FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM MARCH 3, 2022 • THE QUEENS COURIER 33
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Photo courtesy of Flushing Town Hall
Flushing Town Hall set to celebrate Women’s History Month
with series commemorating jazz, pop and Latin music icons
BY CARLOTTA MOHAMED
cmohamed@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
In celebration of Women’s History
Month in March, Flushing Town Hall
will present a series featuring four
unique performances celebrating iconic
women of music history, who overcame
barriers in the male-dominated
spaces of their time.
“The month will be jam-packed with
extraordinary women, past and present!
There will be some truly powerhouse
vocals on our stage, interpreting
some of the most beloved songs
of the last few decades,” said Ellen
Kodadek, executive and artistic director
at Flushing Town Hall. “We are
overjoyed to be welcoming artists like
Akua Allrich, whose original performance
date in March 2020 was canceled
due to the pandemic lockdown.
This month’s celebration of women
artists will inspire and delight our
audiences!”
Here’s a lineup of next month’s performances
celebrating women artists:
Friday, March 4, 7 p.m.
Broadway veteran and vocalist
Rosena Hill Jackson performs “Songs
of Sarah Vaughan,” a tribute to the
Queen of Bebop, with exciting new
arrangements by Grammy-winning
trombonist and music arranger Jason
Jackson. Her band will feature Jackson,
Don Braden (saxophone), Cyrus
Chestnut (piano), John Lee (bass) and
Neil Smith (drums).
Jackson’s Broadway credits include
“The Color Purple,” “Ragtime,”
“Riverdance,” “After Midnight,”
“Dreamgirls,” “Mandela,” “Ain’t
Misbehavin’” and more. She has performed
extensively as a vocal soloist,
including with The New York
Pops at Carnegie Hall, with The New
York Philharmonic for PBS and with
the Long Island Philharmonic, The
Cape Cod Symphony Orchestra,
The Memphis Symphony Orchestra
and Teatro di Massimo Symphony
Orchestra in Palermo, Italy.
Thursday, March 10, 7 p.m.
Vocalist Barbara Rosene performs
“You Give Me Fever – The Peggy
Lee Songbook,” a tribute to the jazz
and popular music singer whose
career spanned seven decades and
helped redefine what it meant to be a
female singer. Rosene’s band will feature
Conal Fowkes (piano and acoustic
bass), John Merrill (guitar), Mike
Hashim (saxophone) and Kevin Dorn
(drums).
Rosene has graced stages internationally,
including with Vince
Giordano and The Nighthawks, the
late Les Paul at NY’s Iridium Jazz
Club, Lincoln Center’s Rose Hall, the
Montreal Jazz Festival and Lake Como,
Italy. She has built an unequaled reputation
for interpreting the great music
of the 1920s and ’30s. Rosene is a passionate
vocalist whose interpretations
uncover the richness of jazz classics
through the skilled delivery of one
truly in love with the genre she sings.
Saturday, March 19, 8 p.m.
Jazz vocalist Akua Allrich will present
a soul-stirring Tribute to Nina
Simone & Miriam Makeba that she
curated and will be joined on stage
by her bandmates Sam Prather (keys),
Kris Funn (upright bass), Tyler Leak
(drums) and Gabrielle Murphy (saxophone
and flute).
A Washington, D.C., native and
Howard University graduate, Allrich is
quickly making a name for herself with
a musical style that draws from blues,
soul, jazz and pan-African music. Her
albums have included her independently
produced “A Peace of Mind”
(2010), “Uniquely Standard,” “Akua
Allrich Live!” (2012), and her latest
release, “Soul Singer.”
This engagement of Akua Allrich
and the Tribe is made possible through
the Jazz Touring Network program of
the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation with
support from the National Endowment
for the Arts.
Thursday, March 31, at 7 p.m.
Flushing Town Hall’s Women’s
History Month celebration culminates
with “Oye Como Va – A Tribute to the
Great Women of Latin Music,” featuring
singer and songwriter Deborah
Resto in a performance spanning more
than 50 years of music by legendary
Latinas like Celia Cruz, La Lupe and
Olga Tanon. Her band will feature
Oreste Abrantes (percussion), Franco
Pinna (drums), Eddie Venegas (trombone
and violin), Alex Apolo (bass)
and Pablo Mayor (piano and music
direction).
Resto is a New York-born, Hispanic
recording artist and musician. In addition
to her own CD, entitled “Let
Him Hear My Heart,” she has recorded
as a background vocalist for such
major artists like Christina Aguilera,
Marc Anthony, Enrique Iglesias, Paul
Simon, Ricky Martin, Jennifer Lopez,
Olga Tanon, Tito Nieves, Tito Puente,
Jimmy Sabater, Ruben Blades, Larry
Harlow and others.
In-person tickets for each performance
are $15 for non-members and
$12 for members. Those unable to
attend in person can view each event
by livestream for free, with a suggested
donation.
To purchase tickets to any event
in this series or to register for the
livestreams, visit www.flushingtownhall.
org/women-history-month or call
718-463-7700 ext. 222.
Flushing Town Hall’s Women’s History Month performers (from l. to r.) Rosena Hill Jackson, Barbara Rosene, Akua Allrich and Deborah Resto.
“The month will be jam-packed with
extraordinary women, past and present!
There will be some truly powerhouse
vocals on our stage, interpreting some
of the most beloved songs of the last
few decades.”
— Ellen Kodadek
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