Jazz at Center Stage – April 2024

Center Stage Theater presents
Jazz at Center Stage – April 2024

Featuring: The Bob Sheppard Quartet
With special guest vocalist Maria Puga Lareo

April 18, 2024

Center Stage is excited to continue our electrifying new series of jazz concerts featuring professional musicians. This month's series will feature the Bob Sheppard Quartet with special guest vocalist Maria Puga Lareo!

Meet Bob Sheppard-

Some musicians’ careers are easily pigeonholed. Not so Bob Sheppard’s. For more than four decades, the multi-instrumentalist has played on countless sessions with an astounding crop of A-list jazz giants—among them Chick Corea, Freddie Hubbard, Michael and Randy Brecker, Mike Stern, Herbie Hancock, Kurt Elling, Dianne Reeves, Lyle Mays, John Beasley and Steps Ahead—and artists within several other genres. He’s also recorded and toured as a leader, contributed to hundreds of movie and TV soundtracks, served as an educator, and more.

Bob has been at it since he was a child. Music entered Sheppard’s life via his amateur saxophonist father and was nurtured via a culturally aware high school that brought in big band legends like Woody Herman, Buddy Rich, and Stan Kenton for the enrichment of the students. Although he originally wanted to play the drums, by the fifth grade, sax and woodwinds became Sheppard’s calling. He got his first alto saxophone in junior high school. “Practicing became my friend, a place to escape,” he says.

Sheppard began playing professionally while still living in the Philadelphia area, where he grew up. He continued while attending college, working various stage shows and even the circus, and soon found gigs accompanying giants of the business such as Tony Bennett, Sammy Davis Jr. and the 5th Dimension. A steady spot in the orchestra of Chuck Mangione provided vital learning experience.

Now, says Sheppard, he is fortunate to be in the position of being able to choose how he spends his time—a luxury he’s earned after decades of paying his dues. But, he says, he still hungers for the experiences his craft affords him. “I’m enjoying what I’m doing: the touring, playing with artists that rely upon my creativity, and working in the industry,” he says. “I certainly want to do more recording and performing my own music as a leader. I’m planning a new CD and expanding my clinic schedule in addition to developing my teaching concepts on the web. My goal is to bring my ideas to the many interested musicians who are inspired to learn to improvise, developing their saxophone skills and help finding their own voice.”

But, he adds, “At this point in my life, I really want to create and enjoy playing more than ever.”

Performance Dates and Times:
Thursday, April 18 at 7:00 PM

(Our next Jazz at Center Stage concert will be May 16 at 7:00 PM)

Ticket Prices:
General Admission: $30
Cabaret Table Seating: (includes one drink) $50
Students & Military w/ID: $20

**All sales are final. No refunds or exchanges.**
All seating is general admission unless otherwise noted. For all performances, there is limited late seating once the performance begins. Please plan your arrival time accordingly.

You can use either e-tickets, print-at-home tickets, or request Will Call tickets to be waiting for you at the Box Office. If you have any questions, please email Jim Sirianni at info@centerstagetheater.org.

Thank you to everyone in the community for your continued support. We would not still be here without you!