Dave Brubeck Quintet and Ramsey Lewis Trio Two Legends, One Stage April 8, 2011

Adult $50 | University Park Student $25 | 18 and Younger $43

Two piano legends share the billing when Dave Brubeck and Ramsey Lewis come to Penn State for an evening of jazz. Brubeck, who attained widespread fame in the 1950s for a lightly swinging sound known as West Coast Cool, has been building on his distinctive harmonic approach and daring improvisations for well more than half a century. He was inducted, along with Louis Armstrong and Frank Sinatra, into the first Playboy Jazz Hall of Fame, and in 1999 he was named a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master. “He is an American original,” says actor/director/jazz aficionado Clint Eastwood, “who continues to make significant contributions to music and introduced a whole new generation to the world of jazz.” Lewis, who became an NEA Jazz Master in 2007, performs bebop informed by a grounding in gospel and classical music. Known as “The Great Performer,” Lewis released his first album in 1956. Since then he has earned three Grammy Awards and had seven gold records.

Official Website: http://www.cpa.psu.edu/events/lewbru.html