On April 30th, Black Stars of the Great White Way presented The Chapman Roberts Broadway Jazz Festival for International Jazz Day 2018. “The Shepherd Who Watches Over The Night Flock” was the the fiftieth anniversary concert tribute to Duke Ellington and Pastor John Gensel, commemorating the World’s Longest Running Jazz Ministry at Saint Peter’s Church located at 619 Lexington Avenue in New York City.
André De Shields. Photo by Lia Chang
The historic event included the celebration of the 100 year legacy of the contributions and influences of African America’s Greatest Jazz Composers on Broadway, with musical and spoken tributes to Cab Calloway, Bessie Smith, Mary Lou Williams, Hugh Masekela, Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk, Fats Waller, J.C. Johnson, Billie Holiday, Eubie Blake, Noble Sissle, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan Louis Armstrong, Billy Strayhorn performed by New York’s Brightest Broadway and Cabaret Jazz Stars.
André De Shields, Kendall Clagett, Chapman Roberts. Photo by Lia Chang
Three Time Grammy Award Winning Broadway Choral Arranger Chapman Roberts assembled alumni of his Broadway hits such as “Bubbling Brown Sugar”, “Your Arm’s Too Short To Box With God”, “Eubie”, “Smokey Joe’s Cafe” and a reunion of the Broadway, National and London companies of “Five Guys Named Moe” in a tribute to “The King Of The Juke Box” Louis Jordan.
Vocalists: André De Shields, Derrick Alton, Tyrone Davis, Kenneth Radcliffe, Natalie Carter-Prince, Clarke Peters, Cynthia Scott, Alyson Williams, Gabrielle Goodman, Angel Rose, Frank Owens, Jeffery V. Thompson, Kirk Taylor, Yolande Bavan, Rome Neal, Longineu Parsons, Susan Agin, Sam McKelton, Dakota Macleod, contemporary tap wizard Omar Edwards and Eboni Latay Edwards, Tina Fabrique, Jermain Coles, Adrian Bailey, Raun Ruffin, Gary Holmes.
Musicians: Executive Music Director/Pianist Ray Naccari, Clyde Bullard/Bass, Greg Barrett/Drums, Keith Robinson/Guitar, Kendall Clagett/Congas, Pianists Byron Utley, Longineu Parsons, Trumpet, Pianists Frank Owens, David Alan Bunn, William Foster McDaniel, Jeff Laibson, Al Copley.
Lineup of the evening:
1. Organ Prelude – Derrick Alton
2. Call to Worship – Tyrone Davis
3. Obituary of Paster John Gensel – Read by Deacon Kenneth Radcliffe
4. The Shepherd Who Watches Over The Night Flock
5. Saluting Mary Lou Williams – Natalie Carter-Prince “Praise the Lord”
6. Obituary of Duke Ellington – Read by Clarke Peters
7. Cynthia Scott “Did I Know You?”
8. Saluting Duke Ellington/Billy Strayhorn – Clarke Peters “Sophisticated Lady,” Alyson Williams “I Got It Bad, And That Aint’ Good”
9. Meditation – Gabrielle Goodman “His Eye Is On The Sparrow”
10. Saluting Louis Jordan – Angel Rose “Let The Good Times Roll”
11. Saluting Dizzy Gillespie -Angel Rose “Caravan”
12. Saluting Eubie Blake/Noble Sissle – Frank Owens & Jeffrey Thompson “Charleston Rag”, “Memories of You”, “I’m Just Wild About Harry”
13. Saluting J.C. Johnson/Fats Waller – Andre De Shields “The Joint is Jumping”
André De Shields. Photo by Lia Chang
14. Saluting Errol Garner – Kirk Taylor, “Misty”Al Copley
Kirk Taylor. Photo by Lia Chang
15. Saluting Horace Sliver (Music), Jon Hendricks (Lyrics) – “Doodlin,” sung by Yolande Bavan
16. Saluting Thelonius Monk – Rome Neal, “Round Midnight”
17. Saluting Billie Holiday – Gabrielle Goodman “God Bless the Child”
18. Saluting Cab Calloway/Louis Armstrong – Longineu Parsons “Minnie the Moocher”, “What a Wonderful World”
19. Saluting Ella Fitzgerald – Susan Agin “Bei Mir Bist Du Schon”
20. Saluting Harry Belafonte – Sam McKelton “Scarlet Ribbons”
21. Saluting Donna Summer – Dakota MacLeod
Chapman Roberts, Raun Ruffin, Sam McKelton and Dakota MacLeod. Photo by Lia Chang
22. Saluting Hugh Masakela – Omar Edwards (Shaine Wilson, Jarred Barnes, Wahkiba Julion, Eboni Latay Edwards, Mac Galleon)
23. Saluting Duke Ellington/Billy Strayhorn – “Take the A Train” Priscilla Baskerville “Creole Love Call” Tina Fabrique
24. Saluting Lion King – Tyrone Davis & Jermaine Coles “Circle of Life”
25. Saluting Solomon Burke & Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. – Andre De Shields “None of Us are Free”
26. Saluting Smokey Joe’s Cafe- Adrian Bailey “Stand By Me”
27. Saluting The Audience “All of Your Dreams”
Gabrielle Goodman, Adrian Bailey, Cynthia Scott, Susan Agin and Natalie Carter-Prince. Photo by Lia Chang
28. Saluting the Ancestors – “Legacy” By Chapman Roberts and Willam Foster MacDaniel
Photo by Lia Chang
29. Recessional – “Live the Dream” by David Alan Bunn
Black Stars of The Great White Way – A Chapman Roberts Concept started out as a seed, a dream, an idea and manifested as a historical event at the legendary Carnegie Hall in New York City. The dream came to Broadway’s first Black “Phantom of The Opera,” “Porgy and Bess,” “Scandal” TV star and TONY nominee Norm Lewis who revealed his vision about doing a concert with all of the Black Men on Broadway at Carnegie Hall to Chapman Roberts on that fateful October day in Times Square.
Marjorie Johnson, Marie E. Nelson, Grace Jones, André De Shields, Ellyn Marshall, Natalie Carter Prince, Michael V. Prince, Tina Fabrique. Photo by Lia Chang
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Lia Chang, Photo by Garth Kravits
Lia Chang is an actor, a multi-media content producer and co-founder of Bev’s Girl Films, making films that foster inclusion and diversity on both sides of the camera. Bev’s Girl Films’ debut short film, Hide and Seek was a top ten film in the Asian American Film Lab’s 2015 72 Hour Shootout Filmmaking Competition, and she received a Best Actress nomination. BGF collaborates with and produces multi-media content for artists, actors, designers, theatrical productions, composers, musicians and corporations. Lia is also an internationally published and exhibited photographer, a multi-platform journalist, and a publicist. Lia has appeared in the films Wolf, New Jack City, A Kiss Before Dying, King of New York, Big Trouble in Little China, The Last Dragon, Taxman and Hide and Seek. She is profiled in Jade Magazine and Playbill.com.
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