Duke Jazz Talks

Appearing in May as part of The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts’ Duke Jazz Talks is Dee Dee Bridgewater, in discussion about her life and work with Bob Santelli, Executive Director of the GRAMMY Museum. Following the dialogue, there will be a brief performance.

Vocalist Dee Dee Bridgewater made her New York debut in 1970 with the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra, and then went on to capture everyone’s heart (and a Tony for Best Featured Actress) as Glinda the Good Witch in The Wiz. She has worked with such jazz greats as Sonny Rollins, Dizzy Gillespie, Dexter Gordon, Max Roach, and Roland Kirk, while solidifying her theater reputation by taking on such roles as jazz legend Billie Holiday in Stephen Stahl’s Lady Day and becoming the first black actress to play Sally Bowles in Cabaret. You can hear her now on NPR's JazzSet where she continues to spread her love of jazz to listeners while highlighting live jazz music around the world.  read more »

Please join us for our next Duke Jazz Talk featuring father/son artists Bucky and John Pizzarelli on Wednesday, February 11 at 8:00 p.m. Duke Jazz Talks put the spotlight on four GRAMMY® -nominated and -award winning jazz artists. Bucky and John will discuss their lives and work with Bob Santelli, Executive Director of The GRAMMY MuseumSM; following the dialogue will be a brief performance.

Duke Jazz Talks are part of the two-year Library for the Performing Arts’ project funded by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation to present, document, and preserve jazz, contemporary dance, and theater performances and related oral histories.

These oral histories are offering the chance to be connected to times we can never know - times we can only miss. I encourage you all to be a part of celebrating a generation of musicians whose schooling was backing Billie for a week as she passed through town - whose best education was piling into Coltrane's station wagon and traveling across the country and back. Be a part of appreciating your primary resources. Further, be a part of the movement to document, preserve, and provide access to these rich histories.

Photo Credit: Jens Palm

The Pizzarellis:

Bucky Pizzarelli has been playing professional jazz music for over sixty years. His extraordinary skill as a rhythm guitar player places him in the company of other jazz greats like Freddie Greene and Barry Galbraith. He has pioneered the great chord solo tradition begun by George Van Eps and Dick McDonough. For many years, Eps and Pizzarelli were considered the only guitarists to play the seven-string guitar exclusively.

John Pizzarelli has followed in the footsteps of his father, and has been playing the guitar since he was six years old. He began playing alongside his father at age 20, and has since gone on to have his own prolific career as a jazz guitarist, vocalist and bandleader. Internationally known for classic standards, late-night ballads, and the cool jazz flavor he brings to his performances and recordings, John Pizzarelli also hosts the nationally syndicated radio program “Radio Deluxe with John Pizzarelli.”

There is an admission charge of $10 or $5 for students for Duke Jazz Talks programs. For ticket reservations, please call 212.870.1793, or to charge by phone, call 212-245-5440. We also accept TDF vouchers for this event.

This event will be held in the Bruno Walter Auditorium at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center, 111 Amsterdam Avenue @ 65th Street. For more information, please call 212.870.1793 or visit nypl.org/lpaprograms

Hope to see you there!