LEE SHAPIRO PLAYS THE GREATEST HITS OF FRANKIE VALLI!

Lee Shapiro

NEW YORK (Sept. 19, 2018) ― Who loves you, Frankie Valli? Your former musical director, Lee Shapiro, and he’s releasing a tribute album to salute you for 45 years as a friend and mentor.

Though he’s been playing the greatest hits of Frankie Valli on the world’s stages since he helped make them hits as his fellow Jersey Boy’s 1970s musical director and arranger, Shapiro brings an entirely new twist to the iconic vocalist’s music with the Sept. 28 release of Lee Shapiro Plays the Greatest Hits of Frankie Valli (Mink Mitten), a solo piano tribute, interpreted for the very first time as instrumental cocktail music.

Shapiro, who originally arranged two of Valli’s biggest Four Seasons hits in the mid-‘70s, the No. 1 smash “December, 1963 (Oh What a Night)” and “Who Loves You” (#3), continues to play Valli’s best across the USA these days with THE HIT MEN, his unique Supergroup of classic rock’s legendary side men.

“I always knew his music would be effectively adaptable to a piano solo format,” says Shapiro. “The songs are so harmonically clever and melodically interesting. Although it’s taken 45 years, the time is right.”

With fellow THE HIT MEN band member Jeff Ganz producing, Shapiro came up with a 10-song collection that reflects the set list from the first time they played Las Vegas together, with a big orchestra, at the original Aladdin Hotel & Casino in 1974. The selections span the 10-year period leading up to that moment, from early hits “Dawn” to later classics “Swearin’ to God” and “My Eyes Adored You,” with fan favorites such as “Marlena” and “Silence Is Golden,” and of course, the mid-‘60s ode to Sinatra, “I’ve Got You Under My Skin.”

The Hit Men

Valli launched Shapiro’s career as an unsuspecting 19-year-old Jersey Boy. He would go on to work alongside the likes of Barry Manilow, Cher, Tommy James & The Shondells, Chuck Berry, Tony Orlando, and many other superstars, before forming THE HIT MEN to forge the latest chapter.

Lee Shapiro Plays the Greatest Hits of Frankie Valli

TRACK LISTING: LEE SHAPIRO PLAYS THE GREATEST HITS OF FRANKIE VALLI

1. Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You

2. Dawn

3. My Eyes Adored You

4. Fallen Angel

5. I’ve Got You Under My Skin

6. Save It for Me

7. Our Day Will Come

8. Marlena

9. Swearin’ to God

10.Silence Is Golden

“Frankie threw me in the water and required that I swim,” Shapiro recalls. “Fortunately, I swam.”

Shapiro had been writing arrangements for an 18-piece jazz band in Garfield, NJ, when opportunity knocked. Valli was looking to replace Bob Gaudio in the Four Seasons and got a tip to check out Shapiro at a Jersey jazz club with the big band. That led to his audition in the banquet room at the Fountain Restaurant in Belleville, NJ, where the Four Seasons were rehearsing.

“Frankie came in, they put music in front of me, and said. ‘Play this,’” says Shapiro. “The song was ‘Dawn.’ I played the first chord, Frankie started singing, and I froze. He says, ‘What’s the matter? Why aren’t you playing? And I said to him, ‘Man, you sound just like the radio,’ and that cracked up everybody in the room. I felt foolish, but I continued, and the rest is history. They hired me despite my young age.

“As I look back on it, Frankie believed in me before I did. He provided the vehicle for me to learn everything I know about recording and performing, having put me in the studio with the likes of Bob Crewe, Bob Gaudio, Charlie Calello, and Artie Schroeck, as well as top session cats like Steve Gadd, Gordon Edwards, Richard Tee, Georgie Young, and singing stars Patti Austin, Darlene Love, and Donna Summer.

“The last time I saw Frankie it occurred to me that this album concept was more valid than ever, especially now that ‘Jersey Boys” has brought his music back to the forefront. This is my thank you.”

KANDACE SPRINGS RELEASES GORGEOUS NEW SINGLE "6 8"

Kandace Springs has released “6 8,” a sublime remake of Gabriel Garzón-Montano's gorgeous ballad that is molasses slow and crystalline pretty. Kandace’s sensual vocals and chiming piano intertwine with Elena Pinderhughes’ ethereal flute and float above Burniss Travis II’s bass and Karriem Riggins’ drums. Watch the video for “6 8” here.

The song follows the single “Don’t Need The Real Thing,” both of which appear on Kandace’s remarkable second album Indigo, a 13-track LP of originals and choice covers that will be released September 7 on Blue Note Records. The album showcases the full breadth of Kandace’s artistry with songs that swirl classical composition with quiet-storm cool, jazz poise with hip-hop swing, tropical warmth with soulful depth, and earthen groove with airy psych.

Indigo

All but two tracks are produced by Riggins (Common, Erykah Badu) with additional production by Jamie Hartman (Rag'n'Bone Man), Jimmy Hogarth (Amy Winehouse, Corinne Bailey Rae), Jimmy Harry (Madonna, P!nk), and Evan Rogers and Carl Sturken (Rihanna).

