Trombonist Urbie Green to open for The Dave Brubeck Quartet
Deer Head Inn, the Region’s Original Fountain
of Jazz, will Sponsor the Event and Co-host a
Pre-show Reception with Mountain Laurel Center
CEO Richard T. Bryant
Bushkill, PA —- Urbie Green, the internationally renowned trombonist who hails from the Poconos has accepted Mountain Laurel Center’s invitation to open for the Dave Brubeck Quartet in the Tom Ridge Pavilion on Thursday, August 3 at 7:30 pm. Accompanying Mr. Green on piano will be his son Jesse Green, and three other jazz musicians from the region, to be announced.
Deer Head Inn, Delaware Water Gap’s venerable home for jazz and a center of gravity for many of the internationally known and aspiring jazz artists who live in the Poconos, will sponsor the evening and co-host a pre-show reception with Mountain Laurel Center’s CEO Richard T. Bryant.
“We couldn’t be happier to be able to present an artist as great as Urbie Green on the same bill as Dave Brubeck,” said Richard T. Bryant. “Not only does it underscore the point that the Poconos have one of the richest jazz legacies in the Northeast, but it also re-unites two contemporaries who have forged new ground in jazz across their extraordinary careers. This night will cook.
“This is exactly the sort of program that Mountain Laurel Center should do to integrate our programming with some of the great artists who live and work here,” Bryant continued. “We look forward to this as the first of many collaborations with the Deer Head Inn and other jazz and musical leaders in the region.”
More than any other musician during the past half-century, Dave Brubeck has expanded the public's perception of jazz, creating innovative rhythms and melodic lines that are the very essence of cool. After beginning his career as an experimental jazz artist with classical roots, Brubeck founded his famous Dave Brubeck Quartet in 1951, first winning acclaim in the San Francisco Bay area and then nationwide and worldwide. The Quartet's popularity, especially on its extensive tours of college campuses, heralded the 1950s "beatnik" era - but Brubeck's music remained a favorite of all ages. The ensemble's smash hits "Take Five" and "Blue Rondo a la Turk," among others, are touchstones of American jazz. Now in his mid-80s and still going strong, Brubeck brings his latest quartet - saxophonist/flutist Bobby Militello, bassist Michael Moore and longtime drummer Randy Jones - to the stage of the Mountain Laurel Center as the legend continues.
Known widely as "the trombonists' trombonist," the Alabama-born Green played with Gene Krupa and Woody Herman in the '40s and recorded with nearly all the great jazz musicians of the '50s, '60s and beyond. According to Wikipedia, some have proposed that he may be "the most-recorded musician of all time." He now lives in the Poconos and is a local - as well as national - treasure.
Dave Brubeck and Urbie Green have performed on the same bill once before, in the 1969 All-Star “White House Tribute” for then President Richard Nixon that also featured Duke Ellington, Clark Terry, Paul Desmond, Earl Hines, J.J. Johnson and Louie Belson. The “White House Tribute" was recorded live and has been recently re-issued on Blue Note Records.
Tickets for the Dave Brubeck Quartet in Concert have been onsale for several weeks through TicketMaster, mountainlaurelcenter.com, and at MLCPA’s on-site Box Office. To accommodate the addition of Mr. Green to the program, the curtain time has been changed to 7:30 pm. Current ticket holders are now being informed of the time change.
Mountain Laurel Center is a state-of-the-art nonprofit performing arts venue located in the beautiful Pocono Mountains and is home of the Tom Ridge Pavilion with 2,500 covered seats and room under the stars for up to 6,000 more on its comfortable lawn. The volunteer Board of Directors and CEO Richard T. Bryant are dedicated to serving the region by providing world class artists and entertainers through an ongoing series of performances and educational programming. For tickets or additional information about the Mountain Laurel Center, please call 570-426-2080 or visit the website www.mountainlaurelcenter.com.
Deer Head Inn, now under new ownership of Dennis Carrig, Bob Mancuso, Jason Wilson, and Mary Carrig, is located at the corner of Main Street and Mountain Road in Delaware Water Gap, PA. Jazz performances (with optional dinner) are generally featured Wednesdays through Saturdays weekly. For full schedule and information please call 570.424.2000 or visit www.deerheadinn.com.
