park ave whirl - 59E59 Theaters

THE PARK AVENUE WHIRL – a note from DARYL SHERMAN
From bootleg hootch and flappers to the coalescence of architecture, design and music known as Art Deco, on
through the Great Depression and the New Deal – our dreams and imagination were fueled and nourished by an
unforgettable outpouring of music in film, theater, nightclubs and recordings. And it inspired people to dance their cares
away on both sides of the Atlantic. Here we are at the close of 2005. Like a classic navy blazer, a martini or a
champagne cocktail, this music never goes out of style. The dreams and glamorous world it evokes are as potent and
heady as ever.
Just ten blocks away from my longtime Park Avenue perch at the Waldorf Astoria, I am thrilled to team up with
Vince Giordano, the Nighthawks Orchestra, Marion Cowings and his son Alexander to whirl you back into a world
of gaiety and fun. We share a passion for these crème de la crème songwriters and performers who fused elements
of jazz with buoyancy, grace, wit and sophistication.
By no means is this a formal survey. Instead, in this affectionate celebration, we have gathered together some
special favorites and are presenting them in a style that we hope will capture the spirit of their originators and the spirit
of our great city at this wonderful time of year.
TONIGHT’S PROGRAM WILL BE CHOSEN FROM THE FOLLOWING:
Get Yourself a New Broom
(And Sweep the Blues Away)
Arlen/Koehler
Manhattan Serenade
Adamson/Alter
Broadway Melody
Brown/Freed
Manhattan
Rodgers/Hart
Broadway Rhythm
Brown/Freed
Cotton Club Stomp
Duke Ellington
Cheek to Cheek
Irving Berlin
(I’VE GOT) Beginners Luck
George/Ira Gershwin
A Nightingale Sang in
Berkeley Square
Maschwitz/Sherwood
Shall We Dance
George/Ira Gershwin
El Cumbanchero
Rafael Hernandez
Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams
Barris/Koehler
I Found a Million Dollar Baby
Warren/Dubin
From Monday On
Barris/Crosby
These Foolish Things
Strachey/Maschwitz
The Very Thought of You
Ray Noble
If I Had You
Campbell/Connelly
(ON THE) Street of Dreams
Young/Lewis
Jeepers Creepers
Warren/Mercer
Happy As the Day Is Long
Arlen/Koehler
Swing Time in Honolulu
Ellington/Nemo
There’s A Lull In My Life
Gordon/Revel
Happy Feet
Yellin/Ager
Did You Mean It?
Dixon/Greer
Night Ride
Sid Phillips
I’m Living in a Great Big Way
McHugh/Fields
Top of the Town
McHugh/ADAMSON
Slumming on Park Avenue
Irving Berlin
I Want to Be Bad
De Sylva/Brown/Henderson
Sand in my Shoes
Loesser/Schertzinger
How Could We Be Wrong
Cole Porter
Why Shouldn’t I?
Cole Porter
If Love Comes Your Way
Cole Porter
Just One of Those Things
Cole Porter
Begin the Beguine
Cole Porter
RING OUT 2005 AND RING IN THE NEW YEAR AT 59E59 THEATERS’
PARTY OF THE YEAR! ON ALL LEVELS, E:BAR, THEATERS B AND C
NEW YEAR’S WHIRL!
59E59’S THEATERWIDE NEW YEAR’S EVE PARTY!
$100 PER PERSON, 59E59 MEMBERS ONLY $70!
CHAMPAGNE, COCKTAILS, FOOD, WINE, RAFFLE PRIZES AND PARTY FAVORS
LIVE MUSIC, DJ, CABARET, DANCING, BAGPIPER AND CHAMPAGNE TOAST AT MIDNIGHT!
FOOD BY DAVID BURKE AT BLOOMINGDALE’S
JIVIN’ AND JAMMIN’ IN THE ZAM ZAM ROOM!
DEC 31 10PM ‘TIL THE WEE HOURS OF NEW YEAR’S MORNING!
