Ravinia 2019, Issue 5, Week 9

6:00 PM MONDAY, JULY 29, 2019 BENNETT GORDON HALL SPIDER SALOFF JEREMY KAHN, piano JIM COX, bass THE CLOONEY SHOW THE LIFE AND MUSIC OF ROSEMARY CLOONEY Program will be announced from the stage. SPIDER SALOFF She’s been heard around the world as the host/ star of the syndicated public radio series Words and Music , but for thousands of Chicagoans, the most familiar way to enjoy the jazz stylings of Spider Saloff has been through live perfor- mances. The Chicago-based jazz vocalist has won accolades around the world for her intro- spective approach to the genre, most profoundly through her one-woman tribute to George Ger- shwin, The Memory of All That , conceived with the blessing of the Gershwin estate. Saloff ’s New York City nightclub engagements have included cabaret turns at Birdland, Feinstein’s, and The Algonquin, among many others, and have made her a five-time winner of the MAC Award from the Manhattan Association of Cabarets. She is no stranger to major concert halls, either, having performed on New York’s Jazz at Lincoln Center and at the AuditoriumTheatre of Roosevelt Uni- versity and the Smithsonian Institution. Born and raised in New Jersey, Saloff made a name for herself in New York before making Chicago her adopted home in the mid-1990s. She quickly became a fixture on the local music scene, with sold-out performances at such venerable night- spots as The Green Mill, Gold Star Sardine Bar, Katerina’s Supper Club, and the Jazz Showcase. For more than a decade Saloff has taught vocal master classes at the Bloom School of Jazz in Chicago, and she continues to perform in con- cert as an ambassador of the Great American Songbook. Her original song “When You See Me,” a jazz/hip-hop/R&B tune co-written with Jewel Tancy and Max Hornung in 2013, has gar- nered over 100,000 views on YouTube. In addi- tion to a 1997 recording of her Gershwin tribute, Saloff ’s discography includes such titles as Sex- tet (1995), A New Set of Standards (1999), Cool Yule (2000), Like Glass (2005), and Ella! Ella! Ella! (2011), a tribute to Ella Fitzgerald alongside Frieda Lee and Dee Alexander. Spider Saloff is making her third appearance on Ravinia’s BGH series. JEREMY KAHN Jeremy Kahn is one of Chicago’s busiest pianists, dividing his time be- tween jazz venues, pit orchestras, and recording and teaching studios. He graduated from New England Conservatory of Music, where he studied with Jaki Byard. Kahn then spent 12 years in New York, where he was a member of Vince Giordano’s Nighthawks. He has performed with Dizzy Gillespie, Joni Mitchell, Aretha Franklin, Branford Mar- salis, and the Chicago and Milwaukee Symphony Orchestras, among many other artists. Kahn has also played at many of Chicago’s the- aters, including the Oriental, Cadillac Palace, Shubert, Auditorium, Chicago, Aurora Paramount, Drury Lane Oakbrook, Lincolnshire Marriott, Porchlight, and Royal George, for such shows as Wicked , Spamalot , The Lion King , Les Misérables , Elton John’s Aida , and Louis & Keely Live at the Sahara . He was also the pianist/conductor for productions of Hot Mikado and Pal Joey . Kahn has been a featured performer at the Chicago and Hyde Park Jazz Festivals, as well as on the radio shows of Studs Terkel and Marian McPartland, and he was a 2014 honoree of the Chicago Musicians Union Dal Sagno Club. He is currently on the faculties of both Northwestern University and the Music Institute of Chicago. JIM COX Jim Cox grew up in Champaign, IL, where he also attended the Uni- versity of Illinois, graduating in 1979. He has worked as a full-time professional musician based out of Chicago ever since. He toured with Earl “Fatha” Hines from 1979 to 1982 and worked regularly with Mari- an McPartland for almost 20 years. Cox continues to freelance locally and internationally, performing and recording in across a variety of genres, including jazz, klezmer, bluegrass, pop, cabaret, and classical. He has also played with such artists as Rosemary Clooney, Michael Feinstein, Debbie Boone, Liza Minnelli, Ann Hampton Callaway, Christine Ebersole, Wesla Whitfield, Phil Woods, Don Stiernberg, Judy Roberts, Ray McKinley, The Maxwell Street Klezmer Band, Lyric Opera of Chicago, and the Chicago Sinfonietta. RAVINIA MAGAZINE | JULY 29 – AUGUST 4, 2019 90