Monterey Jazz Festival on Tour . February 17 . Princeton
January 30, 2010 in Central New Jersey, Mercer County by McCarter Theatre Center
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- Kenny Barron by Carol Friedman
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- Kurt Elling by Christian Lantry
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- Regina Carter
Princeton, NJ- The Monterey Jazz Festival on Tour will make a stop at McCarter Theatre (91 University Place, Princeton) on Wednesday, February 17 at 7:30 pm as part of its nationwide, six-week tour.
The Monterey Jazz Festival on Tour, featuring an all-star lineup, is an evening of multi-faceted jazz, both instrumental and vocal that reflects the spirit, history, artistic excellence, and sophisticated informality for which the Festival has gained international fame. The evening will feature the nine-time Grammy nominated and 2010 NEA Jazz Master Kenny Barron on piano; Grammy-nominated violinist Regina Carter; Grammy-winning guitarist Russell Malone; nine-time Grammy-nominated vocalist Kurt Elling; bassist Kiyoshi Kitagawa; and Grammy-nominated drummer Johnathan Blake.
Pianist and NEA Jazz Master Kenny Baron has an unmatched ability to mesmerize audiences with his elegant playing, sensitive melodies and infectious rhythms, which inspired the Los Angeles Times to name him “one of the top jazz pianists in the world.” Dizzy Gillespie hired Barron in 1962, and he has also performed with Freddie Hubbard, Stanley Turrentine, Milt Jackson, Buddy Rich, and many more. From 1974 to 2000, Kenny was on the faculty at Rutgers University as professor of music and has mentored many of today’s young talents including David Sanchez, Terence Blanchard, and Regina Bell. He was selected as a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master for 2010, the nation’s highest honor in jazz.
Violinist Regina Carter “creates music that is wonderfully listenable, probingly intelligent and, at times, breathtakingly daring – taking the listener into the future of jazz” wrote Time magazine. Her playing has appeared on filmmaker Ken Burns’ soundtrack for the PBS Documentary, Jazz; Wynton Marsalis’ opera Blood on the Fields; Cassandra Wilson’s Traveling Miles; Mary J. Blige’s My Life; and Latin Jazz pianist Eddie Palmieri’s Grammy-winning Listen Here.
Kurt Elling is the preeminent young male jazz singer today. A ten-year stretch saw Elling earn seven Grammy nominations for six Blue Note albums, six consecutive years at the top of the DownBeat Critics and Jazz Times Readers’ polls, three Jazz Journalists’ Association Awards for Best Male Vocalist and the Prix Billie Holiday from the Academie du Jazz in Paris. In addition to working with his own quartet, Kurt Elling has spent recording and/or performing time with an array of artists that includes Terence Blanchard, Dave Brubeck, the Clayton-Hamilton Orchestra, Jon Hendricks, Fred Hersch, Charlie Hunter, Al Jarreau, Joe Lovano, Christian McBride, Marian McPartland, and the Yellowjackets. In 2009, Kurt received his ninth Grammy nomination for Dedicated to You: Kurt Elling Sings the Music of Coltrane and Hartman.
Guitarist Russell Malone has toured internationally with Diana Krall, receiving critical acclaim in his role as Diana’s right hand both in concert and on her recordings. Russell was a featured performer in Robert Altman’s film Kansas City, and has toured or recorded with Harry Connick, Jr., Eddie “Cleanhead” Vinson, Bucky Pizzarelli, Branford Marsalis, Clarence Carter, Mulgrew Miller, Kenny Barron, Roy Hargrove, Cyrus Chestnut and Patti Austin.
Tickets to the Monterey Jazz Festival on Tour start at $41 and are available by calling the McCarter Theatre Ticket Office at (609) 258-2787; online at www.mccarter.org; or in person at 91 University Place, Princeton. Student tickets are also available.
