B.B. KING, PAT METHENY, WOODY ALLEN

MUSE EVENTS HEADLINERS

Muse Events – an entertainment production made possible by the Comune of Ancona, the Le Muse Theatre Foundation and the Anno Zero company – has the honour and privilege of hosting three international superstars:  B. B. King, Pat Metheny and Woody Allen and his jazz band from the 10th July.

These three dates, long-awaited across the nation, will put the Marche capital up with other cities under the cultural spotlight in 2004.

Opening the show on the 10th July will be B. B. King, one of the great blues legends who makes very few appearances in Europe or consequently Italy. The date is being announced much further in advance than previous dates as the American artist has announced that this year will be his last European tour. Alongside B. B. King (born Riley Ben King, later to become Blue Boy King), James Golden (trumpet, musical director), Stanley Abernathy (trumpet), Melvin Jackson (saxophone), Walter King (saxophone), Charlie Tennis (guitar), Reggie Richards (bass guitar), Leon Warren (guitar), James Toney (keyboards), and Calep Emphrey (drums) will be performing on stage at Le Muse. The American artist has been one of the greatest blues performers for more than forty years: originally his audience included sharecroppers and labourers from the small towns on the Mississippi delta, but today crowds throng the world over. The message in his music is still the same too, with every note played or sung expressing his deepest emotions.

B. B. King is not the only ‘jewel’ amongst the Doric Maximus. On the 13 July Pat Metheny will perform on stage at Le Muse. Guitar virtuoso, multi faceted composer, innovative producer and pioneer of the guitar synthesizer, he boasts an insatiable musical mind and boundless energy.  Metheny is highly skilled in using different types of guitar (several of which have been built specially for him by famous string instrument makers and production companies), and possesses, in the words of his critics, "clear phrasing which blends sweet melodies with the teachings of the great modern jazz guitar maestros, from Jim Hall to Wes Mongtomery". Enticed as he is by the most advanced equipment available in technology, he is also considered to be one of the top synth guitar specialists. As a result he is regularly nominated for polls in the most prestigious magazines in the business, and has won numerous Grammy Awards.

The closing Muse Events act, on a date yet to be confirmed, will be the internationally renowned household name Woody Allen. The artist who definitely needs no introduction, and is a worldwide cultural symbol, will tread the boards of Le Muse with his remarkable band. The American director’s passion for music dates back a long way. Every Monday evening since the early Seventies in fact, Woody Allen has performed unmissable dates with jazz performances on clarinet at Michael's Pub in New York, the Manhattan "prison" on the Broadway and Radio City Music Hall horizonline - an area filled with people from all walks of life - which both delights and torments him. Everyday people and special guests, especially his fans, and in particular Europeans and Italians, queue up to try and gain entrance to the nightspot which is certainly not the biggest. It is not difficult to imagine the same thing happening at Le Muse Theatre.  The documentary Wild man blues – directed and starred in by Woody Allen himself and shown at the Venice Film Festival in 1997, was filmed during Woody Allen and his jazz band’s 1997 European tour and resulted from his passion for performing live.

Muse Events has been made possible with the assistance of the “Riviera del Conero” local tourism group.