FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Press Contacts: April 29, 2016 Eileen Chambers/CSO 312.294.3092 MaryJane Maharry/Brava PR 773.490.6046 Photos Available By Request [email protected]
CHICAGO JAZZ ORCHESTRA BRINGS SARAH VAUGHAN TRIBUTE TO SYMPHONY CENTER PRESENTS JAZZ SERIES
Vocalists Dee Alexander, Ann Hampton Callaway and René Marie featured in Program that Highlights Classic Sarah Vaughan Hits
Friday, May 20, at 8:00 p.m.
CHICAGO— The Symphony Center Presents (SCP) Jazz series continues with “A Tribute to Sarah Vaughan” featuring The Chicago Jazz Orchestra (CJO) on Friday, May 20, at 8:00 p.m. CJO Conductor and Artistic Director Jeff Lindberg leads his big band with strings and an all-star roster of talented vocalists including Chicago’s own Dee Alexander and Ann Hampton Callaway, as well as GrammyⓇ-nominee René Marie in transcriptions of some of Vaughan’s signature standards.
This new, original program is a world premiere presentation that was created in collaboration with the CJO specifically for the Symphony Center Presents Jazz series. The program honors the legacy of the incomparable Sarah Vaughan, a GrammyⓇ award winner, NEA Jazz Master award recipient and one of the most unforgettable voices in jazz. At the concert, Vaughan’s contributions to jazz are also recognized with a special onstage unveiling of the newly issued Sarah Vaughan Forever Stamp by special guest Tangela Bush, Postmaster, Chicago District.
Alexander, Callaway and Marie perform some of Vaughan’s most memorable songs including "Misty", "Tenderly", "Key Largo", "How High The Moon, "I Hadn't Anyone 'Til You" and "Until I Met You" among others. Lindberg, a widely recognized jazz arranger, has recreated Vaughan’s original arrangements by such legendary musicians as Quincy Jones, Thad Jones, Hal Mooney and Ernie Wilkins.
“Jim Fahey and I have wanted to create a tribute to Sarah Vaughan for years for the Symphony Center Presents jazz series,” said Lindberg. “Sarah Vaughan's immense talent, combined with some of the best composers and arrangers of their time, gave us an incredible output of masterpiece recordings. Our three wonderful singers, backed by an expanded, 41-piece Chicago Jazz Orchestra performing her original arrangements, give us the opportunity to pay tribute to Sarah in an appropriately grand and swinging way."
Alexander, Callaway and Marie credit Vaughan with being an inspiration in their work and lives. Alexander is well known to Chicago audiences, receiving numerous awards and accolades including the Chicago Tribune’s “Chicagoan of the Year” award in 2008 and “Jazz Entertainer of the Year” by the Chicago Music Awards. Callaway is best known for her Tony-nominated performance in the hit Broadway musical Swing! and recently released the album From Sassy To Divine: The Sarah Vaughan Project: Live at Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola. Marie, a GrammyⓇ nominee in the Best Jazz Vocalist category for her album I want to be Evil: With Love from Eartha Kitt, is a talented singer and songwriter whose signature style involves combining contrasting songs into a new rendition with dramatic results. Marie made her first Symphony Center appearance in a critically acclaimed performance with Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra in 2015.
The Chicago Jazz Orchestra (CJO) is a 17-piece premiere jazz ensemble that has garnered both national and international recognition. It celebrates and perpetuates music for jazz orchestra–an original American art form–for all audiences through unique performances, collaborations, and education programs. Under the direction of Lindberg, founder, artistic director and conductor, CJO is Chicago’s oldest professional jazz orchestra in continuous operation and one of the oldest jazz repertory orchestras in the country.
Tickets for all SCP Jazz series concerts can be purchased by phone at 800-223-7114 or 312- 294-3000; online at cso.org, or at the Symphony Center box office: 220 S. Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL 60604.
Discounted student tickets for select concerts can be purchased, subject to availability, online in advance or at the box office on the day of the concert. For group rates, please call 312-294- 3040.
Artists, programs and prices are subject to change.
