MEET THE BAND...
MEET THE BAND...
Saturday, Jun 21, 2014 (7:30 PM) Nordstrom Recital Hall
Sunday, Jun 22, 2014 (2 PM) Kirkland Performance Center
California dreamin’—the relaxed, sun- drenched culture of California made its way into jazz in a decidedly non-East Coast way during the 1950s, as the “West Coast” style of jazz emerged around Los Angeles and San Francisco. Kenton and Mulligan traded the virtuosic, frenetic energy of East Coast jazz for a more relaxed, thoughtful approach to the music. In the years following WWII, this new sound of jazz appealed to big band fans forever changed by the experience of war. This concert features Mulligan’s entertaining Sweet and Low and provocative Manoir De Mes Reves (Django’s Castle), Kenton’s powerhouse hits Decoupage and Artistry in Rhythm, and Jerome Kern's All the Things You Are arranged by Mulligan for the Kenton Orchestra.
Our next Jazz4Kids concert will be on Saturday, June 21! Doors open at 3:30 for the instrument petting zoo, and the one-hour matinee concert will begin at 4:30. Get your tickets before the concert fills up!
We are currently looking for private, corporate and business sponsors to help us present the next Jazz4Kids concert. If you or your company is interested in helping present one or more Jazz4Kids concerts, please contact Sheryl Stich at s.stich@srjo.org.
SRJO Jazz4Kids concerts are special events that provide children and youth a rare opportunity to hear jazz performed live in an excellent concert hall. The Nordstrom Recital Hall and Kirkland Performance Center provide an intimate performance space where audience members can enjoy a very close interaction with the performers.
Jazz4Kids concerts include instrument demonstrations by SRJO musicians, and time set aside for questions from kids in the audience. Kennelly Keys Music sponsors the concert by providing instrument displays in the lobby before and after the concert, letting kids look at, handle and play musical instruments up close. The concerts are very popular, and for the past three Jazz4Kids concerts at Nordstrom Recital Hall, we have given out all tickets two or more weeks before the event.
Presented as part of the 25th Annual Earshot Jazz Festival
Saturday, October 5, 2013 (7:30 PM) Nordstrom Recital Hall
Come hear the SRJO play their favorite pieces (and yours) from the last three seasons, in this newly added opening night celebration launching the 2013-14 season. Highlights include compositions by the great Thad Jones and Ray Charles, plus outstanding pieces from past SRJO concerts Jazz Goes to the Movies, Tribute to Benny Goodman and New Orleans Night Out. Already on the docket: Sing, Sing, Sing (played in the 1938 version with the original solos of Benny Goodman, Harry James, and Gene Krupa).
Presented as part of the 25th Annual Earshot Jazz Festival
Saturday, Nov 2, 2013 (7:30 PM) Nordstrom Recital Hall
Sunday, Nov 3, 2013 (2 PM) Kirkland Performance Center
SRJO pays tribute to pioneering pianist and composer Dave Brubeck in a concert exploring his lengthy and astounding career. Brubeck’s style was characterized by a rare blend of sophisticated, inventive writing, and the use of such modern techniques as odd meter and stark harmonies that appealed to the new “intellectual listener” of 1950s jazz.
Take Five has been the single top selling jazz hit of all time, and is just one of the many Brubeck chart-toppers you will hear in this concert, including Blue Rondo a la Turk, The Duke and In Your Own Sweet Way. SRJO pianist Randy Halberstadt is featured on Brubeck’s Strange Meadowlark and as a bonus, all the SRJO saxophonists step forward to pay homage to Brubeck’s long-time collaborator, altoist Paul Desmond.
Presented by Earshot Jazz
Saturday, December 28, 2013 (7:30 PM) Town Hall, Seattle
This December, SRJO's Duke Ellington Sacred Concert welcomes back special guest vocalist Everett Greene--renowned Emmy Award winning singer formerly with the Count Basie Orchestra. SRJO co-artistic directors Acox and Brockman heard Mr. Greene's remarkable voice in a Seattle appearance with the Basie Orchestra and invited him to join SRJO for its annual Sacred Concert. Also returning for this year's concert is vocalist Nichol Venee Eskridge (who is featured on SRJO's Sacred Music of Duke Ellington CD ), plus tap-dancer Alex Dugdale, and Northwest Chamber Chorus under Director Mark Kloepper. Don't miss this holiday performance of works drawn from Ellington's three Sacred Concerts featuring blues, gospel, and jazz pieces that the Duke considered some of his most important works. This concert sold out in 2009, 2010, and 2011, so buy your tickets now!
Saturday, Feb 15, 2014 (7:30 PM) Nordstrom Recital Hall
Sunday, Feb 16, 2014 (2 PM) Kirkland Performance Center
A lover of Shakespeare, Duke Ellington composed the Such Sweet Thunder Suite as his tribute to the Bard. SRJO teams up with the Seattle Shakespeare Company to present this special suite of works. Each movement— including Lady Mac, Sonnet for Sister Kate, and The Star-Crossed Lovers—evokes favorite Shakespearean characters or quotes. Guest thespians present selections from the plays and sonnets that inspired Ellington to create the musical work. Rounding out this concert will be SRJO trumpeter Jay Thomas featured on Benny Carter’s lovely Summer Serenade.
Saturday, Apr 5, 2014 (7:30 PM) Nordstrom Recital Hall
Sunday, Apr 6, 2014 (2 PM) Kirkland Performance Center
Sunday, Apr 27, 2014 (4 PM) Edmonds Center for the Arts
Attention hep cats! Big band jazz grew up in the nightclubs and dance halls of New York and Chicago as high-energy dance music. The zenith of jazz dancing was the jitterbug, igniting the wild enthusiasm of dance-crazed youth in the 1930s. This concert features the hottest hits from the world’s greatest dance bands—Chick Webb, Tommy Dorsey, Jimmie Lunceford, Fletcher Henderson, and Benny Goodman. Two award-winning pairs of dancers will kick up their heels on stage alongside SRJO to showcase the jitterbug and other swingin’ dance styles of early jazz (such as the Lindy Hop, East Coast Swing and the Balboa). Selections include Basie’s Swingin’ the Blues, Goodman’s Swing Time in the Rockies and Henderson’s Big John’s Special.
Join us in celebration of the dance music that swept the nation—we guarantee you won’t be able to resist tapping your toes and dancing in your seat!