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Renee Fleming Sings Jazz Standards
Renee Fleming is among the world’s leading operatic sopranos, yet has also maintained a career-long interest in jazz. On this special Christmas Eve show, Fleming is joined in the WNYC studio by tenor saxophonist Illinois Jacquet and pianist Larry Ham to perform a selection of jazz standards. This is the first time that these major American artists have come together to perform (despite long-gestated plans for a recording project), although it's hardly their first meeting. While attending the State University of New York at Potsdam, Fleming and Ham performed a regular weekend gig with a jazz trio in a local, off-campus pub. When Jacquet, one of the giants in American jazz, was invited to conduct an on-campus master class, he was won over by Fleming’s performance. A repeat broadcast can be heard Monday, January 5, 2004.
Among the selections that will be featured on Soundcheck are Antonio Carlos Jobim's "Quiet Nights,"George Gershwin's "They Can't Take that Away from Me," Carey/Fischer's "You've Changed," and two Duke Ellington standards: "In a Sentimental Mood" and "Caravan."
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