Music Worcester celebrates Summer@MW the weekend of July 21 -22 with two concerts that highlight the incredible range of jazz. On Friday July 21st Grammy Award-winner and MacArthur “Genius” grant recipient Cécile McLorin Salvant plays an intimate concert at JMAC’s BrickBox, one of Worcester’s newest performance spaces, and the legendary John Pizzarelli takes the stage at Mechanics Hall on Saturday July 22. Tickets are available at musicworcester.org.
“Our third Summer@MW series brings truly wonderful artists to audiences here in Central MA,” explained Music Worcester’s Executive Director Adrien Finlay. “Cécile McLorin Salvant, who continues to explore the definition of jazz, will amaze listeners on Friday night July 21st, and the very next evening, John Pizzarelli will lead us through an evening of the Great American Songbook, of which he is one of its foremost interpreters. Combined with our June concert with Newgrass master Sam Bush, Music Worcester has been able to offer a rich tapestry of artists exploring American traditions.”
Cécile McLorin Salvant has developed a passion for storytelling and finding the connections between vaudeville, blues, theater, jazz, baroque and folkloric music.
She is an eclectic curator, unearthing rarely recorded, forgotten songs with strong narratives, interesting power dynamics, unexpected twists, and humor. The late Jessye Norman, one of the finest American opera singers of her day, described Salvant as “a unique voice supported by an intelligence and full-fledged musicality, which light up every note she sings.”
Salvant won the prestigious Thelonious Monk competition in 2010. She has received three consecutive Grammy Awards for Best Jazz Vocal Album for The Window, Dreams and Daggers, and For One To Love, and was nominated for the award in 2014 for her album WomanChild.
Guitarist, singer, and bandleader John Pizzarelli has established himself as more than just an expert performer of American standards, but someone with a repertoire that has expanded by including the music of Paul McCartney, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Tom Waits, Antônio Carlos Jobim, and the Beatles. In addition to being a bandleader and solo performer, Pizzarelli has been a special guest on recordings for major pop names such as Natalie Cole, Kristin Chenoweth, Tom Wopat, Rickie Lee Jones, and Dave Van Ronk.
