After winning awards and
critical acclaim in the Broadway smash hit Hamilton: An American Musical,
Leslie Odom, Jr. could have done anything. Doors opened, opportunities arose,
but it is sharing his love for jazz that has taken the spotlight. He recorded
an album of jazz standards and show tunes while still appearing on stage, eight
shows a week. The self-titled album was released last year and Leslie Odom,
Jr., the original Aaron Burr in Hamilton, has been touring in support of the
record ever since. On Friday, August 4, he will make his debut at the Newport
Jazz Festival® presented by Natixis Global Asset Management.
Odom is an enormously talented, crossover star. When he
burst onto the scene as the rapping, dancing founding father, the New York
Times called him "suavely brooding." The role made him a Tony and
Grammy Award winner, but before that he was already a known TV actor and club
performer. Odom, 35, was born in Queens, NY, grew up in Philadelphia and was a
musical theater prodigy. He appeared in Rent on Broadway when he was just 17
while attending Philadelphia's High School for Creative and Performing Arts.
After graduating with honors from the School of Drama at Pittsburgh's Carnegie
Mellon University, he acted on television as Sam Strickland in TV's Smash for
two seasons and had a recurring role as Reverend Curtis Scott on Law &
Order: SVU. Soon to conquer the big screen, Odom recently filmed a remake of
Murder on the Orient Express with a star-studded cast that includes Dame Judi
Dench and Johnny Depp, due in theaters in November.
But, being an original star of Hamilton, first when it was
off-Broadway and continuing with the show to the Great White Way as Burr, the
founding father who shot Alexander Hamilton in a fatal duel, propelled Odom
into a different stratosphere all together. And, yet it was back to his roots
he went. Honey-voiced Odom created an emotionally resonant album of standards
with relentless appeal. In much the same way as he broke with tradition by
being an African-American cast as Aaron Burr, Odom's music crosses boundaries.
This summer he will appear at festivals, in concert halls, but also with the
Boston and San Diego Symphony Orchestras. His universal appeal is undeniable.
Leslie Odom, Jr., the 10-song album, features the classic
"Look for the Silver Lining," which has been recorded by jazz greats
from Chet Baker to Tony Bennett, as well as "Nobody Knows You (When You're
Down and Out)," "Cheer Up Charlie" from Willy Wonka and the
Chocolate Factory, the South American classic, "Brazil (Aquarela do
Brasil)" and "The Guilty Ones" from Broadway's Spring Awakening.
This soulful collection is a different world from the sounds of Hamilton, yet
it's all part of Odom's appeal.
The 2017 Newport Jazz Festival presented by Natixis Global
Asset Management takes place August 4 - 6 at Fort Adams State Park and the
International Tennis Hall of Fame at the Newport Casino. Artists include The
Roots; Béla Fleck & The Flecktones; Snarky Puppy; Andra Day; Branford
Marsalis Quartet; Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue; Rhiannon Giddens,
Christian McBride Big Band with Special Guests; Cécile McLorin Salvant; Maria
Schneider Orchestra; Hudson: Jack DeJohnette, Larry Grenadier, John Medeski
& John Scofield; Maceo Parker; Vijay Iyer & Wadada Leo Smith and many more.
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