Every day is opening night.

Contact: Rick Miramontez/Richard Hillman
rick@oandmco.com / richard@oandmco.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, PLEASE

Birdland (315 West 44th Street – between 8th & 9th Aves.) is pleased to announce an exciting line-up of extraordinary entertainment for the month of July 2011. A detailed schedule follows:

• Django in June: Starring Young Lions of Gypsy Jazz
With special guests: Joel Frahm (6/28), Anat Cohen (6/29), James Carter (6/30), Edmar Castaneda (7/1, 7/2), Claudio Roditi (7/3)
Samson Schmitt, son of legendary 'gypsy' French guitar legend Dorado Schmitt, heads an All- Star band of top musicians from France, Sweden and the US. Samson, who grew up on the Birdland stage, is now out on his own and a star in Europe. Ludovic Beier from Paris, is a brilliant swinging accordionist and accordina player and joins Doudou Cuillerier on rhythm guitar and 'scat singing'. French virtuoso violinist Pierre Blanchard and Swedish star Aandreas Oberg – also a lead guitarist – are part of the All Star band. Our very own Brian Torff, who was Stephane Grapelli’s top bassist, holds it all together and serves as host of the event. Each night there will be a jazz great as special guest including James Carter, Anat Cohen, Edmar Castaneda, and more. It's Hot, Hot Jazz at its best – swinging, romantic, virtuosic – and great fun!
Tuesday-Sunday, June 28-July 3 @ 8:30 & 11pm ($30 Side Seating, $40 Center Seating)

• Lou Donaldson Quartet
Jazz critics agree that “Sweet Poppa Lou” Donaldson is one of the greatest alto saxophonists of all time. He began his career as a bandleader with Blue Note Records in 1952 and, already at age 25, he had found his sound, though it would continue to sweeten over the years — earning him his famed nickname –“Sweet Poppa Lou.” He made a series of classic records for Blue Note in the 50’s, and takes pride in having showcased many musicians who made their first records as sidemen for him: Horace Silver, Clifford Brown, Grant Green, Blue Mitchell, Donald Byrd, Horace Parlan, and others. After also making some excellent recordings for Cadet and Argo Records in the early 60s, Lou’s return to Blue Note in 1967 was marked by one of his most famous recordings, Alligator Bogaloo. Lou was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Letters by North Carolina A & T University and a scholarship was established in his name that is awarded to the most gifted jazz musician at North Carolina A & T University each year. He was inducted into the International Jazz Hall of Fame and is the recipient of countless other honors and awards for his outstanding contributions to jazz, America’s “classical music.” Today, at age 83, Lou continues to play at his very best, entertaining audiences worldwide with spirited performances that are always soulful, thoroughly swinging, and steeped in the blues. Lou’s hits on Blue Note Records are still high demand favorites and, today, he is the label’s oldest musician from that notable era of jazz.
Tuesday-Saturday, July 5-9 @ 8:30 & 11pm ($30 Side Seating, $40 Center Seating)

• Pablo Zeigler’s Buenos Aires Conexion: “From Piazolla to Zeigler” with guest vocalist Sandra Luna
Pablo Ziegler, modern Tango/Jazz Pianist and Composer will display his versatility with his Quartet consisting of Hector Del Curto on Bandoneon, Pedro Giraudo on Bass and Jisoo Ok on Cello. This is a journey of Tango with Classical overtones, the past with the contemporary, the need to redefine and renovate. For this special engagement, Pablo has invited vocalist Sandra Luna to join him in what will be his first time appearing with a vocalist in NYC. Sandra brings a passionate, sometimes pained voice to both classic and new Tango songs. “Tango encapsulates the whole life,” Sandra says, “everything that brings the senses to life.”
Produced by Pat Philips & Ettore Stratta.
Tuesday-Saturday, July 12-16 @ 8:30 & 11pm ($30 Side Seating, $40 Center Seating)

• Louis Hayes Quintet
For more than forty years, drummer Louis Hayes has been a catalyst for energetic, unrelenting swing in his self led bands, as well as in those whose respective leaders reads like an encyclopedia of straight ahead post-bop modern jazz. Hayes himself an authentic architect of post-bop swing, began his professional activities at the tender age of 18. He started with tenor saxophonist, flautist and oboist Yusef Lateef who like Hayes is a Detroit native (other jazz luminaries hailing from the “motor city” include the Jones brothers, Elvin, Hank and Thad, guitarist Kenny Burrell, pianist Tommy Flanagan and many others). After the stint with Lateef, Hayes went on to rhythmically propel groups led by pianist Horace Silver, legendary saxophonist Cannonball Adderley and pianist Oscar Peterson. These positions were augmented by countless recordings on the Blue Note, Prestige, Riverside and other labels with the likes of John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, J.J. Johnson, Jackie McLean, Wes Montgomery, Cedar Walton, Dexter Gordon, Woody Shaw, George Benson, Freddie Hubbard, Joe Henderson, McCoy Tyner, and the list goes on.
Tuesday-Saturday, July 19-23 @ 8:30 & 11pm ($30 Side Seating, $40 Center Seating)

