The Orchestra 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.

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."

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The Bohemian Caverns Jazz Orchestra needs no help in drawing an audience. They have a regular residency at the city's best jazz venue, every Monday night, and they routinely sell the place out.

The Concerts on the Waterfront series has a twist - with a shimmy, a samba and more moves thrown in - this year.

The 31st Annual San Francisco Jazz Festival opens this week - and for the first time in the history of the organization, the Festival will be held in the recently opened SF JAZZ Center in downtown San Francisco .

Joe Aaron played saxophone and clarinet in Milwaukee and beyond for nearly eight decades -- playing with big band singers like Patti Page before World War II and hitting the road with Clyde McCoy and his Sugar Blues Orchestra.

Now in its 33rd year, the festival will run from next Friday, June 14 to Saturday, June 29 and will offer 15 days of live music, dance, theatre, film, comedy, walks and workshops.

Duke Ellington elevated the art of big band writing to great heights, but his music was never relegated to the large ensemble corner of the room.

Sydney's Jazzgroove Mothership Orchestra turns 10 this year, and - as far as birthday celebrations go - performing with two of the world's most in-demand big band leaders is hard to beat.

The Desert Winds designation was taken from the title of Jacquet's 1964 album for Argo.