Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Sing & Swing: Our American Songbook

This celebration of the Great American Songbook and iconic partnerships in jazz features trumpeters, vocalists, and composers Bria Skonberg and Benny Benack III. The North American tour of SING AND SWING: Our American Songbook will reach 45 cities across the United States and Canada. Each armed with prodigious trumpet talent and vocal charm, Skonberg and Benack III will relive and re-imagine some of the classic partners in jazz and popular song, including Ella Fitzgerald, Judy Garland and Bing Crosby, and Dean Martin and Peggy Lee. Featuring songs by Gershwin, Ellington, Cole Porter, Irving Berlin and many more, and joined by a who’s who of New York all-stars, this is an “unforgettable” evening of singin’ and swingin’ with Bria and Benny.

Bria Skonberg: Trumpet, Vocals, Co-Music Director
Benny Benack III: Trumpet, Vocals, Co-Music Director
Jocelyn Gould: Guitar
Mathis Picard: piano
Charles Goold: Drums
Mark Lewandowski: Bass

BRIA SKONBERG

Born in British Columbia, Canada and now residing in New York City, Bria has been a featured artist at hundreds of festivals and stages the world over, including New Orleans Jazz & Heritage, Kobe, Monterey, Breda, Newport and Montreal Jazz Festivals. Described as “one of the most versatile and imposing musicians of her generation” (Wall Street Journal), she has performed with Jon Batiste, Wycliffe Gordon, Stephane Wrembel, Steven Bernstein, U2 & Sun Ra Arkestra, The American Pops and Vancouver Symphony Orchestras, The Blacksmiths “We Insist” Band, and once sang “The Star Spangled Banner” at Madison Square Garden for a NY Rangers game. The “shining hope of hot jazz” (NY Times) has been at the forefront of a revival of classic American music as both a performer and educator, programming concerts and workshops for students of all ages. A 3x Juno Award nominee, Bria’s debut LP on Sony Masterworks won for Best Jazz Vocal Album and made the Top 5 on Billboard jazz charts. Bria has recorded on over 25 albums and recently released her sixth studio solo album, “Nothing Never Happens,” consisting of mostly original compositions; Her music has garnered over 13 million streams online and over 85,000 social media followers. A 6x Downbeat Rising Star, further accolades include the Jazz at Lincoln Center Swing Award, Best Vocal and Best Trumpet from Hot House Jazz Magazine and Outstanding Jazz Artist at the Bistro Awards. She tours constantly, bringing her own signature sounds of fiery trumpet playing, smoky vocals and storytelling together with adventurous concoctions of classic and new.

BENNY BENACK III

By age 31, Emmy-nominated trumpeter and singer Benny Benack III has proven to be that rarest of talents: not only a fiery trumpet player with a stirring command of the post-bop trumpet vernacular in the vein of Kenny Dorham and Freddie Hubbard, but also a singer with a sly, mature, naturally expressive delivery in the post-Sinatra mold, performing standards and his own astute songs with a thrilling sense of showmanship. This dual-threat ability was recognized by the 2022 Downbeat Critics Poll where he appeared as not only the #2 Rising Star Male Vocalist, but a top Rising Star Trumpeter as well. His superb intonation and bracing virtuosity enable him to handle astounding feats of originally composed vocalese (complex solos with written lyrics). On top of it all, he’s a highly capable pianist as well.

Benny has performed internationally as an Emcee/Host for the YouTube sensation Postmodern Jukebox, and achieved his own viral success amassing millions of views for his crooning alongside the Grammy-Award winning “8-Bit Big Band.” In early 2020, he released A Lot of Livin’ to Do, the follow-up to his well-received 2017 debut, One of a Kind. This sophomore effort, richly varied in mood and brimming with bop inflection, features bassist extraordinaire and jazz ambassador Christian McBride (whose Grammy-Award winning Big Band frequently calls upon Benny in the trumpet section) and drummer/producer Ulysses Owens, Jr., as well as the radiant Takeshi Ohbayashi on piano and Rhodes. His vocalese duet on “Social Call” from this album alongside fellow young star vocalist Veronica Swift became an instant smash hit single, being transcribed and learned by jazz vocalists around the world.