#PickoftheWeek | Ladies Sing The Blues at Kupferberg on May 6
BY QEDC It's In Queens
Here’s a test. This concert honors the Empress of the Blues, the Queen of the Blues, and the Mother of the Blues. What kind of music can the audience expect to hear?
The Kupferberg Center for the Arts presents Ladies Sing The Blues at LeFrak Concert Hall on May 6 at 8 pm.
With a seven-piece band, vocalists Catherine Russell, Brianna Thomas, and Charenée Wade will channel the 1920s divas Bessie (Empress) Smith, Mamie (Queen) Smith, Ma (Mother) Rainey, and other Blues legends, including Billie Holiday (of course).
Admission runs from $25 to $35.
According to NPR, Catherine Russell has “a voice that wails like a horn and whispers like a snake in the Garden of Eden.” The native New Yorker, whose father was Louis Armstrong’s musical director, was a child prodigy who has appeared on more than 200 albums. She’s toured with Paul Simon, David Bowie, Steely Dan, and others.
Brianna Thomas is another prodigy who won her first talent contest at age eight. (The Illinois native was inducted into Peoria’s African American Hall of Fame Museum at age 13 in 1996.) Her voice can transmit myriad moods and feelings while also serving up a healthy portion of sass or soulfulness when needed.
A professor at the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College, Charenée Wade turns music into poetry with her bold voice. The recent Peabody Institute at the Johns Hopkins University member performs regularly with Wynton Marsalis at Jazz at Lincoln Center.
Located at 153-49 Reeves Ave. in Flushing, LeFrak Concert Hall has almost perfect acoustics. It’s also near a parking lot.
Images: Catherine Russell