FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Arts/Features Editor

August 21, 2012

CONTACT

Merri Milwe, Artistic Director

Tel.: 201-836-3499
Fax: 201-836-1734
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In Debut Puffin Performance, Marlene VerPlanck Sings Cole Porter, Irving Berlin and Other Favorite American Composers

Teaneck, NJ, Saturday, September 15 – Touted as possibly “the most accomplished interpreter of American popular music performing today,” Marlene VerPlanck is no stranger to dozens of venues in New Jersey, as well as all over the U.S. and abroad. This will be her debut performance at the Puffin, following recent performances at Trumpets in Montclair and Jazz at Kitano in NYC. A superb songstress, Marlene will sing standards of beloved American composers backed by an amazing jazz trio including Tex Arnold (piano), a major player in NYC who is currently accompanying Cary Hoffman in a Sinatra Review in NYC, Jay Leonhart (bass), a fixture in the NYC scene and world stage and everyone's favorite bassist, and Ron Vincent (drums), formerly a member of the Gerry Mulligan Quartet. $10 suggested donation. Reservations are recommended and must be made before 5:00 p.m. on the Thursday prior to the performance: . Saturday, September 15, 8 p.m. The Puffin Cultural Forum is at 20 Puffin Way (off Teaneck Rd.) in Teaneck. Call 201-836-3499 or visit www.PuffinCulturalForum.org.

MARLENE VERPLANCK was first heard by millions of people on radio and television, when she espoused the merits of dozens of commercial products, among them: "Mm-mm good, mm-mm good, that's what Campbell's Soups are..." But, actually, she got her start in the big-band business, as a very young vocalist with Charlie Spivak and Tex Beneke. In time, Marlene became one of the nation's busiest studio singers, backing up vocalists ranging from Frank Sinatra and Mel Torme to Kiss. Following appearances on Alec Wilder's historic National Public Radio series, "American Popular Songs," in the 1970s, Marlene emerged as a leading solo performer performing at Carnegie Hall with the Kool Jazz Festival, Michael's Pub and the Rainbow Room as well as national TV shows including "Entertainment Tonight," "The Today Show" and CBS's "Sunday Morning." Today, Marlene performs across North America and much of Western Europe, highlighting her tours with a month in the UK every March, while recording a growing roster of solo CDs with special guests like, Bucky Pizzarelli, Hank Jones, Tommy Flanagan, Marian McPartland and many more.

TEX ARNOLD (pianist, arranger, music director, composer), a native of Texas, holds a master's degree in music composition from Michigan State University. He began his professional career in the late 1960s as a staff arranger for the United States Military Academy Band at West Point. For over 25 years he was musical director for the legendary Margaret Whiting, arranging and conducting for her performances on radio, television, and records, and with major symphony orchestras. He has written orchestrations for the Lincoln Center American Songbook series and for Carnegie Hall tributes to the song-writing teams of Alan and Marilyn Bergman, Betty Comden and Adolph Green. As a pianist, he has accompanied Broadway stars Melissa Errico at the Cafe Carlyle in NYC, and Barbara Cook in concerts throughout the country, including performances at the LA Music Center and Carnegie Hall. An instructor for the annual Cabaret Symposium at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center for many years, he has continued in that capacity for its successor program, the Cabaret Conference at Yale University.

JAY LEONHART, born in 1940 in Baltimore, Maryland, came from a musically inclined family. By age 7, Jay and his brother Bill were playing country music, jazz and more on banjos, guitars, mandolins and basses. At 14, Jay started playing bass in The Pier Five Dixieland Jazz Band in Baltimore. After studying at The Peabody Institute, he attended The Berklee School of Music and The Advanced School of Contemporary Music in Toronto. At 21, Jay moved to NYC to and began playing road gigs with big and small bands and singers and visiting jazz joints the world over. Eventually, he began playing for many of the greatest jazz musicians in NYC including Thad Jones, Mel Lewis, Tony Bennett, Marian McPartland, Jim Hall and others too numerous to list. Between 1975 and 1995 he was named The Most Valuable Bassist in the recording industry three times by the National Association of Recording Arts and Sciences. Jay has now recorded 15 solo albums. Currently he has also begun performing one man shows made up of the many songs about his life in music. The first, "The Bass Lesson," is being received warmly by critics and audiences; his next show "Nukular Tulips" is in the works.

RON VINCENT (drums), a native of Rhode Island, moved to Boston, in 1969 to attend Berklee College of Music, graduating with a BA in Music Education in 1973. He settled in NYC in 1982. Ron has recorded for GRP, Concord and Palmetto; he has also produced and co-produced projects for Palmetto. A member of the Gerry Mulligan Quartet and Mulligan’s Re-Birth of the Cool Tentet, Ron recorded four CD’s with him; he has also recorded with Phil Woods, Lee Konitz, Randy Brecker, Bob Brookmeyer, Bill Charlap, John Lewis, and Slide Hampton and has appeared with such notables as Art Farmer, Karrin Allyson, Jimmy Heath, Clark Terry, Rufus Reid and Dr. Billy Taylor. As well, Ron’s own trio and quartet are active in the U.S. and Europe. He has presented workshops at over 80 Colleges and Universities, taught at two jazz camps, has co-written, produced and performed in two educational DVDs for the Masterjazz series,teaches percussion at Manhattanville College, leads two educational performing groups and is involved in a “Literacy through the Arts” program in NYC’s public schools. In 1996, Ron received a National Endowment for the Arts grant for jazz performance.

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The Puffin Cultural Forum is a project of the Puffin Foundation, Ltd. which, through the arts, encourages dialog about issues important to the community. The Puffin Foundation, Ltd. underwrites this and all other Puffin Cultural Forum events and programs in order to make it possible for everyone to attend.

NOTE TO PRESS AND PHOTO EDITORS: This release and high resolution JPEGs can be downloaded at http://www.puffinculturalforum.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=12&Itemid=75

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