Eleven Jazzy Divas Celebrate Women’s History Month and Honors Juanita Passmore
by Kai EL’ Zabar
You know you’re dealing with some bad sistas when they can all come together and share the stage. It’s worth going to just to see that. Yes, Eleven Jazzy Divas will celebrate and honor yet another jazzy diva, Mrs. Juanita Passmore Chicago philanthropist and successful business woman in celebration of her 90th birthday, Sunday March 20, 2016, at the DuSable Museum of African American History, located at 746 East 56th Place, promptly at 4pm.
Joan Callaso, producer and Emmy Award winner, says, “The concert is a tribute to beloved African American Female Vocalists, at the DuSable Museum of African American History that emerged from my work. I was booking music for ‘Mondays at ETA’ and got an idea to showcase African American women vocalists. So I called women in music that I know shared the concept and those that said they were in experienced the surprise of a receptive crowd standing outside the doors the night before the show opened. We were all flabbergasted but elated. The next day DuSable called and asked if we could bring the show to their venue. That was 2010 and so we’ve done it annually since.”
This year, Joan said that she was, ” . . . inspired to present Eleven Jazzy Divas as a way to celebrate Women’s History Month and at the same time recognize a woman who has been a community activist for years giving of herself tirelessly in what seemed effortlessly. But let’s face it as women we know better. But Mrs. Passmore always looked good doing what she did. Diva in the house was written all over her and yet she handled it all with amazing grace and poise.”
Mrs. Passmore a native Chicagoan cut her teeth as a corporate executive, philanthropist and community activist. She did it so naturally. Mrs. Passmore joined Johnson Products Company in 1974 where she served in numerous capacities by the time she retired in 1990. She served there as director of special promotions, executive national coordinator and also directed Johnson Products Division for Cosmetic Consultants. Mrs’. Passmore also hosted the TV program, Totally Beauty You.
Conceived, produced and directed by Ms. Callaso, Eleven Jazzy Divas is an exciting experience that takes the audience on a thrilling tour or Black women vocalists who have brought emotion and told stories through song song from the heart across various genres of Jazz to R & B. The Eleven Jazzy Divas promise a thrilling concert that will touch you intimately. Joan says, that as a producer, “I recognize the importance and value of each vocalist’s contribution, so each selects the artist she wishes to present and bring to life through song.”
The Eleven Jazzy Divas is collective of established female song stylists who have traveled the world, recorded numerous albums, garnered many accolades and awards, and bring to the stage a combined wealth of experience that is dazzling. The idea is to introduce, rekindle memories, stimulate and excite the audience though the music each diva will share. “We want tour audience to enjoy themselves and walk away with the memory of the female vocalists whose songs we sing but also to know us better,” says Joan. Even if you’ve seen the Eleven “Jazzy” Divas perform it will still be a new and different experience because each year the women change. Some remain the same but the make-up of the different vocalists make for the variable that promises an entirely new experience.
Each vocalists is so unique in her delivery of music, some you will know and others you will hear for the first time, others you may have heard their music but have not had the opportunity to her them live where music truly lives. So mark your calendars now, call and reserve your tickets and be there for one of the most thrilling and exquisite musical journeys ever.
Though Jazz, Blues and Gospel are the reigning genres of this group, don’t be surprised if they throw in something contemporary. They are more than capable! You never know what will happen next with the “Divas”…but just hold on to your seat because each one is going to knock your socks off!
The beauty of Eleven Jazzy Divas is that as you embrace the outstanding, voices each, self expressed, personalities and style, you will experience a sense of the historical nostalgia as the ladies reference their influences and interpret the music with soul-stirring integrity and heart-touching sincerity. Expect to hear the music of Chaka Khan, Nancy WIlson, Ella Fitzgerald, Dianne Reeves, Phyllis Hymen, Abbie Lincoln, Lena Horne and Eartha Kitt and more.
The vocalists Featured are Joan Collaso, Bobbi Wilsyn, Tecora Rogers, Yvonne Gage, Maggie Brown, Julia Huff, Margaret Murphy-Webb, Lynne Jordan, Frieda Lee, Greta Pope and Felena Bunn
The doors open at 3:30pm, show time is 4pm. Tickets are $35 in advance and $40 at the door. For tickets and information call: 312-808-0005
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