News

Dee Dee Bridgewater to Headline 17th Annual Summer Extravaganza

By Desiree Chen   |   June 9, 2012

Bring your lawn chairs, picnic baskets and love of jazz to Elmhurst College’s 17th Annual Summer Extravaganza, featuring three-time Grammy Award winner Dee Dee Bridgewater and the Elmhurst College Jazz Band.

The free outdoor concert will begin at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday, June 16, on the campus mall. Guests are encouraged to come early, bring friends and enjoy this celebration of summer and the arts. Food and beverages will be available for purchase. Summer Extravaganza is sponsored by BMO Harris Bank with support from the Friends of the Arts at Elmhurst College.

This will be the fifth time Bridgewater has taken the stage at the College, having previously performed at three Summer Extravaganzas and the Elmhurst College Jazz Festival.

Bridgewater, who has recorded more than a dozen albums, won two Grammy awards in 1998 for Dear Ella, her tribute to Ella Fitzgerald; and a third, in 2011, for her tribute to Billie Holiday, Eleanora Fagan (1915-1959): To Billie With Love From Dee Dee Bridgewater.

Bridgewater also is the host of National Public Radio’s JazzSet, a role she took on in 2001 after the retirement of the original host, the legendary saxophonist Branford Marsalis.

The internationally acclaimed Elmhurst College Jazz Band, under the direction of Grammy Award winner Doug Beach, has performed around the world and twice toured Europe at the invitation of the U.S. State Department. The band has appeared at the Montreux Jazz Festival, the Northsea Jazz Festival, the Umbria Jazz Festival and many others.

Closer to home, the Jazz Band has performed at festivals across the United States, and has received outstanding ratings from such jazz greats as Clark Terry, Lee Konitz, Rob McConnell, Nicholas Payton, Randy Brecker and Bob Brookmeyer.

For more information, call (630) 617-3390.

Summer Extravaganza is generously supported by BMO Harris Bank N.A. Chicago-based BMO Harris Bank is part of BMO Financial Group, a North American financial organization with 1,600 branches and a retail deposit base of approximately $180 billion.