Music always has been a backdrop to the memorable times and events throughout our lives. Now beloved, acclaimed entertainers Clint Holmes and Earl Turner are bringing that soundtrack into the spotlight with their new show.
Combining their voices, unique energies, sense of humor and life experiences, they have reinvigorated those noteworthy remembrances — musical and emotional — with new life.
Soundtrack: Your Songs. Our Stories. The Show., which will be back in the Westgate International Theater at the Westgate Resort April 12-14 and 19-21, is a collaboration between these longtime friends and song stylists that brings back a touch of “old Las Vegas.”
Featuring songs ranging from Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr. and Irving Berlin, to Stevie Wonder and Prince, to Bruno Mars and Blake Shelton, audiences can reminisce to tunes that make us all “remember when,” as well as celebrate the music of some great contemporary artists.
The show also highlights female vocalist Serena Henry, whose credits include performing with Gladys Knight and Smokey Robinson.
All are accompanied by an eight-piece orchestra under the musical direction of Christian Tamburr, a three-time DownBeat magazine Music Awards winner.
Longtime friends, Clint Holmes (left) and Earl Turner throughly enjoy performing together. (Photo: Jerry Metellus)
“Through the years, Earl and I have been jumping on each other’s stages,” Holmes explained. “We had actually been in conversation about doing a show together off and on for a long time.
“Then the Westgate came to us with an idea. Earl and I have two different styles, but we are both in the same world. He’s soul and R&B, and I’m jazz and R&B. We both love the same music.
“All the songs we chose had to pass the ‘rainbow’ test — songs like ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow’ that everyone knows and loves. The overriding idea of the show was to pick songs that audiences know, love and can relate to emotionally.”
Holmes and Turner each do 15 minutes of their own thing in the show, but spend the rest of the time onstage together. Holmes noted that they had to make specific choices regarding how to best represent themselves in their solo portions of the show.
For him, that involves the three things that identify him: his CD, Rendezvous, which earned him two 2018 Grammy Award nominations; jazz; and. For Turner, it includes soul and a right-on hilarious impression of James Brown.
Clint Holmes (left) and Earl Turner share a moment together onstage. (Photo: Jerry Metellus)
According to Holmes, it was easy to put egos aside because they are both coming from the same place and have great mutual respect for one another.
“Our chemistry onstage is the same as it is offstage,” Turner agreed. “We knew what our goal was with this show. It was about creating something fun and inspiring.
“We laugh with each other, at each other and we enjoy what we do. We are two different performers with two different styles, and what we’re doing is something special and rare. It’s not something you can force. We’re carrying our friendship to the stage. It’s very, very easy.”
It’s just Holmes and Turner, you, the night and the music – a rendezvous of a unique kind.
