Alexis Morrast, the recipient of “The Best Up and Coming Young Artist Award” in 2017 by Hot House magazine and winner of “Showtime at the Apollo,” is all set to razzle and dazzle the audience at The Watchung Arts Center on January 19, 2019 at 8 p.m. The concert will be followed by a dessert reception and an opportunity to meet Alexis Morrast.
Singer/songwriter Alexis Morrast, the seventeen-year-old marvel and native of Newark, now residing in Plainfield, began singing at the age of three. Since that time she’s performed on several stages: the U.S. Open in 2013; the 2015 Central Jersey Jazz Festival in New Brunswick, NJ, featuring trumpet player Sean Jones; NJPAC with Christian McBride; the world-renowned Apollo Theatre, where she emerged as two-time Amateur Night winner and later returned as their Special Guest; and Dizzy’s Coca-Cola Club with jazz legend Barry Harris. Alexis’s resounding tone was also heard on the Millennium Stage of The Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, and more recently abroad in South Africa and Austria. She’s worked with greats like Greg Phillinganes, Steve Jordan, Ray Chew, Lisa Fischer, Michael Feinstein and Tony Award winner Christine Ebersole to name a few.
Miss Morrast has been featured in several articles from The Wall Street Journal, LA Times and Forbes Magazine to the front page of both local and international newspapers. In February 2017 she was named the winner of “Showtime at the Apollo”, nationally televised on FOXTV hosted by Steve Harvey, and appeared on the televised Expresso Morning Show in South Africa. She late became the recipient of the 2017 Hot House Magazine Award for “The Best Up and Coming Young Artist”!
Despite her young age, Alexis has had the opportunity to “sit in,” or work, with greats such as Ray Chew, Amina Figorova, Alvester Garnett and the incredible Bertha Hope. She studied under Conrad Herwig, taking part in several jazz events and venues. She feels “blessed, honored [and] humbled” to have been able to meet-and-greet countless musicians and performers including Dionne Warwick, Lalah Hathaway, Twinkie Clark, Danny Mixon and Randy Weston.
Alexis’ first artistic influences were her mom, dad, and her aunt Vernell, a recording artist in the group Koffee Brown. She counts Stevie Wonder, Cecile McLorin Salvant, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan and Lalah Hathaway among the many artists whose instrumental genius, raw vocal talents, or a combination of the two, have influenced her own musical style.
Tickets for this performance are $18 in advance, $22 ($20 for WAC members, $10 for students) at the door. Purchase tickets securely through Eventbrite by going to watchungartscenter.eventbrite.com, or by mailing a check to the Watchung Arts Center. Please include an email address and phone number with mail orders. During our office hours, you may also purchase tickets in person.
The Watchung Arts Center, located at 18 Stirling Road in Watchung on the Watchung Circle, is a multi-disciplinary arts facility serving Watchung, the surrounding communities and the Tri-State Area. To obtain more information about upcoming performances, classes and workshops, and monthly art exhibitions, or for our office hours, please visit WatchungArts.org or call 908-753-0190.
(above) Alexis Morrast while performing at the Apollo for the televised “Showtime at the Apollo” hosted by Steve Harvey on Fox.
(above) Alexis Morrast will be performing at the Watchung Arts Center on January 19, 2019 at 8 p.m.
