Jim Hall News

Legendary music impresario and manager Jim Halsey is celebrating more than 70 years in the entertainment industry. A pioneer of COUNTRY MUSIC innovation and expansion, the 89 year old Independence, Kansas native was honored in his hometown with the 2,000 seat auditorium inside Memorial Hall being renamed to the Jim Halsey Auditorium. Now 89, Halsey has booked hundreds of acts and performances at the venue since 1949.

Throughout its extensive history, the Highlights In Jazz series has made a practice of presenting a spectrum of the most beloved and admired jazz players on the scene. The upcoming 2020 season is no exception, with the exciting four-concert series bringing together stellar musicians including Jimmy Cobb, Jay Leonhart, Bernard Purdie, Art Baron, Russell Malone and others. Count on hearing unforgettable performances from Wycliffe Gordon, Peter and Will Anderson, Victor Lewis, Eddie Daniels, joined by an array of greats.

Lena Hall is back on the NYC stage, in more ways than one! The star of Bat Out of Hell, currently playing at New York City Center, will sing even more Jim Steinman at Rockwood Music Hall. The Tony winner will bring her acclaimed Obsessed series to the iconic venue tonight, August 19, at 7pm.

'They're out of control,' an exasperated Bradley Dean cries out in a plea of victimization. 'Can you believe they tried to destroy my new housing project?' And from there you can pretty much predict where the plot of Jim Steinman's wildly oddball and frequently hilarious Bat Out of Hell is going.

Jazz guitarist Pat Metheny has won countless polls and awards in his more than 40-year career, including 20 Grammy Awards, three gold records, and induction into the Downbeat Hall of Fame. Often performing more than 100 shows per year, Side-Eye is a platform designed by Metheny to showcase a rotating cast of new and upcoming musicians that have caught his attention. This edition of Side-Eye will feature James Francies (keyboard, piano) and drummer Marcus Gilmore.

Two-time Grammy® winning composer and saxophonist Ted Nash releases his 15th album as a leader. SOMEWHERE ELSE - West Side Story Songs on Plastic Sax Records drops on August 16th. 

Continuing its 35th Anniversary season, Urban Stages (Frances Hill, Founding Artistic Director; Tom Toce Producer) proudly announces the line-up for this year's award-winning series, WINTER RHYTHMS 2018, which will begin Wednesday, December 12 featuring some of New York's best musical performances through Saturday, December 22, 2018 at Urban Stages Theatre (259 West 30th Street, just East of 8th Avenue).

Singer-Songwriter Alana Davis will play select East Coast live dates in in support of her latest release Love Again.  The trek, kicking off today, will hit Washington DC, Boston and her native New York City (Dates below.) Love Again was released May 4th via Cleopatra Records and is Davis' first studio album in thirteen years. 

Hide the Moon and the Stars, the sublime new duo recording from pianist Bryn Roberts and guitarist Lage Lund, isn't the kind of jazz album that needs to be read about before it can be understood and enjoyed. It didn't premiere as part of a postmodern opera or multimedia performance; there isn't an overarching concept gleaned from abstract expressionism or the poetry of Rumi. Rather, with its casually stunning interplay and lyrical original music, it's “simply a good showcase for these two particular players, these two voices, these two musical personalities who've been friends for over a dozen years,” Roberts says.

Singer-Songwriter Alana Davis will play select East Coast live dates in October in support of her latest release Love Again.  The trek will hit Washington DC, Boston and her native New York City (Dates below.) Love Again was released May 4th via Cleopatra Records and is Davis' first studio album in thirteen years. 

Flashback to 1966 Las Vegas & join powerhouse vocalist Chris Pinnella along with a 14-Piece Big Band as they perform the iconic live album 'Sinatra at the Sands' from beginning to end. Featuring the Quincy Jones & Count Basie arrangements and led by jazz bassist Gary Mazzaroppi (Stan Getz, Buddy Rich, Les Paul Trio)

Former Buffalo Bills quarterback and Hall of Famer Jim Kelly will be honored with the Jimmy V Award for Perseverance at 'The 2018 ESPYS Presented by Capital One.' Kelly, who led the Bills to four straight AFC championships, was diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma in his jaw in 2013. Over the past five years since his diagnosis, Kelly has embodied the definition of perseverance with his spirit and fearless attitude. He will accept the Jimmy V Perseverance Award sponsored by Bristol-Myers Squibb on Wednesday, July 18, at 'The 2018 ESPYS Presented by Capital One' on ABC.

To celebrate Massey Hall's 124th anniversary, join us Thursday, June 14 as several Massey Hall alumni gather and perform for an historic night of music. Performing double duty as both featured performers and the house band, Whitehorse will lead an all-star lineup including Jim Cuddy, Sarah Harmer, Sam Roberts and Buffy Sainte-Marie, with more artists to be announced soon. All tickets for this landmark event are $18.94, to honour the year that Massey Hall was gifted to the citizens of Toronto.

On Modern Lore, Julian Lage's second studio recording with his trio, the composer and guitarist focuses on the groove, building his melodies and solos around the work of the prodigious rhythm section of double bassist Scott Colley and drummer Kenny Wollesen. Modern Lore finds Lage playfully flipping the script he followed on his acclaimed 2016 Mack Avenue debut, Arclight. That album -- produced, like Modern Lore, by Lage's friend and collaborator, the singer-songwriter Jesse Harris -- was his first trio set on electric guitar and found Lage inspired by the sounds and the attitude of the freewheeling, pre-bebop jazz era, when, as he puts it, 'country music and jazz and swing were in this weird wild-west period.' This time he incorporates the sensibility, if not the outright sound, of early rock and roll, a similarly hybrid form driven by rhythm, personality and a passion for the electric guitar.

Jazz fans know they can count on the Highlights In Jazz concert series to showcase the gifted players who shaped jazz history and continue to contribute to its long and rich legacy. This third concert of the 46th season is no exception: The music is sure to dazzle - and swing - when you have such renowned musicians on hand as pianist Dick Hyman, trombonist Wycliffe Gordon, bassist Jay Leonhart, saxophonist/clarinetist Ken Peplowski, and drummer/vibraphonist Chuck Redd.

With his signature Hammond organ style and versatility on many keyboards, Boston native Larry Goldings (b. 1968) has traversed not only the wide spectrum of jazz where he is perhaps best known, but also the worlds of funk, pop, and electronic music. High in demand as a sideman, Goldings' sound can be heard on scores of albums by artists in virtually every musical genre.

Jazz fans know they can count on the Highlights In Jazz concert series to showcase the gifted players who shaped jazz history and continue to contribute to its long and rich legacy. This third concert of the 46th season is no exception: The music is sure to dazzle - and swing - when you have such renowned musicians on hand as pianist Dick Hyman, trombonist Wycliffe Gordon, bassist Jay Leonhart, saxophonist/clarinetist Ken Peplowski, and drummer/vibraphonist Chuck Redd.

WWE Legend Hillbilly Jim will be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in a ceremony taking place on Friday, April 6 at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans, La.  The induction ceremony will stream live on WWE Network at 8pm ET and USA Network will also broadcast a special presentation of the WWE Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony on Saturday, April 7 at 10 pm ET/PT and Monday, April 9 at 11 pm ET/PT, immediately following Raw®.