‘To Ella with Love’ will put singer-songwriter Ann Hampton Callaway in Newport’s Jazz Party spotlight
It’s been 55 years, but jazz vocalist Ann Hampton Callaway still marvels at the moment she heard singer Ella Fitzgerald’s voice coming through her parents’ record player.
“It was a language that seemed natural and she seemed like a friend,” said Callaway, 58, from her home in New York. “There’s a girlish, mischievous quality to her singing that seems very childlike, and I’ve been following her ever since.”
Callaway has since built her own impressive musical career, having written songs for Barbra Streisand, among many other well-known performers, and is known for singing the perky theme song to the television sitcom “The Nanny.”
But she has a special affection for “the first lady of song,” and so to celebrate what would have been Fitzgerald’s 100th birthday this year, Callaway will present “To Ella with Love.”
The concert will be part of the 17th annual Newport Beach Jazz Party & Big Band Blowout, a musical celebration featuring mainstream jazz artists that is being held at the Newport Beach Marriott Hotel & Spa from Feb. 23 through Feb. 26.
The festival’s grand opening Thursday evening (Feb. 23) will feature three concerts, kicking off with saxophonists Scott Hamilton and Harry Allen playing songs from their album “Heavy Juice.” Larry Fuller, Chuck Berghofer and Butch Miles will accompany them.
Callaway will be in the spotlight for the second concert, with bandmates Tamir Hendelman, Kevin Axt and MB Gordy and special guest Harry Allen.
Callaway is known for singing songs from the Great American Songbook, but she will specifically pull selections from her album “To Ella with Love,” including “Let’s Fall in Love,” “How High the Moon” and “Oh, Lady Be Good!” for Thursday’s special show.
Fitzgerald helped create a body of work that feels timeless and relevant as it continues to be part of the country’s great musical legacy, said Callaway, adding that it’s important to pay tribute to the jazz great, whose multi-volume “songbooks” are among America’s recording treasures.
In 1958, Fitzgerald made history as the first African American woman to win a Grammy Award, and she would go on to win 12 more and sell more than 40 million albums. She died in 1996 at age 79.
It’s these facts along with lyric interpretation that Callaway said she enjoys sharing with her audience. She also likes to engage with concertgoers by bantering with people in the front row.
“People relate to this music on so many levels because there are interpretations and arrangements that are never done twice,” Callaway said. “Jazz music is like an apple cut off a branch. It’s juicy and fresh because it’s in the moment.”
Closing the opening night will be a concert honoring drummer Frankie Capp and his Juggernaut Big Band with special guest Butch Miles.
Friday evening (Feb. 24) will feature four concerts beginning with Hamilton & Hamilton, with tenor saxophonist Scott Hamilton and the Jeff Hamilton Trio.
The second show, “The Solo, Duo, Trio & Beyond,” will showcase musicians Shelly Berg, Chuck Berghofer, Gilbert Castellanos, Francisco Torres, Don Shelton and Dough Webb, while the third concert will bring lyricist Alan Bergman to the stage, backed by the Tamir Hendelman duo.
Gordon Goodwin’s Big Phat Band will close the evening with special set, “A Salute to the Great Composers and Arrangers,” with Sammy Nestico and Tom Kubis.
Saturday evening (Feb. 25) will open with the Akiko Tsuruga Trio featuring organist Akiko, Jeff Hamilton and guitarist Graham Dechter, followed by a salute to “Jazz at the Philharmonic.”
John Clayton, Larry Fullter and Jeff Hamilton will present “Tribute to the Ray Brown Trio,” and the evening will conclude with a tribute to Frank Sinatra Jr. with the Frank Sinatra Jr. Orchestra, conducted by Terry Woodson. The concert will feature special guest vocalist Steve Tyrell.
The series will come to a close Feb. 26 with “A Weekend for the Love of Jazz and Big Bands,” starting with the Houston Person Quartet, followed by a concert featuring “Mays at the Movies,” another show with The Larry Fuller Trio, and finally concluding with the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra.
Feb. 25 and Feb. 26 will offer a Champagne jazz brunch. The daily evening concerts will take place in the hotel’s Grand Pacific Ballroom, and some afternoon concerts will be interspersed through the grounds near the pool.
Callaway said it’s an honor to perform during the jazz celebration and help introduce crowds to the jazz greats like Fitzgerald, who had a troubled childhood but overcame the struggles and found comfort as well as success in her musical artistry.
“Every one of us has talent, and it’s my hope that the audience takes away a sense of joy and humanity and a greater and renewed appreciation of the artist,” Callaway said. “It’s a reminder of what we can do for our lives and that we too can live courageously.”
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IF YOU GO
What: 17th annual Newport Beach Jazz Party & Big Band Blowout
When: Feb. 23 through Feb. 26
Where: Newport Beach Marriott Hotel & Spa, 900 Newport Center Drive
Cost: $30 to $485
Information: (949) 759-5003 or newportbeachjazzparty.com
Twitter: @KathleenLuppi
