Jazz crooner Steve Tyrell will give a free concert April 30 at Quinnipiac’s Clarice L. Buckman Theatre as part of the university’s 2003 Sonny Costanzo Concert Series.
Tyrell will perform selections from his latest album, “Standard Time,” released under the Columbia Records label. His first disc, “A New Standard,” released in 1999, garnered him praise for his work covering seventeen American jazz classics.
With his albums settling in comfortably high atop the Billboard charts, Tyrell proves he is no stranger to the music business.
“Standard Time” features legendary tunes like “Ain’t Misbehavin’,” by Fats Waller, Cole Porter’s “Every Time We Say Goodbye” and the Gershwin classic, “Our Love is Here to Stay.”
Tyrell said his new album provides a new twist on the jazz classics.
“I believe the blues influence is what makes the songs sound new, and that’s where these really were at. All the great players from that era were blues-based,” he said, according to his web site.
“The people that wrote and performed this music were some of the hippest people that ever lived. By getting involved with these cats, and coming at it from a blues-based background, the songs get back to their roots,” he said, referring to his collaborations with trumpeter Clark Terry and Harry “Sweets” Edison, among others, on his new CD.
His hits “”The Way You Look Tonight” and Give Me the Simple Life,” were featured on the “Father of the Bride” film soundtracks, with “Simple Life” included on the soundtrack to the film’s sequel, released in 1995.
His visit to Quinnipiac is part of the 2003 Sonny Costanzo Concert Series. Started in 1968 by QU professor Sam Costanzo and his brother, jazz trombonist, Sonny Costanzo, the early concerts featured competitions between high school and college jazz bands from New England.
The series was re-introduced in 1988 when Sonny Costanzo was named the first artist-in-residence at Quinnipiac University. Years after his death in 1993, the concert series dedicated to his memory is still up and running to share his appreciation for music with the Quinnipiac community.
For free tickets to see Steve Tyrell perform as part of the Sonny Costanzo series, call x8937, there is a two ticket limit per person.