• Mark Murphy
One of the world's most respected jazz vocalists, Mark Murphy's prolific career spans 40 years and is most noted for his definitive and unique vocalese and vocal improvisations with both melody and lyrics. He is the recipient of the 1996, 1997, 2000, and 2001 Downbeat Magazine Readers Jazz Poll for Best Male Vocalist of the Year, as well as six Grammy Award Nominations for Best Vocal Jazz Performance. He is also known for his original lyrics to the jazz classics Stolen Moments and Red Clay. At 74 years old, Mark Murphy has not slowed down, as he continues to tour internationally, appearing at festivals, concerts, in the best jazz clubs and on television programs throughout the U.S., Europe, Australia and Japan. Indeed, time has been good to his voice: a rich, virile, attractively craggy bass-baritone, etched with the wisdom of a fifty-year journey. It's a sound that could have crept from the shadows of some smoky dive in a Robert Mitchum film noir. “Just listen to Mark Murphy, and the odds are in favor of your being provoked to extremes,” declared the liner notes of his first LP, made for Decca in 1956. Murphy, the writer added, “is one of the great singers of our times.”
Sunday, July 24th @ 9 & 11pm ($30 All Seating)

• Leny Andrade
Brazilian legend Leny Andrade acquired a solid reputation as a singer and improviser, acknowledged by the many top musicians who have performed with her, such as Paquito D'Rivera (who considers Andrade his favorite singer), Luiz Eça, Dick Farney, João Donato, Eumir Deodato, and Francis Hime. Leny Andrade's eclectic style became better defined with the advent of bossa nova, through which she introduces jazz elements into her singing. Finally, she embraced a synthesis of samba-jazz that refutes much of the delicacy and attention to the lyrics as suggested by traditional bossa nova, resulting in more energetic and lively interpretations of the classic Brazilian genre. Returning to Birdland from Rio, Leny Andrade will delight fans with the perfect soundtrack to mid-summer! “To describe Ms. Andrade as both the Sarah Vaughan and Ella Fitzgerald of bossa nova only goes so far in evoking a performer whose voice seem to contain the body and soul of Brazil.” ?– Stephen Holden, The New York Times.
Tuesday-Saturday, July 26-30 @ 8:30 & 11pm ($30 Side Seating $40 Center Seating)

REGULAR MONTHLY ENGAGEMENTS

• THE BIRDLAND JAZZ PARTY
Birdland's very own jazz quartet – with special guests – hits the stage every Sunday to wrap up the weekend with jazz classics! This quartet features John Hart (guitar), Yasushi Nakamura (bass), Carmen Intorre (drums) & Jon Davis (piano).
Sundays, July 10, 17, 24, 31 @ 6pm ($25 tables. $20 bar)

• BILL O’CONNELL AND THE LATIN JAZZ ALL-STARS
Internationally recognized composer, arranger and keyboardist Bill O’ Connell, who has displayed his versatility performing, writing and arranging for numerous jazz artists while putting the primary accent on the Latin side of the stylistic equation leads a group of Latin All Stars including flautist Dave Valentin and trombonist Conrad Herwig.
Sundays, July 10 & 17 @ 9 & 11pm ($30)

• JIM CARUSO’S “CAST PARTY”
“No one can be called a true New Yorker until they’ve been to the ‘Cast Party,’ which is to Broadway what the Conde-Nast cafeteria is to publishing. Divas and dapper-dans insouciantly sip cocktails while watching each other sing and perform at the open-mic event during Broadway’s dark night,” says Next Magazine. Broadway impresario Jim Caruso hosts a combination open-mic, networking event and party in which the biggest stars on Broadway relax on their night off by performing their favorite songs in an informal setting.
Mondays, July 4, 11, 18, 25 @ 9:30pm ($20)

• THE LOUIS ARMSTRONG CENTENNIAL BAND
aka DAVID OSTWALD’S GULLY LOW JAZZ BAND
Inspired by the noble jazz pioneers Louis Armstrong, Bix Beiderbecke, Duke Ellington, Jelly Roll Morton and their colleagues, David Ostwald’s Gully Low Jazz Band (also known as the Louis Armstrong Centennial Band) breathes life and passion into America’s own great art form. “There has never been a band quite like the Gully Low Jazz Band,” notes legendary record producer George Avakian. “Most groups, past and present, stick to one style. Some current groups attempt to recreate early recordings in their entirety. These guys do neither. Inspired by divergent bands of the 1920s and 30s, you’ll hear them swing a variety of styles in music by a wide range of composers, always try to the joy and heart of the music.” Now in its 11th year of residency at Birdland, the weekly post-workday engagement is the city’s best musical bargain! Tuba player David Ostwald leads a rotating lineup that features talents such as clarinetist Anat Cohen, trombonist/vocalist Wycliffe Gordon, pianist Ehud Asherie, drummer Marion Felder, and more!
Wednesdays, July 6, 13, 20, 27 from 5pm-7pm ($15 tables, $10 bar)

IMPORTANT INFORMATION, PLEASE NOTE:
• Music charges vary by performer
• At the tables, there is a $10 food/drink minimum per person in addition to the music charge.
• At the bar, the music charge includes one complimentary drink, no additional minimum.
• American Fare with a Cajun Accent is served nightly from 5PM–Midnight
and until 1AM on Friday and Saturday.
• Discount parking garage across the street at 332 West 44th Street.
• For further information and reservations call (212) 581-3080
• Purchase tickets 24 hours a day at: www.birdlandjazz.com  

CONCERT GRAND PIANO BY YAMAHA