Kimmel Center Presents 2006/07 Season Opening Weekend
August 15, 2006
Nancy Wilson
The Kimmel Center Presents 2006/07 season begins with the legendary song-stylist Nancy Wilson performing renditions of her classic ballads, jazz standards, R&B favorites, bluesy show tunes and selections from her newly released album Turned to Blue, Friday, September 15, 2006 at 8pm in Verizon Hall. Philadelphia's best kept jazz secret, Trudy Pitts, opens the show, performing on the Fred J. Cooper Memorial. A legend in her own right, Ms. Pitts debuts as the first jazz artist to utilize the color and sound of the organs’ 7,000 pipes, taking the medium to a whole new level.
Nancy Wilson and Trudy Pitts are the opening artists in the Mellon Jazz Fridays concert series. The next concert in this series features McCoy Tyner's "History of Impulse" with his band, which includes Nicholas Payton, Steve Turre, Donald Harrison, Eric Kamau Gravatt and Charnett Moffet, and The Toots Thielemans Quartet featuring Airto Moreira, Kenny Werner and Oscar Castro-Neves at 8pm on Friday, November 17.
Other opening weekend performances are Lyle Lovett and his Large Band in Concert Saturday, September 16 at 8pm in Verizon Hall.
Tickets for Nancy Wilson and Trudy Pitts are priced at $74, $64, $59, $46 and $26, 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 215-893-5883.
A limited number of $10 tickets are available for every Kimmel Center Presents performance at the Kimmel Center. Tickets go on sale the day of the event and can be purchased at the Kimmel Center box office beginning 2.5 hours prior to curtain time and 11:30am for matinees. Limit one ticket per person.
Nancy Wilson blurs the line between jazz singer and pop singer and is among contemporary music's most stylish, sultry vocalists. Over the years, Ms. Wilson has earned two Grammy® Awards as well as an Emmy award for the 1967-68 season of the Nancy Wilson Show. She has also served as the host of the National Public Radio Program "Jazz Profiles." Ms. Wilson has recorded over 60 albums over the past 50 years, including her most recent Grammy®-award winning CD, R.S.V.P., which features a selection of personal songs and includes performances by various guest artists.
Trudy Pitts, a Philadelphia native and music professor at the University of the Arts, has recorded several albums exhibiting her unique skills as a jazz organist and pianist. Ms. Pitts studied the classics at various institutions, including the Philadelphia's Musical Academy, Temple University, and Juilliard. She has served as teacher and mentor to countless Philly jazz artists including Joey DeFrancesco, Orrin Evans and has played with a veritable Who’s Who of jazz throughout her storied career.
Kimmel Center Presents also offers more than fifty free community performances during the 2006/07 5th Anniversary season. These include Free in the Plaza with local artists performing classical, jazz, pop, country, world, dance and family fun on the Commonwealth Plaza stage, as well as artist chats with Kimmel Center Presents performers, education events and organ postludes in Verizon Hall. Kicking off the first event in the Free in the Plaza series is Egyptian percussionist Karim Nagi's Turbo Tabla on Thursday, September 14 at 9:30pm in the Commonwealth Plaza, immediately following the Philadelphia Live Arts Festival & Philly Fringe performance of Emio Greco | PC's HELL. Please check online for additional information and a performance schedule.
Kimmel Center Presents' 2006/2007 season is supported by: Mellon Financial Corporation, University of Pennsylvania Health System, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, ARC Properties, the National Endowment for the Arts, and The William Penn Foundation. American Airlines is the Official Airline of Kimmel Center Presents. Toyota is the Official Vehicle of Kimmel Center Presents Jazz and World Pop programming. NBC-10 is a Media Partner for Kimmel Center Presents. The Philadelphia Inquirer, the Philadelphia Daily News, and Philly.com are media sponsors for the Great Orchestras on Tour series.
KIMMEL CENTER PRESENTS
September 15 | 8pm
Verizon Hall
Nancy Wilson
Llew Matthews, piano
John B. Williams, bass
Roy McCurdy, drums
Trudy Pitts, organ
Additional players, TBA
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