On the eve of Valentine’s Day the unique vocalist from Baltimore (USA) Vincent Gross together with the international quartet of Ark Ovrutsky will present a programme of romantic hits from the repertoire of Louis Armstrong. The concert will feature such compositions as “My Funny Valentine”, “What a Wonderful World”, “When You’re Smiling”, “My Funny Valentine”, and “When You’re Smiling”, “When You Smiling”, “Cheek To Cheek”, “The Nearness Of You”, “St James Infirmary”, “You Don’t Know What it Means To Miss New Orleans”, “Hello Dolly”.
Vincent Gross is known for his musical versatility as a vocalist, instrumentalist and showman. His avant-garde jazz vocalisations, chants and scat improvisations combined with insightful trumpet, cornet and flugelhorn solos allow audiences to fully enjoy the artist’s performance skills. Vincent performs jazz standards from “The Great American Songbook” covering the genres of gospel, jazz, bebop, blues, R&B, funk/soul, hip-hop/rap, pop and folk. Gross also composes and actively contributes to recordings by national and international artists, participating in Grammy Award-winning and nominated projects (1997–2018).
Vincent Gross received his professional education at the Peabody Conservatory of Music at Johns Hopkins University. His career as a musician took him to widely acclaimed venues in the 1980s, where he performed with such notable artists as Gary Bartz, Brian Blade, Cyrus Chestnut, Mickey Fields, Christopher Fann, Mark Gross, Roy Hargrove, Phillip Harper, Antonio Hart, J.J. Johnson, Bobby Lyle, DeFeo Marsalis, Dennis Marsalis, Dennis Marsalis, John Marsalis, and others. J. Johnson, Bobby Lyle, Delfeo Marsalis, Wynton Marsalis, Jimmy MaGriff, Mulgrew Miller, Lee Pearson, Rufus Reid, The Temptations, Gary Thomas, Sarah Vaughn, Mark Whitfield, Warren Wolfe and others.
Gross has toured Japan with the Mark Cones Quintet, Chuck Brown, the Japan Jazz Festival (1986), the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival (2000), Down Beat Jazz (2004) and countless other events. He has also led bands and performed at exclusive restaurants, festivals and private events throughout the North and East Coast.
Vincent Gross has performed, recorded and appeared with numerous national and international artists. He is featured on Grammy Award-winning and nominated projects such as “Yardbird’s Suite” and “Cornelia Blue” on Mark Gross’ album “Preach Daddy” (King Records; 1997). He wrote the lyrics to the song ‘Brenda Mae’ and co-wrote the songs “While I Was Sitting In My Room” and “The Gospel According to Mark” on Mark Gross’s album + Strings. (MGQ Records; 2018).
The musician released his solo album “My Funny Valentine” in February 2020. This release quickly garnered attention and began getting radio play in the DC/MD/VA and TX markets less than 24 hours later! His latest projects include “What A Wonderful World” and “2019 Holiday Collection” which he recorded and produced in 2019 with one of his trio bands, The Vincent Gross Trio.
Celebrate Valentine’s Day in the atmosphere of true American lyrical jazz with Vincent Gross (vocals, trumpet), Ark Ovrutsky (contrabass), Vladimir Nesterenko (piano) and Alessandro D’Anna (drums).