Celebrate Black History Month at The American Theatre!
Join us as we celebrate Black History with spectacular performances that will wow audiences from all over!
The Blind Boys of Alabama
Saturday, February 17 at 8pm
Hailed as "gospel titans" by Rolling Stone, the Blind Boys first rose to fame in the segregated south with their thrilling vocal harmonies and roof-raising live show. They released their debut single, "I Can See Everybody’s Mother But Mine," on the iconic Veejay label in 1948, launching a 70-year recording career that would see them rack up five GRAMMY Awards (plus one for Lifetime Achievement), enter the Gospel Music Hall of Fame, collaborate with everyone from Mavis Staples and Stevie Wonder to Prince and Lou Reed, and perform on the world's most prestigious stages. It would be difficult to overstate the Blind Boys' influence on their contemporaries and the generations that came after. The New York Times said that they "came to epitomize what is known as jubilee singing, a livelier breed of gospel music," adding that "they made it zestier still by adding jazz and blues idioms and turning up the volume, creating a sound…like the rock 'n' roll that grew out of it." TIME Magazine raved that "they're always hunting for - and finding - the perfect note or harmony that lifts an old tune into the sublime," while The Washington Post praised their "soul-stirring harmonies" and "range of cross-genre collaborations," and The New Yorker simply called them "legendary."
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Cécile McLorin Salvant
Saturday, February 24 at 8pm
Cécile McLorin Salvant grew up in a bilingual household in Miami, the child of a French mother and Haitian father. She started piano studies at age five, and at eight began singing with the Miami Choral Society. After graduating high school, McLorin Salvant decided to pursue her education in Aix-en-Provence in the south of France. In this unlikely setting, she embarked on a new career as a jazz performer, while pursuing a degree in French law and her training as a classical and baroque singer.
Shortly before the release of Cécile McLorin Salvant’s debut Mack Avenue album WomanChild, critic Ben Ratliff made a bold prediction in the pages of the New York Times. McLorin Salvant, he claimed, “is still mostly unknown to jazz audiences”—then added: “though not for much longer.”
McLorin Salvant has more than validated that forecast. The last 3 years have been a whirlwind of success and acclaim for the young vocalist, who first came to the attention of jazz fans with her triumph at the 2010 Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition. WomanChild went on to earn a bevy of honors, including a GRAMMY® Award-nomination and selection as Jazz Album of The Year by the DownBeat International Critics Poll.
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Ella at 100
Sunday, February 25 at 2pm & 7pm
The First Lady of Song” Ella Fitzgerald, a native of Newport News, is one of the most revered Jazz vocalists in the world, respected by musicians and audiences alike. She was the most popular female Jazz singer in the United States for more than half a century. In her lifetime, Ella won 13 Grammy awards and sold millions of records. Her voice was flexible, wide-ranging, accurate and ageless. She could sing sultry ballads, the sweetest Jazz and imitate every instrument in an orchestra. Her extraordinary vocal range of 2.5 octaves, sense of timing, and unparalleled talent for scat singing still influence singers today. Ella’s extraordinary voice shattered a wine glass in a television commercial for Memorex tapes and the broken wine glass is now being preserved by the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History. In 1934, Ella got the chance to perform at Amateur Night at New York’s famous Apollo Theatre. She had originally planned to dance, but an act before her convinced her she could not compete with their show. Faced with boos from the rowdy crowd, she decided to sing instead. Ella quickly quieted the crowd, who then screamed for an encore. Ella won that contest and, in today’s vernacular, became the first ‘American Idol’. She joined the renowned Chick Webb Orchestra and at the age of 21, recorded a playful nursery rhyme, A Tisket A-Tasket, which sold 1 million copies, hit number one, and stayed on the pop charts for 17 weeks.
Desirée Roots brings to life Ella’s most noted songs. Accompanied by some of Virginia’s most acclaimed Jazz musicians, this evening of celebration and joy comes to The American Theatre stage for just two performances. Joining Roots on stage will be Scott Wichmann as Frank Sinatra, Billy Dye as Louis Armstrong, and Anthony Cosby as Nat “King” Cole. Born April 25, 1917, Ella Fitzgerald was one of the greatest Jazz singers of all time. “The First Lady of Song” delighted audiences around the world for over 60 years, sold over 40 million albums, and received numerous awards and honors, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Join us as we commemorate Ella at 100!