JAZZIN’ WITH THE STARS
Benefit Concert
Featuring Ronnie Spector, Jimmie Rodgers, Marshall Lytle, and Michelle Berting
... with The Heartbeat Dixieland Jazz Band
To Benefit The Hole In The Wall Gang Camp & Channel 3 Kid’s Camp
(Middletown, CT)--- On Saturday, April 21, the first-ever “Jazzin’ with the Stars” concert will unite one of the best known bands in New England, The Heartbeat Dixieland Jazz Band, with special guest stars, including Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame artist, Ronnie Spector; 50s/60s hit-maker Jimmie Rodgers; Rock ‘n Roll pioneer and founding member of Bill Haley and the Comets, Marshall Lytle; and Canadian chanteuse Michelle Berting!
Triple Play, a trio known for its performance of classic rock and roll from the 50s and 60s, will back up some of the guest stars. The MC for the event will be Internet radio host and DJ of the Stars, Jimmy Jay!
Held at The First Church of Christ, 190 Court Street in Middletown, from 2 to 5 pm, the performance benefits the nationally known The Hole In The Wall Gang Camp, founded by the late Paul Newman, and the regional Channel 3 Kids Camp, sponsored by WFSB-TV3.
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| Order Tickets Here! |
How It All Happened
Conceived by the Heartbeat’s founder, drummer and philanthropist Bill Logozzo, “Jazzin’ with the Stars” is presented under the auspices of Logozzo’s own Musical Dreams for Human Harmony Foundation, whose mission is to earn funds through musical productions and programs for the purpose of helping people with specific medical needs or handicaps.
Logozzo noted, “Every day of my life, I recall the huge amount of fear I lived with through my childhood and adolescent years. What helped me get past those difficult times was knowing how my parents, my teachers, my coaches, my friends and laypersons all showed how they cared about me. I don't think my story is unusual but I'm certainly aware of how important it is for kids to receive our love and support. This is my motive for using the wonderful world of music to involve as many people as possible to reach out to young people to let them know they are cared about.”
A Direct Dixieland Heartbeat To Your Soul
The Heartbeat Dixieland Jazz Band has been performing throughout Connecticut for more than eight years, including regular appearances at Oliver’s Tavern in Essex, The Yankee Clipper in Niantic and area jazz festivals. Heartbeat’s music covers the spectrum of the history of jazz and often includes a variety of musical styles from ragtime and New Orleans Dixieland to swing and gospel, with a little boogie-woogie thrown in.
At the “Jazzin with the Stars” concert on April 21, the band will be made up of some of New England’s most proficient jazz musicians: Dr. John Clark (saxophone), Jeff Hughes (cornet), Sherman Kahn (reeds), Ben Griffin (trombone), Skip Hughes (trombone and vocals), Albie Bernard (tuba), Gim Burton (banjo), Shari Lucas (keyboard), and Heartbeat band leader, Bill Logozzo (drums).
Backing up some of the guest stars will be the Connecticut band, Triple Play, known for its performance of “contemporary classics”--- rock and roll songs from the ’50s and ’60s through today’s hits. Members of the trio include: Bill Logozzo (drums), Sal Basile (vocals, guitar, bass and keyboard) and Dave Spitzer (electric bass).
Special Guest Stars Lend Talents to Benefit
Ronnie Spector, Guest Star
Known for the embodiment of the heart, soul and passion of female rock and roll in the 1960s, special guest star Ronnie Spector defined an entire era in pop music. For these qualities and more, Ronnie Spector and the Ronettes were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in March 2007. Born and raised in upper Manhattan, Ronnie formed the Ronettes while in her teens and released her first records in 1961 on the Colpix label. Professional singers and dancers at New York’s Peppermint Lounge, the Ronettes were discovered by legendary disc jockey Murray the K (Murray Kaufman), who promptly hired them as dancers for his Brooklyn Fox Theater rock and roll revues.
Beginning in 1963, as lead singer of the ultimate girl group, The Ronettes, Ronnie
Spector recorded a long string of classic pop hits, including “Walking In The Rain,” “Do I Love You,” “Baby I Love You,” “The Best Part of Breaking Up,” “I Can Hear Music” and the international number one hit, “Be My Baby.” Last year was a significant year for Ronnie with her cover of Amy Winehouse’s “Back to Black” being named “Single of the Month” in Britain’s influential MOJO Magazine. Also, in June 2011, Ronnie appeared at London’s Royal Festival Hall for the prestigious Meltdown Festival. That night, wrote Betty Clark in The Guardian, it was “the diminutive, flirtatious Ronnie Spector who supplied the most magic, her pixie face swamped by a mop of wild hair, her renditions of Ronettes classics ‘Baby, I Love You’ and “Be My Baby’ poignant and perfect.” The style, look and sound of Ronnie Spector have served as an inspiration and role model for a generation of rock and roll women.
