21 Year-Old 2008 Grammy-nominated SonyBMG Masterworks Jazz Pianist Eldar Opens the Show

WEDNESDAY, JULY 9, 2008, at 8 PM

Concert generously sponsored by Fidelity Investments
Media sponsor: 94.7 The Wave

The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis returns to the Hollywood Bowl to open the 2008 Jazz at the Bowl series on Wednesday, July 9, at 8 p.m. Special guest Natalie Cole performs with the revered ensemble.

A jazz musician, trumpeter, composer, bandleader and one of the most prominent jazz musicians of the modern era, Wynton Marsalis is the first jazz artist to be awarded with the Pulitzer Prize, is a nine-time Grammy Award-winner and was named one of “America’s 25 Most Influential People” by Time magazine. He has served as the world renowned Jazz at Lincoln Center’s artistic director as well as music director of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra since its inception. The remarkably versatile orchestra, comprised of 15 of today’s finest jazz soloists and ensemble players, has been the Jazz at Lincoln Center resident orchestra for more than 13 years.

Eight-time Grammy winner Natalie Cole, daughter of one of America’s most beloved entertainers, Nat King Cole, has built a phenomenally successful singing career spanning thirty years and selling millions of records. She is undoubtedly best known for Unforgettable: With Love, an album that went to No. 1 on the Billboard album charts and won the Grammy awards for Album of the Year and Best Traditional Pop Vocal Performance. On September 9th, 2008, Cole will release the eagerly anticipated CD Still Unforgettable. She brings her timeless voice to classic tracks like "Walking My Baby Back Home," a duet with her late father,  "The Best Is Yet To Come" and "Something's Gotta Give,"  which are all reminiscent of the sound on Unforgettable… with Love, a deeper look in to the American Songbook. Still Unforgettable is produced by Ms. Cole and includes arrangements from some of the most talented and sought after arrangers of our day.  

At just 21 years old, Eldar> is already one of the most formidable jazz musicians of his generation, and has quickly captivated an awestruck audience worldwide. With the 2007 release of re-imagination, his third CD for Sony BMG Masterworks, jazz pianist Eldar documents his transition from youthful prodigy to an expressive, creative artist. Nominated for a Grammy as Best Contemporary Jazz Album, re-imagination follows the 2006 CD Live at the Blue Note. “[Eldar’s] velocity is astonishing: totally clean two-handed unison lines at wind-spring tempos, single lines that twist and pivot through jagged harmonies, bass rumbles that erupt and explode into complex passagework in the mid or upper register,” wrote Downbeat in a 4-star review of Live at The Blue Note.

The Jazz at the Bowl series, under the guidance of Creative Chair for Jazz Christian McBride, offers an eight-concert series featuring major artists from the world of jazz. The 2008 season highlights include Big Bad Voodoo Daddy celebrating 100 years of Cab Calloway and The Manhattan Transfer’s Big Band Anniversary Show on July 16; An Evening with Chris Botti with the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra and Cassandra Wilson on July 23; Gerald Wilson and Hank Jones’ 90th birthday celebrations on July 30; Etta James & the Roots Band with Solomon Burke and Paolo Nutini on August 13; Jamie Cullum with the Count Basie Orchestra and A Christian McBride Situation on August 20; George Benson and Thunder featuring bassists Stanley Clarke, Marcus Miller and Victor Wooten on August 27; and Bossa Nova at 50 with orchestra, Oscar Castro-Neves and special guest Maria Rita on September 3.

