Anne And Mark Burnell Celebrate CD Release In Concert At Epiphany Center

National jazz radio favorites and one of Chicago's most popular and acclaimed musical duos, Anne Burnell and Mark Burnell, in celebration of their new CD release This Could Be The Start of Something Big, will be performing in concert at the Epiphany Center for the Arts, 201 South Ashland, Chicago, Sunday, November 10, at 7:00pm. Tickets are available at EpiphanyChi.com and are $30-$35.

The evening's set list will feature songs from the album which are already garnering national jazz radio play including the singles Song Sung Blue ( a jazz waltz cover of the classic1972 Neil Diamond hit), The Lusty Month of May ( that Jazz Weekly called "fun and funky" with a New Orleans second-line arrangement), Lerner and Loewe's I Could Have Danced All Night and Clifford Brown and Jon Hendricks' Joy Spring. There will also be originals by Anne and Mark including Fiets Don't Fail Me Now (written by Mark about his experiences cycling in Amsterdam), their most recent single Two and Give Me One More Song.

They will be joined by the all-star musicians that recorded with them on the album: Bassist Joshua Ramos (who has opened for Stevie Wonder and Spyro Gyra, shared the bill with Jason Moran and Ramsey Lewis, and performed at Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center, and the Montreal and Toronto Jazz Festivals); Drummer Jim Widlowski (most recently on Broadway in The Who's Tommy and many of Chicago's touring musicals Rent, Wicked and The Lion King); Guitarist Fareed Haque (world renowned, he has toured and recorded with Sting and is the recipient of "Best World Guitarist", Guitar Player Magazine 2009, 2004 Acoustic Album of the Year, 2007 Independent Music Award, and Best New World Music Group in Chicago Reader Poll 2020); and Saxophonist Pat Mallinger (co-leader of Sabertooth, which was the mainstay band at the Green Mill Lounge for over 25 years. He is also the Lead Mentor and coordinator of the Ravinia Jazz Mentor Program founded by Ramsey Lewis, since its inception in 1994).

This Will Be The Start of Something Big is the duo's follow up to their 2022 critically acclaimed CD Two For The Road. The album became an instant jazz radio favorite across the nation, garnering airplay at over 100 jazz radio stations including WRUW/Cleveland, KPBX/Spokane, WWUH/Hartford, WWNO/New Orleans, WPPB/Long Island, WAER/Syracuse, WDCB/Chicago, and KCSB/Santa Barbara. They also performed live on Chicago's WGN Midday Show, appeared on WGN Radio on After Hours with Rick Kogan, and had a feature article in the Chicago Tribune. The album's second single, written by Anne, Peppermint Tea was named one of the "Top 40s Blues + Singles" of 2022 by UK's Blues Blues.

Singer-songwriter Anne Burnell has been praised as "a singer of glorious gifts" by the Chicago Tribune and a "fluid, silken voice navigates the various scales with remarkable agility and delightful phrasing" by Chicago Jazz Magazine. While her multi-talented, singer-arranger-pianist husband Mark Burnell was called "silky smooth and highly polished," by the Chicago Tribune. Mark has been recognized and lauded for his musical creativity and versatility with Chicago Jazz Magazine saying, "he uses his skill and instincts as a jazz improviser to adapt to any situation, even one that contains no jazz at all."

Named "Chicago's Top Ten" for two consecutive years by New York's Cabaret Hotline, Anne and Mark have delighted audiences in Bern, Zurich, Paris, Freiburg, Geneva, Jamaica, Panama, and Amsterdam. Their TWO FOR THE ROAD national tour took them to New York's Don' Tell Mama's, St. Louis' Blue Strawberry, Wisconsin's Plymouth Jazz and Blues Crawl, the Sarasota Jazz Festival, The Reserve Retreat and Jazz at Two in Sarasota. But it's in Chicago where they have made their huge musical imprint, performing at some of the Windy City's top spots including Davenport's, Skokie Theatre, Park West, Drury Lane Water Tower Theatre, Tortoise Supper Club, WDCB Jazz at the Logan, Le Piano and Signature Room. They have also performed the National Anthem for the Chicago Cubs, White Sox, Chicago Fire, Arlington Park, and Special Olympics. Their recordings, "Little Things We Do Together", "Blues In The Night", and "Summer Days & Dreamy Nights", have been featured on Chicago radio stations WGN, WBEZ, WDCB and nationally on NPR stations.

THIS WILL BE THE START OF SOMETHING BIG is a perfect showcase of Anne and Mark Burnell's many talents. With what Jazz Weekly praises as their "clever interpretations," Anne and Mark Burnell breathe new life into standards with their fresh and exciting delivery that concertgoers will hear firsthand at Epiphany Center for the Arts on November 10th. The album was recorded at Soundmine Studios. Dennis Tousana served as recording engineer, with mixing and ATMOS Mastering by Erik Martin and stereo mastering by Bob Katz of Digital Domain.

Visit BurnellMusic.com for further information. Their recordings are available for purchase at Amazon.com, and online at iTunes and at all streaming outlets including Spotify, Pandora, Tidal, Deezer and YouTube. And for Apple Music users, there is an ATMOS version of their new album.

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