Swing into Vic’s Las Vegas for live jazz in May
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 2, 2024
SWING INTO VIC’S LAS VEGAS FOR WORLD-CLASS LIVE JAZZ THIS MAY
WHAT: Vic’s Las Vegas has filled its calendar with a host of world-class jazz artists to entertain diners throughout the month of May.
WHEN: JOE LANO TRIO Friday, May 3 and Saturday, May 4 with two shows nightly at 7:30 p.m. and 8:45 p.m.
TOM SCOTT, JOE LANO,
DOMAS ŽEROMSKAS,
STEVE FLORA &
HÉCTOR L. FALU GUZMÁN Friday, May 10 and Saturday, May 11 with two shows nightly at 7:30 p.m. and 8:45 p.m., and Sunday, May 12 at 1 p.m.
BENNY BENACK III Wednesday, May 15 at 8:30 p.m.
DAVE DAMIANI Friday, May 17 and Saturday, May 18 with two shows nightly at 7 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.
SHELLY BERG Friday, May 31 and Saturday, June 1 with two shows nightly at 8 p.m. and 9:30 p.m.
WHERE: Vic’s Las Vegas
355 Promenade Place in Symphony Park
No cover and no minimums. Reservations are strongly encouraged.
ABOUT JOE LANO
Internationally acclaimed guitarist, arranger, and orchestrator, Joe Lano is originally from Philadelphia, where he began performing in nightclubs with his own group at the age of 12. In 1964, tours with Lena Horne led him to Las Vegas, where he now resides. Lano’s performance schedule today includes gigs, clinics, and tours with his group; showroom and hotel engagements in Las Vegas; arranging and producing projects for recording and live performance; and the occasional tour with headline performers. He has been guitarist for the Jerry Lewis Labor Day Telethon for more than 25 years.
ABOUT TOM SCOTT
Tom Scott is a renowned composer, arranger, producer, music director, saxophonist, and educator. His 33 solo recordings have earned him 13 Grammy nominations and 3 Grammy awards. In 2013 he produced a CD for young ukulele master Brittni Paiva which won a Hawaiian Grammy for ‘Ukulele Album of the Year’, and in 2017 received his first Emmy Award nomination for Musical Direction of the Tony Bennett 90th Birthday TV Special on NBC.
ABOUT DOMAS ŽEROMSKAS
The 23-year-old Lithuanian jazz pianist and composer has spent his early formative years on stage alongside prominent native jazz veterans. By the time he graduated high school, Domas was already a sought-after player, known for his technical versatility and soulful, eclectic taste. At the age of 18 Žeromskas released his debut album “Infinite Itinerant,” showcasing original music composed and arranged during his teenage years, some tunes dating back to 2015. Along with an abundant team of Lithuanian musicians, the album featured guest performances from Braxton Cook & Gustav Karlström. In the following years he has been recording and touring internationally with artists such as Jacques Schwarz-Bart, Gregory Tardy, Naledi Masilo and Eric Williams, among others.
ABOUT STEVE FLORA
Steve Flora was born in Indiana October 31, 1970, and has had a life-long obsession for music of all kinds, with a profound emphasis on American Jazz. He is currently in the Jazz Bass faculty for University of Nevada Las Vegas and The Nevada School of the Arts. Steve attended Broad Ripple High School’s Creative and Performing Arts program in Indianapolis, Berklee College of Music (Boston), and graduated from Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. He studied privately with Ray Brown, Milt Hinton, and François Rabbath.
ABOUT HÉCTOR L. FALU GUZMÁN
Guzmán is an up-and-coming drummer, composer, and aspiring ethnomusicologist hailing from the island of Puerto Rico, currently based in Boston, MA. Recently into his twenties, Héctor is a passionate young jazz artist dedicated both to learning from the history of the world and sharing his own stories, exploring new ideas and revisiting wisdom from older times in tandem. Notable performances as a sideman include Jacques Schwarz-Bart’s “Harlem Suite” at L’OFF Festival de Jazz de Montréal, and Gregory Tardy Quartet at Smalls Jazz Club. Héctor’s first release as bandleader, “Understanding Each Other,” came out March 22, 2023.
ABOUT BENNY BENACK III
By age 32, Emmy-nominated trumpeter and singer Benny Benack III has proven to be that rarest of talents: not only a fiery trumpet player with a stirring command of the postbop trumpet vernacular in the vein of Kenny Dorham and Freddie Hubbard, but also a singer with a sly, mature, naturally expressive delivery in the post-Sinatra mold, performing standards and his own astute songs with a thrilling sense of showmanship. This dual-threat ability was recognized by the 2022 Downbeat Critics Poll where he appeared as not only the #2 Rising Star Male Vocalist, but a top Rising Star Trumpeter as well. His superb intonation and bracing virtuosity enable him to handle astounding feats of originally composed vocalese (complex solos with written lyrics). On top of it all, he’s a highly capable pianist as well.
Benny has performed internationally as an Emcee/Host for the YouTube sensation Postmodern Jukebox and achieved his own viral success amassing millions of views for his crooning alongside the Grammy-award winning “8-Bit Big Band”. In early 2020 he released A Lot of Livin’ to Do, the follow-up to his well-received 2017 debut One of a Kind. This sophomore effort, richly varied in mood and brimming with bop inflection, features bassist extraordinaire and jazz ambassador Christian McBride (whose Grammy-award winning Big Band frequently calls upon Benny in the trumpet section) and drummer/producer Ulysses Owens, Jr., as well as the radiant Takeshi Ohbayashi on piano and Rhodes. His vocalese duet on “Social Call” from this album alongside fellow young star vocalist Veronica Swift became an instant smash hit single, being transcribed, and learned by jazz vocalists around the world.