BUY TICKETS: IN PERSON AT 59E59, BY PHONE 212-279-4200 OR ONLINE AT WWW.TICKETCENTRAL.COM
BECOME A 59E59 MEMBER NOW!! TO JOIN OR FOR MORE
INFO CALL 212-753-5959 Ext.104 OR VISIT www.59E59.org
ELYSABETH KLEINHANS President & Artistic Director
PETER TEAR Executive Producer
AMY STEINHAUS Director of Sales
STEPHANIE MERCADO Theater Manager
ERIC CHASE Production Manager
COREY T. LIND Facilities Manager
J. RYAN KIRK Theater Technician
SPONDEE Theater Technician
CHRISTINE HUERTOS Theater Technician
RHONDA EVANS Assistant to the Executive Producer
STEFENI JUNG Business Administrator, Assistant to the President
LAUREN POKRAS Press and Marketing Assistant
LETICIA RAMIREZ Assistant to the Theater Manager
LAURA DE LA TORRE Front of House Assistant
KENNY NUNEZ Front of House Assistant
AMBER FORD Box Office Deputy
BRIAN J. HECK Box Office Deputy
SAMANTHA TUNIS Box Office Deputy/E:BAR Staff
JUSTIN MARURI Box Office Assistant
BRIAN DOCHNEY Box Office Assistant
DIANNA LORA Box Office Assistant/Assistant to the Director of Sales
ALBERTO ROSARIO E:BAR Assistant
KRISTEN BRASWELL E:BAR Staff
JENNA FRIEDENBERG E:BAR Staff
OPEN!
TUESDAY - SUNDAY 7 TILL LATE – SOMETIMES VERY LATE!
KRYSTLE ALVAREZ Usher
TAISHA ARENA Usher
GIOVANNI D’AMATO Usher
KELLY DELANEY Usher
WILFREDO FELIZ Usher
LAUREN GORSTAYN Usher
AUDIE HENRIQUES Usher
JESSICA JACOME Usher
ARRIANA LECHAN Usher
JONATHAN MALDONADO Usher
JASON MERCADO Usher
KIMAIRYS PAREDES Usher
DARRIANIZ REYES Usher
JORELL REYES Usher
ADAM SMITH Usher
ANGEL VALLE Usher
KYMM ZUCKERT Lobby Attendant
ERICK GOMEZ Security
“JUNIOR” GOMEZ Facilities
JOSE QUINONES Facilities
KELLY DELANEY Usher
ADRIANA GUTIERREZ Housekeeping
ANDRE HANNA Housekeeping
BILL THEATER A
DECEMBER 14 - 31
DECEMBER 16 -31
the
park avenue
Whirl
a musical toast to the twenties
and thirties

HATS OFF!
TO ARLEN, GERSHWIN, FRED & GINGER,
BING AND BOBBY SHORT, AMBROSE AND MAYFAIR,
ELLINGTON AND THE COTTON CLUB IN
park avenue whirl
a musical toast to the twenties and thirties
DAVE
BROWN
Featuring
DARYL VINCE
SHERMAN
BRAD
SHIGETA
DAN
BLOCK
with
GIORDANO
MARK
LOPEMAN
MARION COWINGS
and
ALEXANDER COWINGS
MARK
McCARRON
THE NIGHTHAWKS ORCHESTRA
LIGHTING AND SET DESIGNER
ERIC CHASE
ASSISTANT DESIGNER
COREY LIND
LIGHT BOARD OPERATORS
MADELAINE HARTMAN
MARY LESNIK
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
PETER TEAR
JOHN
GILL
DARYL SHERMAN (Singer/Pianist) According to The
New Yorker, singer and pianist Daryl Sherman "has yet
to meet a standard whose charms she couldn't extract...
