Lehman Center for the Performing Arts is proud to present “Jazz at Lincoln Center: Songs We Love”— a celebration of the history of American jazz spotlighting next-generation jazz stars and iconic songs from the 1920s-1950s — on Saturday, March 11 at 4 p.m.
“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,” “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. For more than three decades, “Jazz at Lincoln Center” has been a global advocate for jazz, culture and arts education.
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. Join the journey through the early decades of jazz and experience the captivating styles of the genre’s iconic singers and talented ensemble, led by bandleader, trombonist Mariel Bildsten. The cast also features vocalists Vuyo Sotashe, Brianna Thomas and Shenel Johns, as well as Gabe Medd on trumpet, Lucas Pino playing reeds, Mathis Picard on piano, Mark Lewandowski on bass and drummer TJ Reddick.
The repertoire includes gems such as the traditional blues “See See Rider,” first recorded by Ma Rainey in 1924 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).
Lehman Center for the Performing Arts is on the campus of Lehman College/CUNY at 250 Bedford Park Blvd. Tickets for “Jazz at Lincoln Center” ($75, $55, $45, $35 and $25) can be purchased by calling the Lehman Center box office at (718) 960-8833 (Monday through Friday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., and beginning at 4 p.m. on the day of the concert), or through online access at https://www.lehmancenter.org/
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