New York Youth Symphony Jazz To Perform at Times Center

New York Youth Symphony Jazz, led by Director Andy Clausen, will finish their season at The Times Center on Monday, May 9, 2022 at 7:00 PM featuring Benny Benack III as a trumpeter and Shenel Johns as a vocalist. Also, they will be performing a NYYS First Music Commission from Benjamin Morris.

"It means so much to be able to play in front of live audiences again," explained Andy Clausen. "It is such a huge part of our program, giving students the chance to experience what it's like to feel that energy from a live crowd. We were supposed to play the Times Center two-years ago, so this one means a lot to be here and jam out for the audience and for ourselves."

This extraordinary concert will feature two stars of the rising Jazz generation for a program of gems from the Great American Songbook as made famous by Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, and more.

Andy Clausen is a New York-based trombonist, composer, and educator. A graduate of The Juilliard School, he currently serves as Artistic Director for Jazz at New York Youth Symphony. Clausen is also a founding member of The Westerlies, an award-winning new music brass chamber ensemble. From Carnegie Hall to Coachella, The Westerlies navigate a wide array of venues with the precision of a string quartet, the audacity of a rock band, and the charm of a family sing-along, creating music that is "folk-like and composerly, lovely and intellectually rigorous" -NPR. Clausen has collaborated with a diverse range of artists including Wynton Marsalis, Benny Golson, Gerald Wilson, Common, Dave Douglas, Theo Bleckmann, John Zorn, American Brass Quintet, Fleet Foxes, Feist, Nico Muhly, and Gabriel Kahane, appearing at such prestigious venues as Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, Radio City Music Hall, The Hollywood Bowl, Red Rocks, The Kennedy Center, Newport Folk Festival, Newport Jazz Festival, Coachella, Pitchfork Music Festival, The Stone, Vancouver Jazz Festival, Umbria Jazz Festival, and Jazz A Vienne. An active composer for film, television, radio, and advertising, Clausen has been commissioned by Showtime, The New York Times, Bloomberg TV, Carnegie Corporation, The Whitney Museum, Freedom House, and NPR.

By age 30, trumpeter, singer and NYYS Alum Benny Benack III has proven to be that rarest of talents; not only a fiery trumpet player with a stirring command of the postbop trumpet vernacular in the vein of Kenny Dorham and Freddie Hubbard, but also a singer with a sly, mature, naturally expressive delivery in the post-Sinatra mold, performing standards and his own astute songs with a thrilling sense of showmanship. His superb intonation and bracing virtuosity enable him to handle astounding feats of originally composed vocalese (complex solos with written lyrics). On top of all, he's a highly capable pianist. Mr. Benack performs internationally as an Emcee/Host for Postmodern, Jukebox, the vintage music collective famed for canny old-school covers of modern pop. IN early 2020 he released A Lot of Livin' to Do, the follow-up to his well-received 2017 debut One of a Kind. The sophomore effort, richly varied in mood and brimming with bop inflection, features bassist extraordinaire and Jazz ambassador Christian McBride (whose Grammy-award winning Big Band frequently calls upon Mr. Benack in the trumpet section) and drummer/producer Ulysses Owens Jr., as well as the radiant Takeshi Ohbayashi on piano and Rhode.

Vocalist Shenel Johns is an emerging star of her generation, her versatile style ranges from jazz to rhythm and blues to Gospel, all incorporating influences such as Ella Fitzgerald, Abbey Lincoln and Sarah Vaughn into a very personal vocal approach. A native of Hartford, CT, Ms. Johns graduated from the Jackie McLean Institute at the Hartt School of Music with a bachelor's degree in music management, where she studied with such jazz legends as Rene McLean, Jimmy Greene, and Nat Reeves. Since graduating, Ms. Johns has performed regularly at notable New York venues such as Dizzy's Club and Smoke Jazz and Supper Club. In 2015, she spent time in Qatar where she served a musical residency at Jazz at Lincoln Center Doha. She has also honored Billie Holiday as part of JALC's New York production of "Billie and the Boys", and has performed a tribute to another of her idols, Lena Horne, at New York City's famed Appel Theater. Ms. Johns has shared the stage with music royalty including Curtis Fuller, Hank Jones, Dionne Warwick, and Sheila Jordan. When not performing, she works behind the scenes in programming at Jazz at Lincoln Center, Harlem Stage, and other non-profit organizations that advocate for and support the arts.

About the New York Youth Symphony (NYYS)

The NYYS is one of the most awarded youth programs of its kind in the nation, recognized for its innovative, tuition-free educational programs for talented young musicians. Founded in 1963 as an orchestra to showcase the metropolitan area's most gifted musicians ages 12-22, its activities have since grown to encompass programs in jazz, chamber music, conducting, composition, and musical theater composition, with performances at world class venues including Carnegie Hall and Jazz at Lincoln Center. As a tuition-free program, NYYS is proud of its socioeconomic diversity and core organizational values to educate and inspire young musicians through exceptional music training and performance opportunities. NYYS provides over $1 million in scholarships so that financial need is never an obstacle for a qualified student to participate in its impactful programs.