On April 1st, 2024, 7pm – for one night only – singer/actress Linda Purl and Music Director Tedd Firth will join forces at Birdland with internationally acclaimed DIVA Jazz Orchestra (A 15 piece orchestra), for a celebration of some of the extraordinary music that defined the classic big band sound and the songs that helped made them famous. The show will include S’Marvelous, Come Rain or Come Shine and Love Me or Leave Me. This evening of musical homage and fun, on the heels of Woman’s History month, will also spot light Special Guest, Nicolas King.
Tickets are on https://www.birdlandjazz.com/tm-event/linda-purl-diva-jazz-orchestra-big-band-romance
Also by calling 212-581-3080
Purl, known as an actress from Broadway for The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Getting and Spending. Has had running rolls on multiple, iconic television series, Happy Days, Matlock and The Office, and has also continued a robust singing career. Says the London Times, “Purl cuts loose with all the authority of a seasoned jazz vocalist...she is mesmerizing.”
Together with Firth their fourth album This Could Be the Start, was released in 2023. Past concert venues include Dizzy’s and Rose Hall at Lincoln Center Jazz, Catalina Jazz Club, Colorado Springs Symphony, Naples Philharmonic, Crazy Coqs in London and Satin Doll in Tokyo. Other theatre credits include The Year of Magical Thinking on the West End, a UK Tour of Catch Me If You Can.
DIVA Jazz Orchestra is an ensemble of fifteen versatile, multi generational musicians…a hard charging, powerful band that loves to swing! Headed by drummer Sherrie Maricle, DIVA exudes the excitement and force found in the tradition of historic big bands with any eye towards originality. Performance highlights include Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center, Dizzy’s Club, Hollywood Bowl. Berlin Jazz Festival and Salzburg Music Festival, to name but a few.
Special Guest, Nicolas King is an award winning singer, a favorite of New York audiences known for his stellar styling as a jazz singer who never disappoints.
Music Director, Tedd Firth, also an in demand New York favorite, has worked with a long list of luminaries and performed in the finest halls across the country. He has created orchestrations for the NY Pops among many others and “Unfailingly astonishes,” Purl says, “every time he sits down to play the piano.”
Of Purl’s last collaboration together with DIVA Jazz Orchestra, Jazz Times said “The band punched, kicked, roared and swung with a disciplined abandon and an unaffected, joie de vivre. If there were still big band cutting sessions, DIVA would swing a lot of the remaining big bands out of the place.” Also, Rex Reed reported “Great pipes, a swinging sense of time and tempo, musical as hell, hypnotic on ballads and powerful as a big-band vocalist on the rhythmic numbers, Linda Purl is a perfect fit for DIVA. She fractures me!
April 1 at Birdland will be a fun night. Don’t miss out!
