Sing & Swing: A Jazz at Lincoln Center Presents Production ft. Bria Skonberg and Benny Benack III

Sing

March 30, 2024

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Welcome letter from TO Live

Welcome to George Weston Recital Hall. Tonight, we celebrate the Great American Songbook with Jazz at Lincoln Center Presents: Sing & Swing featuring Canadian jazz trumpeter and vocalist Bria Skonberg and American jazz trumpeter, vocalist, and composer Benny Benack III.

The Great American Songbook features the most important and influential American popular songs and jazz standards from the early 20th century. These works have stood the test of time and are often referred to as American standards. Many of the songs published during this golden age include those popular and enduring tunes from the 1920s to the 1960s that were written for Broadway and Hollywood musicals. Some of the most beloved treasures of the Songbook will be brought to life by the two wonderful artists you will hear this evening.

Thank you for joining us at the beautiful George Weston Recital Hall, celebrated internationally for being one of the best acoustically in all of Canada. We hope you will join us here again.

Coming up in this space, TO Live presents the Armenian-Canadian pianist Eve Egoyan on May 9. Egoyan will explore the piano through an Armenian folkloric lens in a concert that grounds itself in a work by Komitas Vardapet (the godfather of Armenian music) and includes works by contemporary composers from Armenia and the Armenian diaspora: Vache Sharafyan (Armenia), Mary Kouyoumdjian (U.S.A.), Narine Khachatryan (Germany), Boghos Gelalian (Lebanon), Tigran Mansurian (Armenia), and Egoyan herself.

And that is only a taste of what is to come. Thank you for supporting live music and enjoy the concert.

Clyde Wagner President & CEO TO Live

Josephine Ridge Vice President of Programming TO Live

Jazz at Lincoln Center Presents

For over three decades, Jazz at Lincoln Center has been a leading advocate for jazz, culture, and arts education globally. Under the direction of Wynton Marsalis, Jazz at Lincoln Center has brought the art form of jazz from the heart of New York City to over 446 cities in more than 40 countries.

The Jazz at Lincoln Center Presents touring initiative provides an affordable opportunity to present great jazz programming, featuring up-and-coming musicians who have been identified as rising stars by JALC. The initiative also allows for expansion of the mission of JALC “to entertain, enrich, and expand a global community for jazz through performance, education, and advocacy.”

After the success of the JALC Presents Songs We Love tour, this new and highly anticipated touring project from Jazz at Lincoln Center Presents celebrates the Great American Songbook in all its playful—and sophisticated—glory, brought to life by two of this generation’s brightest stars.

Each armed with prodigious trumpet talent and vocal charm, Bria and Benny will relive and reimagine some of the classic partners in jazz and popular song, including Ella Fitzgerald, Judy Garland, Bing Crosby, Dean Martin, and Peggy Lee. Featuring songs by Gershwin, Ellington, Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, and many more and joined by a who’s who of New York all-stars, this is an “unforgettable” evening of singin’ and swingin’ with Bria and Benny.

Credits

Creative team

Trumpet, vocals, co-music director: Bria Skonberg

Trumpet, vocals, co-music director: Benny Benack III

Guitar: Jocelyn Gould

Piano: Jon Thomas

Drums: Charles Goold

Bass: Mark Lewandowski

Sing and Swing appears by arrangement with IMG Artists, LLC, 7 West 54th Street, NewYork, NY 10019. 212-994-3500

Benny Benack III

By age 33, Emmy-nominated trumpeter and singer Benny Benack III has proven to be that rarest of talents: not only a fiery trumpet player with a stirring command of the post-bop trumpet vernacular in the vein of Kenny Dorham and Freddie Hubbard, but also a singer with a sly, mature, naturally expressive delivery in the post-Sinatra mould, performing standards and his own astute songs with a thrilling sense of showmanship. This dual-threat ability was recognized by the 2022 DownBeat critics poll where he appeared as not only the number-two rising star male vocalist, but a top rising star trumpeter as well. His superb intonation and bracing virtuosity enable him to handle astounding feats of originally composed vocalese (complex solos with written lyrics). On top of it all, he’s a highly capable pianist as well. Benny has performed internationally as an emcee/host for the YouTube sensation Postmodern Jukebox and achieved his own viral success, amassing millions of views for his crooning alongside the Grammy-Award-winning 8-Bit Big Band. In early 2020 he released A Lot of Livin’ to Do, the follow-up to his well-received 2017 debut One of a Kind. This sophomore effort, richly varied in mood and brimming with bop inflection, features bassist extraordinaire and jazz ambassador Christian McBride (whose Grammy-Award-winning Big Band frequently calls upon Benny in the trumpet section) and drummer/ producer Ulysses Owens, Jr., as well as the radiant Takeshi Ohbayashi on piano and Rhodes. His vocalese duet on “Social Call” from this album alongside fellow young star vocalist Veronica Swift became an instant smash hit single, being transcribed and learned by jazz vocalists around the world.

