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The BEST background recording for your cocktail & dinner parties!! Great, too, for dancing, energizing workouts & intent listening!! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ABOUT ENTER CLUB HAVANA These timeless and elegant, yet upbeat songs are enjoyed around the world today by people of all ages! The Latin rhythms include rhumbas, tangos, Bossa novas, cha-chas, beguines and light sambas. Other rhythms include swing, waltzes, fox-trots and ballads. Specializing in Ballroom Society Dance music of the 1930's, 40's & 50's, Mr. Jelasic's band repertoire combines world-class classical piano artistry with the best of Big Band, Swing, Latin, and the Waltz. These works were originally performed by artists including Ella Fitzgerald - Tony Bennett - Duke Ellington - Nat "King" Cole - Edith Piaf - Billie Holiday - Frank Sinatra - Louis Armstrong - Hoagie Carmichael - Carmen Cavallaro - Patsy Cline - Xavier Cugat - Tommy & Jimmy Dorsey - Glen Miller - Cole Porter - Artie Shaw & Sarah Vaughn among many others! The instrumentalists in this live recording, under the direction of Mr. Jelasic at a Steinway concert grand piano, include Howard Denker on saxophone and clarinet, Neil Lewis on upright acoustic string bass, Rich Gerbich on drums and Mark Carson on percussion instruments added to the Latin selections. Two of the highlights at which James Jelasic & His Dance Band have performed include one of the United States' Presidential Inaugural Balls at the National Gallery of Art on January 20th, 2005 and Ford Motor Company's CEO Gala at the newly restored Detroit Opera House on January 22, 1999. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CRITICAL REVIEWS FOR JAMES JELASIC & HIS DANCE BAND WASHINGTON, D.C. - James Jelasic & His Dance Band 'You can't beat the dazzling, sublime, ultra sophisticated live Latin and Swing.' -- Newsweek - March 14, 2005 issue -- "James Jelasic & His Dance Band has entertained diners and dancers with a hit parade of music from the '30s, '40s and '50s. 'We do Sinatra, Bennett, Nat King Cole,' among many others, says band leader Jelasic, in a repertoire that runs to swing, waltz and tango." -- Tom Sietsema, Critic - The Washington Post - Washington, D.C.: September 17, 2000 -- "MUSIC TO OUR EARS: Fans of serious dancing have long counted on a fix of James Jelasic & His Dance Band, which performs big-band-era music. That repertoire includes tango, Bossa nova and cha-cha music from the 1930s through 1950s. The dancing coincides with the release of the four-piece band's new CD, Enter Club Havana.' -- Tom Sietsema, Critic - The Washington Post - Washington, D.C.: September 17, 2003 -- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- JAMES JELASIC, PIANIST - ABOUT THE ARTIST Piano virtuoso, Fulbright Scholar and International Steinway Artist, James Jelasic continues the rich musical heritage established by his maternal grandfather, Jan Nemec, a composer and playwright in Czechoslovakia in the early 1900s. In the family tradition, Mr. Jelasic began his piano studies at the age of six and, by the age of nineteen, had twice been featured as a concerto soloist with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Jelasic, a native of Dearborn, Michigan, received his early musical training at the Detroit Institute of Musical Arts, his Bachelor of Music degree in Piano Performance on full scholarship from Eastern Michigan University, and his Master of Music degree in Accompanying and Chamber Music from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. He has also done advanced studies at the Sorbonne in Paris and at Warwick University in Coventry, England. Mr. Jelasic's master teachers include such distinguished artists as Joseph Gurt in Ypsilanti, Michigan; Gordon Green of the Royal Academy of Music in Londo