On Friday, September 6 the Mainstay in Rock Hall is proud to usher in the Chestertown Jazz Fest with a special return appearance by jazz/ R & B singer Ronnie Leigh.
Ronnie calls Syracuse, New York home. His career, however, has had him on stages across the country and in Canada, and as far across the Pond as Istanbul, Turkey. He has been a headliner at jazz festivals, major concert stages, and has opened for or played with a range of performers, including Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, Smoky Robinson, David Sanborn, The Yellow Jackets, Spiro Gyra, and Jon Hendricks.
Frank Malfitano, founder of the oldest, continuous city-wide jazz festival in Upstate New York, calls him “one of the finest song stylists working in jazz today, but also one of the finest Soul and R & B stylists I’ve ever heard.” His music critic fans go on to comment “it’s not even remotely hype to mention him in the same sentence with the great Lou Rawls and the amazing Donny Hathaway.”
Leigh has received a SAMMY Award (the Syracuse Area Music Awards) numerous times since the 1990s for best jazz vocalist.
Ronnie Leigh was scheduled to perform in Chestertown on the Packet Boat last September for a special Mainstay jazz cruise, but the excessive temperatures caused the excursion to be cancelled. Ticket holders were offered the opportunity to attend the scheduled show inside the Mainstay. Following the show one of the attendees exclaimed, “this man is the reincarnation of Al Jarreau.”
Showtime for the live concert event is 8 pm. Tickets are $20 in advance of the show and can be purchased online at mainstayrockhall.org. Phone reservations are accepted by calling (410) 639-9133 (tickets reserved by phone are $25 when paid at the door). The Mainstay is located at 5753 N Main Street in Rock Hall, Maryland. Its regular calendar of local, regional, and nationally touring artists features a live performance every week of the year (February through December) in a variety of music genres.
The programs of the Mainstay are supported with funds from the Maryland State Arts Council and the Kent Cultural Alliance.
