Pop Up "Jazz Lounge" at WAC, Nov. 3

Westport, CT - Gather your friends and co-workers for a special Thursday night “Jazz Lounge” event at the Westport Arts Center on Thursday, November 3 at 6:30 p.m. 

Grab a seat at a high-top table, enjoy a glass of wine, and listen to the lively music of Atla and Matt DeChamplain. The DeChamplains were high school sweethearts who have been performing together since they were teenagers.  For this concert, they will perform songs of the Great American songbook featuring Jewish American musicians, including Harold Arlen, Irving Berlin, Sammy Cahn, George & Ira Gershwin, and Jules Styne. 

Atla DeChamplain said of their duo and its influences, “We started as best friends…and we loved the same musicians: Ella Fitzgerald, Oscar Peterson, Ray Brown, Jon Hendricks, and Nat King Cole.”

The DeChamplains released their first album together entitled PAUSE in 2015. 

NPR dubbed the DeChamplains “one of Connecticut’s premier jazz power couples” and said of their music, “With Atla’s cool, consummate command of scat and the complete art of the bebop vocal and Matt’s mastery of the piano tradition from ragtime, stride, and blues through modern and contemporary styles, the DeChamplains have much to celebrate with the release of their first recording together.”

Brian Torff, the Westport Arts Center’s Jazz Curator said of the DeChamplains, "Matt and Atla DeChamplain are a husband and wife team that carry on some great traditions in American music. Matt is a virtuoso jazz pianist with extraordinary range and technique, from stride and boogie-woogie to modern styles. Atla is a gifted jazz vocalist with influences including Ella Fitzgerald, Jon Hendricks and Nat King Cole.  Her strengths include the ability to craft this music into a show that can be loved by any music lover."

Currently, Matt teaches at the Jackie McLean Institute of Jazz (at the Hartt School of Music), the Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts and Glastonbury High School. Atla currently teaches jazz voice at Western Connecticut State University, and teaches music at Capital Community College.  The DeChamplains also lead high school and college-level clinics for developing musicians. 

Individual concert tickets and season tickets are now available for the Westport Arts Center’s Jazz Music series.  Season ticket holders enjoy significant benefits. In addition to a cost savings of up to 15%, season ticket holders receive reserved preferred seating at all concerts and an opportunity to engage with the musicians immediately following the concerts.  The tickets are transferable.

New to 2016-17, each season ticket holder will also receive the benefit of sponsoring two students to also attend a concert.

Tickets can be purchased at www.westportartscenter.org or by calling the Westport Arts Center at 203/222-7070.  A limited number of discounted Senior tickets will be available for presale at the Westport Center for Senior Activities, 21 Imperial Avenue, Westport. Corporate sponsorship and group ticket opportunities are also available.

The Westport Arts Center thanks WPKN for the generous sponsorship of its Jazz music season.

 

Upcoming Jazz Music Concert Schedule:

 

The Saxtet under direction of Darren Litzie

Thursday, January 19, 2017, at 7:30 p.m. at the Westport Arts Center

Pianist, composer and educator Darren Litzie will perform a tribute to Benny Goodman and Stan Getz. 

 

Jazz Jam

Sunday, February 26, 2017, at 3 p.m. at the Westport Arts Center

Free-wheeling jam session with community musicians, including Jazz, Blues, and other styles.

 

Greg Wall

Sunday, March 5, 2017, 3 p.m. at the Westport Arts Center

Rabbi Wall (also known as "the Jazz Rabbi") is a celebrated musician and recording artist who performs a blend of jazz, world, and Jewish music.

 

About the Westport Arts Center

The Westport Arts Center, a nonprofit organization dedicated to connecting community through the arts, reaches more than 11,000 people annually through outstanding programs in visual arts, arts education, and the performance arts of Chamber and Jazz music.

The Westport Arts Center also receives philanthropic support from the Katherine and Howard Aibel Foundation; Artur and Heida Hermanns Holde Foundation, Inc.; AB Bernstein; the Brant Foundation; CBP; Cohen and Wolf, P.C.; Connecticut Cigar Company; Connecticut Office of the Arts; Delamar Southport; Disney Worldwide Services, Inc., DanceSport; Dragone Motor Cars; Fairfield County Bank; Finn, Dixon & Herling LLP; Fleishers Craft Butchery; 4th Row Films; GWAY Marketing Gymnasium; Hal Prince Music; the Hall Art Foundation; The Hofstetter Baron Group; J.P. Morgan; Land Rover Milford; Lillian August; the Mitchell’s Family of Stores; Moffly Media; Newman’s Own Foundation; Random Acts; Rosenkranz Foundation; Saugatuck Wine & Grape; Shack Sackler Foundation; Sontag Advisory LLC; Stamford Tent; Sun Hill Foundation; Verde Energy USA, Inc.; Vespa Restaurant; Wells Fargo Advisors; Westport Family Counseling; Westport Now; William J. Rosenbloom Charitable Trust; Xerox Foundation; WPKN; and WSHU Public Radio Group.

For more information, contact the Westport Arts Center at 203/222-7070 or www.westportartscenter.org.   The Westport Arts Center gallery is open Monday – Saturday 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. at 51 Riverside Avenue, Westport, CT.

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Submitted by Fairfield, CT

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