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Monthly Archives: September 2012

JRB KARAOKE COMPETITION SEMI-FINALISTS!

9/30/12

UPDATE: The voting period is now over! Finalists will be announced soon! In June, I announced a new competition, The JRB 2012 Summer Karaoke Competition, whereby singers were invited to sing along with the accompaniments I had recorded for Jason Robert Brown Plays Jason Robert Brown, a collection released this year by Hal Leonard. Over 700 people submitted recordings, and today I am proud to announce the semi-finalists. Up to now, all the decisions have been mine alone – I’ve listened to every one of the entries and chosen these seventy incredible singers – but as of this post, thingsRead More »

TRIBUTE TO MARVIN HAMLISCH, SATURDAY 9/22

9/21/12

September 22 in Pasadena, I’ll be part of a FREE CONCERT under the stars in front of City Hall, celebrating the life and music of the great Marvin Hamlisch. Jason Alexander is hosting, Larry Blank is conducting, I’m playing some tunes, Valerie Perri and Lisa Vroman will be singing, the Pasadena POPS will be playing, and it should be a beautiful night to remember an extraordinary musician. Show starts at 7, but there’s pre-concert stuff starting at 5:30, including food trucks, kids’ entertainment, musical instrument petting zoo and more. Here is the page from the Pasadena Symphony about the show,Read More »

SETLIST: Albany, NY (9/16/12)

9/17/12

A cheerfully random and delightfully chaotic evening tonight at the Academy of Holy Names – what could be more appropriate, after all, than for a Jewish boy to do a concert on Rosh Hashanah in a Catholic girls’ school? Thanks to Lisa Franklin, who brought me up from New York to work with 23 of her amazing students and then asked me to share an hour of my music with them and their families and some other groovy Albany cats. It All Fades Away I Could Be In Love With Someone Like You I Love Betsy (from Honeymoon In Vegas)Read More »

SETLIST: JRB & Shoshana Bean at 54 Below, 9/11-15/12

9/15/12

It has been an amazing week at 54 Below with Shoshana Bean, one of my favorite singers in the entire world. (We’ve still got two shows left tonight!) And if getting to sing with Shoshana wasn’t fantastic enough, I’ve also had my tremendous band, The Caucasian Rhythm Kings, featuring Gary Sieger and Randy Landau and our newest recruit, Matt Hinkley on mandolin and acoustic guitar. We’ve gotten rave reviews and huge sold-out houses, and more importantly, we’ve made some awesome music for some wonderful crowds, so thank you for this amazing week. It All Fades Away And I Will FollowRead More »

REVIEW: JRB at 54 Below (NY Times, 9/13/12)

9/13/12

Stephen Holden’s review is here. Music Review Striving for New Standards, Just the Way They Are Jason Robert Brown at 54 Below By STEPHEN HOLDEN The New York Times, September 13, 2012 [Photo by Brian Harkin for the New York Times] If you pay little attention to the insular world of musical theater, you might not know that the 42-year-old singer, composer and playwright Jason Robert Brown is the Billy Joel of his generation. The heartfelt outpourings of this brainy, driven, hypersensitive, self-conscious introvert deserve to be standards, but still aren’t. “Stars and the Moon,” from his 1995 show, SongsRead More »