WYNTON MARSALIS, Artistic Director of Jazz at Lincoln Center, was born in New Orleans, in 1961. He began his classical training on trumpet at age 12, and soon began playing in local bands of diverse genres. Marsalis entered the Juilliard School at age 17, and joined Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers. He has recorded more than 30 jazz and classical recordings, which have won him nine Grammy Awards. In 1983, Marsalis became the first and only artist to win both classical and jazz Grammy Awards in the same year and repeated this feat in 1984. Marsalis’ rich body of compositions includes Sweet Release, Jazz: Six Syncopated Movements, Jump Start, Citi Movement/Griot New York, At the Octoroon Balls and In This House, On This Morning and Big Train. In 1997, he became the first jazz artist to be awarded the prestigious Pulitzer Prize in music, for his oratorio Blood on the Fields, which was commissioned by Jazz at Lincoln Center. He has also recorded many albums, his most recent being Wynton Marsalis: Live at The House Of Tribes. Following Hurricane Katrina, Marsalis co-wrote a composition called Congo Square with Ghanaian drummer Yacub Addy and dedicated the piece to Marsalis’s native New Orleans. The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, in collaboration with Yacub Addy’s group Odadaa!, premiered Congo Square on April 23, 2006, in New Orleans then performed the piece on tour from Florida to New York. Marsalis is also an internationally respected teacher and spokesman for music education, and has received honorary doctorates from dozens of universities and colleges throughout the U.S. He conducts educational programs for students of all ages and hosts the popular Jazz for Young People® concerts produced by Jazz at Lincoln Center. He has also written four books, most recently Jazz ABZ, in collaboration with Phil Schapp, and illustrated by poster artist Paul Rogers. In 2001, Marsalis was appointed Messenger of Peace by Mr. Kofi Annan, Secretary-General of the United Nations, and he has also been designated cultural ambassador to the United States of America by the U.S. State Department through their CultureConnect program. Marsalis serves on Lieutenant Governor Landrieu’s National Advisory Board for Culture, Recreation and Tourism, a national advisory board created to rebuild Louisiana’s tourism and cultural economies. He has also been named to the Bring New Orleans Back Commission, New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin’s initiative to help rebuild New Orleans culturally, socially, economically, and uniquely for every citizen. He helped lead the effort to construct Jazz at Lincoln Center’s new home – Frederick P. Rose Hall – the first education, performance, and broadcast facility devoted to jazz, which opened in October 2004.

The JAZZ AT LINCOLN CENTER ORCHESTRA (JLCO) (formerly known as the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra), composed of many of the finest jazz soloists and ensemble players today, has been the Jazz at Lincoln Center resident orchestra since 1988. Jazz at Lincoln Center features the versatile JLCO in nearly all aspects of its programming: the JLCO performs and leads educational events in New York, across the U.S., and around the world; in concert halls, dance venues, jazz clubs, public parks, river boats, and churches; and with symphony orchestras, ballet troupes, students, and an ever-expanding roster of guest artists. Under the leadership of Music Director Wynton Marsalis, the JLCO performs a vast repertory spanning the history of jazz, from masterpieces by composers such as Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Fletcher Henderson, Thelonious Monk, and Charles Mingus, to commissioned works by Benny Carter, Joe Henderson, Jimmy Heath, Chico O'Farrill, current and former members of the JLCO and others. Over the last few years, the JLCO has collaborated with many of the world's leading symphony orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, the Russian National Orchestra, the Berlin Philharmonie, the Czech Philharmonic, the Boston, Chicago, and London Symphony Orchestras and others. In 2006, the JLCO collaborated with Ghanaian drum collective Odadaa!, led by Yacub Addy, to perform “Congo Square,” a composition Mr. Marsalis and Mr. Addy co-wrote and dedicated to Mr. Marsalis’ native New Orleans. The members of the JLCO frequently conduct educational events produced by Jazz at Lincoln Center, including lectures, master classes, and Jazz for Young PeopleSM concerts while on tour, and serve as mentors in the annual Essentially Ellington High School Jazz Band Competition & Festival. In 1999, the JLCO was designated a Cultural Ambassador of the United States of America under the White House Millennium Council Program. In March 2001, Mr. Marsalis was designated a United Nations Messenger of Peace by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. The JLCO has appeared on television and radio broadcasts around the world including "The Tonight Show," "Live From Lincoln Center" and a Thirteen/WNET "Great Performances" broadcast. The JLCO has recorded 11 albums, the most recent recordings are Congo Square, Don’t Be Afraid… The Music of Charles Mingus (2005) and A Love Supreme (2005). For more information on Jazz at Lincoln Center, please visit www.jalc.org.

