Emily Skinner, Matthew Scott & Ekep Nkwelle to be Featured in BABY, IT'S FRANK LOESSER at Dizzy's Club

Songbook Sundays, created and hosted by Deborah Grace Winer celebrating the American Songbook will continue at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Dizzy’s Club with Baby, It’s Frank Loesser on Sunday, January 21st at 5 PM and 7:30 PM  

Baby, It’s Frank Loesser kicks off the new year as Jazz at Lincoln Center American Songbook celebrates the legendary songs of Frank Loesser. This Songbook Sundays swings Loesser’s classics from Guys and Dolls and legendary standards like Let’s Get Lost, What are You Doing New Year’s Eve, Somebody Somewhere and more. 

Hosted and curated by leading American Songbook expert Deborah Grace Winer, the set features Tony Award nominee Emily Skinner, Broadway’s Matthew Scott, with JALC rising star Ekep Nkwelle.

Music director Joe Davidian leads a band of all-stars including Mark Lewandowski on bass (Wynton Marsalis, Mingus Big Band), Maria Marmarou on drums (Kurt Elling, Dizzy’s Club) and Daniel Cohen on saxophone (Juilliard).

With some breezy stories, it’s a swinging Dizzy’s toast to a brand new year.

Ms. Winer said: “There’s nothing better than knowing we can all jump into 2024 together, gathering with great music, cheer against the cold outside, and artists and audiences toasting each other.  Our Dizzy’s Songbook Sundays has become just that warm place.”

One of New York’s most popular music destinations, Songbook Sundays is beginning its third year, after premiering spring 2022 with Got Gershwin followed by salutes to Cole Porter, Duke Ellington, Irving Berlin, Rodgers and Hart, Lerner and Loewe, Fats Waller, Jerome Kern, Harold Arlen and Cy Coleman. It will continue with a celebration of Rodgers and Hammerstein (April 21).  All shows are at 5pm and 7:30pm, and feature top vocal talent from Broadway, cabaret and jazz, with a diverse mix of young artists and veteran stars.  Energy, fun, great music—welcoming new Songbook Sundays audiences from all over the world as well as a fresh new offering for JALC’s home audience. 

In the spirit of swing, the mission of Jazz at Lincoln Center is to entertain, enrich and expand the global community for jazz through performance, education and advocacy. Dizzy’s Club offers live jazz performances with panoramic views of the Manhattan skyline and Central Park. 

To reach Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Dizzy’s Club, enter at Columbus Circle at 60th Street and Broadway, take the Jazz elevators to the 5th floor for Dizzy’s Club as well as The Rose Theater and The Appel Room.

Tickets for Songbook Sundays are $45/55, with student tickets available at $25.  There is a $21 food/drink minimum.

**Both performances will be live-streamed on JALC’s JazzLive app; purchase on Dizzy's welbsite $9.99/month, cancel anytime.** To purchase, visit: Jazz.org/dizzys

BIOS:

Deborah Grace Winer 

(Curator, Host) is a leading expert on the classic American Songbook, and writer and creator of theatrical revues and concerts.  Along with previous projects with Jazz at Lincoln Center, collaborations include Feinstein’s/54 Below, Birdland, and a decade as Artistic Director of the 92Y’s Lyrics & Lyricists™ concert series, presiding over 50 original shows and steering the venerable series back to audience and critical acclaim.  She collaborates with top-tier artists from Broadway and the music world, and works with leading institutions.  Author and dramatist, among her four books is On the Sunny Side of the Street: The Life and Lyrics of Dorothy Fields (Macmillan), recently named by the Wall Street Journal one of the Five Best books on American Songwriters. Her articles have appeared in The New York Times, and her plays, off-Broadway and regionally.  She has been featured on PBS American Masters, and NPR’s “Fresh Air” and “Morning Edition.”

Emily Skinner 

(vocalist) is a Tony award nominee who has garnered critical acclaim in her many Broadway performances including Side Show, Billy Elliot, Jekyll and Hyde, The Dead, The Full Monty, Prince of Broadway, The Cher Show and Kander and Ebb's New York, New York.  She has guested with The Boston Pops among many other symphonies, plays concert and club engagements around the country, and appears on myriad recordings.

Matthew Scott 

(vocalist) Broadway credits include An American in Paris, Sondheim on Sondheim, A Catered Affair and Jersey Boys.  Off-Broadway: Beaches, Company, ACand Side By Side By Sondheim.  Beyond Broadway, Matthew has starred in First You Dream: The Music of Kander and Ebb (Kennedy Center) and in the national tour of An American in Paris.

Ekep Nkwelle 

(vocalist) is a JALC young artist whose appearances include  Dizzy’s Club, the Kennedy Center, DC Jazz Fest, Tri-C Jazz Fest, the National Jazz Museum in Harlem and International Jazz Day.  A Cameroonian-American and graduate of Howard University, her master’s degree in Jazz Voice from the Juilliard School.  

Joe Davidian 

(Music Director, Piano) jazz pianist and arranger, Davidian has opened for Jane Monheit, Dianne Reeves and Danilo Perez and backed a “who’s who” of jazz artists.  He’s appeared in numerous jazz festivals including Festival Miami and Discover Jazz Festival, venues such as Birdland, and tours nationally and internationally with his trio.  He has released three albums under his name.

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