Jazz at Lincoln Center to join Pipino Performing Arts Series
February 8, 2024
The next performance in the Donald P. Pipino Performing Arts Series will occur Friday, February 23, as the series welcomes Jazz at Lincoln Center for their concert titled “SING AND SWING: Our American Songbook.” The show will be held at 7:30 PM in the YSU Ford Theater, located in Bliss Hall.
A celebration of the “Great American Songbook,” the show will feature trumpeters, vocalists, and composers Bria Skonberg and Benny Benack III.
“We’re both fans of the classic songbook era and the artists that made it possible,” Skonberg said. “The fact that we’re still playing these songs 75 to 100 years after they were written is a testament to their quality. Naturally, we gravitated towards the great pairings of trumpet players and vocalists like Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald, [and] we’ve listened to that music as long as we have played the trumpet.”
Skonberg and Benack will lead a talented group of musicians that features guitarist Jocelyn Gould, pianist Mathis Picard, bassist Mark Lewandowski, and drummer Charles Goold. The repertoire will include songs such as Duke Ellington’s classic “In a Mellow Tone,” which is a duet featuring Skonberg on trumpet and vocals; “Comes Love,” a nod to the inimitable Armstrong and Fitzgerald; “Banana Split for My Baby,” a cheeky swinger by Louis Prima and Keely Smith; and “I’m Glad There is You,” a classic by Sarah Vaughan and Clifford Brown.
“There are a lot of familiar songs that people know and love,” Benack said. “We have put fresh arrangements on these songs. Bria and I also have some of our brand-new original material inspired by this era’s music. We wanted to have a modern take on the songwriting form, so we have some of that as well.”
Called “one of the most versatile and imposing musicians of her generation” by The Wall Street Journal, Skonberg has performed with everyone from Jon Batiste, Wycliffe Gordon, U2, and Sun Ra Arkestra to the nation’s top symphony orchestras. Her music has garnered tens of millions of streams worldwide. A Juno Award winner, her seventh studio album, “What It Means,” will be released in the fall.
Skonberg, the daughter of teachers, is also deeply committed to education. She is the co-founder and director of the New York Hot Jazz Camps and has served as faculty at the Teagarden, Centrum, and Geri Allen Jazz Camps. In addition, she has presented hundreds of concerts and clinics for students of all ages both independently and on behalf of Jazz at Lincoln Center, Jazz House Kids, and the Louis Armstrong House Museum.
Benack, part of a family of Pittsburgh jazz notables, follows in the footsteps of his grandfather, trumpeter and bandleader Benny Benack, Sr. and his father, Benny Benack, Jr., a saxophonist and clarinetist who gave Benny his first professional experience.
An Emmy Award-nominated trumpeter and vocalist, Benack was recognized in the 2022 DownBeat Magazine Critics Poll as a Rising Star Male Vocalist and a top Rising Star Trumpeter. He has performed internationally as an emcee and host for Postmodern Jukebox and has appeared as a trumpet soloist for Josh Groban, Diplo, and fashion icon Isaac Mizrahi, as well as cabaret legends such as Marilyn Maye, Melissa Errico, and Ann Hampton Callaway.
Benack has been a special guest with the Pittsburgh Symphony Pops Orchestra and the Columbus Jazz Orchestra. His television credits include appearances in the house band of “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” as well as NBC’s “Maya & Marty.” He achieved online notoriety for his vocal features with the Grammy Award-winning 8-Bit Big Band as well as his viral hit sensation music video of “Social Call” featuring Veronica Swift. Benack has also recorded four well-received albums: “One of a Kind,” “A Lot of Livin’ to Do,” “Season’s Swingin’ Greetings,” and, most recently, “Third Time’s the Charm.”
All tickets for the show will be sold as general admission. Adult tickets are $30, and special rate tickets are $25 for non-YSU students, YSU alumni, faculty, and staff, senior citizens, Penguin Club members, and groups of eight or more. YSU students with a valid ID and children under 12 are free. To purchase tickets, call 330-941-3105 or visit www.ysu.tix.com.