SONGBOOK SUNDAYS: IN AN ELLINGTON MOOD

Dizzy’s Club Jazz at Lincoln Center

SONGBOOK SUNDAYS: IN AN ELLINGTON MOOD features starry jazz vocalists LaTanya Hall and Nicolas King (who has collaborated with Liza Minnelli), not to mention young JALC vocal favorite Ashley Pezzotti and a multi-generational band of all-stars. Hosted and co-curated by leading American Songbook expert Deborah Grace Winer, the set includes Ellington classics like “Sophisticated Lady,” “Take the A Train,” “In a Sentimental Mood,” “I Ain’t Got Nothin’ but the Blues,” and “I Got It Bad (and That Ain’t Good).” With great songs and a few stories,

“La Tanya Hall’s facility with slip/sliding octaves, her vibrato tails and classy delivery offers a warm “Drop Me Off in Harlem” (Ellington/Nick Kenny) and a beautiful, longlined “Azure” (Ellington/Irving Mills). The cottony version of “Caravan” (Ellington/Juan Tizol/Irving Mills) has many of us dancing in our seats. A note spun up fluidly returns like a boomerang. Hall has wonderful control and sophisticated presence….” Read the full review here