and manages to find contemporary resonance in
everything." A sparkling mainstay of Manhattan nightlife,
she regularly performs on Cole Porter's Steinway at the
Waldorf Astoria and has been lauded for appearances
at the Algonquin's Famous Oak Room, Iridium Jazz
Club and most recently, Jazz At Lincoln Center with
Wynton Marsalis. European tours included a dazzling
fourth return engagement at London's Pizza On The
Park, and concerts in Wales, Leeds and Scotland. She
also made a stunning debut in Berlin hailed by Jazz
Radio 101.9 "a magical night." Equally at home in the
worlds of jazz and cabaret, Daryl Sherman's many
recordings have received high critical praise and airplay
internationally. Her CD, Jubilee (Arbors) with Dave
McKenna received four stars in Downbeat and was
cited one of the year's best (2000). And with her new
tribute to Richard Rodgers, A Hundred Million Miracles
(Arbors) "Sherman proves that she can more than hold
her own in the company of musicians as weighty as
Ruby Braff and tenor saxman Houston Person." -London
Times. Other notables she has performed and recorded
with include Bob Dorough, Dick Hyman, Bucky and
John Pizzarelli, Tommy Flanagan, Ken Peplowski, Joe
Cohn, Jay Leonhart, Kenny Davern, James Chirillo, and
Boots Maleson.
Major jazz festival appearances include JVC in
New York and Newport, Atlanta, March of Jazz in
Clearwater, and aboard the QE2. She has headlined
clubs including the Colony in Palm Beach, Blues Alley
in Wahington, DC, the Jazz Bakery in LA, and Top of
the Senator in Toronto and Arts Centers across the
continent from Winnipeg to Fort Lauderdale. She is a
favorite at both New York's Highlights In Jazz and St.
Peter's Midday Jazz series, the Mabel Mercer
Foundation Cabaret Conventions in NYC, San Francisco
and Chicago, also recently presented with "Cabaret
Classic Award". Daryl's voice is heard weekly in "Maya
The Bee", a widely acclaimed puppet show produced
by The Culture Project. She has also been a featured
guest on Fresh Air with Terry Gross and Marian
McPartland's Piano Jazz all broadcast nationally.
As McPartland said of Sherman, "She's sophisticated,
she's straightforward and she can swing!"
VINCE GIORDANO (Band Leader, Tuba) In 30 years
as a bandleader, Vince Giordano has become the
authority on recreating the sounds of 1920s and '30s
jazz and popular music. Giordano and his big band, the
Nighthawks, recorded a series of Depression-era hits for
the soundtrack of Martin Scorsese's, The Aviator, ripping
through instrumentals and serving as the back-up band
for singers like David Johansen and Rufus Wainwright.
"I just love the energy of the early jazz," says Giordano,
53. "I wanted to recapture some of that."
Early appearances on Prairie Home Companion and
in the movie The Cotton Club led to work in half-a-dozen
Woody Allen films, including Sweet and Lowdown and
Zelig. His diverse musical involvements also include backing
up Madonna doing a striptease in Bloodhounds Of
Broadway, and working with such varied institutions as
the New York Philharmonic and Leon Redbone.
While he doesn't call people "Pops" or wear vintage
duds, Giordano is obsessive about musical authenticity
in resurrecting heroes like Bix Beiderbecke, Fletcher
Henderson, and Jelly Roll Morton. The Nighthawks use
period instruments and arrangements, and play solos
transcribed from the original recordings. Even the Kellogg
microphone that carries Giordano's Astaire-like baritone
is an antique spring-suspended beauty.
This purist's Brooklyn home is filled with instruments.
Many are rare - a folding bass drum, a one-of-a-kind
six-foot straight baritone sax, and a Goofus, a novelty
wind instrument played by 1920s jazzman Adrian
Rollini. In the basement are 30,000 big band charts.
In the bedroom, there's a wooden box. "This is my
Rosebud," he says, opening his grandmother's Victrola,
which is what first ignited his love for the hot and sweet
sounds on 78-rpm records when he was five.
