Symphony Center Presents: A Tribute to Mahalia Jackson
Friday, May 20, 2011
8 p.m. at Chicago Symphony Center
Featuring Jon Faddis, guest conductor and soloist
Join
us as we honor one of Chicago’s greatest musical artists, Mahalia
Jackson, in the year of what would have been her 100th birthday. The CJE joins special guest conductor Jon Faddis, Chicago gospel
divas Terisa Griffin and Queenie Lenox, and the Christ Universal Temple
Vocal Ensemble (directed by Fred Nelson III) on the Chicago Symphony Center stage to present music most frequently associated with Ms.
Jackson. Featuring new arrangements by Garnett Brown, the
program includes "Hand Me Down My Silver Trumpet," "O Mary Don't You
Weep," "Precious Lord," and "Lift Every Voice," among others.
A
true legend who rose to fame in Chicago, Mahalia Jackson (1911-1972) was
the first gospel singer to perform at Carnegie Hall, and she also sang
at the funeral of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the inauguration of
John F. Kennedy. Possessing a powerful contralto voice, she was referred
to as "The Queen of Gospel." Jackson was heralded internationally as
both a singer and civil rights activist; entertainer Harry Belafonte
called her "the single most powerful black woman in the United States."
She recorded about 30 albums (mostly for Columbia Records) during her
career, and her 45 rpm records included a dozen "golds" —
million-sellers.
An Evening of Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan
Friday, February 18, 2011
7:30 p.m. at Harris Theater for Music and Dance
Featuring Stephanie Jordan, vocals
A member of New Orleans’ renowned Jordan Family of Jazz and mentored by Shirley Horn, special guest vocalist Stephanie Jordan has performed around the globe alongside Wynton and Branford Marsalis, Jonathan Dubose, Roy Ayres, Aaron and Arthur Neville, Cassandra Wilson, Elvis Costello, Diana Krall, and Norah Jones. She has appeared at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, in Jazz at Lincoln Center’s nationally televised Higher Ground Hurricane Relief benefit concert for victims of Hurricane Katrina, and she has been featured live on NPR’s Talk of the Nation.
Dubbed “The First Lady of Song,” Ella Fitzgerald was one of the most popular female jazz singers in the United States for more than half a century. In her lifetime, she won 13 Grammy® awards and sold over 40 million albums. Her voice was flexible, wide-ranging, and warm, ranging from sultry ballads to sweet jazz to flawless scat singing. She worked with such greats as Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra, Dizzy Gillespie, and Benny Goodman. Nicknamed “Sassy” and the “Divine One,” Sarah Vaughan recorded with such jazz greats as Oscar Peterson, Louie Bellson, Zoot Sims, Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter, Don Cherry, and J.J. Johnson in addition to making a recording of the Duke Ellington Song Book (1 and 2). In 1989 she received the Grammy® Lifetime Achievement Award and the following year she was inducted into the Jazz Hall of Fame.
The Great Summit II: The Music of Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington
Thursday, January 20, 2011
7:30 p.m. at Harris Theater for Music and Dance
Featuring Jon Faddis, guest conductor and soloist
The Chicago Jazz Ensemble celebrates its roots with a performance honoring jazz giants Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong. Renowned trumpeter Jon Faddis returns to Chicago to join the band as special guest conductor and soloist for this concert.
In its early history, the CJE became the first band (other than Ellington’s own) to perform an Ellington score when they presented his first Sacred Concert - with the composer himself conducting. This program features some of Ellington’s compositions from the CJE's Music Library. Armstrong’s significance in Chicago history is legendary. He lived in Chicago during the 1920s and was featured regularly with big bands in Chicago theaters, including Erskine Tate’s Vendome Orchestra and the Carroll Dickerson Orchestra. It was here in Chicago that he recorded the canonical Hot Five and Hot Seven recordings. These recordings, widely considered to be some of the most important in the history of jazz, comprise a significant part of the CJE’s contemporary programs.
New Orleans Now
Thursday, November 18, 2010
7:30 p.m. at Harris Theater for Music and Dance
Featuring Donald Harrison, saxophone; Henry butler, piano; and Stanton Moore, drums
The
Chicago Jazz Ensemble welcomes three very special guest artists from
New Orleans in a program that celebrates the sound and spirit of a city
where creativity is matched only by extraordinary resilience, exploring
the various trajectories of the New Orleans tradition – from blues and
swing to funk – with some of its best contemporary musicians.
Our guests include dynamic funk drummer Stanton Moore (founding member of Galactic and a prodigious solo artist), saxophonist Donald Harrison (“The King of Nouveau Swing”), and pianist and vocalist Henry Butler (an eight-time W.C. Handy “Best Blues Instrumentalist–Piano” award nominee). The concert will feature large ensemble configurations in addition to small group arrangements of famed New Orleanians such as Louis Prima, King Oliver, Jelly Roll Morton, and the Meters, performed with our special guests. Also featured are selections from Duke Ellington’s “New Orleans Suite” and Ellington favorite “The Mooche” along with vocal selections featuring Bobbi Wilsyn and Henry Butler.
