The Broad Stage to Present MUSIC MORNINGS

The Reverend Shawn Amos delivering his message of joyful blues, bassist Jennifer Leitham, and saxophonist Mindi Abair are featured in a living room recital on The Broad Stage presents The Broad Stage Music Mornings, a new, recurring program featuring live performances from intimate rooms.

Amos, curator of blackbox, a series of emerging jazz and blues artists in an intimate-settings, and a frequent presence at The Broad Stage, is known as a performer from West Coast clubs, to Deep South joints, to European festivals, to YouTube, to the podcast universe, reaching an ever-increasing flock.

The Rev's distinctive blend of black roots music, R & B, and stripped-down rock n' roll, brings a bracing, soul-deep musical experience to audiences starved for authenticity, and for connection. Since 2018's acclaimed, politically charged The Reverend Shawn Amos Breaks it Down, The Rev has been on the road alighting in Texas, where the South begins, the West ends, and something else is taking shape - a world away, geographically and culturally, from his native LA. Here, he gathered together the Brotherhood, creating a sense of home in his rootlessness.

Blue Sky, the debut album from The Reverend Shawn Amos & The Brotherhood is available April 17. All friends from a life of music, this is a deep roots collaboration between the blues singer-songwriter and harmonica player and some old friends: drummer Brady Blade (Indigo Girls, Buddy & Julie Miller), bassist Christopher Thomas (Norah Jones, Macy Gray), and longtime Rev guitarist Chris "Doctor" Roberts.

Blade, Thomas, and Roberts provide not only musical, but also spiritual and emotional support for embracing new territory, artistically and otherwise. "All I'm doing is singing and playing harp," the Rev says. "I couldn't imagine making this music with people who are not friends.'

Shawn grew up as the son of entrepreneur and William Morris agent Wally "Famous" Amos. He said "I grew up on the A & M lot." Prior to his creation of the Reverend persona in 2013, folks knew Shawn Amos as producer (Solomon Burke's Live in Nashville, and Shout! Factory box set Q: The Musical Biography of Quincy Jones), content creator for companies looking for ways to tell their stories on the internet, and Americana singer-songwriter who'd grown up in a dramatically dysfunctional L.A. home, a story the Rev serialized as Cookies & Milk in the Huffington Post. Back in his producer days, the Rev oversaw the reissue of Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass' catalog, and a remix of the classic Whipped Cream & Other Delights album.

At The Broad Stage and Vibrato, The Reverend Shawn Amos regularly performs, and programs everything from jazz, to Great American Songbook evenings.

Jennifer Leitham, considered by many to be one of the finest bassists in the world, has been a career Jazz musician for over 48 years. Known for playing with many music world masters, including Mel Tormé, Peggy Lee, George Shearing, Doc Severinsen, Woody Herman, Benny Carter, Louis Bellson, Bill Watrous, Take 6 and k.d. lang, along with countless other greats in many genres.

She is a bassist, vocalist, composer, arranger, lyricist, and producer. Her bass lines have graced numerous movies and TV shows. Jennifer leads her trio and plays in clubs and concerts around the world.

Jennifer has played on over 140 albums, including 11 albums of her own. Remnants Of Humanity is her latest, with her wry protest tunes on center stage. Her Future Christmas was one of the top selling Indie CDs of 2014. Her 2015 release, MOOD(S)WINGS, was voted one of the top three Jazz CDs of 2015 by the readers of JazzEd magazine. The feature film documentary about her, I Stand Corrected has won 12 best film awards and has screened at festivals and for outreach around the world since 2012.

She was awarded the 2014 Community Leader Angel Award by the Center for Transyouth Health and Development at Children's Hospital of Los Angeles and was lauded as one of the top 20 pioneers in Vanity Fair's "Trans America" 2015 Edition. In 2016, L.A. Weekly named her as one of the "50 Most Interesting Angelinos." In 2018 she spoke at Jazz At Lincoln Center's Jazz Congress and was featured twice on the NowThis news site.

Mindi Abair, one of the most recognized and sought-after saxophonists, two-time GRAMMY nominee, has been electrifying audiences with her dynamic live performances and sax prowess since her debut album in 1999. No one since Junior Walker has brought saxophone and vocals in one package to the forefront of modern music. In 2014, Mindi received her first GRAMMY nomination in the Best Pop Instrumental Album category, followed by a 2015 GRAMMY nomination for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album for her solo LP Wild Heart featuring the late Gregg Allman, Joe Perry, Trombone Shorty, Booker T. Jones, Keb' Mo', and Max Weinberg.

She is known - as the featured saxophonist on "American Idol," sitting in with Paul Shaffer on "The Late Show with David Letterman" and The Roots on "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon," or as the first solo saxophonist touring with Aerosmith since 1973. She has garnered twelve #1 radio hits in the jazz and blues world, two #1 spots on the Billboard Contemporary Jazz Album Chart and two #3 spots on the Billboard Blues Album Chart. In 2018, Mindi Abair and The Boneshakers won 8 Independent Blues Awards including Artist of the Year and Best Blues Song fan award for the Independent Music Awards for "Pretty Good For A Girl" featuring Joe Bonamassa. In 2019, Mindi was nominated by the Blues Music Awards as the Best Instrumentalist: Horn and won the LA Critics Award for Best Holiday Album for All I Got For Christmas Is The Blues.

Mindi has toured and/or recorded with: Aerosmith, Joe Bonamassa,Smokey Robinson, Joe Perry, Trombone Shorty, Booker T. Jones, Gregg Allman, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Fantastic Negrito, Waddy Wachtel, Bobby Rush, Keb' Mo', Teena Marie, Lee Ritenour, Adam Sandler, Duran Duran, Bill Champlin, Richard Elliott, Jimmy Webb, Max Weinberg, Dave Koz, Peter White, Gerald Albright, Mandy Moore, Lalah Hathaway and the Backstreet Boys.

The Broad Stage Music Mornings is part of The Broad Stage at Home, a destination offering new, livestreamed content from artistic partners and archival concert footage.

The Broad Stage also presents Red Hen Press Poetry Hour; the Saturday, April 11 program at 8:00 p.m. features Richard Blanco, selected by President Barack Obama as the fifth presidential inaugural poet, as well as Francisco Aragón, former City Poet Laureate of West Hollywood Kim Dower, Blas Falconer, and Vandana Khanna reading selections live, with featured pre-recorded videos by Tess Taylor and Gaylord Brewer.

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