FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Friday, October 14
UCLA Live Honors Jazz Guitar Great Kenny Burrell in One-Night-Only, All-Star Concert at Royce Hall Nov. 12
Kenny Burrell: 80 Years Young features B.B. King, Lalo Schifrin, Dee Dee Bridgewater, world premiere compositions and more
“Kenny Burrell is overall the greatest guitarist in the world, and he’s my favorite.” — B.B. King “Kenny, I’ve always loved your playing. You are a classic.” — Dee Dee Bridgewater “Kenny is a great musician and teacher.” — Lalo Schifrin
UCLA Live presents Kenny Burrell: Years Young featuring performances from blues legend B.B. King, master of keyboard virtuosity Lalo Schifrin and powerhouse jazz vocalist Dee Dee Bridgewater in a one- night only event paying tribute to the influential career of Kenny Burrell at Royce Hall Saturday November 12 at 7 p.m.
The evening also includes a wealth of performers and artistry from within the UCLA community where Burrell is revered as founder of the Jazz Studies program on campus and where he continues to teach as a professor of music and ethnomusicology. He is also a lecturer and director of workshops on guitar and Jazz Studies, founder of the Jazz Heritage Foundation and the Friends of Jazz at UCLA.
Burrell will perform several works backed by the UCLA Philharmonia, including “Pax Humana (Hommage a Kenny Burrell) for Orchestra,” based on “The Peacemaker” by Kenny Burrell, created by UCLA professor Paul Chihara and “Sunset Time (Revisited)” by Kenny Burrell, with orchestration by Roger Bourland.
The evening also features the debut of the Los Angeles Jazz Orchestra Unlimited, co-directed by Kenny Burrell, Charley Harrison and Dr. Bobby Rodriguez, featuring a diverse collection of some of Southern California’s finest jazz musicians.
UCLA Philharmonia and the Los Angeles Jazz Orchestra Unlimited will perform with Burrell on the world premiere of “Suite for Peace,” a collaborative extended composition dedicated to World Peace from contributors William Banfield, Kenny Burrell, John Clayton, Nick DePinna, Charley Harrison, Llew Matthews and Patrick Williams.
Burrell’s six-decade career as a jazz professional, including appearing on hundreds of albums as leader and sideman have numbered him among the handful of guitar greats who have forever changed the role of their instrument.
Riley B. King – better known as B.B. King – has defined the blues for a worldwide audience. Since he started recording in the 1940s, he has released more than fifty albums, many of them classics.
Lalo Schifrin’s music is a synthesis of traditional and twentieth-century techniques, and his early love for jazz and rhythm are strong attributes of his style. Schifrin has written more than 100 scores for films and television, was the Music Director of the Glendale Symphony Orchestra, has been commissioned to write for several World Cup Soccer Championships, and tours extensively conducting symphony orchestras particularly featuring his repertoire of “Jazz Meets the Symphony.”
Dee Dee Bridgewater received a Tony Award for her role as Glinda the Good Witch in The Wiz , and captured the hearts of audiences worldwide with her signature song, “If You Believe.” She has also received two Grammy Awards -- for her album Dear Ella and, this year, for Eleanora Fagan (1915-1959): To Billie With Love From Dee Dee -- and France’s top honor Victoire de la Musique (Best Jazz Vocal Album).
Tickets are available to the general public starting at $20 via uclalive.org, Ticketmaster or the UCLA Central Ticket office at 310.821.2101.
IMAGES/ PRESS PASSES Limited press passes are available. Please contact Jessica Wolf at [email protected] . Hi-res images are available for download at uclalive.org/press.
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CONTACT Jessica Wolf [email protected]/ 310.825.7789