Luna Stage Announces New Jazz Series: Music In The Moonlight 11/20

Luna Stage begins its new Jazz series, Music In The Moonlight: An Intimate Evening of Jazz on Sunday November 20th at 7pm with a concert by acclaimed vocalist Sarah Partridge. Ms. Partridge will be accompanied by pianist Allen Farnham. This inaugural performance entitled Jazz and The American Songbook is the first of three concerts that Luna Stage will be presenting this season as part of the new series. The subsequent performances will be held in February and April, with exact dates and artists to be announced. The one-night only performance on November 20th of Jazz and The American Songbook featuring Sarah Partridge will be presented at Luna Stage, 555 Valley Road in West Orange, NJ. Tickets are on sale now - $15 in advance, $18 at the door - and can be purchased in person, on the phone at 973-395-5551, or on the Luna Stage website: www.lunastage.org.

Throughout the last half-century, many renowned Jazz artists have embraced American popular standards, and in some cases, the Jazz versions of these songs have become more popular than the original versions. To name just a few, April in Paris will always be linked with Count Basie, Jerome Kern's All the Things You Are is a favorite of Jazz musicians and was a classic recording of the late alto saxophonist Charlie Parker, and Richard Rodgers' My Favorite Things was written for The Sound of Music, but was also the title track of a classic John Coltrane album.

In a 90-minute concert entitled Jazz and The American Songbook, vocalist Sarah Partridge and pianist Allen Farnham will explore this connection that not only crosses genres of music, but various performance media as well.

For the past 20 years, Luna Stage has gained a reputation as a premiere producer of outstanding, critically acclaimed new and classical work for the stage. In the fall of 2010, after 18 years in Montclair, Luna Stage moved to its current home in West Orange, and became a proud member of The Valley Arts District. Luna Stage believes that all of the arts have the power to bring vitality and cohesion to a community. The company is committed to establishing partnerships and collaborations with artists of multiple disciplines to illuminate the diverse perspectives of society. This commitment led to the connections that make this Jazz series possible.

There is an inherent theatricality in the performance of Jazz, and a large number of outstanding Jazz musicians reside and work in and around The Valley Arts District. So, when Jazz scholar, Sanford Josephson approached Luna Stage about doing a series of Jazz concerts at the Theatre, it seemed a natural fit. Mr. Josephson, the curator of the Music In The Moonlight series at Luna Stage, will make an effort to program artists and/or performances that are thematically linked to the theatrical productions on Luna's Mainstage Theatre. The Theatre is currently producing a new play about the father of invention, Thomas Edison, so somehow Jazz and The American Songbook felt quite fitting. Ms. Partridge is a resident of South Orange, and future concerts will also feature musicians from the communities in and near The Valley Arts District.

Singing along to a karaoke machine on a dare is not the way most aspiring singers begin their career; however, this is how jazz singer Sarah Partridge got her start. While enjoying a successful and busy career as an actress, Ms. Partridge went to the Improv in Los Angeles with friends, to enjoy a night out. A karaoke contest began and her chums urged her to participate, just for fun. Ms. Partridge, a jazz enthusiast, reluctantly agreed and eventually found an "elevators only" version of Summertime. Her beautiful, rich voice captivated an L.A. booker, who assumed that she was a professional jazz singer. Before she could say "help" she found herself billed as the featured vocalist in a live jazz salute. This was not an easy accomplishment considering that she knew only ten songs all the way through. Yet, she was a smashing success and hasn't taken a backward step from that evening on.

Ms. Partridge has been spotted entertaining audiences at many notable venues such as New York's Knickerbocker Bar & Grill, The Jazz Standard and the Algonquin Hotel's Oak Room. In New Jersey, she regularly appears at such well-known Jazz clubs as Shanghai Jazz in Madison and Trumpets in Montclair. Her debut CD, I'll Be Easy To Find continues to get considerable airplay, nationwide. It received excellent reviews, including in the industry's barometer, Billboard Magazine. Her second CD Blame It On My Youth was released in 2004. In July 2006 she was named a ‘GMA Breakout Artist' by Good Morning America and Tony Perkins of GMA said, "Sarah Partridge owns a great voice. Her enthusiasm brings new life to some old classics. They don't write them like this anymore, and very few can sing them like Sarah does."

Allen Farnham has been active in the New York City Jazz scene as a pianist, composer/arranger, producer and teacher since the early 1980′s. He has performed and/or recorded with Joe Lovano, Chris Potter, Eddie Henderson, Frank Wess, Tom Harrell, Arthur Blythe, Special EFX, the John Fedchock NY Big Band, and Charlie Byrd. He has also accompanied a wide range of vocalists, including Mel Torme, Ernestine Anderson, Mark Murphy, Liza Minnelli, Susannah McCorkle, Roseanna Vitro, and Helen Merrill.

A graduate of the Oberlin Music Conservatory, Mr. Farnham has been the recipient of grants from the National Endowment For The Arts and the Meet The Composer Foundation. He also holds a Master of Music Degree in Jazz Composition and Arranging from William Paterson University and has been commissioned to write works for the CUG Orchestra (Nagoya, Japan), NPO Glovill (Tokyo), the RIAS Big Band, and the Englewinds Chamber Ensemble. He is presently an adjunct faculty member of the jazz department at New Jersey City University, Jersey City, New Jersey.

Series Curator Sanford Josephson is the author of Jazz Notes: Interviews Across the Generations (Praeger/ABC-Clio). He has written extensively about jazz musicians in a variety of publications ranging from the New York Daily News to American Way Magazine. He currently writes the "Big Band in the Sky" column for Jersey Jazz Magazine. Josephson is also director of marketing and public relations for the Matheny Medical and Educational Center, a special hospital and educational facility in Peapack, NJ, for children and adults with medically complex developmental disabilities. He is a member of the New Jersey Jazz Society, the Jazz Journalists Association and the Duke Ellington Society and is on the Board of Directors of the Healthcare Planning & Marketing Society of New Jersey and the New Jersey Advertising Club.

He holds a Bachelor of Journalism degree from the University of Missouri in Columbia, MO, and lives in West Orange, NJ, with his wife, Linda, and dog, Onyx.

For information on Jazz And The American Songbook, and all other events and programs at Luna Stage, visit the company website: www.lunastage.org. Luna Stage is located at 555 Valley Road, West Orange, NJ 07052. 973-395-5551. The theatre is handicapped accessible and assisted listening devices are available.

 

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