Kimmel Center’ s Jazz Up Close Series Concludes with Philly-based Denise King and Venissa Santi performing Back in Your Own Backyard Billie Holiday Tribute, May 1
APRIL 21, 2010
“Denise King sings pop and jazz standards with touches of the blues, soul and even gospel in a voice steeped in a sophisticated, swinging, sometimes soulful, satin style.”
—AllaboutJazz.com
“Venissa Santi is one of those supremely talented new vocalists who blazes comet-like, across the musical horizon - but once in a life time.”—AllaboutJazz.com
The Kimmel Center’s Jazz Up Close series concludes its 2009-10 season long tribute to Billie Holiday with Philly-based vocalists Denise King and Venissa Santi performing Back in Your Own Backyard program on Saturday, May 1, 2010 at 7:30pm in Perelman Theater. Back in Your Own Backyard program highlights Holiday favorites such as “That Ole Devil Called Love,” “You’re My Thrill,” and “My Man,” as well as additionally selected works.
A self-taught soulful chanteuse known for her velvety voice and ability to conjure Billie Holiday onstage, West Philly bred Denise King has performed throughout the local jazz circuit with four album releases to her name. Cuban-American Venissa Santi is a graduate of the University of the Arts, whose multilingual vocal talents resonate in her 2009 debut release, Bienvenida, with Cuban folklore songs, American standards, and jazz and pop influences.
Tickets for Back in Your Own Backyard, featuring Denise King and Venissa Santi are available from $32 to $38 and can be purchased by calling 215-893-1999, online at www.kimmelcenter.org, or at the Kimmel Center box office open daily from 10am to 6pm and later on performance evenings. (Additional fees may apply.) For group sales call 215-790-5883.
A limited number of $10 community rush tickets will be available for this performance. Tickets go on sale the day of the event and can be purchased at the Kimmel Center box office beginning at 5:30pm prior to evening curtain time. Limit one ticket per person.
Denise King was first discovered when a writer-guitarist from Philadelphia International Records overheard her singing while she was sweeping her front porch in West Philadelphia. With no formal training, King’s talents naturally developed on her own accord, influenced by her uncle’s vast album collection of R&B and jazz works, as well as the musical talents of Sarah Vaughan, Marlena Shaw, Nina Simone and Nancy Wilson. Audiences remain mesmerized by her warm tone and impeccable phrasing reminiscent of Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Nat “King” Cole and Frank Sinatra. Onstage collaborations include Phil Wright, Cecil McBee, Christian McBride, Lonnie Plaxico, among others. She continues to interpret jazz with R&B, blues and gospel influences, as illustrated in the 2003 release, Fever; and also provides jazz interpretations of rock and soul hits, including the music of Aretha Franklin and Gladys Knight.
Born in Ithaca, N.Y., Venissa Santi is now based in Philadelphia, after graduating with a Vocal Performance degree from the University of the Arts. Santi has also studied Afro-Cuban song, dance, and percussion at her grandparents’ homeland of Cuba, where her grandfather was celebrated musician, Jacobo Ros Capablanca. In 2008, she was awarded the Pew Fellowship in Folk and Traditional Arts. Her 2009 debut release of Bienvenida displays her Cuban-American roots, blending blues and jazz with Afro-Cuban and Afro-Caribbean music. The album includes works of her grandfather, such as “Lucerito Di Mi Amor” (“Love Star”), celebrates the griot traditions of Columbia in the track “Columbia pa Miguel Angel,” as well as the bolero “Convergencias” and the blues-based deconstruction, “Como Fue.” Santi is currently a vocal instructor at La Asociación de Músicos Latino Americanos.
Kimmel Center Presents 2009/10 Season is sponsored by Citi. American Airlines is the Official Airline of Kimmel Center Presents.
Free at the Kimmel programming and subsidized tickets offered to the community and social service groups for $10 are made possible through the Wachovia Gateway to the Arts Community Access Program, supported by a generous grant from the Wachovia Foundation.
The Kimmel Center is a recipient of partnership funding through the nationally recognized PNC “Grow Up Great” initiative, a ten-year, $100 million investment preparing children for success in school and life. Funding gives support to the Kimmel Center’s early childhood program “Bop and Swing,” an arts program for children 1-5 years old, designed to promote an appreciation for American culture.
KIMMEL CENTER PRESENTS SPONSORED BY CITI
Saturday, May 1, 2010 | 7:30pm
Perelman Theater
Denise King, vocalist
Venissa Santi, vocalist
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