PRESS

Official New Release
June 25, 2009
Contact:
Carolyn McClair Public Relations
Carolyn@georgewein.com

JANE MONHEIT AND JAMES CARTER ORGAN TRIO

NEWPORT, RI – The days at George Wein’s Jazz Festival 55 don’t get any longer, but the schedule gets stronger with the addition of vocalist Jane Monheit on Saturday and the James Carter Organ Trio on Sunday.

At the age of 20, New York vocalist Jane Monheit was the first runner-up in the 1998 Thelonious Monk Institute vocal competition, winning a $10,000 scholarship to further her musical education. Although judges had a hard time defining her sound, two years later she was being touted as one of the foremost female vocalists on the jazz scene. She made her recording debut with Never Never Land and went on to record a number of CDs before signing to Concord Records and treating fans to Surrender followed by her latest, The Lovers, the Dreamers and Me. Now, at 32, she's still on top of the world with a new record, a new baby and concerts that have taken her from Brazil to Japan, Taiwan, back home to New York as well as other parts of the country. Joining Monheit in Newport will be Rick Montalbano on drums, Neal Miner on bass and Michael Kanan on piano.

James Carter spent his youthful days taking saxophone lessons, studying the classics of the masters’ broadcast on several Detroit public radio jazz shows, and listening to any records that came into his possession. He discovered two albums around the house – Duke Ellington's 70th Birthday Concert and The Quintessential Billie Holiday, Volume 8 – and he began thinking about jazz in a whole new light. Over the past two decades, Carter has garnered a myriad of plaudits for his role in helping to propel jazz into the future -- and he has yet to turn 40. Whether performing with one of his own stellar groups, including his organ trio, Carter's contemporary spin on jazz continues to be fueled by deep respect and intimate knowledge of the tradition. His albums include Present Tense, Out of Nowhere (organ trio) Gardenias for Lady Day and The Real Quietstorm, among others. The winner of several DownBeat critics and readers polls, Carter tours around the world with his own bands and often subs in the World Saxophone Quartet. The James Carter Organ Trio features Carter on saxophones and flute, Gerard Gibbs on keyboards and Leonard Clyde King, Jr. on drums.

George Wein’s Jazz Festival 55 features:

FRIDAY, AUGUST 7 ~ 8:00 pm
International Tennis Hall of Fame, 194 Bellevue Avenue

Etta James and The Roots Band; Howard Alden/Anat Cohen Quartet

SATURDAY, AUGUST 8 ~ 11:30 am – 7:00 pm
Fort Adams State Park, Harrison Avenue

Mos Def; Branford Marsalis Quartet; Joshua Redman Double Trio; Esperanza Spalding; Cedar Walton All-Stars with Lew Tabackin & Curtis Fuller; Hiromi’s SonicBloom; Vandermark 5; Jane Monheit; Christian McBride; Vijay Iyer Trio; Marsalis Music Presents Miguel Zenón Quartet, North Carolina Central Big Band, Branford Marsalis-Joey Calderazzo Duo, Claudia Acuña

SUNDAY, AUGUST 9 ~ 11:30 am – 7:00 pm
Fort Adams State Park, Harrison Avenue

Tony Bennett; Dave Brubeck Quartet; Roy Haynes Fountain of Youth Band; Michel Camilo; Joe Lovano UsFive; The Bad Plus with Wendy Lewis; James Carter Organ Trio; Conversations with Christian McBride; Steven Bernstein’s Millennial Territory Orchestra; Brian Blade & The Fellowship Band; Rudresh Mahanthappa’s Indo-Pak Coalition; Rashied Ali-Charles Gayle-William Parker’s “By Any Means”; Alfredo Rodriguez; The Rodriguez Brothers, Roy Guzman Quintet

TICKETS & OTHER INFORMATION

Tickets are on sale now for George Wein’s Jazz Festival 55 on-line at www.jazzfestival55.com, by phone at (800) 514-3849 and by mail. Tickets for Etta James and Howard Alden/Anat Cohen Quartet at the International Tennis Hall of Fame are $35.00 – 89.00. General Admission tickets at Fort Adams - Adult: $69.00 in advance, $75.00 on festival weekend, if available. Children 3-15: $15.00 each day at all times; under 3, free. Adult Two-Day Passes: A limited number of two-day passes good for admission Saturday and Sunday will be available for $125.00 while they last. Gold Circle: $100.00; Reserved: $85.00. Parking: On site festival parking: $12.00 per vehicle in advance; $15.00 on festival weekend. Service Charges: Per ticket service charges apply to all tickets purchased on-line or by phone and there is an additional per order charge for phone orders. There is a $4.00 handling charge per order for tickets ordered by mail.

In Rhode Island: General Admission tickets (single-day passes only) can be purchased in person at the Visitor’s Center at the Newport County Convention Center & Visitor’s Bureau at 23 America’s Cup Ave. No service charges apply. Visit www.gonewport.com for ticket office hours and general information. Festival Office: Tickets can be purchased at the Festival office, located at 770 Aquidneck Avenue in Middletown, RI. Office hours are Tuesdays and Thursdays from Noon - 4:00 PM. Cash and credit cards accepted. For general information, craft vendor information or to leave a message for festival staff, call the festival hotline at (401) 848-5055.

By Mail: To order tickets by mail, send a note specifying the number of tickets you wish to order for each event and include a phone number where you can be reached. Include your address and credit card information (with expiration date and CVC Code from back of card), check or money order plus $4.00 per order for postage and handling to: George Wein’s Jazz Festival 55, PO BOX 3865, Newport, RI 02840.

For more information, log on to www.jazzfestival55.com.

# # #