News
January 8, 2018Susan Werner in Concert January 19th
The Eighth Step presents singer-songwriter-instrumentalist SUSAN WERNER live on stage, performing her newest – and very original – short recording An American in Havana, a stunning collection of songs inspired by her recent travels to Cuba, in concert at 7:30 PM, FRIDAY, JANUARY 19, 2018, 8th Step at Proctors (Underground), 432 State Street, Schenectady.
Very special guests open the show: Latin group Mundo Nuevo (Walter Ramos with Jose Cruz, Jose Melendez & Fernando Gomes) feature lush vocal harmonies, acoustic guitars, bongo and flute.
Werner is a phenomenon in performance – one of the most flat-out entertaining and musically talented performers to ever hit our stage, where she’s introduced many prior CDs. She slides effortlessly among jazz, contemporary folk and pop with sassy wit and classic Midwestern charm. Her boundless versatility early in her career emerged as a hallmark of Werner’s talent and has proven a quintessential ingredient of her engrossing musical persona.
Produced by Werner with Venezuelen drummer Pablo Bencid, An American in Havana is Werner’s 13th studio recording. The lead track “Cuba Is” describes an American’s impression of the island, in lyrics set to an Afro-Cuban beat:
Cuba is –
The Smell of diesel and cigarettes
A young boy fishing as the sun sets
The taste of sugar cane, so sweet
The sound of muted trumpet down the street
The new EP serves up a rollicking “1955 Chevy BelAir,” a song celebrating a budding romance between an American traveler and a 1950s classic automobile. And as no Susan Werner recording finishes without a salute to the Great American Songbook: the deliciously romantic bolero “Havana Moon” recalls the classics of Cole Porter.
[Chicago Tribune article on this album: http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/music/reich/ct-ott-jazz-scene-1020-story.html]
A triple threat as writer, singer and musician, Werner has proven one of the most prolific singer/songwriters in the U.S. since her 1995 BMG/Private Music major label debut. Her concept albums, including 2007’s agnostic gospel album The Gospel Truth and 2013’s tribute to agriculture Hayseed, have won her passionate fans and interviews on NPR’s Morning Edition and Marian McPartland’s Piano Jazz, as well as inspiring covers from Tom Jones, Michael Feinstein and Betty Buckley. She is composer and lyricist for the forthcoming Broadway musical “Bull Durham,” based on the iconic MGM musical.
“PAY ATTENTION. JUST MIGHT BE THE MOST ORIGINAL VOICE TO EMERGE FROM THE PLAINS SINCE THAT ZIMMERMAN KID. AND FUNNY, TOO. -National Public Radio
“BRINGS LITERACY AND WIT BACK TO POPULAR SONGWRITING” -The New Yorker
Doors open at 7 pm; Underground at Proctors is wheelchair accessible; free parking is available at Broadway Garage, at the rear of Proctors.
Tickets are $28 General, $26 Advance; $40 Gold Circle (front center seating), available in advance through The Eighth Tix/Info Line at (518) 434-1703 (Visa/MC/Disc/AmEx); through Proctors Box Office (518) 346-6204; also at The Eighth Step Albany ticket outlet: Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza.
For further information call The Eighth Step at (518) 434-1703 or visit online at www.8thstep.org.
