Award-winning Young Jazz Entertainer to Perform Saturday, Feb. 6, at the Marriott Hotel & Conference Center

Matt Belsante, award-winning young jazz entertainer, will perform in a cabaret setting on Saturday, Feb. 6, at the Marriott Hotel & Conference Center in Uptown Normal.

Influenced by the likes of Duke Ellington, Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald, Belsante creates a unique mixture of jazz, pop and swing that brings back the style of the 1940s and 1950s. His latest album "Blame It On My Youth" was released last year and brings together a collection of jazz and big band standards.

A Naperville native, Belsante moved to Nashville, Tenn. after graduating from Vanderbilt University, where he pursued a degree in engineering and economics. While at Vanderbilt, he joined the Big Band and the rest is history.

The rising young star can be heard on jazz stations across the nation and has performed with the Nashville Jazz Orchestra. Belsante was the featured entertainer at the 2006 Miss Tennessee Scholarship Pageant, and he is the voice and face of a national advertising campaign based in Nashville. Belsante's first release, the 2007 top-selling "White Christmas" was a collaboration with the Chris McDonald Orchestra.

Tickets are available at two levels. $50 Cool Jazz tickets include the Belsante performance, hot hors d'oeuvres and champagne on the table. $100 Hot Jazz tickets take it up a notch by adding a pre-cabaret meet and greet, an autographed CD, custom champagne glass and personal box of chocolates. To order tickets, go to www.wglt.org or call 309-438-2255 during business hours Monday through Friday.

The new Marriott Hotel and Conference Center is offering a special overnight hotel package exclusively for GLT, which includes a guest room and a Sunday breakfast for two at $129. Call 862-9000 or 800-627-7468 and request the GLT Jazz Cabaret Package.

All proceeds from the Jazz Cabaret benefit the GLT Equipment Fund, helping keep the public radio station going strong.

WGLT is the NPR/PRI affiliate public radio station licensed to Illinois State University broadcasting at 89.1 FM in Central Illinois and in Peoria at 103.5 FM. GLT offers local jazz programming during the week and blues on the weekend. GLT also carries National Public Radio programs such as Morning Edition®, Car Talk®, and Wait, Wait... Don't Tell Me! ® and This American Life® from Public Radio International.