NATALIE COLE’s career began in 1975 when she became the first black singer to win a Grammy in the Best New Artist category for her debut album Inseparable. She also won the Grammy for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance. She went on to win a Grammy for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance for “Sophisticated Lady (She’s A Different Lady)” in 1976. During the remainder of the eighties, Cole worked with a number of different labels and producers, and continued to record more hits like “Miss You Like Crazy” and a smash cover of Bruce Springstein’s “Pink Cadillac” that effectively reinvented a retro rocker into a major dance hit. Cole’s career again exploded with the release of Unforgettable: With Love, an album that went to #1 on the Billboard Album charts and won the Grammy Awards for Album of the Year and Best Traditional Pop Vocal Performance. Following this wildly popular and influential release, Cole’s career took a jazzier turn, and her recordings won further Grammy accolades during the 90s, including Best Jazz Vocal for “Take a Look” in 1993 and Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals for “When I Fall in Love” in 1996. Her 2006 album Leavin' is simultaneously a bold point of departure and a moving return to form for one of music's most accomplished vocalists. It is an inspiring piece of work that finds Cole proudly revealing her soulful roots after a decade during which she enjoyed unprecedented global success as an interpreter of the standards.

ELDAR’s path from Bishkek to the United States is the stuff of jazz legend. At nine he performed at a jazz festival Novosibirsk, in Siberia, and impressed the late Charles McWhorter, a New York based jazz patron. McWhorter obtained a scholarship for Eldar to attend summer camp at the prestigious Interlochen Center for the Arts in Michigan, where he spent each summer between 1998 and 2001. In 1998, he and his parents moved to the U.S., beginning their new life together in Kansas City. From then until now, Eldar has performed on the international festival, club, and concert circuits. 2007 was a banner year for Eldar that has honored him with a 2007 Grammy Nomination for Best Contemporary Jazz Album for his SonyBMG Masterworks Jazz recording of Re-imagination and has seen him perform on CNN, Conan O’Brien, the CBS Saturday Early Show, Jimmy Kimmel Live, and at both Carnegie Hall and The Hollywood Bowl.  He also toured Europe, Asia and South America. 

One of the largest natural amphitheaters in the world, with a seating capacity of nearly 18,000, the HOLLYWOOD BOWL has been the summer home of the Los Angeles Philharmonic since its official opening in 1922, and in 1991 gave its name to the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, a resident ensemble that has filled a special niche in the musical life of Southern California. The 2004 season introduced audiences to a revitalized Hollywood Bowl, featuring a newly-constructed shell and stage and the addition of four stadium screens enhancing stage views in the venue. To this day, $1 buys a seat at the top of the Bowl for many of the Los Angeles Philharmonic's concerts. While the Bowl is best known for its sizzling summer nights, during the day California's youngest patrons enjoy "SummerSounds: Music for Kids at the Hollywood Bowl," the Southland's most popular summer arts festival for children, now in its 40th season. Attendance figures over the past several decades have soared: in 1980 the Bowl first topped the half-million mark and close to one million admissions have been recorded. In February 2008, the Hollywood Bowl was named Best Major Outdoor Concert Venue for the fourth year in a row at the 19th Annual Pollstar Concert Industry Awards. The Bowl's summer music festival has become as much a part of a Southern California summer as beaches and barbecues, the Dodgers, and Disneyland.

EDITORS PLEASE NOTE:

WEDNESDAY, JULY 9, 2008, at 8 PM

HOLLYWOOD BOWL, 2301 N. Highland Ave. in Hollywood



Jazz Series



JAZZ AT LINCOLN CENTER ORCHESTRA WITH WYNTON MARSALIS

NATALIE COLE, special guest

ELDAR



Concert generously sponsored by Fidelity Investments

Media sponsor: 94.7 The Wave

Tickets ($1 - $95) are on sale now at HollywoodBowl.com, at the Hollywood Bowl Box Office (Tuesday–Saturday, 12 p.m.–6 p.m.), or by calling Ticketmaster at 213.480.3232, and at all Ticketmaster outlets. Groups of 10 or more may be eligible for a 20% discount, subject to availability; call 323.850.2050 for further details. For general information or to request a brochure, call 323.850.2000.

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