June 22, at the Our Lady of Pompeii Theater, Robin Kevin Daniel Grasso, lead singer and music director of Italytime at N.Y., will perform together with the prestigious Queens College Big Band (QCBB) in an unmissable concert to welcome the summer in New York.
Italytime, the first permanent Italian Cultural Center in New York, pursues the objective of promoting Italian culture in all its expressions, becoming the home of the best Italian artists and helping the young ones to emerge, nurture their dreams, discover their identity, and build a better world. For over a year now the music direction of the center has been entrusted to the Neapolitan Robin Kevin Daniel Grasso, who inaugurated the ‘Jam Sessions’ (presented in the KeyNotes Club in the Caffè Letterario) and the concerts in the theater, including the ‘Cult Italian Soundtracks’ and the ‘Celebrating Christmas Songs’ that took place in October and December.
The large QCBB (18 elements) was shaped over the past few decades in the ‘Jazz Arrangement and Composition’ class taught by Professor Michael Mossman, director of the Jazz Studies department at the Aaron Copland School of Music of Queens College. Indeed, Mossman is always behind the scenes, directing the band on special occasions, or writing and correcting arrangements; and as maestro of most of the musicians who play in it.
For the ‘Welcome Summer‘ concert the QCBB, directed by the trumpeter David DiTrapani, will take to the scene to blend traditional jazz with Italian vocality thanks to the collaboration with Grasso. For the occasion, Mossman made available 4 arrangements that are part of his personal repertoire. There will be two renowned classics, ‘How High the Moon’ and ‘Cheek to Cheek’, which is among Grasso’s favorite songs.
Ilona Catani Scarlett