Oscar Brown, Jr. News

After a sold-out engagement last February, renowned San Francisco Bay Area jazz vocalist, Paula West, returns to Feinstein's at the Nikko for a four-week engagement - February 11 - March 6, 2016.  Known for her rich, powerful contralto voice, West will present an all-new show featuring an eclectic range of songs by Bob Dylan, Glen Campbell, Pearl Bailey, Ethel Waters, and more!  Accompanied by her four-piece band, West will take San Francisco audiences on a musical journey through the ages.  Tickets for Paula West range in price from $40-$60 and are available now by calling 866.663.1063 or visiting www.ticketweb.com. 

Chicago's acclaimed Jefferson Award nominated actress and winner of the After Dark Award for 'Outstanding Cabaret Artist' and the Chicago Cabaret Professionals Gold Coast Award, Suzanne Petri brings her brand new show, TORCH, SASS AND SWING!, to Davenport's Cabaret (1383 N Milwaukee Ave). The show runs tonight, October 28, and November 4 & 7, 2015.

Chicago's acclaimed Jefferson Award nominated actress and winner of the After Dark Award for "Outstanding Cabaret Artist" and the Chicago Cabaret Professionals Gold Coast Award, Suzanne Petri brings her brand new show, TORCH, SASS AND SWING!, to Davenport's Cabaret (1383 N Milwaukee Ave). The show runs October 28, November 4 and November 7, 2015.

After a sold-out engagement last February, renowned San Francisco Bay Area jazz vocalist, Paula West, returns to Feinstein's at the Nikko for a six-week engagement - February 12 - March 22, 2015. Known for her rich, powerful contralto voice, West will present an all-new show featuring an eclectic range of songs - from memorable jazz standards to contemporary American classics by Bob Dylan, Talking Heads, Harry Nilsson and more! Accompanied by her four-piece band, West will take San Francisco audiences on a musical journey through the ages. Tickets for Paula West range in price from $35-$50 and are available now by calling 866.663.1063 or visiting www.ticketweb.com.

Now in it's sixth season, The Fire This Time Festival will welcome seven new playwrights into the family, January 19-February 8 at The Kraine Theater (85 East 4th Street between 2nd Avenue and Bowery). Aziza Barnes (me Aunt Jemima and the nailgun, published by Button Poetry Press), Rod Gailes OBC (COLORS: Dream Of the MASTA), Julienne L. Hairston (Ababuo in Project Y's Racey Play Reading Festival), Daaimah Mubashshir (Video Clare with Manhattan Repertory Theatre), Azure D. Osborne-Lee (member of EMERGENYC and Rising Circle Theater Collective's INKtank), Larry Powell (Dreams of a Prophet) and James Anthony Tyler (Some Old Black Man starring Arthur French at La MaMa). These playwrights will present an evening of ten-minute plays, each inspired by one of Alex Harsley's original photographs. More of Harsley's pieces will be featured at the TFTT festival kick-off event this fall, in which he and the playwrights will be introduced to the Horse Trade Theater Group and 4th Street Arts Block community.

Hotel Nikko San Francisco and Michael Feinstein are proud to announce 'City Singers,' a new weekly concert series featuring a wide range of performers from throughout the San Francisco Bay Area held every Today at Feinstein's at the Nikko.

Hotel Nikko San Francisco and Michael Feinstein are proud to announce "City Singers," a new weekly concert series featuring a wide range of performers from throughout the San Francisco Bay Area held every Wednesday at Feinstein's at the Nikko.

Ravinia's 2014 season, dubbed 'Summer of Love/Season of Stars,' was announced today by Ravinia President and CEO Welz Kauffman. Brimming with talent and romance, the festival's 2014 schedule brings some the biggest names in the world of music as well as repertoire that explores the theme of great love in its various manifestations. No fewer than three musical incarnations of the most famous love story of all time, Romeo and Juliet, will be featured, with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra performing Tchaikovsky's Overture-Fantasy (July 27), a suite from Prokofiev's ballet setting of the story (July 16) and the score of West Side Story as the classic film is shown (July 17-18). In other examples of love, soprano Deborah Voigt describes it as 'Something Wonderful' on a Broadway evening (July 13), the legendary Broadway team of Lerner and Loewe will be celebrated (July 20), and Chanticleer even jabs at the battle of the sexes in an evening titled 'She Said/He Said' (July 6). In fact, love lurks, longs and lingers across genres in most of the more than 130 events that Ravinia will present in 2014, its 110th year and its 78th as the summer residence of the CSO.

