The Key West Harry S. Truman Foundation to present “The Libby York Trio and the Great American Songbook” featuring tunes from the Truman era

The Key West Harry S. Truman Foundation to present “The Libby York Trio and the Great American Songbook” featuring tunes from the Truman era

On Monday evening March 21, and Tuesday evening, March 22, “The Libby York Trio and the Great American Songbook,” is, as they’d say in classic 1940s slang, what’ll be buzzin’ cousin, and it’s happening outdoors on the grounds of the Harry S. Truman Little White House, 111 Front Street in Key West. The latest offering from the ongoing Key West Harry S. Truman Foundation Music Series, doors open at 6:30pm with a 7:00pm show time.

What exactly is the Great American Songbook, you might ask? According to The Great American Songbook Foundation, it is “the canon of the most important and influential American popular songs and jazz standards from the early 20^th century that have stood the test of time in their life and legacy.” And the band dishing it up, “The Libby York Trio,” is well known, as they’d say in the day, for cooking with gas.

Scorching the mic with her “smoky voice” (The Times of London) and “consummate jazz phrasing” (JazzTimes) is nationally acclaimed Chicago-born vocalist and bandleader Libby York. Described in a “New York Times” article as “a jazz singer of cool composure and artful subtlety,” her professional performance career was launched in 1980, with most of the 80s and early 90s spent in New York, where she was featured vocalist with the eight-piece big band “Swing Street,” and where she was coached by the legendary jazz vocalist and songwriter Abbey Lincoln. York has performed with jazz greats such as guitarist Russell Malone, cornet maestro Warren Vaché, and pianist Renee Rosnes. She has sung for Jim Henson of “The Muppets” fame and with Leonard Bernstein, and has four music CD’s to her credit: “Memoir,” “Here with You,” “Sunday in New York,” and “Blue Gardenia.”

The trio’s instrumental craftsmanship comes in the form of Bob Wason on piano and Mark Rose on saxophone and flute. Jazz pianist and composer Wason, a Professor Emeritus for the Eastman School of Music, studied music theory at Yale, where he earned his Ph.D. in 1981. In addition to pursuing studies at the University of Vienna, he attended Vienna’s Hochschule für Musik – University of Music and Performing Arts – as a Fulbright Scholar. With a formidable list of prestigious grants among his credits, Wason’s performance experience includes back-up gigs with artists such as Buck Clayton, Sammy Davis Jr., Bobby Vinton, and the Four Tops.

Mark Rose earned his M.M. in Studio Jazz Performance from the University of Miami in 2002. He has recorded with Ellyn Rucker, Alan Joseph, Tom Taylor, Mistura Bela, and the critically acclaimed vocal group Rare Silk. He has performed with The Temptations, The Four Tops, Bob Hope, Dinah Shore, and Charley Pride and played in the Broadway tours of “Chicago” and “West Side Story.” Rose can also be heard on Coffee Butler and Cliff Sawyer’s recording “A Mother’s Love.”

The Foundation’s music series was launched in 2012 and in past years has featured performers such as Bobby Nesbitt and Carmen Rodriguez, Miriam Pico and David Chown and the late Coffee Butler.

The Key West Harry S. Truman Foundation was launched in 2002 with a mission to preserve Florida’s only presidential museum—the Key West Little White House—and to provide programming that supports civic engagement, education, and the historic and cultural influences of the Truman era. Guests attending “The Libby York Trio and the Great American Songbook,” can expect songs by Johnny Mercer, Harold Arlen, George and Ira Gershwin, Dietz and Schwartz, and Rodgers and Hart, with many of them, said York, written during the Truman era.

Seating for the 1.5 hour-long concert will be arranged at well spaced “bistro tables” to accommodate social distancing. Foundation member tickets are $60 per two-person table and $120 per four-person table and include a complimentary glass of wine. Tickets for non-members are $80 per two-person table and $160 per four-person table. For tickets and information visit www.trumanlittlewhitehouse.org/foundation/events/.

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