At Arts Garage, Dick Lowenthal’s Big Band joins forces with vocalist Lisanne Lyons for a salute to a century of big band arranging. The program draws on music shaped by Billy Strayhorn and Mary Lou Williams for Duke Ellington, Fletcher Henderson for Benny Goodman, and Frank Foster and Billy Byers for Count Basie, alongside works by Gerry Mulligan, Bob Mintzer, Toshiko Akiyoshi, and Gil Evans. The ensemble features accomplished jazz musicians from South Florida.
Lowenthal brings an extensive background as a bandleader, performer, and educator. His career includes performances with Ella Fitzgerald, Clark Terry, Nancy Wilson, Mel Torme, Tony Bennett, and Cher. He spent ten years leading the Glenn Miller Orchestra’s Special Unit, appearing at the Tony Awards and touring in Poland, Paris, Japan, South America, and with Crystal Cruises. He has also conducted concerts with Wynton Marsalis, Clark Terry, Phil Woods, Gerry Mulligan, Paquito D’Rivera, and Cyrille Aimee. A Professor Emeritus and noted jazz educator for more than five decades, he founded the jazz program at the Manhattan School of Music, conducted its award winning jazz orchestra for 19 years, served as Vice President of the National Association of Jazz Educators, chaired the National Music Council, chaired the Board of Directors at Arts Garage, and created the Jazz and Java adult education program there.
Lyons, a Miami-based vocalist, pianist, and arranger, has performed with Arturo Sandoval, Natalie Cole, Bobby McFerrin, and George Benson. She began her career at 17 as a featured singer with three U.S. Air Force bands, appearing at major festivals and venues across the United States and Canada. After earning graduate degrees from the University of Miami Frost School of Music, she performed with internationally recognized orchestras, big bands, and jazz ensembles throughout the United States, Europe, Canada, Japan, and South America. As an educator and clinician, she helped build nationally recognized jazz vocal programs at Virginia Tech and Florida International University, where students and ensembles received multiple national honors and DownBeat Student Music Awards. Her recordings include Right as the Rain, Smile, and May I Come In.