Alongside his global touring as a straight-ahead/contemporary bandleader, Benny has appeared as a trumpet soloist in more commercial circles alongside Josh Groban, Ben Folds, fashion icon Isaac Mizrahi, Ann Hampton Callaway, and more. He’s been featured at Birdland, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Mezzrow, Bemelmans Bar at the Carlyle, and other leading New York venues, and has also been a special guest with the Pittsburgh Symphony Pops Orchestra, the Columbus Jazz Orchestra, and the Minsk Philharmonic Orchestra. He made his television debut in NBC’s short-lived, SNL-inspired variety show Maya & Marty, playing in the in-studio band led by acclaimed bassist and Broadway arranger Charlie Rosen. His global recognition has been bolstered by recent livestreaming concerts at Smalls Jazz Club, where he maintains a weekly residency, as well as frequent appearances on fellow young lion Emmet Cohen’s Emmet’s Place weekly show.

Third in a generational line of Pittsburgh jazz notables, Benny follows in the footsteps of his trumpeter/bandleader grandfather, Benny Benack, Sr. (1921-86), and his father Benny Benack Jr., a saxophonist/clarinetist who gave the young Benny his first professional experience. Benny Sr. hailed from a Pittsburgh lineage that also produced Roy Eldridge, Earl Hines, Art Blakey, Billy Strayhorn, and so many more. He recorded the Pittsburgh Pirates’ 1960 theme song “Beat ’Em Bucs” and toured with Tommy Dorsey and Raymond Scott, among others. Benny III returns to Pittsburgh often to perform, saluting his family forebears and the jazz heritage as a whole, nonetheless staking his bold and highly individual artistic claim. He is an endorsing artist with Torpedo Bags cases, CarolBrass flugelhorns, as well as various menswear fashion lines including X-Suit, Alain Dupetit, Proper Cloth, and Vittone.

Bria Skonberg

Born in British Columbia and now residing in New York City, Bria has been a featured artist at hundreds of festivals and stages the world over, including New Orleans Jazz & Heritage, Kobe, Monterey, Breda, and Newport and Montreal Jazz Festivals. Described as “one of the most versatile and imposing musicians of her generation” (Wall Street Journal ), she has performed with Jon Batiste, Wycliffe Gordon, Stephane Wrembel, Steven Bernstein, U2, Sun Ra Arkestra, The American Pops and Vancouver Symphony Orchestras, and The Blacksmiths We Insist Band. She once sang the “Star Spangled Banner” at Madison Square Garden for a New York Rangers game.

The “shining hope of hot jazz” (The New York Times) has been at the forefront of a revival of classic American music as both a performer and educator, programming concerts and workshops for students of all ages. A three-time Juno Award nominee, Bria’s debut LP on Sony Masterworks won for best jazz vocal album and made the top five on Billboard jazz charts.

Bria has recorded on over 25 albums and recently released her sixth studio solo album Nothing Never Happens, consisting of mostly original compositions. Her music has garnered over 13 million streams online and over 85,000 social media followers. A six-time DownBeat rising star, further accolades include the Jazz at Lincoln Center swing award, best vocal and best trumpet from Hot House Jazz Magazine, and outstanding jazz artist at the Bistro Awards. She tours constantly, bringing her own signature sounds of fiery trumpet playing, smoky vocals, and storytelling together with adventurous concoctions of classic and new.

Following graduation, she performed for four years with Canada’s king of swing Dal Richards and was taken under the wing of music producer Paul Airey, who cultivated her love of songwriting. She travelled extensively, performing in China, Japan, and throughout Europe as a featured artist in traditional jazz circles. Seeking new challenges, Bria moved to New York in 2010 and studied privately with renowned trumpeter Warren Vache for two years. She now appears often as a guest faculty member and clinician, giving masterclasses and private instruction as well as directing and performing with student ensembles at all levels.

