HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BETTY & FRIENDS
A Gala Event Celebrating the Life of Legendary Jazz Vocalist BETTY CARTER.
Featuring international jazz sensation SHAWNN MONTEIRO
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The Pancreatic Cancer Alliance presented a gala evening of food, music and champagne on Wednesday, May 7, 2008, beginning at 6 pm in the ballroom of the Crowne Plaza Hotel, at 10 Lincoln Square in downtown Worcester. “Happy Birthday, Betty & Friends” celebrated the life and legend of GRAMMY Award-winning jazz vocalist BETTY CARTER, who died 10 years ago of pancreatic cancer and would have been 78 years old on May 16th. Performing that evening was internationally acclaimed jazz vocalist SHAWNN MONTEIRO, backed by the Russ Hoffmann Trio. Shawnn also brought down the house at the PCA’s very first Betty Carter Tribute in 2004. Full details for Happy Birthday Betty & Friends All proceeds from "Happy Birthday, Betty & Friends" benefited the Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester. |
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Austin Liquors Kurlan Music Miles Press Something Sweet by Michelle Telegram & Gazette UMass Memorial Foundation WICN Radio |
Big Band Blast
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A big band celebration remembering three greats taken too soon by pancreatic cancer:
Dizzy Gillespie, Count Basie and Betty Carter.
The event held on Nov. 1, 2006, also marked pancreatic cancer awareness month. Thanks to the talents of the renowned
Berklee Concert Jazz Orchestra directed
by Greg Hopkins, the Worcester Jazz Orchestra and special guest vocalists including Jerry Seeco and Robin McKelle we were able to raise $20,000 to support research at UMass.
Thanks also to our hosts Foothills Theatre and Viva Bene restaurant.
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Remembering Dizzy Gillespie
2nd Annual Remembering Betty Carter
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Remembering Betty Carter celebrated the great jazz vocalist Betty Carter, who died from pancreatic cancer, as did her sister. Betty Carter was that rare talent, considered to be a fellow musician by those in the band, not just a "singer." Many know her best from her definitive duet with Ray Charles of "Baby It's Cold Outside," but she broke much ground in her long career. |
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The Tuesday, May 24, 2005, event featured music from three members of the outstanding jazz vocal quartet Syncopation: Jeremy Ragsdale, Christy Bluhm, and Christine Fawson (at right).
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They were accompanied by the Mark Shilansky Trio. Sponsored by Fallon Community Health Plan, Charter Communications, WICN Public Radio, the Worcester Telegram & Gazette and Union Blues. |
Remembering Dizzy Gillespie, 2004
Monday, Oct. 18 • Foothills Theatre, Worcester
A birthday concert
for Dizzy Gillespie,
taken too soon by
pancreatic cancer,
in honor of Emil Haddad. 
More than 250 people celebrated the music and birthday of Dizzy
Gillespie with the renowned
Berklee Concert Jazz Orchestra directed
by Greg Hopkins playing Dizzy’s original big band
charts, the Dick Odgren Quartet with trumpter Bill Fanning recalling the classic "Dick & Emil" sound with Eric Nebbia on drums and Bob Simonelli on bass, and
the Algonquin Jazz Ensemble, directed by Dennis Wrenn.
Sadly, trumpet great Emil Haddad, who
was to play, was taken by cancer just weeks ago.
Reception featured hors d’oeuvres by Viva Bene (formerly Shorah's Ristorante).
Sponsored by
Worcester Foothills Theatre, Shorah's Ristorante, Charter Communications, WICN Radio, the Worcester Telegram & Gazette and the International Association for Jazz Education.
Remembering Betty Carter
Remembering Betty Carter celebrated the great jazz vocalist Betty Carter, who died from pancreatic cancer. A sold out crowd attended the event on May 12, 2004, from 7 to 10 p.m. at Union Blues jazz club in Worcester, Mass., in the Union Station train station. Vocalists Toni Ballard, Monica Hatch, Shawnn Monteiro and Donna McElroy were accompanied by the Paul Schmeling Trio.Sponsored by
College of the Holy Cross, Charter Communications, WICN Public Radio, the Worcester Telegram & Gazette and Union Blues.