Corky Hale To Appear At Knickerbocker Bar & Grill 4/21

Corky Hale, the renowned and critically acclaimed Jazz Pianist, Harpist and Vocalist, will return to the Big Apple for several performances in April 2011. Hale, who now makes her home in Los Angeles, with her husband, Grammy Award winning composer, Mike Stoller (a member of the creative team of the new Broadway musical, "The People In The Picture"), lived in New York from 1966 - 1989, during which time she also ran a restaurant called Corky's located in Manhattan from 1970 - 1974. Hale was last heard in New York City at Carnegie Hall as a Piano Soloist with the New York Pops Orchestra in November 2007.

During the course of Hale's illustrious career, she has accompanied musical luminaries like Barbra Streisand, Tony Bennett, Frank Sinatra, Liberace, Billie Holiday, George Michael, Peggy Lee, Mel Tormé, Judy Collins and Boy George, to name a few.

Hale's first upcoming New York performance, entitled "An Evening With Corky Hale," will be presented by Knickerbocker Bar & Grill, 33 University Place (at the corner of 9th Street, between Broadway and 5th Avenue, east of Washington Square), Greenwich Village, NY 10003-4512 in celebration of the Knickerbocker's 34th Anniversary on Thursday, April 21, 2011. Performances will be given from 9:00 - 10:00 p.m. and again from 11:00 p.m. - 12 Midnight that evening.

Hale, who will perform on Piano, Harp and Vocals, will be accompanied by Dick Sarpola on Bass and Brian Brake on Drums. There is No Cover or No Minimum. Reservations are only taken for dinner guests. For reservations and further information, please call Knickerbocker Bar & Grill at 212-228-8490 and visit online at www.knickerbockerbarandgrill.com. Reservations can also be made through www.opentable.com/knickerbocker-bar-and-grill-reservations-new-york.

The following week she will give a performance entitled, "An Afternoon With Corky Hale," presented by Producer Ronny Whyte and Co-Producer Joan Uttal Anderson, at Midtown Jazz At Midday at Saint Peter's Church, 619 Lexington Avenue (at 54th Street), Manhattan, NY 10022-4610 on Wednesday, April 27, 2011 from 1:00 - 2:00 p.m.

Hale, who will perform on Piano and Vocals, will be accompanied by Boots Maleson on Bass and Brian Brake on Drums. Take E and M trains to Lexington Avenue station; 6 train to 51st Street station. A donation of $10 is requested. For further information, please call Saint Peter's Church at 212-935-2200 or visit online at www.saintpeters.org. Created by the late Edmund Anderson in 1982, these Jazz sessions feature artists in the Sanctuary of Saint Peter's Church.

Corky Hale (Pianist, Harpist and Vocalist) was born in a small mid-western farm town and started piano lessons at age three. At age seven, while vacationing with her family in Florida, Hale was heard in the lobby of her hotel picking out tunes on the piano by House bandleader, Horace Heidt. Heidt had a little band jacket made for her and featured her for the next few weeks in the evening show. She was accepted at the Chicago Conservatory of Music at the age of seven to study piano; by the age of eight she began studying the harp there.

She has performed at The White House with Tony Bennett, soloed with Barbra Streisand in Central Park and at the Hollywood Bowl, and performed with Björk on her MTV Special in London. Hale has also appeared with George Michael and Boy George at London's Royal Albert Hall and Washington, D.C.'s RFK Stadium. She has played harp for Liberace, piano for Billie Holiday and Mel Tormé, and has sung with the bands of Harry James, Ray Anthony and Jerry Gray. She has also appeared on The Tonight Show With Johnny Carson.

Hale's harp, piano and vocals can be heard on her three albums "CORKY!;" "Have Yourself A Jazzy Little Christmas;" and her current CD "Corky Hale and Friends...I'm Glad There Is You." Corky Hale's CDs are available at www.cdbaby.com and www.corkyhale.com.

Her sold-out performances at the Oak Room at the Algonquin in New York, Davenport's in Chicago, the Cinegrill and Herb Alpert's Vibrato Grill Jazz...etc. in Los Angeles, the Plush Room in San Francisco, and Pizza On The Park in London have led Los Angeles Times' jazz reviewer Don Heckman to observe that Hale is "more than a triple threat," and the San Francisco Examiner's Philip Ellwood noted her performances are "of cyclonic proportions."

Hale produced "Give 'em Hell Harry," starring Jason Alexander at the Tiffany Theatre in Los Angeles in 1992. Since 2000 Hale has produced and performed her star-studded show "Corky Hale and Friends: From Tin Pan Alley to Beverly Hills," at the Beverly Hills Civic Center.

In March 2003 her "Salute To Hollywood Songwriters" opened the newly restored Ferry Building at a Gala for San Francisco's "Raising Hope" charity, and in 2002 this show opened the 25th Anniversary Season of the 1,000-seat La Mirada Theatre. In that same year Hale's musical "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" broke Box Office records at the Coconut Grove Playhouse in Florida. She also produced 1998's "Lullaby Of Broadway" at the Tiffany Theatre in West Hollywood, voted one of the "10 Best Shows" of the year by the Los Angeles Times. Later a concert version of the show starring Sally Kellerman was presented at the University of Judaism. She is currently preparing a new version of the production, re-titled "I Only Have Eyes For You."

On November 22, 2007, Corky Hale made her debut at Carnegie Hall as a Piano Soloist with the New York Pops Orchestra, under the baton of Guest Conductor, Barry Levitt. In 2008 she appeared at the Metropolitan Room in New York and produced a Tribute to Sammy Cahn at the Wilshire Theatre Beverly Hills. In 2009 she appeared at Herb Alpert's Vibrato Grill Jazz...etc. in Los Angeles, selling it out for the third time. Also in 2009, she also appeared as a performer on the Inaugural Playboy Jazz Cruise of the Caribbean.

In December 2008 - January 2009, she produced a Sold Out, Standing Room Only Revival of Leiber & Stoller's Smokey Joe's Café at El Portal Theatre in North Hollywood, which received rave reviews, including a Critics Choice in the Los Angeles Times. The same production was also nominated for 10 Ovation Awards in 2009, receiving the most nominations of any single theatrical show produced in Los Angeles during that year. Currently discussions are underway for another National Tour of the Revival of the show. In 2010, Corky Hale served as one of the financial backers of Academy AwardÒ nominated documentary film, "The Most Dangerous Man In America - Daniel Ellsberg and The Pentagon Papers." Hale also appeared at Catalina Bar & Grill and the Hillcrest Country Club in Los Angeles in 2010.

2011 appearances include: The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in the 16th Annual Mary Lou Williams Women in Jazz Festival in Washington, D.C.; Knickerbocker Bar & Grill in New York; Midtown Jazz at Midday at St. Peter's Church in New York; Catalina Bar & Grill in Los Angeles, CA, and the Barbara Morrison Performing Arts Center in Los Angeles, CA, among others.

In addition to her musical accomplishments, Hale jokingly considers herself the ultimate cook-housewife. She has been happily married for 40 years to songwriter Mike Stoller of the team Leiber & Stoller, whose show Smokey Joe's Café broke the record as the longest running musical revue in Broadway history. Hale serves on the national advisory board of the National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL), the national advisory board of Planned Parenthood and the California board of the Women's Reproductive Rights Assistance Project (WRRAP). She and her husband are strong advocates of the Southern Poverty Law Center and serve on the board of the National Coalition to Ban Gun Violence. To learn more about Corky Hale, please visit www.corkyhale.com.

 

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