ABOUT DAVE DAMIANI
Dave Damiani is an American singer, songwriter, producer based out of Los Angeles, CA. Having started as a bartender at the famed CHARLIE O’S JAZZ CLUB in Valley Village, CA, Dave Damiani had the opportunity to work, learn and become friends with some of the best musicians on the planet. Legends like Earl Palmer, Marty Harris, Ross Tompkins, Sam Most, Teddy Edwards, John Heard, Roy McCurdy, Frank Capp, Ernie McDaniel, Dini Clarke, Danny Grissett, George Gaffney, Mark Murphy, and Richie Cole (just to name a few) took time to mentor Dave Damiani, share stories and chord changes.
Shortly after receiving his master’s degree in Commercial Music from the California State University in Los Angeles, Dave began his pursuit to put together the perfect band with youth and style. His debut album “Watch What Happens” has been receiving worldwide airplay. Brad “Martini” Chambers was the first to discover Dave Damiani’s originality. Brad has been playing him constantly on www.martiniinthemorning.com since 2013. Additionally, receiving airplay on over 300 radio stations and on Satellite Radio XM 71 (Siriusly Sinatra). In January Dave Damiani hosted his own hour on Sirius XM Siriuisly Sinatra #71, while hosting his good friend and New Jersey brother Joe Piscopo swung the studio say hi!
Dave Damiani & The No Vacancy Orchestra have produced shows with Frank Sinatra Enterprises, The Grove, Citi, Capital One, American Airlines, Jack Daniels, George Benson, Molly Ringwald, Bobby Ridel, Landau Murphy Jr., Hailey Reinhart, Renee Olstead, Steve Tyrel, Larry King.
Dave Damiani has performed for Leonardo DiCaprio, Ryan Seacrest, Gene Simmons, David Spade, David Hasslehoff, Jack Klugman, CBS Television, ABC Television, FOX Television, Polo, The Marriott Corporation, EHarmony, Monster Energy Drink, Apple Computer, Microsoft, CITI (CitiBank), The Four Seasons, Ritz Carlton, Ryan Kavinaugh & Relativity Media, Wolfgang Puck, Cuba Gooding Jr, Oliver Stone, Ridley Scott, The Beverly Hills Hotel, Cafe’ Carlyle – New York City, The Jazz Kitchen – Indianapolis, The Radio Hall Of Fame, Charles Durning, Ray Liotta, Budweiser, University of Texas – San Antonio and many more…
ABOUT SHELLY BERG
Shelly Berg is a Steinway piano artist and five-time Grammy-nominated arranger, orchestrator, and producer. His newest album Alegría will be recorded with bassist Carlitos Del Puerto and Dafnis Prieto and released June 2024 on ArtistShare.
Prior albums Gershwin Reimagined: An American in London (Decca Gold), The Deep (Chesky), The Nearness of You (Arbors), Blackbird (Concord) and The Will (CARS) are critically acclaimed. Berg earned three Grammy nominations in the Best Arrangement Accompanying Vocal(s) category with jazz singer-lyricist Lorraine Feather and international superstar Gloria Estefan, and a fourth Grammy nomination as co-producer of Gloria Estefan: The Standards (Sony). He earned his fifth Grammy nomination as co-arranger of “I Loves You Porgy / There’s a Boat That’s Leavin’ Soon for New York” from the album Rendezvous (2018) featuring jazz singers Clint Holmes and Dee Dee Bridgewater with The Count Basie Orchestra.
Other recent projects include arranging, orchestrating, and co-producing the Estefan Family Christmas album, and recording and/or performing with Tony Bennett, Steve Miller, Seal, Lizz Wright, Andra Day, Monica Mancini, Kari Kirkland, Carmen Bradford, Chris Botti, Renée Fleming, and Arturo Sandoval. He is also artistic director of The Jazz Cruise, and artistic advisor for the Jazz Roots series at the Adrienne Arsht Performing Arts Center of Miami-Dade County.
An award-winning educator with over 40 years of leadership in higher education, Shelly Berg is Dean and Patricia L. Frost Professor of Music at the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami. He was previously the McCoy/Sample Professor of Jazz Studies at the Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California and a past president of the International Association for Jazz Education (IAJE). In 2003 he was honored as Educator of the Year by the Los Angeles Jazz Society and in 2002 received the IAJE Lawrence Berk Leadership Award. In 2000 the Los Angeles Times named him one of three “Educators for the Millennium.”
His textbooks include Essentials of Jazz Theory, the Chop-Monster beginning improvisation series, Rhythm Section Workshop for Jazz Directors (Alfred Music) and Jazz Improvisation: The Goal-Note Method (Kendor). He has appeared as a performer and lecturer throughout the United States as well as in Canada, China, Mexico, Europe, Israel, Japan, Romania, and Venezuela.
ABOUT VIC’S LAS VEGAS
Created by Porchlight Hospitality in 2023, Vic’s Las Vegas is located in Symphony Park at 355 Promenade Place. Open seven days a week, 24 hours a day, Vic’s features Italian-American cuisine, a full-service bar, gaming, and live entertainment nightly. Reservations can be made by calling 725-755-5299 or visit vicslasvegas.com. Follow on Instagram @vicslasvegas.
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MEDIA CONTACT:
Hillary Smoot, SRO PR
310-367-9056
hillary@sropr.com