The Jay Leonhart Quintet, along with Special Guests, will pay tribute to Marlene VerPlanck on Thursday, February 15th, with one show at BIrdland Jazz Club, at 5:30 PM. The quintet features Jay Leonhart on bass and vocals, Warren Vaché Jr. on trumpet and cornet, Don Braden on saxophones, Russ Kassoff on piano and Ron Vincent on drums
Leonhart, a longtime Marlene VerPlanck bassist and collaborator will be featuring many of the late singer’s regular bandmates and special guests. In fact, VerPlanck was scheduled to perform at this gig at Birdland on February 15th, before her untimely passing on January 15, 2018, at the age of 84. Leonhart said, “any time Marlene missed a gig, she insisted we play without her.”
Newark native Marlene VerPlanck was a jazz and pop vocalist whose body of work centered on big band jazz, the American songbook, and cabaret. Her debut album was released in 1955 when she was 21, and featured jazz legends Hank Jones, Joe Wilder, Wendell Marshall, Kenny Clarke, and Herbie Mann. Later, she was the vocalist in big bands led by Charlie Spivak and Tommy Dorsey. VerPlanck was a prolific studio vocalist for jingles, which included singing an arrangement of the 1930s Campbell’s Soup “M’m M’m Good” song.
For more information and tickets please click here
Birdland Jazz Club is located at 315 West 44th St New York, NY, 212-581-3080
Leave a Reply