VietNamNet Bridge – The Five Play group of five female members will perform in Ho Chi Minh City, Nha Trang, Hanoi, Thanh Hoa and Vinh.

The American Jazz group from New York will arrive in Vietnam on June 5 and they will have free concerts for the public in HCM City and at the Nha Trang Sea Festival in Nha Trang City.

In HCM City, the five female artists will perform at the Hoa Binh Theater at 20h, on June 7. In Nha Trang, the group will appear on the stage of Tue Tinh Park, in the framework of the Nha Trang Sea Festival, at 19:30 am on June 9.

The troupe will also perform for workers of the Suoi Dau Industrial Park at 17 pm, on June 8 and talk to Nha Trang’s students. After that they will go to Hanoi, Thanh Hoa and Vinh.

The members of the quintet are: Sherrie Malicle (drummer), Tomoko Ohno (piano), Noriko Ueda (bass), Jami Dauber (trumpet) and Janelle Reichman (clarinet and saxophone).

Five Play is a group of musicians in the world-renowned Diva Jazz orchestras, founded in 1999. The group’s music is a combination of traditional jazz with creative inspiration of each member.

Five Play performed in many prestigious concerts, at festivals, universities as well as jazz clubs across the U.S., including the Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center. The group also performed at major festivals in many countries such as Israel, Japan, France, Germany, Spain and Portugal.

The quintet’s first CD - On the Brink (Arbors Records) – was picked by Nat Hentoff, a famous American music critic, as the top CD in the rankings of the Jazz Times magazine in 1999. The next CD, Five Play Plus (Arbors Records), reached the top 10 best CDs of 2005 of the Coda Magazine. The quintet partnered with well-known singer of Portugal, Maria Anadon in CD A Jazzy Way (2006) and Smile (2010). The group’s latest CD, What the World Needs Now, was released in June 2008 and it is highly appreciated by critics.

Sherrie Malicle, the group leader, appeared with The Diva Jazz Orchestra in the documentary “The Girls in the Band”. The film is about female jazz bands of the 20th century and their efforts to overcome discrimination to prove their talent in a world of Jazz music which is often said to be dominated by men. The film won the audience poll at the Palm Springs Film Festival, Victoria Film Festival, Omaha Film Festival and the Best Documentary Music at the International Documentary Film Festival in Utah. The film was also screened at many international film festivals in Atlanta, Dubai, Cleveland and Washington DC (USA).

Tickets for the concert in HCM City are free of charge. The program is one of the cultural activities of the Consulate General of the United States to enhance cultural exchanges between the two countries.

T. Van