CABARET JAZZ - The Smith Center for the Performing Arts

The Composers Showcase of Las Vegas is an entertainment forum that allows local composers and songwriters the opportunity to present original musical material to a supportive audience in an informal cabaret-style setting. Founded and hosted by Keith Thompson (Jersey Boys) and Michael Brennan (Le Reve), the showcase focuses on uniting the Theatre community of Las Vegas, giving creative spirits an outlet for artistic expression, laughing a lot and having a great time.

With a delicate voice that can’t help but whisper to your soul, Jane Monheit has captivated both the jazz and cabaret worlds. Now with her tenth album release, the vocalist has returned with her most mature and heartfelt sound yet. If you’re a fan of jazz, cabaret or you just enjoy hearing vocals at the peak of perfection, then this is the show for you. Details.

Barbara Cook’s silvery soprano, purity of tone, and warm presence have delighted audiences around the world for more than 50 years. Considered “Broadway’s favorite ingenue” during the heyday of the Broadway musical, Miss Cook then launched a second career as a concert and recording artist soaring from one professional peak to another. Details.

The acclaimed singer Clint Holmes, named Las Vegas entertainer of the Year three times, singer of the Year four times and awarded the Sammy Davis Jr. Foundation award, returns to Las Vegas to begin an exclusive engagement at Cabaret Jazz inside The Smith Center. A master entertainer, Clint never performs the same show twice. Details.

Emily Bergl is best known for her role on “Desperate Housewives,” but her recent show received raves from sold out Oak Room audiences and the NY Times, Wall Street Journal, and Bloomberg News.  “Kidding on the Square” is vintage entertainment told from the perspective of a modern girl, an old fashioned show with stunning costume changes, audience participation, and character songs that run the gamut from broad comedy to intense drama. Details.

Lucy Woodward 12-song album’s emotional depth, organic musicality and personally-charged songcraft will come as a revelation to listeners who are only familiar with Woodward via her 2003 pop hit “Dumb Girls.”  Seamlessly drawing from a deep well of jazz and pop influences, Hooked! marks Woodward as an effortlessly engaging, deeply expressive vocalist, an insightful, disarmingly witty songwriter, and distinctive, charismatic interpreter of outside material.  Details.

The Preservation Hall Jazz Band derives its name from their venerable music venue located in New Orleans’ French Quarter, founded in 1961 by Allan and Sandra Jaffe. Now celebrating their 50th Anniversary,  the band has traveled worldwide spreading their mission to nurture and perpetuate the art form of New Orleans Jazz. Details.

Trumpeter Chris Botti, the world’s largest selling jazz instrumentalist, will perform at The Smith Center in support of his latest album release, Impressions (Columbia Records, April 17, 2012).  Melody has always been at the heart of Botti’s music.  Whether applying the lush sounds of his trumpet to the long, lyrical phrases of a familiar ballad or the arching, rhythmic lines of a jazz improvisation, his solos tell evocative stories, finding their way into the very heart of a song.

Pia Zadora returns to the stage with a 75 minute show created by 3 time Emmy winning director and choreographer Walter Painter, Peabody Award and Tony winning Composer/Author Larry Grossman and Emmy nominated Academy Award writer Jon Macks that features the greatest songs of our lives, a lot of  laughs and pure non-stop entertainment.  Accompanied by legendary Sinatra pianist and musical conductor Vinnie Falcone and his orchestra, this Grammy nominated singer performs classics like “The Lady Is a Tramp”, “Come Rain or Shine”, “All of Me”, “Young at Heart” and “The Man That Got Away”. Audiences every where  who come for this evening of great entertainment will be sure of a great start and a memorable and amazing finish.

Diana Krall, the multi-platinum, GRAMMY^®-winning musician with an unprecedented nine #1 Billboard Jazz chart debuts, will bring her “Summer Nights 2012” tour to The Smith Center.  Since her GRAMMY^®–winning tenth studio album Quiet Nights (Verve) was released in 2009, Krall has performed on four different continents, produced Barbra Streisand’s “Love Is the Answer,” contributed “Simple Twist of Fate” to the charity album Chimes of Freedom: The Songs of Bob Dylan Honoring 50 Years of Amnesty International and performed on Paul McCartney’s new album, Kisses On The Bottom.

Presented by Todd-Avery Lenahan for Standard Textile