Sing & Swing – A Jazz at Lincoln Center Presents Production

REPERTOIRE (subject to change)

Let Me Off Uptown (Earl Bostic)

Cheek To Cheek (Irving Berlin)

Our Love is Here To Stay (George Gershwin)

And Then She Stopped (Dizzy Gillespie)

Change Partners (Irving Berlin)

I Wish I Hadn’t Forgotten (Bria Skonberg)

Mood Indigo (Duke Ellington)

Stompin’ At the Savoy (Duke Ellington)

Medley: I Can’t Get Started (Vernon Duke & Ira Gershwin) / Embraceable You (George Gershwin) The Nearness of You (Hoagy Carmichael)

Third Time’s the Charm (Benny Benack III)

Banana Split For My Baby (Louis Prima)

Comes Love (Sam Stept)

In a Mellow Tone (Duke Ellington)

For over three decades, Jazz at Lincoln Center has been a leading advocate for jazz, culture, and arts education globally. Under the direction of Wynton Marsalis, Jazz at Lincoln Center has brought the art form of jazz from the heart of New York City to over 446 cities in more than 40 countries. 

The JAZZ AT LINCOLN CENTER PRESENTS touring initiative provides an affordable opportunity to present great jazz programming, featuring up-and-coming musicians who have been identified as rising stars by JALC.  The initiative also allows for expansion of the mission of JALC “to entertain, enrich and expand a global community for jazz through performance, education, and advocacy.” 

After the success of JALC Presents Songs We Love tour, this new and highly anticipated touring project from Jazz at Lincoln Center Presents celebrates the Great American Songbook in all of its playful — and sophisticated glory — brought to life by two of this generation’s brightest stars.  

Each armed with prodigious trumpet talent and vocal charm, Bria and Benny will re-live and re-imagine some of the classic partners in jazz and popular song, including Ella Fitzgerald, Judy Garland and Bing Crosby and Dean Martin and Peggy Lee.  Featuring songs by Gershwin, Ellington, Cole Porter, Irving Berlin and many more and joined by a who’s who of New York all-stars, this is an “unforgettable” eveing of singin’ and swingin’ with Bria and Benny. 

Approximately 150,000 students participate in Jazz at Lincoln Center’s education programs each year.  Let Freedom Swing, from the renowned education department at JALC is being offered in conjunction with the tour.  See more here. 

Born in British Columbia, Canada and now residing in New York City, BRIA SKONBERG has been a featured artist at hundreds of festivals and stages the world over, including New Orleans Jazz & Heritage, Kobe, Monterey, Breda, Newport and Montreal Jazz Festivals. Described as “one of the most versatile and imposing musicians of her generation” (Wall Street Journal), she has performed with Jon Batiste, Wycliffe Gordon, Stephane Wrembel, Steven Bernstein, U2 & Sun Ra Arkestra, The American Pops and Vancouver Symphony Orchestras, The Blacksmiths “We Insist” Band, and once sang the “Star Spangled Banner” at Madison Square Garden for a NY Rangers game.  The “shining hope of hot jazz” (NY Times) has been at the forefront of a revival of classic American music as both a performer and educator, programming concerts and workshops for students of all ages.  A 3x Juno Award Nominee, Bria’s debut LP on Sony Masterworks won for Best Jazz Vocal Album and made the Top 5 on Billboard jazz charts.  Bria has recorded on over 25 albums and recently released her sixth studio solo album “Nothing Never Happens” consisting of mostly original compositions; Her music has garnered over 13 million streams online and over 85000 social media followers. A 6x Downbeat Rising Star, further accolades include the Jazz at Lincoln Center Swing Award, Best Vocal and Best Trumpet from Hot House Jazz Magazine and Outstanding Jazz Artist at the Bistro Awards.  She tours constantly bringing her own signature sounds of fiery trumpet playing, smoky vocals and story-telling together with adventurous concoctions of classic and new.  

By age 31, Emmy-nominated trumpeter and singer BENNY BENACK III has proven to be that rarest of talents: not only a fiery trumpet player with a stirring command of the postbop trumpet vernacular in the vein of Kenny Dorham and Freddie Hubbard, but also a singer with a sly, mature, naturally expressive delivery in the post-Sinatra mold, performing standards and his own astute songs with a thrilling sense of showmanship. This duel-threat ability was recognized by the 2022 Downbeat Critics Poll where he appeared as not only the #2 Rising Star Male Vocalist, but a top Rising Star Trumpeter as well. His superb intonation and bracing virtuosity enable him to handle astounding feats of originally composed vocalese (complex solos with written lyrics). On top of it all, he’s a highly capable pianist as well. 

