The Leimert Park-based World Stage Performance Gallery will bring its Jazz Masters series to the Ford Amphitheatre on Aug. 18 at 6 p.m. for a big band benefit concert and tribute to guitar legend Kenny Burrell. Under the baton of Grammy-winning music director John Beasley, the event will feature an evening of contemporary large ensemble sounds with Burrell’s Los Angeles Jazz Orchestra Unlimited and Beasley’s MONK’estra.
Legendary guitarists Lee Ritenour and singers Gretchen Parlato, Georgia Anne Muldrow and Dwight Trible are among the featured guests performers expected to perform. Tickets prices start at $35 with additional seats at $50 and $65. Purchase by Aug. 11 and save $5. Tickets are available at www.FordTheatres.org or (323) 461-3673. A portion of proceeds from tickets sales will benefit World Stage.
The World Stage offers five youth Jazz education programs including four programs in conjunction with the Harmony Project–a youth choir, a violin ensemble, a Jazz band, and an advanced Jazz band, the Leimert Park Jr. All Stars band. They also offer a weekly youth drum workshop.
Described as Duke Ellington’s favorite guitar player, Burrell is celebrating a 40-year musical career as a Jazz professional that has seen appear on several hundred albums as leader and sideman.
Burrell also pioneered the guitar-led trio with bass and drums in the late 1950s.
