Photos: Julie Benko & Jason Yeager Celebrate HAND IN HAND At Birdland

Birdland presentED singer/actress Julie Benko (Broadway's Fanny Brice) and jazz pianist Jason Yeager in a celebration of their new recording, "Hand in Hand" (Club44 Records) on Monday, August 29.

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For one night only, Funny Girl's Julie Benko joined forces with jazz pianist (and husband) Jason Yeager for an unforgettable evening performing selections from their new duo album, "Hand in Hand." The concert featured the pair's unique and intimate arrangements of songs from Broadway musicals, the Great American Songbook, and Yeager's original compositions. Joined by Michael O'Brien on bass, Jay Sawyer on percussion, and Patrick Laslie on woodwinds, the talented twosome put their musical spin on legendary composers like Jule Styne, Richard Rodgers, Anaïs Mitchell, Janis Joplin, and many others.

Julie Benko is currently marching her band out on Broadway as Fanny Brice in Funny Girl. Other Broadway/National Touring credits include Fiddler on the Roof, Les Miserables, and Spring Awakening. A recipient of the Wilde Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her portrayal of Girl in Once, Benko also won the Gold Medal and Johnny Mercer Award at the American Traditions Vocal Competition in 2017. Her debut album Introducing Julie Benko was released to widespread acclaim, with critics praising it as "disarmingly intimate, creative, and swinging" (Jazz Weekly) and "introducing us to... someone special" (All About Jazz).
Pianist/composer Jason Yeager has performed across five continents at such noteworthy venues as Carnegie Hall, the Blue Note, Panama Jazz Festival, Qintai Concert Hall, and more. A two-time finalist at the Jacksonville Jazz Piano Competition, Yeager has released five albums as a bandleader, the most recent of which, New Songs of Resistance, was called "one of the best albums of 2019 in any style of music" (New York Music Daily). In addition to Hand in Hand, Yeager will soon release Unstuck in Time: The Kurt Vonnegut Suite (Sunnyside Records), with his eponymous septet and special guest Miguel Zenón. A committed educator, Yeager is Assistant Professor of Piano at Berklee College of Music.

Photo credit: Kevin Alvey