Jazz Rhapsody a journey through jazz history at Renaissance Center Feb. 17
Release Date: 1/19/2007. Expired: 2/17/2007
Explore life, love and the power of music in an engaging journey through the heart and history of jazz music with Jazz Rhapsody: A Southern Songbird’s Tribute to the Legacy of Jazz presented at The Renaissance Center in Dickson on Saturday, Feb. 17.
Tickets for the 7 p.m. performance are $15 for adults, $12 for seniors and $10 for children under 13.
Featuring Connye Florance, Jazz Rhapsody brings to life the legacy of America’s original sound with a unique fusion of classic and original jazz, spoken word and intimately staged theatre. Jazz Rhapsody features works by Duke Ellington, Billy Strayhorn, Langston Hughes, Frank Loesser, Gwendolyn Bennett and others, with songs made popular by some of America’s foremost jazz icons, including Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughn.
Singing and songwriting legend Leon Russell (This Masquerade, A Song for You) calls Florance’s voice “velvet and wine.” Her smooth jazz vocals won her accolades as Jazz Discovery’s Vocalist of the Year in 2000 and her 1999 release Turn My Heart earned a Nammy nomination for Album of the Year.
Florance’s dynamic delivery and creamy rich style create an adept fusion of jazz, pop and R&B that is silky and soulful, offering a taste of both old and new.
As the youngest of five in a family of musicians, Florance didn’t have to look far for encouragement when her love of singing took off.
“There was just always music in the house,” she recalls of her childhood in North Carolina, “either my daddy playing the piano, stomping and grunting out the groove on some Ellington tune; my sisters and brother rehearsing their most recent favorite; or the whole family choired up and singing my mother’s favorite hymns whenever the crowd was gathered and the spirit struck… which was very often.”
Florance’s career has included most every facet of the industry: studio, stage, television and film. She has sung jingles for Van Camps Food and Major League Baseball. She has hosted a PBS Literacy Link educational series, has been the voice of the former WB network on a number of Warner Brothers jingles across the country and has even sung country as a background vocalist on the Elton John/Tammy Wynette duet What a Woman Needs.
Her film, theatre, and television credits include the feature film The Client based on the John Grisham novel, Proud Heart starring Lorrie Morgan and the role of Ramona in the 2000 independent film festival favorite Existo. She has toured nationally with Columbia Artists and vocalist Jennifer Holliday and has been featured in performances with saxophonist Mark Douthit, Modern Jazz Tuba Project and the Nashville Jazz Orchestra.
An award-winning trio of musicians joins Florance on stage to complete the 90-minute mosaic of music that is an empowering and impressive portrait of the heart of jazz, that includes classic melodies like Drop Me Off in Harlem, In a Sentimental Mood, Lover Come Back to Me, God Bless the Child, C Jam Blues, I Hear Music and many more.
For more information on the Feb. 17 performance of Jazz Rhapsody at The Renaissance Center, call (615) 740-5600 or visit www.rcenter.org. To purchase tickets, call (615) 740-5570.
The Renaissance Center is a fine arts education and performing arts center at 855 Highway 46 South in Dickson, just 35 miles west of Nashville on Interstate 40 at exit 172.
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