Hotel Nikko and Michael Feinstein will welcome renowned San Francisco Bay Area jazz vocalist, Paula West, to Feinstein's at the Nikko for a four-week engagement - tonight, February 13 - March 9, 2014.

The Yale Club of Chicago presents "Gershwin in Blue: A George and Ira Gershwin Songbook Celebration," Wednesday, February 26, 8 p.m. at the Jazz Showcase, featuring vocalists Ava Logan and Charles Thomas.

Greenwich House Music School, located at 46 Barrow Street in the heart of the West Village, is proud to announce Cafe Au Go Go Revisited (CaGGR), a live performance festival commemorating the spirit and innovation of the short-lived yet legendary 1960s stage in celebration of the venue's would-be 50th anniversary.

ON KENTUCKY AVENUE, a musical revue based loosely on fact and mostly fiction about the people and performers who took the stage and filled the tables at the majestic Club Harlem 'on Kentucky Avenue' in the north section of Atlantic City from the 1930s until the late 1980s, will make its NYC commercial stage debut at STAGE72/THE TRIAD, 158 West 72nd Street, on Sunday, February 2, with performances at 3pm and 7pm and Monday, February 3 at 7pm in honor of Black History Month.

Hotel Nikko and Michael Feinstein will welcome renowned San Francisco Bay Area jazz vocalist, Paula West, to Feinstein's at the Nikko for a four-week engagement - February 13 - March 9, 2014.

Duke Ellington at Yale: A Musical Tribute will be presented by the Yale Club of Chicago with support from the Jazz Institute of Chicago tonight, February 27, with sets at 8pm and 10pm.

When two of the best musicians on the planet decide to combine their estimable talents to create a band without boundaries, the result is the WOLFF & CLARK EXPEDITION. Dizzy Gillespie famously said that jazz must have 'one foot in the past and one in the future.' With the Wolff & Clark Expedition, the music embraces the past, ventures into the future, but remains rooted in the improvisatory present. After several high profile performances in 2012, jazz legends Michael Wolff and Mike Clark, the Wolff & Clark Expedition, release their self-titled debut album today. Performing with creative bassist Chip Jackson, the Expedition's initial outing aims for uncharted, compelling musical territories while still entertaining a wide audience of astute listeners.

Duke Ellington at Yale: A Musical Tribute will be presented by the Yale Club of Chicago with support from the Jazz Institute of Chicago on Wednesday, February 27, with sets at 8pm and 10pm.

When two of the best musicians on the planet decide to combine their estimable talents to create a band without boundaries, the result is the WOLFF & CLARK EXPEDITION. Dizzy Gillespie famously said that jazz must have "one foot in the past and one in the future." With the Wolff & Clark Expedition, the music embraces the past, ventures into the future, but remains rooted in the improvisatory present. After several high profile performances in 2012, jazz legends Michael Wolff and Mike Clark, the Wolff & Clark Expedition, are preparing to release their self-titled debut album in February 2013. Performing with creative bassist Chip Jackson, the Expedition's initial outing aims for uncharted, compelling musical territories while still entertaining a wide audience of astute listeners.

It may be the final week of Lincoln Center Out of Doors, but the festival isn't winding down when it comes to exciting performances. This week, Lincoln Center celebrates the 40th Anniversary of the landmark Soul at the Center, highlighted by Valerie Simpson's first tribute to her late partner, Nick Ashford, since his passing. The pair that wrote such Motown hits as "Ain't No Mountain High Enough," "Reach Out and Touch (Somebody's Hand)," and "I'm Every Woman," made their performing debut as a duo at Lincoln Center 40 years ago. The Tribute takes place on Friday, August 10 at Damrosch Park.

Today, July 24th, award-winning keyboardist/composer/author Kevin Toney releases an inspired project that blends traditional acoustic jazz trio music with the compositional expanse of classical movements. Titled New American Suite, the album introduces the artist's dynamic new group, The Kevin Toney 3 (a.k.a. "KT3" featuring Kevin Toney on piano, Michael Bradford on bass and Chris Coleman on drums).

On July 24th, award-winning keyboardist/composer/author Kevin Toney will be releasing an inspired project that blends traditional acoustic jazz trio music with the compositional expanse of classical movements. Titled New American Suite, the album introduces the artist's dynamic new group, The Kevin Toney 3 (a.k.a. "KT3" featuring Kevin Toney on piano, Michael Bradford on bass and Chris Coleman on drums).