Wynton Marsalis To Play 3 Concerts In New Hope (ICYMI)

NEW HOPE, PA — Jazz great Wynton Marsalis will play three concerts in New Hope next month as part of a series of shows benefiting the Bucks County Playhouse.

Marsalis, the New Orleans-born trumpeter, composer and bandleader who has helped propel jazz into the American pop-culture mainstream over the course of his career, will perform at the playhouse on April 17 and 18 with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Septet.

There will be shows at 3 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, April 17 and a 2 p.m. show on Sunday, April 18. Tickets for the fundraiser shows are $250 and come with a CD, while a $750 VIP ticket gets priority seating, a post-show champagne toast, a "talk-back" session with Marsalis and a signed CD.

Tickets are available via the Bucks County Playhouse website. A portion of the ticket price is tax-deductible.

The shows by Marsalis are part of the Spring Music Series at Bucks County Playhouse. The series is a celebration of the return of live music and will feature limited group seating and other safety protocols to protect patrons, employees and performers.

The weekly series launches on April 2.

"Needless to say, we're all ready for a little live music in our lives and we're delighted to launch our spring season with this series of intimate concerts that celebrate the human spirit — with all audiences six feet apart," said producing director Alexander Fraser.

Born in 1961, Marsalis was performing with the band at his family's church at age 8 and, at 14, played with the New Orleans Philharmonic. At 17, he became the youngest musician ever admitted to Tanglewood's Berkshire Music Center, where he was awarded the school's Harry Shapiro Award for outstanding brass student.

He moved to New York to attend Julliard in 1979, but buzz began growing almost immediately over the live shows he played around the city and he was signed to a recording contract with Columbia Records.

He would go on to perform alongside countless jazz legends and, in 1997, became the first jazz artist awarded the Pulitzer Prize in music for his work, "Blood on the Fields."

In 2012, he was named managing and artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center, which he had co-founded in 1987.

Other artists in the Spring Music Series represent a broad range of acts, from folk, rock, jazz and world music.

• April 1-2. Craig Thatcher and Cliff Starkey. The duo, who have performed together since touring and recording with Lisa Simone Kelly — the daughter of Nina Simone — in the early 2000s, trade back and forth playing blues, soul, R&B, rock and folk. Tickets: $40.
• April 23-24. The Hot Club of Philadelphia. Featuring vocalist Phyllis Chapell, the group founded in 2011 play "gypsy jazz," in the style pioneered by guitar great Django Reinhardt and others. Tickets: $40.
• May 1-2. Swearingen & Kelli's "The Music of Simon and Garfunkel." The duo recreates the music of the most famous folk-rock duo of all time. Tickets: $45.
• May 7-8. The Zmed Brothers. Brothers Zachary and Dylan perform songs made famous by other sibling artists including The Everly Brothers, the Beach Boys, The Louvin Brothers and The Bee Gees. Tickets: $45.

Tickets to those shows also are available at the link above. Series discounts are available for patrons buying tickets to more than one show (excluding Wynton Marsalis).