CP:<\/strong> I would love to get into the latest show you’re doing, \u201cShaken Not Stirred\u201d. How did you get involved in this project?<\/em><\/p>\n CB:<\/strong> Well, I knew Ted from my last solo project of Gershwin music. I think I had a couple of his CDs, he has an Ellington CD and an Elton John CD, where he takes 15 songs and twists and turns them and stirs them and shakes them, and makes them almost like completely new songs. I\u2019ve never known an arranger of his level where he\u2019s able to really rebuild and renew a song, you know, something that everyone\u2019s familiar with. Like take an Elton John CD, you think, “No, this cannot be possible,” but he\u2019s really amazing at restructuring the song, revoicing it, and when I heard those CDs I thought, “Gosh, I would love him to do a couple of my charts.” So he did 3 of my songs from my last Gershwin CD, and plays the piano on them and is just amazing. Where he comes from is a very different place musically. So that\u2019s how I met him, and we\u2019ve kept in touch. We share the same agent\/management team, so I\u2019d heard he was doing this James Bond music and I thought, \u201cOh my God, how funny is that,\u201d not realizing how many really great songs there are over decades of James Bond movies. You only think of Goldfinger or a couple come to mind, but there are so many. So I kind of just jumped in, and you know, I\u2019ve been off the road for 7 months getting over an illness, so I was just kind of laying low, and he said, \u201cWell come on, let\u2019s do this!\u201d So I started learning the music, realizing that his charts are very complicated. I mean, they have to be; it\u2019s Ted [laughs]. Five of the six songs I didn\u2019t know, but now that I know them, I think, \u201cOh, that\u2019s one of my favorites,\u201d or, \u201cOh, I love that one!\u201d \u00a0I\u2019m just getting them under my belt, and I\u2019ll have a little cheat sheet on stage because they\u2019re really complicated. I mean, what Ted did to these songs is truly a work of art. That\u2019s kind of in a nutshell how I met Ted and why I was very interested in being a part of this.<\/em><\/p>\n CP:<\/strong> Tell me a little bit about what working with Sweet Baby J\u2019ai has been like? Has that been really interesting?<\/em><\/p>\n CB:<\/strong> I hate to burst your bubble, but I actually haven\u2019t met her yet [laughs].<\/em><\/p>\n CP:<\/strong> Oh, you\u2019re kidding!<\/em><\/p>\n CB:<\/strong> No! She\u2019s been rehearsing with Ted, and I\u2019ve been rehearsing with Ted. I will see her for the first time on Wednesday for a big rehearsal with all of us together.<\/em><\/p>\n CP:<\/strong> Wow, I didn\u2019t realize that.<\/em><\/p>\n CB:<\/strong> Yeah, this is all brand new for me. I have heard of her, and I know she\u2019s amazing, so I\u2019m really excited to share the stage with her! We\u2019re only doing one song together with the drummer, Dave Tull, who\u2019s my drummer as well and a great singer. The three of us are going to do a song together, but the rest of it is just she\u2019ll do a song, then I\u2019ll do a song and so on. So, I\u2019m brand new meeting her! I\u2019m so excited!<\/em><\/p>\n CP:<\/strong> Oh, that\u2019s totally fun! So, what have you been up to these days? I know you said you\u2019ve taken a couple months off, and I do hope you\u2019re feeling better. Do you have any solo stuff in the works for the moment?<\/em><\/p>\n CB:<\/strong> Well actually, I do! I was taken ill last November. I was on the road with the Transfer, and I kept feeling worse and worse and I was losing weight and I was thinking, \u201cOh God, I\u2019ve got the flu, it can\u2019t be anything more than that.\u201d I went over the doctor in Europe, and they said, \u201cYou might have pneumonia, but we don\u2019t know.\u201d So I got home, and after a bunch of blood tests, I had a splenectomy. I had to have my spleen removed, and I had Hodgkin\u2019s Lymphoma, cancer. So I\u2019ve been home in chemotherapy since January until June first, so I just finished. It\u2019s been kind of a crazy 7 months since I\u2019ve been home to be honest, and in that time I\u2019ve been doing some private teaching in my home, which has been great as my health improved and my energy just got better. I\u2019ve been teaching private voice, and I do have a new CD coming out, odd as that may sound. I did a CD about a year and a half ago of the Cole Porter songbook, and it is coming out \u00a0on Summit Records in August called \u201cLet\u2019s Misbehave.\u201d So I\u2019ve got a CD coming out, I\u2019ve got all kinds of crazy little projects coming up, and I\u2019m doing some solo shows in September. I go back with the Transfer in the end of July, and we\u2019re going back to Europe for a quick tour. So, it\u2019s so bizarre to be home all this time and still have ongoing projects that are happening.<\/em><\/p>\n CP:<\/strong> You\u2019re not kidding, that sounds like a lot!<\/em><\/p>\n CB:<\/strong> Yes, it\u2019s been interesting. But you know, I\u2019m healing and I\u2019ve been doing really well. I’m just cancer free and trying to get my life back in shape. I\u2019ve had so many wonderful musicians, and just friends and support. It\u2019s been quite an eye-opening, sobering experience, you know\u2014 very humbling. \u00a0I\u2019m glad to be back and be on my feet and ready to come and sing!