CENTENARY STAGE COMPANY’S January THAW Music Festival Brings Three Bands to Hackettstown | Explore Warren

 

CENTENARY STAGE COMPANY’S January THAW Music Festival Brings Three Bands to Hackettstown

Centenary Stage Company launches the annual January THAW Music Festival with the vibrant sounds of Mardi Gras as The HooDoo Loungers storm the Lackland Performing Arts Center on Saturday, January 14, followed by 3hree for Louis:  A Tribute to Louis Armstrong on Sunday, January 22 and Sweet Plantain (pictured) on Saturday, January 28.

Hailed as “…the best New Orleans style band north of the Mississippi”, The HooDoo Loungers are a high-energy, nine-piece band performing music inspired by the rhythms, sounds, history, and spirit of New Orleans. The band's sound encompasses the traditional jazz, brass, classic R&B, and funk along with a blend of original music.

Since its formation in 2008, the HooDoos have performed at numerous music festivals and concerts, as well as top music venues such as the Paramount Theater, The Stephen Talkhouse and B.B. King’s Blues Club.

Tickets for The HooDoo Loungers are $27.50 for adults and $17.50 for children under 12 in advance for the 8 p.m. show. As with all concerts, jazz and special events ticket prices increase $5 on the day of the performance.  All ticket sales are final.

Centenary Stage Company’s January THAW Music Festival continues on Sunday, January 22 at 2 p.m. with a tribute to the great “Satchmo” as performed by one of New York City’s most versatile musicians, Eddie Allen, in 3three for Louis:  A tribute to Louis Armstrong.

Allen brings three trumpeters and an all-star ensemble to pay tribute to the legacy and music of jazz great and American icon, Louis Armstrong. Trumpeter, composer, arranger, and author, Allen is called upon to play styles from jazz to R&B/Pop to Latin to symphonic to Broadway, and everything in between. “Allen’s control of the timbres, from guttural moans to clarion peals, and his ability to squeeze whimpers out of brass and hurl them at the listener, marks him as a horn man to watch,” according to The Washington Post.

Since his arrival on the New York scene he’s worked with such jazz greats as Art Blakey, Billy Harper, Randy Weston, Dizzy Gillespie, Henry Threadgill, Bobby Watson, Jon Faddis, Benny Carter, Panama Francis, Joe Henderson and Steve Turre.  He has recorded and performed with, as well as composed for, Louis Hayes, Lester Bowie, Jack McDuff, Etta Jones & Houston Person, Mongo Santamaria, Chico Freeman, Charli Persip, Vanessa Rubin and Muhal Richard Abrams. He’s performed in the orchestras of such Broadway hits as Ain’t Misbehavin’, Black & Blue, Side Show, Jelly’s Last Jam, Five Guys Named Mo’ and Rollin’ on the T.O.B.A.

Tickets for 3hree for Louis: A Tribute to Louis Armstrong are $25 for adults and $17.50 for children under 12 in advance; $5 more the day of the performance.

The January THAW Music Festival closes on Saturday, January 28 at 8 p.m. with the artfully fusing of music genres by Sweet Plantain.  Bridging the gap between generations and musical genres, Sweet Plantain fuses the western classical traditions in which they were trained with the hip-hop, jazz improv, and Latin rhythms on which they were raised. Their unique repertoire and live shows educate and entertain. Through original compositions and arrangements, and with their use of extended percussive techniques, Sweet Plantain awakens audiences to new possibilities in chamber music.

Separately hailing from the Bronx, New Jersey, and Venezuela, together these musicians give voice to a sound that is contemporary, multicultural, and very New York.  Since 2007, Sweet Plantain's extensive touring has included performances throughout the United States, Europe, Russia, and the Caribbean, ranging from concerts in Russia's historic Tchaikovsky Concert Hall to gigs at NYC's famed Birdland jazz club.

Gifted educators, the group also has led master classes, educational concerts, and held teaching residencies at Berklee College of Music (Boston), the 92nd Street Y (Manhattan), Celia Cruz High School (the Bronx), the Sun Valley Center for the Arts (Idaho), Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival (Alaska), and at numerous other schools and cultural centers throughout the U.S.
Tickets for Sweet Plantain on Saturday, January 28 at 8pm are $22.50 for adults and $17.50 for children under 12 in advance.

As with all concerts, jazz and special events ticket prices increase $5.00 on the day of the performance.  All ticket sales are final.

For more information or to purchase tickets visit centenarystageco.org or call the box office at (908) 979-0900.  The Centenary Stage Company box office is open Monday through Friday from 1-5 p.m. and two hours prior to every performance. The CSC box office is located in the Lackland Performing Arts Center at 715 Grand Avenue, Hackettstown, NJ, in residency on the campus of Centenary University.

Centenary Stage company can also be found across social media platforms; Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.  Like and follow Centenary Stage Company to receive the latest events news and special offers.

The 2016-17 season of performing arts events at the Centenary Stage Company is made possible through the generous support of the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, the NJ State Council on the Arts, the Shubert Foundation, the Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation, the Sandra Kupperman Foundation, and CSC corporate sponsors, including Premier Season Sponsor Heath Village Retirement Community, Silver Sponsors Hackettstown Regional Medical Center, Home Instead Senior Care (Washington), The Holiday Inn in Budd Lake, and Fulton Bank of New Jersey, and Centenary Stage Company members and supporters.