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The Legacy of Newport '57 Revisited: at the 2007 Newport Jazz Festival |
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Written by Administrator
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Tuesday, 24 April 2007 |
 Dianne Reeves
In 1957, the Newport Jazz Festival presented several of the greatest jazz divas on successive nights, with the tape recorders rolling the whole time. Shortly thereafter came the original LP, Ella Fitzgerald & Billie Holiday at Newport. And, when the Count Basie band walked onto the stage at Newport that same year, the very air was saturated with electricity. The nearly 8,000 fans in the audience could feel it, too-a sense of history in the making. Basie's set also went on record as the most exciting and hard-swinging performance of one extraordinary night.
Now, 50 years later, Festival Producer George Wein and Artistic Director Dan Melnick rekindle and celebrate that history by presenting the present day Basie Orchestra, led by long-time trombonist and Basie alum, Bill Hughes and two of the 21st Century's best jazz vocalists, Dianne Reeves and Nnenna Freelon. "One night this past fall, I was home listening to a reissue of one of the great 1957 recordings at Newport and then remembered there was an extensive collection of material recorded that year. It occurred to me that we should acknowledge the fiftieth anniversary of some of those sets at this year's festival," stated Melnick.
Today Dianne Reeves is considered the pre-eminent jazz vocalist in the world. As a result of her virtuosity, improvisational prowess and unique jazz and R&B stylings, Reeves was awarded the Grammy(r) for Best Jazz Vocal Performance for three consecutive recordings. On February 8th this year, Dianne brought home her fourth Grammy(r) for the soundtrack to the critically acclaimed, Good Night, And Good Luck. Dianne is the only artist in history to have three consecutive recordings win in a vocal category (A Little Moonlight, The Calling: A Tribute to Sarah Vaughan and In the Moment), and with her fourth statuette, she is clearly in a class by herself.
Concord Jazz Recording Artist Nnenna Freelon, has earned numerous awards including The Billie Holiday Award, The Eubie Blake Award and 6 Grammy(r) Award nominations, as well as accolades for her work on behalf of children and education. On her 2005 Grammy(r) nominated (Best Jazz Vocal Performance) live recording, Blueprint Of A Lady: Sketches of Billie Holiday, Freelon paid tribute to the quintessential jazz vocalist Billie Holiday. "Nnenna Freelon possesses that rarest of qualities . . . her phrasing is original, sometimes surprising, and often sweetly eccentric," said Variety.
Recently the world famous Count Basie Orchestra teamed with multi-Grammy(r) nominated vocalist Nnenna Freelon for their first-ever recording--they collaborated to celebrate the 100th Anniversary of Count Basie's birth and 75 years of The World Famous Count Basie Orchestra. Jazz is an American invention of the 20th Century and its sound is the "modern art" of music. In his 80-year life span, William "Count" Basie so expanded and elevated this art form that modern music's connoisseurs around the world regard his legacy as an "American Institution".
Tickets & Information: On sale 4/25
Friday, August 10, 8 pm: DIANNE REEVES & her BAND, COUNT BASIE ORCHESTRA Featuring Special Guest NNENNA FREELON at International Tennis Hall of Fame at The Newport Casino, 194 Bellevue Avenue. All seats reserved: $85.00, $65.00, $50.00 and $30.00.
TICKETS go on sale at 10 am April 25 via Ticketweb at http://www.Ticketweb.com/, by phone at 866-468-7619 and at the Newport Festival office located at 770 Aquidneck Avenue in Middletown, Rhode Island; cash, checks and major credit cards are accepted. Call 401-847-3700 for more information and office hours. Tickets are also available by mail order. To order by mail, send a check or money order for the total ticket cost plus a $4.00 handling charge per order to: JVC Jazz Festival, P.O. Box 605, Newport, RI 02840. Order forms are also available on the festival web site at: http://www.festivalproductions.net/.
Sponsors: JVC, the jazz festival's sponsor, is celebrating its 24th year of jazz festival sponsorship. JVC is one of the world's leading manufacturers of high quality audio and video equipment.
NBC 10 is the official television partner of the JVC Jazz Festival-Newport.
Borders is the official on-site book & music retailer of the JVC Jazz Festival-Newport.
WGBH 89.7 is the Official Boston Radio Station of the JVC Jazz Festival-Newport.
The Bridge WJZS 99.3 FM is the Official Rhode Island Radio Station of the JVC Jazz Festival-Newport.
Festival Productions, a Division of The Festival Network, LLC has its own website at http://www.festivalproductions.net/
*The JVC Jazz Festival-Newport is a Newport Festival Production(r). "A Newport Festival Production(r)" is a registered mark of Festival Productions, A Division of The Festival Network, LLC. All rights reserved.
**Program subject to change. |
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 Monday, 01 December 2008
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