Big-Band News

Fireworks over the Matanzas, the highlight of St. Augustine's traditional July 4 activities, has become synonymous with celebrating Independence Day in the Nation's Oldest City.

There are probably more than a few people who thought this No. 12 1969 hit by the Spiral Starecase was a Chicago song anyway.

The London Daily Telegraph crowed that the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, led by the great Wynton Marsalis, is "the finest big band in the world today."

Marsalis father, Ellis, is an eminent piano teacher whose students included Harry Connick Jr., and his brother, Branford, is a celebrated saxophonist who's appeared many times in West Michigan, including as St. Cecilia Music Center's Great Artist in 2006.

Muhlenberg Summer Music Theatre director Charles Richter is a passionate fan of old-style Broadway musicals, which offered the promise of theatrical escapism, lots of singable music, exuberant dancers and gaudily dressed chorus girls in skimpy skirts.

The OSU Alumni Club of Muskingum County will hold its 14th Annual Scholarship Auction on Thursday, June 20, at the VFW Post 1058, 1318 Putnam Avenue in Zanesville.

The brass, woodwind and percussion players of the Space Coast Symphony Orchestra invite the community to join them in "The American Dream," a free patriotic concert at 7 p.m. Saturday at Holy Trinity Episcopal Academy's Scott Center for the Performing Arts, 5625 Holy Trinity Drive, Melbourne.

The Duke Ellington Orchestra and the Count Basie Orchestra, once upon a time, crisscrossed the United States, spreading the gospel of American big band jazz among other jazz groups.

Joining with other municipalities, Cambridge has been enrolled in the Ohio Traffic Safety Contest for 1953 by Mayor Russell Diehl.

Three exceptional clarinetists and the Midwest's talented Chicago Jazz Orchestra reminded Ravinia Festival audiences why the music of Benny Goodman still excites jazz and big band lovers decades after the "king of swing's" quartet drew a record attendance in 1973.

The two greatest threads that ran through Weather Report's career were the consistent compositional strength of Zawinul and co-founder/saxophonist Wayne Shorter, and its orchestral approach.

The Tony Award-winning musical Nice Work If You Can Get It , which features the classic songs of George and Ira Gershwin , plays its final performances June 15 at 2 PM and 8 PM at the Imperial Theatre.

That night the world-famous Paul Whiteman orchestra played in Wilkes-Barre's Irem Temple.

A concert by the Glen Miller Orchestra to benefit the CSM Kevin Griffin Memorial will be hosted Wednesday, June 19th at the CWC Peck Theatre, beginning at 7 p.m. In addition to the concert, live and silent auctions will take place with proceeds of the concert and auctions to be donated to construct and install the Kevin Griffin Memorial bronze ... (more)

BIG band enthusiasts are well catered for on Sunday with sessions from well-established local orchestras.

On July 4th, 2013 The Salon, The Champagne Riot, and Wit's End join forces for a fourth year to present another unforgettable vintage Fourth of July extravaganza.

Theatre at the Mount will bring "Xanadu" to the stage this weekend and next at the Raymond LaFontaine Fine Arts Center at Mount Wachusett Community College.

Fireworks Over The Matanzas will include food, outdoor band concerts, and fireworks.

The family-friendly orchestral series, which has become a traditional part of summer in St. Mary's County, will again feature six Friday night concerts on the grounds of St. Mary's College of Maryland.

Cast members of the production "Crazy for You" are shown performing a scene. "Crazy for You" opens Muhlenberg College's Summer Music Theatre on Wednesday.