<\/em><\/p>\n CP:<\/strong> Absolutely! I’m excited for you to come and sing as well! I would love to know what you are most looking forward to, I know you\u2019ve been to Anthology before, so what are you most excited about bringing this new show in?<\/em><\/p>\n CB:<\/strong> Well, I love San Diego so much, and I love this club. I\u2019m not just saying this, \u00a0because I\u2019ve played a gazillion clubs, concert halls, and outdoor venues for almost all my life. Anthology is perfectly built. It\u2019s listener friendly, and you go in, and it gives you the illusion of a very big room and yet it\u2019s very intimate. I love that about it, and I love the overhead screen that they have and the recording facilities. It\u2019s just thought out perfectly. It\u2019s obviously a gorgeous room too. It\u2019s in one of the most beautiful towns in the US, so you cannot go wrong. I think the food is fantastic, and any excuse to get out of LA is great [laughs]! You can even print that if you want! \u00a0It\u2019s so nice to go outside and get some fresh air and a beautiful town. Every time I go to San Diego, I think, \u201cWhy do I live in LA?\u201d [Laughs]<\/em><\/p>\n CP:<\/strong> [Laughs] Don\u2019t you hate it when that happens?<\/em><\/p>\n CB:<\/strong> I know, so I\u2019m thrilled on every level when it comes to San Diego. This room, like I said, is the best big little room that I know because it\u2019s big, but it\u2019s intimate, and it\u2019s really hard to capture both of those ideas in one venue. It helps the performer too because the ceiling is so high, it\u2019s just so easy to perform in there, yet the people are right there. It\u2019s got all the right factors that an artist loves and great sound.\u00a0<\/em>If I only lived closer, then I would come a lot, because your venue is just that comfortable.<\/em><\/p>\n But I hope we get a lot of people for this show. It’s really fun music, and Ted is going to tell stories about the different Bonds and Bond movies. He has all the pertinent info on these songs. It\u2019s going to be a lot of fun for me too because he\u2019s way into it. It’s going to be a ball!<\/em><\/p>\n Special thanks to Cheryl for her time, and on behalf of the entire Anthology family, we send all of our healthy vibes her way! Be sure to come out this Thursday night and catch her singing the music of Bond! WHAT: <\/em>Shaken Not Stirred: The Music of James Bond with Ted Howe & Company featuring Cheryl Bentyne and Sweet Baby J’ai<\/strong><\/em> An Interview with Cheryl Bentyne of The Manhattan Transfer By Casey Pukl Grammy award-winning vocalist, Cheryl Bentyne, is one of jazz’s most accomplished vocalists. Logging over 200 performances per year on average with the Transfer, it’s amazing that she finds the time to work on not only her solo projects, but also additional collaborations. 2012 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1442],"tags":[11512],"class_list":["post-6731","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-artists","tag-artist-interviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/anthologysd.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6731","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/anthologysd.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/anthologysd.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anthologysd.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anthologysd.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6731"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/anthologysd.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6731\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32891,"href":"https:\/\/anthologysd.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6731\/revisions\/32891"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/anthologysd.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6731"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anthologysd.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6731"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anthologysd.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6731"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/anthologysd.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/cherylbentyne.jpeg\" "\\"cherylbentyne\\"")
<\/a>Grammy award-winning vocalist, Cheryl Bentyne, is one of jazz’s most accomplished vocalists. Logging over 200 performances per year on average with the Transfer, it’s amazing that she finds the time to work on not only her solo projects, but also additional collaborations. 2012 has certainly been an interesting year for Bentyne, as she battled Hodgkin’s Lymphoma for the first half. But she’s now got her health back, and is picking up where she left off. This Thursday, she returns to Anthology as part of a special tribute to the music of James Bond titled, “Shaken Not Stirred”. Read on to learn about Cheryl’s collaboration with Ted Howe and Sweet Baby J’ai, her battle with Hodgkin’s, and just why Anthology holds a special place in her heart.<\/p>\n
\nThe Manhattan Transfer on Spotify<\/a><\/p>\n
\nWHEN: <\/span>Thursday, July 5, 7:30pm <\/strong><\/em>
\nTICKETS: $10-$35 <\/span>Buy Tickets<\/a><\/em>
\nMORE INFO: <\/span>Artist Profile<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"