You can hear the Nighthawks' authenticity on records
like Quality Shout [vincegiordano@optonline.net], but
to really "get it" you've got to see them live. As the
syncopated stomp and roar of brass, reed and rhythm
section wash over you, it's clear that this music was the
rock & roll of its day.
MARION COWINGS (Jazz Singer) is a native New
Yorker. His smooth baritone voice and considerable
range has been delighting audiences around the world
for decades. Mentored by the legendary Jon Hendricks,
Marion is a master of scat and vocal technique. He has
appeared at the Blue Note, Village Vanguard, and Lincoln
Center as well as many prestigious venues abroad.
Marion grew up in the South Bronx where his father
was a merchant and his mother taught public school.
He attended Music and Art (now LaGuardia High
School), where he was chosen to perform as a solo
vocalist with the New York Philharmonic under the
direction of Leonard Bernstein. In the same year, at the
age of fifteen, he discovered the bebop group Lambert,
Hendricks and Ross. While still in high school, his
classmate Eddie Gomez (now a formidable bassist and
Bill Evans collaborator) played with Jon Hendricks and
spoke highly of Marion. Jon called Marion and said “I
hear you’re doing my stuff…. meet me outside Birdland
and we’ll talk.” Soon afterward Jon set up Marion’s
first professional engagement at the Randall’s Island
Jazz Festival with “Little Pony” Poindextor and the Ike
Issac’s Trio. He also began to understudy Lambert,
Hendricks and Ross, and eventually became Dave
Lamberts original replacement.
In 1984 after leading rhythm & blues and rock bands,
Marion teamed up with jazz vocalist Kim Kalesti. Kim
and Marion headlined the Berlin Jazz Festival and the
Blue Notes in New York and Japan. They starred in
Lincoln Center’s Meet the Artist and performed hundreds
of concerts through the auspices of the Young Audiences
in New York City public schools. In addition to recording
two albums on the Emarcy Label, they have played with
many musicians including Clark Terry, Jimmy Heath, Frank
Foster, Gary Bartz, Bobby Watson, Ron Carter, Howard
Johnson, and the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Orchestra (now
known as Village Vanguard Orchestra). Together they
founded the Vocal Jazz Department at New York
University and were adjunct professors for eleven years.
Marion’s off-Broadway credits include Forever Swing
and Bebop. He was a lead in Queenie Pie, a Duke
Ellington Opera directed by Mercer Ellington at Lincoln
Center. Recently, Marion headlined the Harry Warren
Lyrics and Lyricists Program at the 92nd Street Y
alongside Margaret Whiting and Marie Cleere Haran.
He was also a lead in the hundredth anniversary tribute
to Count Basie and Glenn Miller at the Lucille Lortel
Theater, both directed by Mercedes Ellington.
Involved in commercials, voiceovers and jingles, Marion
received the advertising industry°Øs Clio Award with
one of his mentors, Hal Schaefer. He is a recipient of
a National Endowment for the Arts grant and a published
lyricist with Quincy Jones, Wayne Shorter, Frank Foster,
and Sonny Rollins.
ALEXANDER COWINGS (Tap dancer/Singer)
Alexander was master of his craft, Tap “hoofing” at a
very early age. At the age of 5, Alex was already
becoming recognized for his natural ability to make
rhythms with his feet, Tap dancing. He could be found
at all the jazz clubs and festivals around NYC and
abroad, Alexander improvises on his taps like Charlie
Parker did on his horn. He uses his taps like a fine
drummer accompaning a poet rapper, guitarist, or a
straight ahead Jazz venue. Beside having an extordinary
rhythmic sense Alexander is a musician. A former
trombone student who received a full scholarship to
study at Henry Street Settlement and Julliard’s Music
Advancement program while still a jounior in HS.