Jimmie Rodgers, Guest Star
Poet, musician, folk-rock pioneer and said to possess one of the purest, most natural and mellifluous voices ever set to vinyl, Jimmie Rodgers is best known for his chart-topping hits in the 50s and 60s, “Honeycomb” and “Kisses Sweeter Than Wine,” among others. Jimmie eventually recorded more than 450 songs during the course of his career and starred in his own television shows in the late 1950s, featuring some of the best-known celebrities of the day.
In 1967, after releasing the album “Child of Clay,” Rodgers was found brutally beaten and left to die in his car in the San Fernando Valley. The injuries Rodgers sustained, requiring brain surgery, stopped his brilliant career for many years. His recent biography, “Dancing On The Moon,” depicts the life of a man who navigated through the record companies in the music business to the high road of success, guided by his faith in God and love for his family.
Marshall Lytle, Guest Star
A founding member and bassist of Bill Haley and the Comets, Marshall is being inducted into the Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame on April 14, 2012, 58 years after recording “Rock Around the Clock,” 59 years after “Crazy Man Crazy,” and 60 years after “Rock This Joint.” In fact, “Rock This Joint” was playing on the radio with a late-night DJ named Alan Freed. Alan was away from the mike, not realizing that it was “hot”, yelling at the music, “Rock, baby” and “Roll, baby.” Soon, the phones started ringing and requests came pouring in for more of the “Rock ‘n Roll.” It was “Rock This Joint” that was played when the term “Rock ‘n Roll” was coined in Cleveland, Ohio--- and the reason that the Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame is located there today. Lytle is already a member of the Rockabilly Hall of Fame and the Vocal Group Hall of Fame. He is the only surviving member of the original Bill Haley and the Comets.
Michelle Berting, Guest Band Vocalist
Originally from Canada, guest vocalist Michelle Berting is best known in Toronto for recording with music legend Ronnie Hawkins. She was invited to participate in the Eighth Annual International Cabaret Conference at Yale University, is currently touring with “The Man In Black” show about Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash and stars in the concert show, “Close To You: The Songs of the Carpenters,” set to launch in the U.S. in 2012. Trained on scholarship at Dickinson State University in the U.S. and an award-winning graduate of the Music Theater Program at Sheridan College in Ontario, Canada, she has worked on cruise ships and throughout Europe, Japan and the Middle East as a show band singer and band leader.
Proceeds Benefit Children’s Charities
One hundred percent of the proceeds from the three-hour “Jazzin’ with the Stars” concert on April 21 will benefit two important children’s charities, based in Connecticut:
The Hole in the Wall Gang Camp
Founded in 1988 by Paul Newman and named for the outlaw hiding place from his film, “Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid,” The Hole in the Wall Gang Camp is a nonprofit, year-round center serving children and their families coping with cancer, sickle cell anemia, and other serious illnesses. Through summer sessions and family weekend programs at the Camp in Ashford, Connecticut, and year-round outreach to hospitals and clinics throughout the Northeast, the Camp will serve 20,000 children and their families in 2012. All services are free of charge.
The Channel 3 Kids Camp
Each year, more than 4,000 children ages 6-16 from Connecticut and areas throughout New England attend the Channel 3 Kids Camp in Andover, CT. The unique program welcomes boys and girls from all walks of life, especially those who do not have the financial ability to experience the joys and value of a high quality camp program. Channel 3 Kids Camp offers traditional day and overnight summer camp, Camp Venture’s (an after school program), and a year-round teen leadership program. The Kids Camp also hosts Nature’s Classroom, Siblings Connections which reunites siblings in foster care, and partners with Camp Abilities to provide camping experiences to children who are visually impaired, blind or deaf blind. The Channel 3 Kids Camp is a sanctuary for children all year long regardless of economic, physical or developmental ability to come play, learn and grow without barriers.
All About Tickets.....
Tickets for the “Jazzin’ with the Stars” benefit concert are $30 if ordered before April 6th; or $35 on or after April 6. For tickets, visit www.heartbeatjazzband.net to download a mail-order form or call (860) 227-2274 to charge tickets with a major credit card. All tickets will be held for pick up at the door, the day of the event. For more information, visit www.heartbeatjazzband.net, email musicaldreams@sbcglobal.net or call (860) 227-2274.
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