Freelon will top off jazz series season

• By ROBIN MILLER
• Arts writer
• Published: Apr 27, 2008 - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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Songstress Nnenna Freelon will perform in the final concert of the River City Jazz Masters Series’ 2007-2008 season at 7 p.m. and again at 9 p.m. Thursday, May 1, in the Manship Theatre in the Shaw Center, 100 Lafayette St.

The series is a collaboration between the Arts Council of Greater Baton Rouge and the River City Jazz Coalition.

Freelon is a six-time Grammy nominee who has earned a reputation as a compelling and captivating live performer. She made her feature film debut performing the theme song for Mel Gibson’s What Women Want and sang an acclaimed remake of the Sinatra classic “Fly Me to the Moon” for the feature film The Visit. She has performed with a veritable who’s who in jazz from Ray Charles and Ellis Marsalis to Al Jarreau and George Benson, among others. She has eight recordings to her credit. Her newest release is Freelon and The Count Basie Orchestra.

Tickets are $40-$60.

For tickets, call (225) 344-0334. For more information, call (225) 344-8558 or visit http://www.artsbr.org.

At Manship Theatre
The Avett Brothers will perform at 8 p.m. Tuesday, April 29, at the Manship Theatre in the Shaw Center, 100 Lafayette St.
Known for their raw energy, this North Carolina trio was named Group of the Year by Americana Honors and Awards. Their music is simultaneously called indie-roots, guerilla old-time, folk punk or “thrashgrass.”

Tickets are $20-$40.

The Southern Circuit Tour of Independent Filmmakers will present Willow Garden, a film by Jim Haverkamp, at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 30, at the theater. The screening will be followed by a meet the filmmaker reception.

Willow Garden is shot in an expressionistic, film noir style and tells the fictional back story of one of America’s strangest murder ballads in which a young man must decide whether to follow his heart or his father’s twisted advice. The striking black and white cinematography gives the film the feeling of a dark fable, fueled by the characters’ elemental passions.

Tickets are $5.

Abigail Washburn and The Sparrow Quartet featuring Bela Fleck with Casey Driessen and Ben Sollee will perform at 8 p.m. Friday, May 2, at the theater.

Fleck, widely regarded as the premier banjo player in the world, is known for his genre-bending virtuosity. The Sparrow Quartet unites Fleck’s mastery with Washburn’s virtuoso banjo, Sollee’s cello and classically trained Driessen’s bluegrass fiddle for a sound no folk fan can resist. This group was assembled for a performance for the U.S. State Department in Tibet and is now touring in America.

Tickets are $25-$45.