Vocalist Pamela Rose comes to the World Theater

Jazz vocalist Pamela Rose has been described by Downbeat Magazine as "playful, sure and sassy."

That's what an ongoing successful run of the multi-media "Wild Women of Song: Great Gal Composers of the Jazz Era" does for a person. In Los Angeles, London, New York and San Francisco, Rose has entertained, enlightened and educated audiences about the mostly anonymous female songwriters from the early days of jazz.

She will bring the show to CSU Monterey Bay’s World Theater on Oct. 17. Showtime is 7:30 p.m.

With dramatic projected images, and superb storytelling, Rose delivers a cultural retrospective while treating the audience to a live jazz and blues concert.

She is no stranger to the local area. In 2011, the show was featured at the Monterey Jazz Festival. The Los Angeles native immersed herself in jazz over the past two decades, but she can belt sassy golden age blues by Alberta Hunter and Ida Cox as easily as a torchy Peggy Lee lament. Completing the package, Rose also throws her own well-crafted originals into the mix.

The music is accompanied by a slide show of pictures of the songwriters and a script that provides details of the composers' lives. The result is something far more meaningful than just a pleasant evening of music.

"It's like putting on a play," Rose told the San Jose Mercury News in 2011. "We are sort of reconstructing this era for people."

Said World Theater artistic director Joe Cardinalli: "What really hooked me on presenting Pamela Rose at the World Theater was listening to her album 'Wild Women of Song.' Every song was written by a woman. The songs brought back childhood memories of my mother singing them in the kitchen in our home in Monterey."

Tickets are $40 premium, $29 general. Discounts are available for students, military members and seniors. Tickets can be purchased online or by calling the box office at 582-4580. The World Theater is located on Sixth Avenue between A and B streets. Driving directions and a campus map are available here.Her multimedia show is equal parts concert and history lesson. Rose and her talented band routinely draw rave reviews from fans and critics ... notably, her set at the Monterey Jazz Festival had people buzzing! –? Jim Harrington, San Jose Mercury News