Event

"Joey Arias: Basic Black"

Acclaimed for over two decades for his "channeling" of Billie Holiday, Joey Arias spent much of 2015 performing a critically heralded series of concerts celebrating Lady Day's centenary. From it's debut as part of Lincoln Center's American Songbook the show toured to London's Queen Elizabeth Hall, Mexico City's La Teatría, New Orleans' Contemporary Arts Center, Toronto's Luminato Festival and several other dates before concluding with a sold out run at REDCAT in Los Angeles.

The follow up to those shows, "Joey Arias: Basic Black," sees Arias stepping away from his drag persona to place the focus on something more extraordinary than his Mugler-designed couture: his instrument. Arias' expert phrasing, extraordinary sense of musical improvisation, and a "voice like a cracked cathedral window" (Sydney Morning Herald) have made fans of veteran jazz luminaries from Ornette Coleman to Minu Cinelu and a younger generation of jazz musicians including Ben Allison, a close collaborator of Arias' for over 20 years. With "Basic Black," jazz audiences will discover what insiders have know decades... Joey Arias is far more than a Billie Holiday tribute act; he is a world-class jazz vocalist in his own right.