Spotlight: Guest Artist Amanda Carr

Guest Artist Amanda Carr

Amanda Carr recently joined public radio station WICN, Jazz+ for New England, as Executive Director, having been involved with the station for over 20 years following her first-ever interview as a jazz artist. In addition to her music and production background, Amanda brings her sales and marketing knowledge to her role at the station.

Amanda is an international recording and touring artist who has received worldwide critical acclaim of her fresh interpretations of the Great American Songbook. The Wall Street Journal hails her, “...a true jazz singer in a time of wannabes”.

While still performing and tapping into her roots of pop, blues, folk & rock with artists like the legendary James Montgomery and Myanna, Amanda has been a guest vocalist with Keith Lockhart and The Boston Pops, The Artie Shaw Orchestra, Harry James Band and the Glenn Miller Orchestra, among many other guest vocal appearances. A headline artist at EuroJazz Festival, she recorded “Live in San Giorgio” with Trio Martinale in Torino, Italy.

Her Portuguese rendition of ‘Mas Que Nada’ labeled her the Top Three Vocalists of 2009 in the jazz category in Brazil’s ‘Rio Review’. Amanda successfully created and headlined a cross-country tour show of  “A Tribute to Peggy Lee” which sold out thirty dates and still remains a draw for audiences.

Among her corporate and commercial work, she has composed and performed music for two PBS documentaries, one being ‘The Story of Golf’ which received an Emmy Nomination, and also acclaim for her musical contributions to ‘Boston Red Sox: 100 Years of Baseball History’. Her original work with childrenʼs music for the  ‘Lilʼ Iguana’ series is among her favorite composing and recording projects. She is the writer and composer for The Boston Anthem which has been adopted by major Boston sports teams, corporations, organizations and schools.

Her most ambitious project, a big band album entitled “Common Thread”, debuted on the top of multiple Jazz Best Seller charts and in the top 50 on Billboard. Paying homage to her big band musician parents, Amanda founded ‘American Big Band Preservation Society’ in 2009,  a non-profit that preserves the essence of American musical heritage.

She was chosen to represent the USA in a music ambassadorship to Shanghai, China in 2014. Currently, she is Artist Liaison for the esteemed organization, ‘Boston Women in Media and Entertainment’ authoring a popular online interview series. Amanda is an official CBS Radio commentator for Boston’s prestigious annual “Boston Pops July 4th” concert on the Esplanade with WBZ News Radio.

With five jazz vocal recordings, global distribution and airplay, Amanda continues to perform as a solo artist while remaining a popular guest artist. Amanda was presented with the Paul Harris Fellowship Award for 2015 by Rotary International, and she was nominated for 2016 Boston Music Awards Jazz Artist of the Year. Closer to home, Amanda Carr is one of only two artists in history named Honorary Member of the Concord Band.

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Source: www.amandacarr.com Used with permission.

Concord Band Presents “Music from the Movies and More!”

To continue its 60th anniversary season, the Concord Band will hold its annual Spring Pops concerts at 8 pm, April 12 and 13 at 51 Walden Performing Arts Center, 51 Walden St., Concord.

In addition to Pops soloist Amanda Carr, the concert will include American Idol finalist John Stevens and Boston-based jazz drummer Joe Hunt, who will help the band present “Music from the Movies and More!” They will sing solos from the American songbook and jazz duets in a nightclub setting.

To introduce and supplement the vocal performances, Music Director James O’Dell will lead the Concord Band in a medley of songs by Irving Berlin and music from the Disney movie and hit Broadway musical, Aladdin. The band will also premiere a new dance number, Rainbow Samba, by former Concord Band percussionist Anthony Hyde.

Amanda Carr
Guest Artist

Carr, an honorary member of the Concord Band, has sung with the Boston Pops and has toured the United States with her own Peggy Lee tribute show. She has been a big band vocalist with the Artie Shaw, Harry James and Glenn Miller orchestras. She has also been a headline artist at the Euro-Jazz Festival in Italy. Carr performed at the band’s 50th anniversary concert in 2009 and has had several band-vocal pieces arranged for her performances with the Concord Band.

John Stevens
Guest Artist

Stevens got his start as a finalist on American Idol and has sung with the Boston Pops, the Beantown Swing Orchestra and currently fronting his own John Stevens Band. He has released albums of jazz and big-band standards and his first album of original songs in 2015.

Stevens and Carr will sing duets and solos in their Pops performances with the Concord Band, backed up by Hunt, who played with Stan Getz and Dizzy Gillespie in the 1960s. Hunt taught at Berklee School of Music and New England Conservatory, and was a member of the Smithsonian Jazz Masters Orchestra.

The April 12 Pops concert is sponsored, for the 42nd consecutive year, by the Rotary Club of Concord . April 12 tickets are available through Rotary at rotaryclubofconcord.org.

The Concord Band sponsors the April 13 concert. Tickets for April 13 are available for $25 each at tables for four (and a few tables for six) with free refreshments at ticketstage.com/concordband.

51 Walden Becomes Concord Cabaret Club

Spring Pops Concerts

Friday & Saturday April 12 & 13 • 8 PM

The Concord Band Spring Pops concerts will feature the spectacular talents of honorary Band member Amanda Carr and American Idol alumnus John Stevens. 51 Walden will be transformed into the Concord Cabaret Club complete with mood lighting and sounds, on the theme, Music from the Movies and More! The vocal talents of Amanda and John will swoon with a variety of duets and solos including New York, New York, I Had The Time Of My Life, Over The Rainbow, Hello Dolly, and other perennial favorites.

SPRING POPS featuring jazz vocalists Amanda Carr and John Stevens Friday, April 12, 2019 • 8 PM Sponsored by the Rotary Club of Concord Tickets: rotaryclubofconcord.org or call Noel at 978-505-2783 Saturday, April 13, 2019 • 8 PM Sponsored by The Concord Band Adults–$25, children under 12–$15. Tickets: www.ticketstage.com/concordband email reservations@concordband.org or call 978-897-9969