Benny has performed internationally as an Emcee/Host for the Youtube sensation Postmodern Jukebox, and achieved his own viral success amassing millions of views for his crooning alongside the Grammy-award winning “8-Bit Big Band”. In early 2020 he released A Lot of Livin’ to Do, the follow-up to his well-received 2017 debut One of a Kind. This sophomore effort, richly varied in mood and brimming with bop inflection, features bassist extraordinaire and Jazz ambassador Christian McBride (whose Grammy-award winning Big Band frequently calls upon Benny in the trumpet section) and drummer/producer Ulysses Owens, Jr., as well as the radiant Takeshi Ohbayashi on piano and Rhodes. His vocalese duet on “Social Call” from this album alongside fellow young star vocalist Veronica Swift became an instant smash hit single, being transcribed and learned by Jazz vocalists around the world. 

2021 JUNO Award winner Jocelyn Gould has been called “a leader in the next generation of great mainstream jazz guitarists” by Howard Paul, CEO of Benedetto Guitars. Her joyful energy has captivated audiences around the world and her passion for music is as infectious as her unique ability to connect with audiences. Jocelyn has absorbed the influences of the jazz guitar greats and has woven them into an exciting personal sound, citing Wes Montgomery, Grant Green, Joe Pass and Kenny Burrell as primary influences on the guitar. Jocelyn has performed and recorded internationally as a leader and with GRAMMY-nominated vocalist Freddy Cole, JUNO-winning trumpeter and vocalist Bria Skonberg, Downbeat Rising Star trombonist Michael Dease, Etienne Charles, Jon Gordon, Rodney Whitaker, Randy Napoleon and Diego Rivera. Jocelyn’s debut album, Elegant Traveler, won the 2021 JUNO Award for Jazz Album of the Year: Solo. Golden Hour, Jocelyn’s sophomore album, showcases her virtuosic guitar playing and dynamic compositions, and introduces her voice. It has received international critical acclaim and radio play including extensive play on Sirius XM Satellite Radio. Golden Hour reached #1 on Canadian and #9 on North American college radio jazz charts. Jocelyn’s Golden Hour Tour took place in June 2022 with performances at 11 Canadian Jazz Festivals. Jocelyn toured extensively in 2022, including a 6-week American tour featuring the music of Bessie Smith, Billie Holiday and Nina Simone. She will begin 2023 with a two-month North American tour from Florida to Alaska as one of four guitarists featured in a concert of solo guitar. Jocelyn is a Professor and Head of Guitar Department at Humber College in Toronto. She is a Benedetto-endorsed artist.

Mathis Picard is a French-Malagasy pianist, composer, producer and bandleader who currently resides in New York City. Rooted in the tradition of live acoustic performance while incorporating the latest technology, Mathis creates his own musical style influenced by his multi-national background. Mathis, who began playing the piano at the age of 3, was immediately passionate about music’s healing quality and now focuses on sharing that passion globally. Mathis currently leads a solo project, a trio project and his orchestra, The Sound Orchestra. Mathis has had the honor of working with artists such as Ron Carter, Lillias White, Wynton Marsalis, Christian McBride, Lee Ritenour, Daniel J. Watts, DJ Kindness, Braxton Cook, Veronica Swift, Etienne Charles, and more.

Award-winning New York City based bassist and composer Mark Lewandowski originally hails from Nottingham, England. A graduate of the Guildhall School of Music in London and New York’s prestigious Juilliard School, he has earned the respect of his peers and elders alike as a creative, supportive and individual sideman and bandleader. Lewandowski has also performed frequently as a member of Pulitzer Prize winning trumpeter Wynton Marsalis’ quartet including performances in such esteemed venues and festivals as London’s Barbican Hall, Cheltenham Festival and The Institute of Peace, Washington D.C. Mark’s work as a bandleader include two releases, Waller (2017), an exploration of the music of one of the early innovators of the jazz genre, Thomas ‘Fats’ Waller, and Under One Sky (2021), comprised of exclusively original material. Lewandowski’s unique and personal compositional style is at the foreground of this album which was described by the UK’s renowned critic, John Fordham (The Guardian, Jazzwise Magazine) as ‘a sublime confection on compositional class and individual improv skill.”

Charles Goold is one of New York City’s hardest working jazz drummers of his generation.  Born to an American jazz saxophonist father and a Haitian immigrant mother, Goold has used these influences to shape his voice and message in the jazz community. After a short-lived pursuance in collegiate track and field at Temple University, studying communications, Goold transferred to the Berklee College of Music where, unfortunately, after one semester, he had to withdraw for financial reasons.  Deciding not give up on his dream of becoming a jazz musician, Goold moved back to New York City at the age of 19 and began playing in any musical situation possible. Finding success after years of hard work through teaching and performing, Goold auditioned and received a full scholarship, subsequently graduating from the Juilliard School along with being awarded the JCAF grant. Goold has performed with a wide variety of acts across varying styles from Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, John Hendricks and Johnny O’neal to rap icons Cam’ron, Talib Kweli, and Ghostface Killah.  Goold uses these experiences to propel the sound of his group Nubopcity, a blend of hard bop, hip hop, funk and Afro-Caribbean influences.