News

Clapton To Take Part In “Blowin’ The Blues Away” Benefit Concert

30 Apr 03

A benefit concert for Jazz at Lincoln Center will take place at the Apollo Theatre in New York on Monday, 2 June, 2003. The concert is slated to begin at 7:30 p.m.  This year’s fundraiser is entitled "Blowin’ The Blues Away" and is designed to show the impact of the blues on jazz as well as bring recognition to one of America’s most important musical forms.

Actor LAURENCE FISHBURNE ("The Matrix") will host the event, which will also feature vocal and piano legend RAY CHARLES, blues-rock icon ERIC CLAPTON, groove master and saxophonist LOU DONALDSON, living blues legend B.B. KING, Broadway star and soprano AUDRA McDONALD, country music legend WILLIE NELSON, and jazz and blues singer CARRIE SMITH performing with the WYNTON MARSALIS SEPTET. The concert will feature new arrangements by Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Artistic Director Wynton Marsalis. Acclaimed author GEOFFREY WARD will write a script for the concert that explores the history and role of the blues as an integral part of American life and culture.

The concert will be followed by an elegant dinner held in a tented space behind the theatre. Individual benefit tickets at $2,500, $1,000 and $500 (for donors 35 years old and younger, limited number), and tables of ten at $25,000 and $10,000 are available by calling Bret Silver at (212) 258-9803. The benefit will help raise funds to support the many educational activities, concert programs, and broadcasts produced annually by Jazz at Lincoln Center.