The Nashville Jazz Workshop and the Frist Center for the Visual Arts announced the eighth season of the popular jazz performance and education series, Jazz on the Move. Each installment features a lecture and performance highlighting a major figure or period in jazz history. Presented by Nashville’s top jazz artist/educators, the series offers audiences world class music as well as an opportunity to learn more about jazz.
The session on April 27th will focus on Carmen McRae. Carmen McRae is regarded by many jazz critics as one of--and some say the--most influential singers in jazz history. McCrae was born in Harlem and began studying piano when she was eight years old. When she was 17, she met Billie Holiday who became the singer’s inspiration. In her teens, McRae played piano at Minton’s Playhouse, one of Harlem’s most famous jazz clubs, and met Dizzy Gillespie. In the 40s, she worked with Count Basie and recorded with Mercer Ellington’s band. In her career which spanned more than five decades, McRae performed with a who’s who roster of jazz musicians, among them, Dave Brubeck and George Shearing. She was a popular performer at jazz festivals around the world and performed regularly in New York at the Blue note well into the 1980s.
McRae died in 1994 at the age of 74.
Sandra Dudley is Assistant Professor of Commercial Voice at Belmont University. Dudley has recorded five nationally recognized jazz albums and has been featured performer with the Nelson Riddle Orchestra, the Tennessee Jazz Orchestra, the Jazz Orchestra of the Delta and the Nashville and Memphis Symphonies.
This year's series is presented with support from Caterpillar Financial Services, Peter and Anne Neff, and the Frist Foundation.
The programs take place on a series of Sunday afternoons, and are free and open to the public. All performances are at 3:00 pm in the auditorium at the Frist Center for the Visual Arts, 919 Broadway, Nashville, Tenn.
Those attending Jazz on the Move at the Frist will be able to visit the Frist's exhibits free of charge, and will also receive discounted parking.
The Frist Center for the Visual Arts is an accredited nonprofit art-exhibition center, with approximately 24,000 square feet of gallery space, dedicated to presenting the finest visual art from local, state and regional artists, as well as major U.S. and international exhibitions. It is located at 919 Broadway, Nashville, Tennessee, 37203. www.fristcenter.org.
Free Admission