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Dianne Reeves to open 2007 JVC Jazz Festival - Newport

By: Apr. 29, 2007
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 Dianne Reeves and her band and The Count Basie Orchestra with Special Guest Nnenna Freelon will open the 2007 JVC Jazz Festival - Newport at 8:00 pm on Friday, August 10 at the International Tennis Hall of Fame.  This year's program will evoke the 1957 Newport Jazz Festival, which is, arguably, the one of the most well known Jazz Festivals, Newport or otherwise.

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On successive nights in 1957, the Newport Jazz Festival presented several of the greatest female jazz singers of all time.  Ella Fitzgerald & Billie Holiday at Newport was the title of an LP, made from those recordings.  Add Count Basie's band to the mix and it became the most exciting and hard-swinging performance of one extraordinary night.

Festival Producer George Wein and Artistic Director Dan Melnick celebrate that history by presenting the present day Basie Orchestra, led by long-time trombonist and Basie alum, Bill Hughes and two of the 21st Century's best jazz vocalists, Dianne Reeves and Nnenna Freelon.

"One night this past fall, I was home listening to a reissue of one of the great 1957 recordings at Newport and then remembered there was an extensive collection of material recorded that year.  It occurred to me that we should acknowledge the fiftieth anniversary of some of those sets at this year's festival," stated Melnick.

Today, Dianne Reeves is considered the pre-eminent jazz vocalist in the world.  As a result of her virtuosity, improvisational prowess and unique jazz and R&B stylings, Reeves was awarded the Grammy® for Best Jazz Vocal Performance for three consecutive recordings.  On February 8th this year, Dianne brought home her fourth Grammy® for the soundtrack to the critically acclaimed, Good Night, And Good Luck.  Dianne is the only artist in history to have three consecutive recordings win in a vocal category (A Little Moonlight, The Calling: A Tribute to Sarah Vaughan and In the Moment), and with her fourth statuette, she is clearly in a class by herself.

Concord Jazz Recording Artist Nnenna Freelon, has earned numerous awards including The Billie Holiday Award, The Eubie Blake Award and 6 Grammy® Award nominations, as well as accolades for her work on behalf of children and education.  On her 2005 Grammy® nominated (Best Jazz Vocal Performance) live recording, Blueprint Of A Lady: Sketches of Billie Holiday, Freelon paid tribute to the quintessential jazz vocalist Billie Holiday.

TICKETS are on sale at http://www.Ticketweb.com/, by phone at 866-468-7619 and at the Newport Festival office located at 770 Aquidneck Avenue in Middletown, Rhode Island; cash, checks and major credit cards are accepted.  Call 401-847-3700 for more information and office hours.

Tickets are also available by mail order.  To order by mail, send a check or money order for the total ticket cost plus a $4.00 handling charge per order to: JVC Jazz Festival, P.O. Box 605, Newport, RI 02840.  Order forms are also available on the festival web site at: http://www.festivalproductions.net.



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