Bria is a co-founder/director of the NY Hot Jazz Camp and has served as faculty at the Teagarden Jazz Camp (Sacramento Jazz Education Foundation), Centrum Jazz Camp, Geri Allen Jazz Camp, and Junior Jazz Academy (JALC). She has performed hundreds of educational concerts and workshops for students of all ages, has led an ensemble for Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Jazz for Young People outreach program, and is an educational advisor to the Louis Armstrong House Museum in Queens. She has been an artist in residence collaborating with Syracuse University, Ball State University, UNC Greensborough, Jazz Arts Group in Columbus, Cape May Regional Schools, and more.

In 2018, Lincoln Center sought out her leadership for a tribute to the first integrated all-female big band, the International Sweethearts of Rhythm, which launched her acclaimed group Sisterhood of Swing. In 2019 she was a featured member of Monterey Jazz Festival on tour for 26 dates alongside Cecile McLorin Salvant, Christian Sands, Melissa Aldana, and Jamison Ross. She is an active member of the Women in Jazz Organization and Jazz Education Network, a Bach Conn-Selmer artist, a board member of the International Trumpet Guild, and a new mother.

Backstage with… Benny Benack III

Ahead of tonight’s show, we chatted with Benny about his favourite jazz clubs in the city, his excessive screen time, and the importance of avoiding “energy vampires.”

What led you to become an artist?

I’m a third-generation jazz musician—every Benny Benack has played either trumpet or saxophone professionally: Benny Benack Sr., my dad Jr., and now me, III! My mother Claudia Benack is also a renowned vocal professor in the drama department at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (my hometown), so I always say I get the horn chops from my pops, and the vocal stylings from my mom! I grew up around my dad’s jazz LPs and CDs, and then the Great American Songbook was all around as my mom would teach music-theatre voice lessons at the house. Music has been everything in my life since my very first heartbeat, truly.

What’s the importance of the performing arts in your life?

Performing for people is really my life force—I draw so much energy from being able to bring people together and communicate through my music. During the pandemic, I stuck it out in N.Y.C., and the very first days we were permitted to be outside, I was playing on sidewalks at coffee shops and cocktail bars, for tips, busking like I was a kid again…just because I missed performing for people so dearly! I was going crazy without it. Friends who look at my performance schedule see the hectic travel schedule, or often cramming in two or three shows in a night and say, “why do you work so hard!?” I always respond that it’s truly what keeps me going and keeps me sane—I love to perform!

What’s your favourite thing to do in Toronto?

I’ve had the chance to tour through Toronto and play some of the local clubs over the years, and I love hanging out at the Jam Sessions at the Rex, as well as having a nice cocktail and dinner at the Jazz Bistro. The local Toronto jazz scene is really strong with some great players, and any town I go to when I’m on tour, I love to meet the local cats, hit a jam session, find some good late-night food, and really try to get a taste for the local scene, even if only for one night!

Backstage with… Bria Skonberg

Read on to learn why Bria became an artist, what her pre-show ritual is, and the importance of daily habits.

Where do you find inspiration?

Listening to music, life experience.

What led you to become an artist?

I became an artist because I love performing, connecting with people, and having a variety of experiences. I remain an artist because of the challenge and open-endedness of the art form; there are infinite variables and possibilities and discoveries to be made.

What’s the importance of the performing arts in your life?

Arts give me a way to express emotions and bond with other people, even when I don’t have the words to articulate what I’m feeling.

What are you making space for in your life?

Small but consistent daily habits for overall wellness—stretching, hydration, etc. There’s a book called Atomic Habits that I refer to often to keep on track, and it has many benefits especially while on tour.

What can’t you live without?

Air (for singing and trumpet, you know…)

What’s your pre-show ritual?

I like to get to the venue really early to warm up and I’ll walk around the theatre to see the stage from every seat to know who I’m playing to. I’ll often listen to music or standup comedy while getting fancy to stay in a good headspace.

What’s the last show you saw?

Cyrille Aimee. I’ve known her for about 10 years and she’s so fun to experience because she’s constantly evolving as an artist.

What’s your favourite thing to do in Toronto?

See friends, walk along the waterfront, and think about how lucky I am to be Canadian.

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