Entertainment

Live Music Schedule, Febuary 2012
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Greta Pope and Paul Coscino
International entertainer/singer Greta Pope is performing at Benny’s Chop House in the North Lounge. Greta’s performances span from lively Brazilian to beloved Broadway, classic Country to powerful Opera. She is accompanied by pianist Paul Coscino.

A two-time winner of the International Music Festival held in Europe, Greta captures every audience, performing songs in English, Spanish, Italian, French, Portuguese, Yiddish, Serbian and Gypsy. She has shared the stage with well-known performers including Wynonna Judd, Dick Van Dyke, Stanley Clarke, Ramsey Lewis, Rich Little, Penn & Teller and many others.

She received a Bachelor of Music Degree, a Master of Music Degree and a PhD in Business Administration, and also studied post graduate at Indiana University with Eileen Farrell, a brilliant Metropolitan Opera soprano.

Enjoy all that Greta has to offer. Indulge in a night of great food, refreshing cocktails and sensational entertainment at Benny’s Chop House. Greta’s talent combined with Benny’s superior service equals a standing ovation.

Cécile Savage and Calvin “Koco” Brunson
Cécile Savage (bass and vocals) and Calvin “Koco” Brunson (piano and vocals), who co-lead the jazz group “Komango,” perform at Benny’s. They offer a culturally diverse repertoire steeped in the African American, French and Brazilian traditions.

Cécile’s musical voyage started in Paris and meanders through Europe, Africa and North America. Cécile plays who she is: a blend of French Cabaret and American Jazz. Born in Martinique, raised in Paris, she studied piano for many years. She moved to New York City where she joined the Living Theater for a while and then decided to devote her life entirely to music. She studied guitar with Ted Dunbar through the Jazzmobile program.

It is then that she started to play electric bass with blues harmonicist Sugar Blue, with whom she also toured with Memphis Slim, and Willie Mabon. She then decided to move to Chicago where she performed with blues and jazz musicians such as Jimmy Dawkins, Von Freeman, Franz Jackson, Floyd McDaniel, George Freeman, Oscar Brown Jr., Redd Holt and many more.

She performed at the 2008 Chicago Jazz Festival: Tribute to Malachi Favors. She mainly plays a 5 string Alter Ego electric upright bass, made in Rome, Italy. She combines all musical elements in a style which is truly her own.

Her music reflects her many influences: French lyricism, bluesy melodies and passion, and her own jazz compositions with Brazilian overtones.

With jazz, blues and musical theatre the major focus of his work, Calvin “Koco” Brunson has collaborated with the late, great playwright, Oscar Brown Jr. in writing plays entitled In De Beginnin’, Journey Through Forever, and Sliced Apple. Koco is also an “Artist-in-Residence” with Urban Gateways. Koco, as a principal composer and co-founder of “Komango”, brings heart-felt musical dialogue, and passionate drama colored in pastels of worldwide rhythms and genres. Coupled with inventive harmonies and truly deft keyboard skills, the music “speaks” with emotion.

Chris White
An accomplished jazz pianist, Chris White has performed with The Bloomington Symphony Orchestra, David Baker, Jamey Aebersold and Oliver Nelson, Jr., among others. In August 2000, Chris was invited to perform in the Steans Institute for Young Artists at Ravinia hosted by James Moody, Rufus Reid and David Baker.

A Toronto, Canada native, Chris received a B.A. in English from the University of Toronto. After graduation, he decided to focus his studies entirely on music and in 1997, he attended Indiana University’s prestigious Jacobs School of Music pursuing his Masters’ degree in Jazz Studies. He was graduated in 2000, receiving the National Music Honors Society Phi Kappa Lamda.

Kara Kesselring
Kara Kesselring is a professional singer, pianist, writer, arranger, and educator living in Chicago.

For the past two years, Kara played keys and sang in the Chicago production of the smash Broadway hit, Jersey Boys. She performs on an ongoing basis with the improvisational theater troupe, Wavelength, traveling the country providing educational keynotes to teachers and administrators. Recently, she wrote Musical Staff – a parody on educational issues with her partner, Brendan Kelly. They have performed throughout the U.S. and as well as internationally, including for the Ministry of Education in Singapore in 2005.

Kara has performed at several notable venues: the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, as well as Chicago’s Symphony Center, Taste of Chicago, Pops for Champagne, The Coq d’Or-Drake, The Pump Room, Stetson’s Steakhouse, Green Dolphin Street, Hotel Intercontinental, Philanders, Pete Millers Steakhouse, Chicago Improv Festival, and, Old Town School American Airlines Theater. Kara has also done jingle and voice over work for CLTV, XRT Radio, and WMS Gaming.

Originally influenced by her traditional country roots, Kara was trained in classical piano and voice, and then introduced to jazz in college. A few years later, when working with guitarist Scott Anderson, Kara fell in love with Brazilian jazz and performed in the group, “Nova Bossa.” Kara’s musical influences include: Joni Mitchell, Lyle Lovett, Prince, Alison Krauss, Tom Waits, Jonatha Brooke, Bonnie Raitt, Abbey Lincoln, Grazyna Auguscik, and Holly Cole.

Before the birth of her daughter in 2007, Kara released a children’s album called, “Callin’ All Kids”. Her other recordings include, a jazz CD entitled “If I Should Lose You,” a Brazilian CD “Sonho Meu,” and “The Grandma Project” featuring traditional and country gospel hymns.

In addition to her freelance projects of pop and jazz, Kara performs in a society band, The Standing Room Only Orchestra which was rated one of the top six bands in Illinois by Modern Bride Magazine and recently won best entertainment category in Illinois Meetings & Events Readers Choice Awards 2009.

Stuart Mindeman
Stuart Mindeman first took an interest in music as a child, and in 2009 was graduated from the famed Northern Illinois University with a degree in piano performance. He is an active performer and educator throughout the Chicago metropolitan area, skilled in various styles of music, from classical to jazz, to Latin and contemporary popular music. He has performed throughout North and Central America with such artists as Fareed Haque, Tito Carillo, John Wojchechowski, Rodney Whitaker, Claudio Roditi, Charles McPherson, Antonio Hart, John Clayton, and The Chicago Afro-Latin Jazz Ensemble, among others.