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Tony Award Winner Debbie Gravitte
with the Russ Kassoff Big Band
in
Big Band Broadway
Birdland
Monday, December 4th - 7:00pm
315 West 44th Street, NYC
Information: (212) 581-3080 - www.birdlandjazz.com
www.bigbandbroadway.com
NEW YORK Tony Award winner Debbie Gravitte will perform with the Russ Kassoff Big Band in Big Band Broadway at Birdland in New York City, located at 315 West 44th Street, on Monday, December 4th, at 7:00pm. The Russ Kassoff Big Band, led by renowned jazz pianist, composer and arranger Russ Kassoff, is comprised of top New York recording and Broadway musicians who all get a chance to play these new hard-swinging charts. Information and reservations (highly recommended): (212) 581-3080 (www.debbiegravitte.com and www.russkassoff.com). $25 cover, $10 minimum. Copies of Ms Gravitte's latest recording Defying Gravity together with Mr. Kassoff's newly released CD Somewhere will be available at Birdland. Somewhere is also available at www.cdbaby.com/kassoff.
Debbie Gravitte in Big Band Broadway featuring the Russ Kassoff Big Band combines the intricate and tantalizing sound of the Big Band with timeless classics from Broadway and the Great American Song Book. This magical evening captures the vast contributions by Broadway composers and lyricists from the Big Band Era through today's modern classics. Come celebrate this timeless music with world class musicians and a Tony Award winning vocalist you will long remember.
Debbie Gravitte won a Tony Award with her performance in Jerome Robbin’s Broadway. She made her Broadway debut in the original cast of They're Playing Our Song, and went on to appear in Perfectly Frank, Blues In The Night, Ain't Broadway Grand, Zorba (with Anthony Quinn), Les Miserables, and Chicago. Miss Gravitte is a recognized concert singer having sung from Carnegie Hall to Royal Albert Hall and with hundreds of orchestras around the world. She has also released three solo albums including her latest: Defying Gravity
The Russ Kassoff Big Band is led by Russ Kassoff, an accomplished jazz pianist, conductor, composer, orchestrator and arranger. Kassoff toured extensively with legends Frank Sinatra ('80-'91) and Liza Minnelli ('82-'01). Russ's repertoire for his band is eclectic. For Big Band Broadway, Kassoff has written many fresh new swinging charts of Broadway favorites including I Enjoy Being A Girl, Let Me Entertain You, and My Ship. Big Band Broadway also includes arrangements by Billy Byers, Sid Ramin, Marc Shaiman, & Ron Abel among others.
All members of the Russ Kassoff Big Band are among a small group of the best free lance musicians in the world. Together they form a vast bio of many worlds of performing experience. Russ - Sinatra, Minnelli, Rita Moreno, Rod Stewart, Carly Simon, Chris Connor, Bucky Pizzarelli, Debbie Gravitte, and countless others - is joined by the other band members who also bring their experience - with Count Basie, Woody Herman, Buddy Rich, Lionel Hampton, Gerry Mulligan, Sting, Natalie Cole - just about everyone in the traditions of American jazz and show business. (Not to mention the Broadway shows that are currently being played by these magnificent players.) In June 2004, the Russ Kassoff Big Band was the featured performer for the Milford, PA Music Festival. Big Band Broadway starring Debbie Gravitte was originally presented in November 2005 at the Ridgefield Playhouse. The Russ Kassoff Big Band was recently featured on the local 802 radio jingle promoting live music in New York.
www.russkassoff.com www.debbiegravitte.com www.bigbandbroadway.com