Lesli Margherita, Count Basie Orchestra & More Set for Birdland, Week of 7/18

Birdland Jazz Club has announced its schedule for July 18-24, including the Legendary Count Basie Orchestra, Lesli Margherita, Arturo O'Farrill Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra, and more!

July 18, 25 (Monday) at 7:00PM
Lesli Margherita in "BROAD"

The Broadway at Birdland concert series is thrilled to announce that Lesli Margherita will reprise her sold-out show, BROAD, at the historic music room on Mondays, July 18 and 25 at 7pm. Following a sold out run in December, Olivier Award Winner Lesli Margherita (Matilda, Dames at Sea) returns to Birdland for an encore performance of her solo show BROAD - an evening celebrating the controversial women of yesteryear. Women who knew how to serve it up and dish it out. Women who took no prisoners and gave no apologies.

All tickets $30-40, $10 food/drink minimum

July 18 (Monday) at 9:30PM
Jim Caruso's Cast Party

Jim Caruso's Cast Party is a wildly popular weekly soiree that brings a sprinkling of Broadway glitz and urbane wit to the legendary Birdland in New York City every Monday night. It's a cool cabaret night-out enlivened by a hilariously impromptu variety show. Showbiz superstars, backed by Steve Doyle on bass, Billy Stritch on piano and Daniel Glass on drums, hit the stage alongside up-and-comers, serving up jaw-dropping music and general razzle-dazzle.

All tickets $25, $10 food/drink minimum

July 19-23 (Tuesday-Saturday) at 8:30PM & 11PM
The Legendary Count Basie Orchestra Directed by Scotty Barnhart + Special Guest Vocalists

2015 marked the 80th Anniversary of The Count Basie Orchestra. William J. "Count" Basie (1904-1984) started his orchestra in Kansas City in 1935 and proceeded to develop one of the greatest jazz groups in history. Under Basie's leadership -- with a strong commitment to making sure every tune was danceable -- the orchestra featured many of the greatest instrumentalists and vocalists in jazz including Billie Holiday, Lester Young, Harry "Sweets" Edison, Joe Jones, Joe Williams, Snooky Young, Frank Foster, Thad Jones, Frank Wess, Clark Terry, and many more. They played for Kings and Queens, appeared in movies and television shows, and won 18 Grammy Awards, the most for any orchestra. Today, under the leadership of director, Scotty Barnhart, The Count Basie Orchestra is traveling the world, swinging and shouting the blues with precision, in Count Basie's unmistakable style of Kansas City swing.

All tickets $50, $10 food/drink minimum

July 20 (Wednesday) at 5:30PM
David Ostwald's Louis Armstrong Eternity Band

Inspired by the noble jazz pioneers Louis Armstrong, Bix Beiderbecke, Duke Ellington, Jelly Roll Morton and their colleagues, David Ostwald's Louis Armstrong Eternity Band breathes life and passion into America's own great art form. Now in its 14th year of residency at Birdland, the weekly post-workday engagement is the city's best musical bargain! Tuba player David Ostwald leads a rotating lineup that features talents such as clarinetist Anat Cohen, trombonist/vocalist Wycliffe Gordon, pianist Ehud Asherie, drummer Marion Felder and more!

All tickets $30, $10 food/drink minimum

July 21 (Thursday) at 6:00PM
Michelle Walker

One of the most important new jazz singers of her generation to emerge, Michelle Walker is shaping her own path with a unique style and a creative flare for arranging straight-ahead jazz standards and contemporary tunes. In her sophomore release "Love Misery" on JGP Records, Walker chronicles and deftly weaves together the tale of an end of a love affair; from the first hello to the final goodbye. Walker explains that "....I didn't want to sing just a collection of love songs. I wanted to challenge myself to try and lead the listener through the full life cycle of a love story. The first half of tunes on the CD are almost childlike idealism about Love and the latter half of the tunes are about the Misery one might feel as they try to untangle themselves from a bad affair. I think it may be a familiar story to some."
All tickets $25, $10 food/drink minimum

July 22 (Friday) at 5:15PM
The Birdland Big Band
With Guest Conductor Rob Middleton

Founded by drummer and musical director Tommy Igoe, the Birdland Big Band features the finest musicians in New York! Celebrating 10 years at the club, the BBB roars into action every Friday, playing the finest Jazz, Latin and Brazilian music from the world's best arrangers. After work or before a show, drinks or a great dinner, come hear one of the world's best drummers driving the hardest swinging band in New York. Experience why the BBB is the must-see weekly jazz event in New York and kick off your weekend with what critics are calling "the best live music bargain in all of NYC!"

All tickets $30, $10 food/drink minimum

July 23 (Saturday) at 6:00PM
Barbara Carroll

Barbara is an elegant jazz pianist, composer and vocalist, long recognized as one of the premier players of swinging jazz piano and expressive vocals.

All tickets $30, $10 food/drink minimum

July 24 (Sunday) at 6:00PM
The Cast of The Phantom of the Opera Sings Sondheim

The Broadway at Birdland concert series is proud to announce that the cast of Broadway's The Phantom of the Opera will collaborate and sing the music of Stephen Sondheim on Sunday, July 24 at 6pm. The one-night-only event will be a benefit concert for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. Laughing Dog Media and James Barbour will present and host "The Cast of Broadway's The Phantom of the Opera Sings Sondheim," a benefit concert for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. This concert, the fourth in a series of benefits by the Phantom cast, will celebrate the canon of iconic American composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim. Sondheim has received an Academy Award, eight Tony Awards (more than any other composer, including a Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre); eight Grammy Awards; a Pulitzer Prize, the Laurence Olivier Award, and a 2015 Presidential Medal of Freedom. Hosting the event will be the current "Phantom," James Barbour, and his cast will be announced soon.
All tickets $35, $10 food/drink minimum

July 24 (Sunday) at 9PM & 11PM
Arturo O'Farrill Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra

Grammy Award winning pianist, composer and educator Arturo O'Farrill -- leader of the "first family of Afro-Cuban Jazz" (NY Times) -- was born in Mexico and grew up in New York City. Son of the late, great composer Chico O'Farrill, Arturo was Educated at Manhattan School of Music, Brooklyn College Conservatory and the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College. He played piano in Carla Bley's Big Band from 1979 through 1983 and earned a reputation as a soloist in groups led by Dizzy Gillespie, Steve Turre, Freddy Cole, Lester Bowie, Wynton Marsalis and Harry Belafonte.

All tickets $30, $10 food/drink minimum

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