Given the diverse palette, Karriem was exactly the right person to work with Kandace to catalyze the best parts of various interests into something new. “I love crossing genres and the direction on Indigo was to marry all the different things to tell her story,” says Karriem, who tracked his drums at various studios while on the road with Diana Krall, and chopped and reassembled his and Kandace's recordings into what you hear. “It sounds organic because everything was built around the songwriting. She says so much on the piano, and her voice is amazing—it's the focal point of the whole sound.”

Kandace will embark on a U.S. headline tour beginning September 28 that includes album release shows in Los Angeles (Troubadour, October 1), New York (Sony Hall, October 28), and a hometown Nashville show (City Winery, November 4), followed by performances in Europe and Asia. See below for a full list of tour dates and visit kandacesprings.com for ticket info.

Kandace Springs – Tour Dates:
September 28 – Musical Instrument Museum – Phoenix, AZ
September 29 – Voodoo Room @ House of Blues – San Diego, CA
September 30 - The Parish @ House of Blues – Anaheim, CA
October 1 – The Troubadour – Los Angeles, CA
October 2 – Swedish American Hall – San Francisco, CA
October 4 – The Jack London Revue – Portland, OR
October 5 – Benaroya Hall – Seattle, WA
October 7 - Vancouver International Jazz Festival – Vancouver, BC
October 24 – City Winery – Boston, MA
October 25 - Daryl’s House Club – Pawling, NY
October 27 - Iron Horse Music Hall – Northampton, MA
October 28 - Sony Hall – New York, NY
October 29 – World Café Live – Philadelphia, PA
October 30 – The Hamilton – Washington, DC
November 2 – Stage Door Theater – Charlotte, NC
November 3 – City Winery – Atlanta, GA
November 4 – City Winery – Nashville, TN
November 13 – Forum Leverkusen – Leverkusen, Germany **with WDR Big Band**
November 16 – New Morning – Paris, France
November 17 – Queen Elizabeth Hall – London, England
November 19 – Paradiso – Amsterdam, Netherlands
November 20 – Quasimodo – Berlin, Germany
November 27 – Tokyo International Forum – Tokyo, Japan
November 28 – Sankei Hall Breeze – Osaka, Japan
December 1 – Blue Note Beijing – Beijing, China
December 2 – Blue Note Beijing – Beijing, China

TEEN PRODIGY CLASSICAL PIANIST ANASTASIA RIZIKOV LIVE AT THE BERMAN

Anastasia Rizikov 

West Bloomfield, MI (April 10, 2018) – Canadian classical pianist Anastasia Rizikov will perform at The Berman Center for the Performing Arts at 3 p.m. Sunday, April 29. Rizikov made her orchestral debut at the tender age of seven and has since appeared as soloist with major orchestras in North America and Europe.

The launch of her career began when she placed first at the Vladimir Horowitz International Piano Competition in Kiev, Ukraine, where she was invited to perform with the National Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine conducted by Mykola Diadiura. From there, Rizikov stepped on to the international competition circuit competing with musicians twice her age.

In 2011, she became the youngest person to compete and win in history at the Rotary International Piano Competition (Palma de Mallorca, Spain, 2011). Rizikov won in other major competitions, including: Ettore Pozzoli International Piano Competition (Seregno, Italy, 2015); the Jaén International Piano Competition (Jaén, Spain, 2015); and the 13th Giuliano Pecar International Piano Competition (Gorizia, Italy, 2013), to name a few.

“Ms. Rizikov is an extraordinary virtuoso, with abundant technical prowess,” said Renée Silberman at The Beat Magazine. “But she is more than the sum of ten fingers – she is a consummate artist, born to play, to love the art and act of music-making...” he continued.

Now 19, Rizikov is being lauded as the “one to watch.” With more than 30 orchestral performances and 20 concerti in her repertoire, Rizikov has already played with such major orchestras as Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Symphony Nova Scotia, and City of Granada Orchestra. She has worked with conductors such as Peter Oundjian, Alain Trudel, Bernhard Gueller and more.

Adept in English, Russian, Ukrainian (and working towards mastering her French), Rizikov began studies at École Normale de Musique de Paris with Professor Rena Shereshevskaya. From 2003-2017 she studied with Professor Maia Spis at the Nadia Music Academy, Toronto. She has played in master classes for Sergei Babayan, Arie Vardi, and Robert Levin, and has worked with András Schiff, Emanuel Ax, Menahem Pressler, and Olga Kern.

Being a person who loves and understands her audience, she dreams of being able to share her unique musical voice with the entire world, including audiences in Detroit.

To purchase tickets, please visit theberman.org or call 248.661.1900 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. Groups of 10 or more, please call or email theberman@jccdet.org.

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The Berman Center for the Performing Arts is located at the Jewish Community Center of Metropolitan Detroit, D. Dan & Betty Kahn Building | Eugene & Marcia Applebaum Jewish Community Campus at 6600 W. Maple Rd., West Bloomfield, MI 48322.

About The Berman: The Berman Center for the Performing Arts is a beautiful, 600 seat state-of-the-art venue. The Berman showcases an eclectic variety of world-class entertainment for all audiences of Metro Detroit while showcasing the Jewish Community Center’s exceptional events.