Artist Series Concerts Celebrates The Holidays In Swinging Andrews Sisters Style

Artist Series Concerts of Sarasota ramps up the holiday with Harmony for the Holidays, featuring the sweet-toned harmonies and sure-footed swing of acclaimed vocal jazz trio Duchess. The New York City-based threesome - Amy Cervini, Hilary Gardner and Melissa Stylianou - are joined by noted jazz pianist Carmen Staaf, bassist Don Mopsick and percussionist Rick Costa for a sparkling holiday program that includes such traditional favorites as Silver Bells, What Are You Doing New Year's Eve, and the Andrews Sisters' Christmas Island, plus holiday novelties like Santa Baby, Mele Kalikimaka (Hawaii's way to say "merry Christmas"), Christmas Compromise and much more. Performances are December 21 at 7:30 p.m. and December 22 at 3:00 p.m., at the Historic Asolo Theater, 5401 Bay Shore Road, Sarasota. Reserved seat tickets are $25 to $45; $10 student tickets are available at the door with current student ID. Tickets are available online at www.artistseriesconcerts.org or by calling 941-306-1202.

A close-harmony vocal trio blending the classic and the contemporary, Duchess has rightly earned a reputation for beautiful singing and big fun onstage. Blending the classic and the contemporary, the trio has performed at major festivals and esteemed jazz clubs throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, and Israel. After teaming up in 2013, the threesome debuted on Anzic Records in 2015 with the eponymous Duchess, channeling the 1930s inspiration of the virtuosic Boswell Sisters. Their 2017 follow-up, Laughing at Life (Anzic), garnered rave reviews, prompting Downbeat Magazine to declare: "For a good time, call Duchess." The trio then released their critically acclaimed holiday EP, Harmony for the Holidays, in 2018. The trio has sold out shows at Jazz Standard, Jazz at Lincoln Center and the Rubin Museum. They made their European debut last July with a tour that included stops in Copenhagen, Edinburgh, Swansea and London. Duchess also enjoys an ongoing collaboration with the Paul Taylor Dance Company and performed the music of the Andrews Sisters for Taylor's seminal piece, "Company B," at Lincoln Center last month.

While the trio certainly evokes the Andrews Sisters, it's New Orleans' Boswell Sisters, the pioneering 1930s close-harmony trio, that are the root historic muses for the Duchess sound and approach. "The Boswell Sisters were such originals," explains singer Hilary Gardner. "This kind of music got more conservative a decade later in the 1940s, with the Andrews Sisters taking the vocal trio format more mainstream, although they were swinging and super-tight in their own way too. But the Boswell Sisters had a kind of instrumental approach to harmony singing, and there was a wildness to what they did, with abrupt tempo changes, crazy harmonies and ensemble scatting as if they were singing from one brain. We love them."

That love comes as no surprise as the vocalists of Duchess harmonize as if they too are singing from one brain. About the magical stage rapport that exists among the three singers, Amy Cervini says: "The chemistry between us was special from that first moment back in 2013 when we teamed up at Bar 55 to sing some Boswell and Andrews Sisters charts, and it went over amazingly well. Chemistry like this is rare and unpredictable and we're now so in tune with one another that it allows us to explore and experiment even while maintaining that great sound and vibe that brought us together in the first place."
Vocalist Amy Cervini has performed around the world and in such prestigious locales as Carnegie Hall and The Jazz Standard. The New York Times has praised her as "a thoughtful and broad-minded jazz singer," while the All Music Guide recommends her recordings for the "honest, self-assured and honey-dripping presence clearly heard." Hilary Gardner has repeatedly been hailed as a rising star by DownBeat Magazine and New York Magazine has called hers a "voice worth seeking out." She has performed with such diverse stars as Frank Sinatra, Jeff Goldblum, Michael Feinstein and Charles Ruggiero. She also serves on the jazz voice advisory committee at Juilliard and performs as a leader throughout New York City and the United States. Melissa Stylianou has sung on such prestigious stages as Carnegie Hall, Blue Note, Birdland and Jazz Standard, amongst many others and has been an artist in residence at 55 Bar since 2003. The New Yorker has described her as "an affecting jazz singer with a taste for choice material."

Joining the trio will be noted New York pianist and composer Carmen Staaf, who has performed with Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Wynton Marsalis, the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra and many others and she is currently the pianist and musical director for NEA Jazz Master Dee Dee Bridgewater. Rounding out the ensemble will be noted area jazz musicians Don Mopsick, bass and Rick Costa, percussion.

"This is a stellar ensemble that's going to be delivering some great, swinging music and lots of laughs," says Joseph Holt, director of artist programs for Artist Series Concerts. "One of my favorite Duchess stories is when a fellow musician came up to them after a set at 55 Bar in New York and said: 'You know, the audience doesn't realize how difficult what you're doing really is. They're having too good of a time.' I think that sums Duchess up perfectly!"