Cabaret artist brings eclectic show to Silo's
By L. PIERCE CARSON
Register Staff Writer
Cabaret artist Jason Emanuel Britton will debut his new show, “Listen to Your Heart,” at Silo’s Jazz Club in Napa on Saturday, July 18.
Special guest at the performance will be Kellie Fuller, best known as sunrise deejay weekdays on KVYN’s “Kellie in the Morning.”
Britton performs regularly throughout the Bay Area.
His latest show had its Bay Area debut recently at the historic Bellevue Club on Oakland’s Lake Merritt. At the end of July, the Bay Area baritone will take it to the world-famous Don't Tell Mama nightclub off Times Square in New York City.
His performances offer lush, intimate arrangements of classic and contemporary American songs by many famous and lesser-known composers including Alec Wilder and William Engvick, George and Ira Gershwin, Cole Porter, Harold Rome, ‘Yip’ Harburg, Amanda McBroom, Stephen Sondheim, Ricky Ian Gordon, Alan and Marilyn Bergman and Duke Ellington.
His show “A step beyond the rain ...” premiered at Martuni’s in San Francisco to enthusiastic audiences and played the Berkeley City Club and the Metropolitan Club in San Francisco’s Union Square.
Britton was a lead performer in “Pins and Needles,” a musical review by Harold Rome from the 1930s, performed at La Pena Cultural Center and the San Francisco Music Center.
His solo cabaret show “Stairway to the Stars,” premiered at the Larkspur Café Theatre in 2006 featuring notable American tunes from the 1920s, ’30s and ’40s with musical direction by Frank Johnson.
In 2005, his solo cabaret show, “Putting It Together!,” was presented at Kelly’s of Alameda and at Martuni’s in San Francisco. Later that year, Britton performed his show “Finding Home” at the Trinity Chamber Concerts in Berkeley and at The White Barn in St. Helena.
His original song and dance shows — “All Jazzed Up!” and “My Visions of the Valley” — have been seen at The Napa Valley Museum, Western Sky in Berkeley and at the Metro Theatre in Oakland.
Britton received his Masters from Tisch School of the Arts at New York University and a Masters in Creative Arts from San Francisco State University. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Theatre Arts from Sonoma State University.
Britton has taught yoga and dance at UC Berkeley since 1998.
Frank Johnson, music director, earned degrees in performance and composition at Carnegie-Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh.
He has composed, arranged, written, produced, performed, conducted and stage-directed opera, musical theater, orchestral concerts, chamber music and recitals, avant garde, jazz and cabaret, rock, modern dance, concert series, festivals and many public and private events.
In the Bay Area, he has worked with Theatreworks, American Conservatory Theatre, Marin Theatre, Woodminster, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Pocket Opera and many others, and served as assistant conductor for “Beach Blanket Babylon.”
Britton’s first CD is in production and is expected to be released come fall.
Guest soloist Fuller is the popular morning personality on the “Kellie in the Morning” program on 1440 KVON and 99.3, the VINE.
She has been singing professionally for many years, and features a soulful voice with a tremendous range in both her vocals and styling.
Having returned to the stage after a brief hiatus while raising her two young children, Kellie made her debut with Mike Greensill recently at Silo’s Jazz Club to great acclaim, and the two of them performed on a “West Coast Live” broadcast from Napa.
Guest flutist for the Silo’s show will be Diane Grubbe.
She freelances in the Bay Area, performing with Pocket Opera, Napa Valley Symphony, Golden Gate Opera, Lamplighters, Lyric Opera and others. As a member of Quinteto Latino, she performs in the San Francisco Symphony’s “Adventures in Music” program.
Jason Britton
Cover charge for the July 18 performance of “Listen to Your Heart” is $10. Silo’s Jazz Club is at the Napa Mill, on the Napa River at the southern end of Main Street. For reservations, visit www.silosjazzclub.org.
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