Ladies of the Blues

MAY 26TH, Ladies of the Blues: Bessie Smith, Nina Simone & others come to Woodstock Playhouse in premiere partnership with Catskill Jazz Factory

Contact:

Catskill Jazz Factory, info@catskilljazzfactory.org

Woodstock Playhouse, woodstockplayhousecgm@gmail.com

(Woodstock, NY) - The Woodstock Playhouse and Catskill Jazz Factory present a premiere partnership this May with Ladies of the Blues, a tribute in two parts led by “a trumpeter of abundant poise” (NYT) Dominick Farinacci and featuring rising star jazz and soul vocalist Shenel Johns. Ladies of the Blues takes place at the Woodstock Playhouse on Saturday, May 26, 2018 at 7:30pm with tickets starting at $40. Tickets are available at www.woodstockplayhouse.org or by calling the Woodstock Playhouse box office at 845-679-6900.

Trumpeter and early Catskill Jazz Factory participating artist Dominick Farinacci is slated to lead a quintet of today’s top jazz artists, presenting a premiere retrospective spanning from the early blues of Bessie Smith and Billie Holiday up to the iconic works of Dinah Washington, Nina Simone, and other legendary ladies of the blues. Vocals by the stunning young Shenel Johns will aid in weaving a storyline of female blues artists across the generations of jazz history.

Farinacci was named the first global ambassador for Jazz at Lincoln Center and has led dozens of different projects with the goal of, through his music and outreach activities, to unite communities and overcome cultural and political barriers of every sort. Farinacci’s most recent display of his artistic vision was the Catskill Jazz Factory-backed sold-out NYC premiere of Modern Warrior Live, an all-new theatrical and musical meditation on a combat veteran’s story of war and life.

Vocalist Shenel Johns has shared the stage with music royalty including Curtis Fuller, Hank Jones, Dionne Warwick, and Sheila Jordan, and has performed and recorded with an impressive array of leaders in the field including Kurt Rosenwinkel, Ulysses Owens, Jr., Ronnie Burrage, and Eddie Palmieri. Most recently, Johns was the winner of the Riga Jazz Stage Competition this past April in Riga, Latvia, and was featured in the Hartford Jazz Festival in July with the Harford Symphony Orchestra as part of an Ella Fitzgerald Tribute. Johns has also premiered works at New York’s Museum of Modern Arts and is a member of the George Gee Swing Orchestra.

CJF is a “regional arts think-tank” and “formidable jazz incubator” (HV One) that support today’s best young jazz artists by offering year-round school workshops, concerts, mountaintop residencies, and sold-out performances across the Hudson Valley, NYC and beyond, developed in partnerships with educational facilities, venues and a variety of non-profits and businesses. Venues range from mountaintop coffee & donut shops and local high schools to recent sold-out concert series collaborations with Bard College Fisher Center and the New York Botanical Gardens. CJF is a program of the 23Arts Initiative, a 501c3 non-profit organization.

As a landmark playhouse site in the pages of American Theatre and Music History and the site of the 1968 Last Great Sound-Out by Jocko Moffit - the precursor concert (featuring Richie Havens) to Woodstock 1969, the Woodstock Playhouse today is a 501c3 non-profit performance and presenting venue under the directorship of the Pan American Dance Foundation, Inc.. Under PADF, the Playhouse has been transformed into a home of a nationally recognized premiere theatre company and home for many local and national producing organizations. PADF’s mission through their educational center, the New York Conservatory for the Arts of Hurley, NY, and the Woodstock Playhouse has cultivated respect and appreciation for the Arts in our region through excellence and education and performance both locally and throughout the US and Europe. The Woodstock Playhouse was the first theatre to be accepted into the Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area and therefore recognized as a National treasure due to PADF leadership.

For more information on Ladies of the Blues and upcoming events at the Woodstock Playhouse, visit www.woodstockplayhouse.org. For more information on the Catskill Jazz Factory and its year-round events and outreach, visit www.catskilljazzfactory.org.

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Video Link: https://vimeo.com/268603737

Photos Attached:

Shenel Johns

Woodstock Playhouse

103 Mill Hill Road at Playhouse Lane

Woodstock, NY 12498

845-679-6900

www.WoodstockPlayhouse.org

A National Treasure Recognized by the Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area

The Gathering Place for Great Performances and Events at the Gateway to Woodstock, New York

Est. 1938 by 5th Generation Woodstock Founding Family Member, Mr. Robert Elwyn