Eryn Shewell, above, leads the Whiskey Devils to the water at Riverside Gardens Thursday night. Charenee Wade, below, channels the late great “Lady Day” Billie Holiday Friday and Saturday at Two River Theater’s Summer Jazz Cafe.
With a spot-on tribute to an iconic diva of Jazz’s golden age, and a look at one of the Shore area’s most versatile vocal stylists, it’s all about the chanteuse this week in Red Bank.
Beginning Thursday night, a three-night interlude of cool jazz sounds wafts into Riverside Gardens Park and the Two River Theater, programmed by borough-based Jazz Arts Project and its co-founding father/artistic director Joe “Mooche” Muccioli.
That’s when music lovers will be treated to a full-length, open-air set by Eryn Shewell, a singer and guitarist who’s equally at ease in settings that range from full-band rock, acoustic solos, and songbook-era sophistication.
The artist brings her classic va-va-voom sense of style and her Whiskey Devils band to the sculpted terraces of the West Front Street park – and that panoramic perspective of the Navesink – for a show that begins at 7:30 pm. Take it here for complete schedule details on the 2015 Jazz in the Park series, presented by Red Bank Parks and Recreation.
Bringing it indoors for a two-night stand this Friday and Saturday, the Summer Jazz Café series continues at Two River’s branded Bridge Avenue arts space with an elegant evocation of the late great “Lady Day,” Billie Holiday. The Philly-born phenom whose centennial birthday is observed here in 2015 (and who toured with our own borough-birthed Count Basie) is channeled in her smoky-voiced glory by Charenée Wade, a New York-based singer-songwriter who marked a milestone with the recent release of her latest album, Offering: The Music of Gil Scott-Heron and Brian Jackson.
Expect to hear Wade and her combo perform such Holiday hits and signatures as “Night and Day,” “Summertime,” “God Bless the Child” and the chillingly timely “Strange Fruit” during either of the weekend’s 8 pm sessions – a BYOB setting equipped with candlelit tables and a sublime selection of desserts that’s a first-rate finish to any evening on the town.
Take it here for tickets ($25) or further information on upcoming events in the Summer JazzCafé series – and go here for details on the Jazz Arts Academy’s Summer Camp Week (July 27-31), during which players aged 13 to 19 can learn from and collaborate with Jazz Arts faculty members and visiting guest artists – as well as for info on a new slate of guitar, piano, and vocal workshops that are open to ages from 14 on up.