This project is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts.
Symphony Center Presents Jazz series is sponsored by Exelon.
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Symphony Center Presents Friday, May 20, 2016, 8:00 p.m. Jazz A Tribute to Sarah Vaughan The Chicago Jazz Orchestra Jeff Lindberg, Director Dee Alexander, vocals Ann Hampton Callaway, vocals René Marie, vocals
Tickets: $24-76
Featured Vocalists for this performance:
Dee Alexander Ann Hampton Callaway René Marie
Chicago Jazz Orchestra/ Jeff Lindberg The Chicago Jazz Orchestra (CJO) strives to develop and promote an appreciation for and understanding of music for the American jazz orchestra as it was originally conceived, performed, and recorded by jazz master composers and soloists. Through collaborative efforts and partnerships, the CJO seeks to provide listening and educational opportunities in a variety of settings and formats. The CJO is Chicago’s oldest professional jazz orchestra in continuous operation and one of the oldest jazz repertory orchestras in the country. CJO was founded by Jeff Lindberg and the late Steve Jensen in 1978 and has grown to a 17- piece premiere jazz ensemble that has garnered both national and international recognition. CJO has performed with such artists as Dizzy Gillespie, Nancy Wilson, Louis Bellson, Herbie Hancock, Jon Faddis, Kurt Elling, Jack McDuff, Kenny Burrell, and many more and has toured extensively in the United States and Europe including performances in Italy, Spain, Denmark, and Sweden.
Conductor and Artistic Director Jeff Lindberg is one of the foremost transcribers in jazz. His transcriptions have been performed by such artists as Joe Williams, Clark Terry, Gunther Schuller, and David Baker, and by such orchestras as the Count Basie Orchestra, the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra, the Woody Herman Orchestra, and the Carnegie Hall Jazz Band. In 1993, two of Lindberg’s transcriptions were performed at The White House by the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra. As well as holding the position of Artistic Director of the Chicago Jazz Orchestra, Lindberg is Music Director of the Wooster Symphony Orchestra in Ohio.
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra: www.cso.org and www.csosoundsandstories.org/ Founded in 1891, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra is consistently hailed as one of the greatest orchestras in the world. Since 2010, the preeminent conductor Riccardo Muti has served as its 10th music director. Yo-Yo Ma is the CSO’s Judson and Joyce Green Creative Consultant, and Samuel Adams and Elizabeth Ogonek are its Mead Composers-in-Residence.
From baroque through contemporary music, the CSO commands a vast repertoire. Its renowned musicians annually perform more than 150 concerts, most at Symphony Center in Chicago and, each summer, at the suburban Ravinia Festival. They regularly tour nationally and internationally. Since 1892, the CSO has made 59 international tours, performing in 29 countries on five continents. People around the globe listen to weekly radio broadcasts of CSO concerts and recordings on the WFMT radio network and online at cso.org/radio. Recordings by the CSO have earned 62 GrammyⓇ Awards, including two in 2011 for Muti’s recording with the CSO and Chorus of Verdi's Messa da Requiem (Muti’s first of four releases with the CSO to date). Find details on these and many other CSO recordings at www.cso.org/resound.
The CSO is part of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association, which also includes the Chicago Symphony Chorus (Duain Wolfe, Director and Conductor) and the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, a training ensemble for emerging professionals. Through its prestigious Symphony Center Presents series, the CSOA presents guest artists and ensembles from a variety of genres—classical, jazz, world, and contemporary.
The Negaunee Music Institute at the CSO offers community and education programs that annually engage more than 200,000 people of diverse ages and backgrounds. Through the Institute and other activities, including a free annual concert with Muti and the CSO, the CSO is committed to using the power of music to create connections and build community.
The CSO is supported by thousands of patrons, volunteers and institutional and individual donors. Bank of America is the Global Sponsor of the CSO. The CSO’s music director position is endowed in perpetuity by a generous gift from the Zell Family Foundation. The Negaunee Foundation provides generous support in perpetuity for the work of the Negaunee Music Institute.