What is the Great American Songbook?
A loosely defined cannon of the most important and influential American popular songs, show tuns and jazz standards from the 1920s to the 1960s
Curated by pianist and singer Champian Fulton, Songbook Salon is a new concert series that pays homage to the Great American Songbook performed exclusively by world-class vocalists. Each intimate evening will unfold in an atmosphere of elegance, where notes of Porter, Gershwin, Berlin and Ellington will come alive.
From Cole Porter to Bob Dylan featuring Isabella Isherwood
Thursday, Sept. 10, 7:30 pm
Isabella Isherwood performing The Sweetest Sounds, 2026
Chicago-based pianist, singer and actor Isabella Isherwood is known for her vast and impeccable vocal range. “Thrilling low notes, a middle register that resonates warmth and ghostly obbligatos to enhance an arrangement,” says critic Neil Tesser, make for a delightful exploration of the jazz genre and beyond. Fresh off her debut album The Sweetest Sounds released this year, this emerging talent brings jazz standards and favorite tunes to life.
Isherwood has shared her artistry on stage and screen across both the U.S. and internationally and she will share her talents with Northwest Arkansas patrons in From Billy Porter to Bob Dylan. She has performed with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at Symphony Center and Ravinia, and performed with her quartet at the Chicago Jazz Festival and three concert tours throughout Europe.
In an episode of Backstage Bay Area, host Steve Roby sits down with Suzanne Wadowski, founder and executive director of Jazz at the Ballroom and the Songbook Ink label, and Champian Fulton, pianist, vocalist, and musical director, to discuss their upcoming concert and new album celebrating the legendary female vocalists of the swing era and 1950s jazz.
Flying High: Big Band Canaries Who Soared featuring Champian Fulton Trio
Saturday, March 13, 7:30 pm
Billie Holiday, Anita O’Day, Lena Horne, Peggy Lee, Jo Stafford, Rosemary Clooney, Ella Fitzgerald and others. Early in their careers, each of these were “canaries”—women singing with the great Big Bands of the era. And they all went on to solo careers where they developed their own sound and style. Fulton and her trio will celebrate the styles, sounds and music made famous by these jazz canaries once they spread their wings!
Flying High: Big Band Canaries Who Soared is the second installment in the ongoing Flying High series, a long-term project dedicated to honoring the women singers who shaped American popular song during the swing and big band era. Join us as we follow their songs and stories past the big band days and into their flourishing solo careers.
Let’s Be Frank: Celebrating the Frank Sinatra Small Group Songbook featuring Sachal Vasandani & The Christian Tamburr Trio
Thursday, May 6, 7:30 pm
I Love You For Sentimental Reasons - Sachal Vasandani covers Sinatra Live at the Appel Room, Jazz at Lincoln Center 2019
Thoroughly rooted in jazz, award-winning vocalist Sachal Vasandani has the swagger to front the most swinging big bands and the vulnerability to present definitive classic ballads in a trio. With fresh new arrangements by pianist Christian Tamburr, Vasandani leads us through the rare styling of Sinatra with a small group, which includes music broadcast between 1953-1955 on his radio show “To Be Perfectly Frank,” late ‘40s sides for Columbia and the 1959 Live in Australia recording with the Red Norvo Quintet. If you’re a Sinatra fan, you won’t want to miss Let's Be Frank!
Save Your Seat for These Shows!
All-in subscriptions for this three-show series are $170 for cabaret seating and $101 for tiered seating. Single tickets will go on sale later this summer.