Jazz Violinist Regina Carter and her Band Take a Sentimental Journey
November 8, 2006
In a performance called I'll Be Seeing You, jazz violinist Regina Carter, her band and vocalist Carla Cook perform American songbook classics and swing from the period between the world wars. The concert, at 8 p.m. Friday, Dec. 1 in Penn State's Eisenhower Auditorium, features deeply personal music from Carter's June 2006 CD.
"Dedicated to her mother, who passed away in 2005, I'll Be Seeing You: A Sentimental Journey finds jazz violinist Regina Carter showcasing the American popular songs her mother loved," writes a critic for the All Music Guide. "This is a gorgeously arranged and swinging affair that not only includes such straight-ahead numbers as 'There's a Small Hotel‚' and 'A-Tisket, A-Tasket'‚ but also finds Carter delving headlong into‚ '30s swing and some of the classical influences of her last album. Ultimately, Carter has crafted a deeply intimate, soulful and lovingly burnished tribute to her mother."
Tickets for the Center for the Performing Arts presentation are $34 for an adult, $18 for a University Park student and $27 for a person 18 and younger. For tickets and information, visit www.cpa.psu.edu or phone (814) 863-0255. Outside the local calling area, dial 1-800-ARTS-TIX. Tickets are also available at Eisenhower Auditorium and Bryce Jordan Center, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays; Penn State Tickets Downtown, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday; and HUB-Robeson Center, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. weekdays when Penn State classes are in session.
Carter's choice of music includes songs by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart ("You Took Advantage of Me," "This Can't Be Love" and "There's a Small Hotel"), Duke Ellington's ballad "Blue Rose," W. C. Handy's "St. Louis Blues," J. E. Winner's "Little Brown Jug" and Les Brown's "Sentimental Journey." She also composed a waltz called "How Ruth Felt."
In addition to Carter and contralto Cook, musicians scheduled to perform on Dec. 1 include Xavier Davis (piano), Alvester Garnett (drums), Matthew Parrish (bass), Anthony Nelson (clarinet) and Will Holshouser (accordion).
Carter studied at Boston's New England Conservatory of Music and Michigan‚s Oakland University before performing in the all-female quartet Straight Ahead and the critically acclaimed String Trio of New York. I'll Be Seeing You: A Sentimental Journey is her sixth release as a headliner.
Carter asked Cook to sing on the recording and join the tour because the two have been friends since their childhood in Detroit. "Carla is the one who turned me on to jazz," Carter recalls. Cook is known for her bluesy voice and earthy interpretations.
Hoag's Catering/Celebration Hall sponsors the concert. Artistic Viewpoints, an informal moderated discussion featuring Carter, is offered in Eisenhower Auditorium one hour before the performance and is free for ticket holders. Artistic Viewpoints regularly fills to capacity. Seating is available on a first-arrival basis.
Contact: Laura Sullivan, 814-863-6379