Alexander has performed at numerous venues including
the Cotton Club with Mercedes Ellington, Caramoor
Music Festival with Jimmy Slyde, Lincoln Center’s “Meet
the Artist,” The Bitter End, Negro Ensemble Company
with Lou Meyers, and Lake George Music Festival. Now
besides tapping Alexander “King” Cowings composes
and sings with rap artist Eddy Cane to form their new
group King and Eddy Cane. Just recenty highlighted at
several venues, Cornelia Street Cafe, PoJazz series,
Benefit in Tarrytown, and Flushing Town Hall, NYC.
DAVE BROWN (Trumpet) was so sure by the 5th grade
that he wanted to become a trumpet player, he was able to
talk his parents out of having braces put on his teeth. He has
been playing professionally since 9th grade. Dave was
inducted into the Nebraska Music Hall of Fame in 2001.
Dave has been affiliated with Vince Giordano since the late
1970's. He was on-screen with Vince in Francis Ford Coppola's
movie, The Cotton Club. His Broadway credits have included
playing and subbing in close to thirty pit orchestras on and
off Broadway. Dave was an assistant conductor in Gershwin's
Crazy For You and also the revival of 1776.
Starting in January, Dave will be on the road for 10 weeks
playing lead trumpet in a Benny Goodman style band lead
by clarinetist Ken Peplowski. They will be re-creating music
from the 1938 Sing, Sing, Sing concert at Carnegie Hall
BRAD SHIGETA (Trombone) Brad moved to the Big
Apple in 1990 via Montreal. Soon after his arrival he
was introduced to Clifford Jordan and was asked to
join his big band which led to many tours both nationally
and abroad. He also has appeared on recordings and
film scores with the Illinois Jacquet Big Band, the Dave
Holland Big Band, the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra,
the Vince Giordano's Nighthawks and the Duke Ellington
Orchestra under the direction of Mercer Ellington.
Currently he can be heard recreating Jack Jenny and
Jack Teagarden solos on the soundtrack for Martin
Scorcese’s movie, The Aviator, as well as on the newly
released CD of swing standards by Danny Aiello. In
the past few years, Brad has been able to return to the
roots and the music that originally attracted him to
become a musician – traditional and swing music. He
is currently in a Duke Ellington alumni small group under
the direction of Barrie Lee Hall, as well as a regular
member of Vince Giordano’s Nighthawks (music of the
early 1900’s), John Gill’s Jazz Kings (traditional New
Orleans music) and the Manhattan Ragtime Orchestra
in New York City.
DAN BLOCK (Clarinet) is a graduate of the Juilliard
School of Music with a Masters in performance and
has been active in commercial, classical, ethnic and
jazz idioms. Some of his credits include work with
Charles Mingus, Quincey Jones, Toshiko Akyoshi and
Clark Terry. He has recorded and performed recently
with Rosemary Clooney and Micheal Feinstein. He has
performed as a soloist on Pops concerts with the Los
Angeles Philharmonic, Colorado Philharmonic, Atlanta
Symphony and the New York Pops. His clarinet playing
has been heard on numerous television and radio
commercials and he has played in over twenty different
Broadway shows. For the last ten years, Dan has been
very involved in traditional jazz, working a great deal
with Vince Giordono and Marty Grosz.
MARK LOPEMAN (Alto Saxophone) has been a
member of the Park Avenue Chamber Symphony since
2002. He is also an attorney and a member of the
Lawyers’ Orchestra.
Mark started on the alto saxophone at age eight in his
native Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. Before moving to New
York in 1981 he had earned music degrees from the
Eastman School of Music (B.M. 1978) and the University
of Akron (M.M. 1981), won the award for “Most
Outstanding Instrumentalist” at the 1979 Notre Dame
Collegiate Jazz Festival, and toured with and arranged
for the Glenn Miller and Tommy Dorsey orchestras. Mark
went on to tour and record with the Buddy Rich big band
(often performing with vocalists including Frank Sinatra,
Tony Bennett and Sarah Vaughan) as well as the Woody
Herman, Toshiko Akiyoshi and Mel Lewis big bands, and
to play in orchestras for Broadway shows, with the Chris
Byars Octet, the Loren Schoenberg Jazz Orchestra and
Vince Giordano’s Nighthawks.
