Jazz/R&B Grammy nominee Boney James adds Kettering's Fraze for summer concert

May 17—Chart-topping jazz/R&B saxophonist Boney James is returning to Kettering's Fraze Pavilion this summer.

The four-time Grammy nominee is set to play the city's 4,300-seat outdoor venue at 8 p.m. June 28 with Angie Stone and special guest Aneesa Strings, it was announced Friday.

The Fraze show is a previously unannounced stop on a 2024 nationwide tour of more than 20 concerts, including two others in Ohio, according to his website. The other stops are an Aug. 2 concert at the Southern Theater in Columbus and the Ohio Theater in Cleveland.

James has played the Fraze multiple times, including a 2023 show with Lalah Hathaway.

His 30-year career has included performing with some musicians who modeled for him the art of performing, such as the Isley Brothers, Hank Crawford and Sheena Easton.

James said in a 2014 interview with the Dayton Daily News that his on-stage persona did not come easily. When James transitioned from a backup musician to a featured act, he worked to become a performer, not just a musician.

"The person I am on stage is much different than the person I am in private," James said. "I tried to tap into something that was inside me. I had to step up and be an entertainer. I did learn to get in touch with that side of myself."

Detour was James' 18th studio album. It builds on the commercial success of 2020′s Solid, his highest charting release ever on the pop charts, peaking in the Top 10 on the Billboard 200, according to his website.

Stone is a keyboardist and songwriter. Her first claim to fame was her membership in the Sequence, a pioneering hip-hop trio who arrived with "Funk You Up" (1979), the second release on Sugar Hill Records and the first rap single by an all-female group.

Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. May 25, according to the Fraze. They range from $40.50 to $75.50 and can be purchased in person at Fraze Fanfare in Town & Country Shopping Center, or online at fraze.com.

For more information on the concert, visit fraze.com.