Big Easy Mardi Gras Streaming LIVE from Watchung Arts Center

“Laissez Les Bon Temps Rouler!” Let the good times roll at The Watchung Arts Center’s Mardi Gras virtual celebration on Saturday, February 20 at 8PM. The Mardi Gras Band returns following the success of last year’s sell-out performance. Band leader, bassist Thaddeus Exposé, New Orleans native will be joined by vocalist Arlee Leonard, pianist Brandon McCune, drummer Gordon Lane, Michael Green on the trumpet and Marty Eigen on the clarinet. Due to the Pandemic this Concert will be streamed LIVE from the Watchung Arts Center to the comfort and safety of your home via Zoom.

Thaddeus Exposé was fascinated by the bass lines in music and first began practicing them on his father’s guitar. His formal bass training began at age 18, under the instruction of bassist, Walter Payton. In 1985, Thaddeus moved to Chicago, Illinois where he earned a Bachelor of Liberal Arts Degree in Music Education from Northeastern University becoming one of Chicago’s top bassists. In early 1999, he moved to New York City, working as the house bassist for the Jazz Standard Club. He has had a career as a free-lance musician throughout the USA and internationally. Thaddeus has shared the stage with Stanley Turrentine, Marcus Roberts, Wynton Marsalis, Jennifer Holiday and many other great jazz artists.

Dynamic vocalist and recording artist Arlee Leonard began performing at age six in coffee houses in Detroit with her parents, blues/folk icons David & Roselyn. Raised in California, Michigan, Montreal and New Orleans, Arlee earned a BA in Sociology with Honors from the University of California, Santa Cruz while she sang, acted and danced through her four years there. In 1991, Arlee’s multi-racial family toured Germany, France, Holland and Switzerland, where she sang, led her own groups, and became a guest vocalist for a variety of events and occasions. Ms. Leonard has since performed throughout Asia, across Europe and Russia, in South Africa, Central and South America, and across the USA.

A Chicago native, pianist Brandon McCune, makes his home in Newark, New Jersey. For the past twenty-five years he has been serving as a principal music instructor, composer, counselor, arranger, and performer with a special concentration in the jazz, classical, and gospel genres. Brandon was selected as a U.S. Jazz Ambassador to Africa in 1998-1999. He has worked as a band leader, music director, and as a sideman for artists such as Abbey Lincoln, Terence Blanchard, Nneena Freelon among other great musicians. Brandon has written music for choreographer Camille A. Brown’s “Matchstick” and “Groove to Nobody’s Business”.

Gordon Lane has been a recurring member of world-renowned guitar virtuoso Stanley Jordan’s New York trio since 2003. In February of 2008, Mr. Lane was invited to perform at the Great Hall of the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow, Russia with saxophonist George Garanian. The sold-out concert was a resounding success.” Gordon Lane’s first CD recording, as a co-leader, was completed in March 2013 with the release of “Shades of Blue” by the Mood Indigo Trio. In August of 2013, Gordon completed a one-week engagement, with Jordan and Charnett Moffett, at the Iridium Jazz Club of New York City, presenting Jordan’s latest CD release: “State of Nature”.

Michael Green is active in the tristate area of New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania as a pianist, trumpeter, composer and arranger. He has composed and performed the scores for documentary films, orchestrated a Broadway musical ("Lucky Stiff") and has served as both a performer and composer-in-residence for The Princeton Brass Band. In the 1970s he worked in Los Angeles recording studios as a music arranger and also performed in area rock/pop bands. Currently Michael Green is on the faculty of Westminster Conservatory, Princeton NJ, where for 12 years he has been teaching while maintaining an active freelance career, performing in both jazz and classical ensembles and orchestras.

Marty Eigen is the founder of AMANI and the leader of Beacon Hill Musicians. He usually plays tenor sax and flute but has been known to play the baritone sax and clarinet on occasion. He has appeared many times at the Watchung Arts Center, Bickford Theatre, Shanghai Jazz, and Trumpets in New Jersey. He recently appeared at the world-famous Birdland in NYC with Carrie Jackson and Rio Clemente. Since 2015 Marty has produced four annual benefit concerts to raise money for The Seeing Eye.

Tickets are $20 per person. The box office will close at 7PM Saturday, February 20. The Zoom link will be sent via email to the ticket holders. Buying tickets in advance is strongly recommended and can be purchased securely through Eventbrite (watchungartscenter.eventbrite.com).

The Watchung Arts Center, located at 18 Stirling Road in Watchung on the Watchung Circle, is a multi-disciplinary arts facility serving Watchung, the surrounding communities and the Tri-State Area. To obtain more information about upcoming performances, classes and workshops, and monthly art exhibitions, please visit WatchungArts.org or call 908-753-0190.

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Summary: The Big Easy Mardi Gras Bash Streaming LIVE from The Watchung Arts Center

Where: Watchung Arts Center, 18 Stirling Road, Watchung, NJ

When: Saturday, February 20, 8PM

Tickets: $20 per person. Advance purchase is strongly recommended at watchungartscenter.eventbrite.com

Contact: (908) 753-0190 or wacenter@optonline.net or watchungarts.org