JAZZ

Friday, May 13, 2011 6:30PM

Friday, May 13, 2011 9:30PM

Join us for a very special Spring Edition kick off to our Smooth Cruise season as Candy Dulfer returns to the United States for the first time in two years. Cruise the Hudson river aboard the luxurious Spirit of New York cruise ship and listen to the music of this world renowned, Grammy-nominated saxophonist. Enjoy a fantastic May evening with views of the moonlit Manhattan skyline, indulge in delicious food and fine beverages, and enjoy a rare US performance by the extraordinary Candy Dulfer!

Please note that food and beverages are not included in the ticket price.

CANDY DULFER
Dutch-born Candy Dulfer first picked up the saxophone at the tender age of six. Over 30 years and two decades after her Grammy-nominated recording debut in 1990, the sizzling saxophonist has earned a reputation as a high-energy performer with charisma and sex appeal to burn.

Raised in a musical family, her father, Hans Dulfer, was a well-known Dutch saxophonist who founded the Bimhaus, the famous jazz club originally subsidized by the government as a means to promote the arts. When he was ousted from the original organization for embracing styles outside the strict confines of traditional jazz, seeing her father ostracized from the jazz community he helped establish had a profound effect on young Candy. “I decided that I was going to do things my own way… I would play R&B, pop, and whatever else moved me, and then decide later on where all the jazz that I had heard as a child would fit into what I was doing. I really never played straightahead gigs. I thought it was very purist and confining,” she reflects.

By 14, she had assembled her own band, Funky Stuff (the name offers some clue to her rebellion against the stifling parameters of traditional jazz). The group was still intact five years later in 1988 when she recorded Saxuality, her solo debut album. Released in 1990, Saxuality sold more than a million copies worldwide and scored a GRAMMY nomination. The massive success of the album prompted world touring for Dulfer and Funky Stuff beginning in the early ‘90s. More than 20 years and ten solo albums later – not to mention numerous guest appearances on albums by other artists – Candy’s globe-trotting itinerary has yet to stop.

Along the way, Candy Dulfer has made scores of friends in high places. She appeared in the Prince video, “Partyman” in 1990, and played with him on the Graffiti Bridge soundtrack released that same year. She has toured with him frequently since the late ‘90s, most recently on his Musicology tour in 2004, and played on his 2006 release, 3121. Other collaborative partners have included Dave Stewart (Eurythmics), Maceo Parker, Van Morrison, David Sanborn, Beyonce, Pink Floyd, Chaka Khan, Aretha Franklin, Blondie, Joey DeFrancesco, and many others. Clearly, Candy is an artist who will not be hampered by the typical constraints of one genre or style over another.

Dulfer brought this melting-pot approach to Candy Store, her 2007 album featuring a mix of R&B, pop, funk, hip-hop, Latin and more – an all-inclusive formula that’s consistent with her career-long philosophy of weaving a diversity of styles to craft high-energy, positive music. She continued to bare it all – the brassy and edgy, along with a few mellow touches – with 2009, worldwide release of Funked Up! The 12-track set features the revved-up funk and R&B typical of her legendary live shows, laced with a few cooler, quieter grooves to keep things interesting.

Discography:

Saxuality(1990)
Sax-a-Go-Go (1993)
Big Girl (1995)
For the Love of You (1997)
The Best of Candy Dulfer (1998)
Girls Night Out(1999)
Dulfer Dulfer (2002)
Right in My Soul (2003)
Candy Store(2007)
Funked Up & Chilled Out (2009)