On Stage at Kingsborough announces the 2013 Hot Summer Nights! free outdoor concert series, taking place every Saturday night in July at 8:00 p.m.
“This year, our concerts will feature some of the finest Jazz and Swing artists in the world that play regularly at New York City’s hottest clubs,” stated Anna Becker, executive director of On Stage at Kingsborough. “Or you can find them right here, at Kingsborough’s free outdoor concert series at our bandshell, in the shadow of our stunning lighthouse, and just a breezy stroll away from our breathtaking sea wall. We invite everyone to bring a picnic and make a wonderful summer evening of it.”
On July 6 at 8:00 p.m The Brooklyn Community Wind Ensemble, conducted by Ray Wheeler, kicks off the series with its musical tribute to Independence Day. It will be an evening of patriotic pops with the community concert band.
The following Saturday, The George Gee Swing Orchestra featuring vocalists Hilary Gardner and John Dokes with special guest Lindy Hoppers Samantha Siegel and Brian Lawton will be on stage.
This swingin’ band has been together for more than 25 years and deeply enjoys its hard-earned reputation as the swingin’-est, blowin’-est, heppest classic big band in New York City. In more than 30 years of playing for dancing feet, the George Gee Swing Orchestra band has developed a special bond with lindy hoppers all around the world.
George Gee has led the house band at Swing 46 in Manhattan since its opening in 1997, and made weekly appearances at the Rainbow Room and Edison Ballroom. The George Gee Swing Orchestra has also dazzled audiences from Boston to Beverly Hills and from Zurich to Tokyo, including gigs at the “I Love Jazz” festival in Brazil, Lincoln Center’s prestigious Midsummer Night Swing festival, and at Disney World with the legendary comedian (and noted jazz aficionado) Bill Cosby.
“My man, Georgie, has a bright future in the swing business!” – Count Basie
On July 20, The Hot Sardines will take the bandstand. Take a blustery brass lineup, layer it over a rhythm section led by a Fats Waller-style stride-piano virtuoso, and tie the whole thing together with a magnetic, one-of-the-boys frontwoman whose voice recalls another era, and you have The Hot Sardines. The Sardine sound – wartime Paris via New Orleans (or the other way around) – is steeped in the kind of music Louis Armstrong, Dhango Reinhardt, and Waller used to make: Straight-up, foot stomping jazz!
Pianist-bandleader Evan “Bibs” Palazzo and Paris-born singer Miz Elizabeth and their band (that includes a tap dancer!) have played their unique blend of hot jazz, Dixieland, and Tin Pan Alley tunes at Lincoln Center, Top of the Standard, Joe’s Pub, and the Blue Note Jazz Festival.
The following Saturday, July 27, the David Ostwald’s Louis Armstrong Centennial Band will be performing. Inspired by the noble jazz pioneers Louis Armstrong, Bix Beiderbecke, Duke Ellington, Jelly Roll Morton, and more, David Ostwald’s Louis Armstrong Centennial Band breathes life and passion into America’s own great art form.
This Grammy Award-nominated band plays weekly at New York City’s Birdland Jazz Club with guest musicians such as Wynton Marsalis, Dick Hyman, Jon Hendricks, and blues great Big Joe Turner. The band has toured internationally to such venues as Lincoln Center’s Midsummer’s Night Swing, the 92nd Street Y, and Scotland’s Nairn International Jazz Festival.
Admission and parking is free and open to the public. Kingsborough’s gates open at 7:00 p.m. and the concerts begin at 8:00 p.m.
A limited number of seats are available, but all are welcome to bring blankets and folding chairs for our grassy areas as well.
Rain Location: In the event of rain or extreme heat, the concerts will be relocated to the air conditioned Leon M. Goldstein Performing Arts Center. Updated location information will be available on our box office line – (718) 368-5596 – starting at 4:00 p.m. on concert days.
Picnic Information: To complete a gorgeous night of great music in a friendly community setting, our gates open at 7:00 p.m. and picnicking is welcomed. An ice cream truck will be on site selling treats.
Photo courtesy of On Stage at Kingsborough
