Music Legend Dave Brubeck and BI Nurse Daphne Ridley Among Honorees at Louis Armstrong Center's "Wonderful World" Awards on Monday, Sept 20 Jazz Artists Lew Soloff and Mulgrew Miller, "Wicked" Cast to Perform

Online, September 13, 2010 (Newswire.com) - Jazz pianist and composer Dave Brubeck, designated "A Living Legend" by the Library of Congress and a Jazz Master by the National Endowment for the Arts will be among the honorees at the Louis Armstrong Center for Music & Medicine's What A Wonderful World Awards on Monday, September 20.

Other honorees include Beth Israel nurse Daphne Ridley, RN, MA; patient Kimberley Sue, an honor student and budding actress; and CareFusion, a medical technology company supporting jazz.
The ceremony and cocktail reception will be held from 6 to 9 pm in the atrium of Phillips Ambulatory Care Center, 10 Union Square East, between 14th and 15th Streets, in Manhattan.

Laura Woyasz and Stephanie Toms, members of the Broadway cast of "Wicked," will be the opening act. Woyasz, who plays Glinda, and Toms in the role of Elphaba, will sing "The Wizard and I" and "For Good" by award-winning composer and lyricist Stephen Schwartz. They will be accompanied on piano by T.O. Sterret.

Also performing are two of the jazz world's most respected artists - trumpeter Lew Soloff and pianist Mulgrew Miller. Perennial favorites in the jazz scene, Soloff and Miller are accomplished virtuosos whose work have gained them a wide following and hailed the world over. They have worked with all the big names in jazz. Their histories are filled with Who's Who in music.

Brubeck has received numerous accolades, including a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, the Smithsonian Medal, and the Kennedy Center Honors. He has played for heads of state, royalty and the Pope. The Dave Brubeck Quartet and its signature work, the album Time Out, featuring Blue Rondo a la Turk and Take Five, has earned a spot in the Grammy Hall of Fame. But his work also has extended to composing for the American Ballet Theater and writing The Real Ambassadors, a musical theater piece that starred Louis Armstrong. Nearing 90, Brubeck continues to be one of the most active and popular musicians in the world.

Daphne Ridley is the nurse manager for orthopedics at Beth Israel Medical Center, Petrie Division. Born in Jamaica, she came to the US as a young girl and has been a nurse for more than 40 years. A graduate of the Kings County School of Nursing, she also holds a BS in Nursing from Long Island University and an MA in Nursing Administration from New York University. In 2006, Ridley was named a Fellow of the NYU College of Nursing, Leadership Institute for Black Nurses. She is Past President of the Orthopedic Nurses of New York.

Kimberley Sue is a multi-talented singer, dancer, actress and honor student at the Martin Van Buren High School in Queens. A patient in the Louis Armstrong Center's Asthma Initiative Program, the teenager has been taking acting and dancing classes for several years. In 2009, she successfully auditioned and participated in the musical theater training program at the Rosetta LeNoire Musical Theatre Academy-Amas Musical Theatre, a non-profit, multi-ethnic theatrical organization, which culminated in a limited run off-off Broadway production.

CareFusion, the sponsor of the international CareFusion Jazz Festival Series, is a global corporation serving the health care industry with products and services that help hospitals measurably improve the safety and quality of care. The CareFusion Jazz Festival Series uses jazz to shine a light on medication safety and infection prevention. With the best and brightest musicians playing at some of the world's largest and oldest jazz festivals, the company's sponsorship has been able to increase awareness and raise funds about patient safety issues.

The evening will feature a silent auction of musical, sport, entertainment and travel packages that will benefit the Armstrong Center's clinical services to those in need, including musicians, infants in the NICU, children with HIV and asthma, as well as adults with cancer, COPD and heart disease.

The Louis Armstrong Center for Music and Medicine is celebrating its fifth anniversary. The Center traces its origins to the The Louis and Lucille Armstrong Music Therapy Program at Beth Israel, established 17 years ago as part of the jazz legend's legacy. The Center provides multidisciplinary health care services to amateur and professional performing artists.

For more information about What A Wonderful World Awards, the programs and services offered by The Louis Armstrong Center for Music & Medicine, please call 212-420-2704 or check out its website at www.musicandmedicine.org.