dade County Public Schools which will bring more than 900 music students to the Center for a unique behind-the-scenes experience, including a pre-concert sound check and a Q&A session with featured artists followed by a workshop with a local jazz expert that will highlight the music, the artistic process and the practical skills needed for a career in the arts. In addition, the Center has developed a curriculum which will be distributed to 800 music, English and social studies teachers throughout the MDCPS school system, potentially serving 24,000 children.
WPBT Channel 2, WDNA 88.9 FM Serious Jazz, WLRN 91.3 FM, Capsule Media and Daniel Azoulay Gallery have generously agreed to be media sponsors of JAZZ ROOTS.
Visit www.arshtcenter.org for up-to-date information for details and schedules. See highlights and video for the JAZZ ROOTS series at www.jazzroots.net.