Mark studied clarinet at the University of Akron with Judith
Pauley and Cecil Gold, at the Eastman School of Music
with Ramon Ricker and William Osseck, and in New York
with Paul Garment, Joe Allard and Billy Kerr.
Mark is also a composer and arranger, and a noted
transcriber of classic jazz recordings, often assisting
and working with jazz artists including Gil Evans, Gerry
Mulligan, Dizzy Gillespie and John Lewis, and institutions
including the American Jazz Orchestra, the Smithsonian
Jazz Masterworks Orchestra, the Carnegie Hall Jazz
Orchestra and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra. Mark
is a graduate of Columbia Law School (J.D. 1990) and
a member of a New York City law firm.
MARK MCCARRON (Guitar) Canadian guitarist/
composer/arranger Mr. McCarron has worked with
such jazz notables as Ed Bickert and Don Thompson,
organist Jack McDuff, and the Mingus Five Guitar Band.
He has performed on Canadian Radio and Television
and at all of the major Canadian Jazz Festivals.
McCarron studied under jazz guitarist John Abercrombie
in New York City under a Canada Council grant and
also studied at the BMI Jazz Composers Workshop. A
versatile artist and prolific freelancer, McCarron is much
in demand in a wide range of genres and roles. He is
a core member and arranger for the Central Park
Stompers (swing) and Art Lillard’s Heavenly Big Band,
In 2001, he released an album of original songs,
Another Side of Love, with singer/co-writer Dave Rave,
and the duo’s new album, In the Blue of My Dreams,
will be released in 2006. He has also produced albums
for a variety of artists.
He can currently be heard on Broadway as a frequent
substitute performer in the shows Rent, Wicked, and
Fiddler on the Roof, and has also been a featured
performer in the Off-Broadway production Summer of
’69, made recurring appearances in the cast of John
Kelly's Paved Paradise: The Music of Joni Mitchell,
and been a substitute performer in the Broadway shows,
All Shook Up, Swing, and The Look of Love, as well
as the Off-Broadway Tony and Tina's Wedding, and
the touring company of Rent. Offstage, he is also an
instructor at the West Nassau BOCES Cultural Arts
Center, where he teaches jazz guitar to high school
students and directs jazz ensembles.
JOHN GILL (Banjo) John was born in New York City
and became a professional musician at the young age
of 17. He played with various Dixieland combinations
and early versions of The Nighthawks until 1977. Later
in his life Mr. Gill moved to San Francisco to join Turk
Murphy's Jazz Band on banjo. Then in 1987 he moved
to New Orleans to work on Bourbon Street in various
traditional jazz groups. In 2000 Mr. Gill returned to
New York to The Nighthawks Orchestra.
Over the years, he has toured Europe several times,
appeared on over 100 recordings as a banjoist, guitarist,
drummer, saxophonist, trombonist, vocalist, and arranger,
and has appeared in several films including Wildman
Blues and Arthur2. Television credits include: The Tonight
Show Starring Johnny Carson, The Ed Sullivan Show,
Nashville Now, and Late Night with Conan O'Brien.
MARTHA EGAN (Costume Designer) whose atelier
studio and store is located at 1 Columbus Avenue in
San Francisco, has a distinguished list of clients including
Linda Ronstadt, Maureen McGovern, Paula West and
Tom Waits. www.marthaegan.com
VINCENT ROPPATTE is the style Director of Elizabeth
Arden Red Door Salons at Saks Fifth Avenues nationwide
and personally works at the New York City flagship
store. He is Diane Sawyer’s stylist on Good Morning
America and has a celebrity-studded clientele that
includes Elaine Stritch, Jeanine Pirro, Lynn de Rothschild,
Barbara Taylor Bradford and Barbara Cook.
Special thanks to Alex Kostakis of
A. C. Pianocraft
Since 1966
www.acpianocraft.com