The GRAMMY Museum ExperienceTM Prudential Center has today announced events surrounding the inaugural GRAMMY® Month Celebration. Programs for the public as well as local schools begin on Monday, Jan. 13. Public programs at The Experience include,An Evening with Christian McBride on Tuesday, Jan. 14 @ 7:30 p.m., An Evening with Gloria Gaynor on Wednesday, Jan. 15 @ 7:30 p.m. and VP Records 40th Anniversary Celebration on Thursday, Jan. 16 @ 7:30 p.m.
Tickets for all GRAMMY® Month Celebration programs are on sale now at GRAMMYMuseumEXP.org. For group tickets, please call (973)757-6000 or email groupevents@prucenter.com. Seating is limited.
Monday, Jan. 13: Kickoff Event with GRAMMY® Award Winning Children’s Music Artist – Lucy Kalantari and the Jazz Cats at 11:30 a.m. ET
Lucy Kalantari is a GRAMMY® Award winning songwriter, composer and producer based in Brooklyn, New York, making jazz age inspired music for families. She’s the frontwoman and bandleader for Lucy Kalantari & the Jazz Cats. Her band and music have been featured on Snug’s House (formerly Sprout House), the musically-infused programming block on Universal Kids. Her songs are on steady rotation on SiriusXM Kids Place Live and other family radio programs around the country. Kalantari’s latest album, All the Sounds won a GRAMMY® for Best Children’s Album in the 61st GRAMMY® Awards.
To attend the GRAMMY® Month Kickoff Event with Lucy Kalantari and the Jazz Cats please purchase general admission tickets atGRAMMYMuseumEXP.org.
Tuesday, Jan. 14: An Evening with Christian McBride at 7:30 p.m. ET
An Evening with Christian McBride includes a conversation and Q&A with audience members followed by an exclusive performance by the artist.
Six-time GRAMMY®-winning jazz bassist Christian McBride can be likened to a force of nature, fusing the fire and fury of a virtuoso with the depth and grounding of a seasoned journeyman. Powered by a relentless energy and a boundless love of swing, McBride’s path has described a continuous positive arc since his arrival on the scene. With a career now blazing into its third decade, the Philadelphia native has become one of the most requested, most recorded, and most respected figures in the music world today.
Raised in a city steeped in soul, McBride moved to New York in 1989 to pursue classical studies at the Juilliard School. There he was promptly recruited to the road by saxophonist Bobby Watson. Call it a change in curriculum: a decade’s worth of study through hundreds of recording sessions and countless gigs with an ever-expanding circle of musicians. He was finding his voice, and others were learning to listen for it.
Along with touring consistently with his various bands, McBride has been artist-in-residence and artistic director with organizations such as Jazz Aspen, Los Angeles Philharmonic, The Jazz Museum in Harlem, Jazz House Kids, and NJPAC (New Jersey Performing Arts Center – Newark). He also serves as Artistic Director for the critically acclaimed Newport Jazz Festival and the Montclair Jazz Festival.
Currently he hosts and produces “The Lowdown: Conversations with Christian” on SiriusXM satellite radio and is the host and voice of National Public Radio’s “Jazz Night in America,” a weekly radio show and multimedia collaboration between WBGO, NPR and Jazz at Lincoln Center.
Tickets priced at $25, are available now at GRAMMYMuseumEXP.org for An Evening with Christian McBride.
Wednesday, Jan. 15: An Evening with Gloria Gaynor at 7:30 p.m. ET
An Evening with Gloria Gaynor includes a conversation and Q&A with audience members followed by an exclusive performance by the artist.
A GRAMMY® winning artist with hit songs in each of the past four decades, Gloria Gaynor is also a 2012 GRAMMY® Hall of Fame Inductee and World Music Awards “LEGEND Award” recipient. Gloria’s recent work in Nashville with the GRAMMY Award® winning team of Christopher Stevens, F. Reid Shippen, Bryan Fowler, Shannon Sanders, Drew Ramsey, Yolanda Adams, Bart Millard (MercyMe), Mike Farris, and Jason Crabb has delivered, “TESTIMONY.”
Her new album debuted Top 5 in the BILLBOARD Top Gospel Albums Chart, Top 3 on the iTunes Gospel Chart and Top 20 on Amazon’s Overall Album Chart. “TESTIMONY,” received rave reviews from Rolling Stone, Billboard, The Herald-Standard, CBS Sunday Morning, The TODAY Show and more! Gloria’s new music also just received two GRAMMY® nominations for Best Roots Gospel Album and for Best Gospel Performance / Song for Gloria’s duet with Yolanda Adams on the song, “Talkin’ ‘Bout Jesus.”
Tickets priced at $25, are available now at GRAMMYMuseumEXP.org for An Evening with Gloria Gaynor.
Thursday, Jan. 16: VP Records 40th Anniversary Celebration @ 7:30 p.m.
The VP Records 40th Anniversary Celebration includes a conversation and Q&A with audience members followed by an exclusive performances by the artists.
The VP Records label was founded in 1979 by Vincent “Randy” Chin and his wife Patricia Chin, who owned the Randy’s Records store in Kingston, Jamaica, as well as the Studio 17 recording studios. The label established itself as one of the first and largest independent record labels for reggae and dancehall. The label is anthologized in the acclaimed Down In Jamaica – 40 Years Of VP Records box set, a 94-track, 101 artist collection that Rolling Stone says “doubles as a history of modern Jamaican music,” comparing the label’s relationship to dancehall to that of Motown’s relationship with soul.
Performers and panel participants at the VP Records 40th Anniversary Celebration include Busy Signal, Christopher Martin, Jah 9 and Red Fox.
Tickets priced at $25, are available now at GRAMMYMuseumEXP.org for the VP Records 40th Anniversary Celebration.
In addition to public programs throughout the month of January, the GRAMMY Museum ExperienceTM Prudential Center will continue it’s GRAMMY® Masterclass Program in local New Jersey schools. The GRAMMY® Masterclass Program delivers music education and burgeoning artists to local schools. The GRAMMY® Masterclass Program impacted over 1,100 students in the month of October 2019. Artists visiting schools in January 2020 include Mary Lambert, Lucky Chops and Leah Jenae.
“We are beyond excited to usher in our inaugural GRAMMY® Month Celebration at the GRAMMY Museum ExperienceTM Prudential Center and continue our commitment to providing programs to the community and the next generation of stars,” said Mark Conklin, Director of Artist Relations and Programming at the GRAMMY Museum ExperienceTM Prudential Center. “This is a unique opportunity for music fans to celebrate the GRAMMY® Awards right here in our own backyard with an amazing collection of GRAMMY® Award winners and nominees.”
Note: Additional public programs for the GRAMMY® Month Celebration to be announced in the coming weeks.
Past GRAMMY Museum Experience TM Prudential Center events include, Spotlight: Bobby Bandiera, Spotlight: Brandy Clark, An Evening With: Philip Bailey, An Evening With: DJ Khaled and An Evening With: The Zombies, An Evening With: Angelique Kidjo and An Evening With: LAUV.
Fans should tag #GRAMMYMuseumEXP in their social media posts as they prepare for GRAMMY® Month Celebrations at GRAMMY Museum Experience TM Prudential Center.
To learn more about upcoming events and workshops, please visit GRAMMYMuseumEXP.org.
