DEE DEE BRIDGEWATER & LALO SHIFRIN TO PERFORM AT 2006 FIFA WORLD CUP

Jazz legend Dee Dee Bridgewater and film score composer Lalo Schifrin are to appear together on July 7 during the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Cologne, Germany. They will be performing as part of the Sixth Cologne Jazz Night which is designated as part of the 2006 FIFA World Cup arts and culture program in the city. Paris-based Dee Dee Bridgewater, born in 1950 in Memphis, Tennessee, is without doubt one of the greatest living jazz sopranos, her imposing stage presence and supreme improvisation skills continuing a long tradition encapsulated by her idol Ella Fitzgerald. Lalo Schifrin (born 1932 in Buenos Aires) shares a connection to Fitzgerald, as he once accompanied the Grande Dame of jazz as a pianist. Schifrin's music is best known from the movies, as he rates as one of the world's leading cinematic composers (Mission Impossible, Rush Hour, Dirty Harry). The star duo will be backed by the Cologne Music Academy Big Band conducted by Professor Joachim Ullrich. The program is drawn from Schifrin's collected works.