In November concerts, The Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra played big band Jazz of the Harlem Renaissance. This is music created by some of the greatest African-American jazz orchestras led by Jimmy Lunceford, Horace Henderson, Fletcher Henderson, Cab Calloway, Duke Ellington and others. It comes from a period in the 1920s and 30s known as The Harlem Renaissance, a great flowering of the arts in Harlem, NYC, including music, poetry, literature, painting, and dance. Jazz Big Bands regularly filled ballrooms and concert halls and the friendly competition between them drove each one to innovate and excel.
Highlights from SRJO concerts at the Kirkland Performance Center and the Edmonds Center for the Arts featuring this music will air today on Jazz Northwest. Jacqueline Tabor and Reggie Goings are featured in songs of the great vocalists who appeared with the bands in the 20s and 30s. The concerts were recorded in high resolution sound.
The Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra's co-artistic directors are Clarence Acox and Michael Brockman. The SRJO is currently celebrating its 25th Anniversary Season of five pairs of concerts in Seattle and Kirkland with two also presented in Edmonds. The SRJO will also celebrate the 31st anniversary of the Seattle presentation of the Sacred Music of Duke Ellington with chorus and soloists with a performance on December 28 at Town Hall in Seattle.
Jazz Northwest is recorded and produced by host Jim Wilke and airs Sundays at 2 p.m. Listeners may also subscribe to the podcast at KNKX, NPR, Apple, Google or Spotify.
