Take a musical stroll through the swinging streets of the Big Easy with one of the world’s most sought-after big bands, the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra, at 7:30 p.m. March 11 at the Lied Center for Performing Arts, 301 N. 12th St.
Tickets are available here, by phone at 402-472-4747 or at the box office. Tickets are available to students at a 50 percent discount with a valid NCard.
Artistic director Mayfield founded the orchestra in 2002 as a way to celebrate and advance the cultural and historical legacy of New Orleans jazz. The concept came to him after he created the Institute of Jazz Culture at Dillard University as the youngest member of the faculty. As he looked around the city for a partner in the industry, he found there was no institution committed solely to the business of jazz or performing it regularly.
Mayfield assembled a 16-piece band and enlisted New Orleans Jazz Orchestra President and CEO Ronald Markham. The group had its first performance in early 2003.
The orchestra has headlined many of America’s major performing arts venues and clubs and produced the first local, ticketed jazz concert series in New Orleans. The group’s latest album, “Book One,” won the 2010 Grammy award for best large jazz ensemble. The orchestra recently celebrated its 10-year anniversary with The NOJO 10, a series that featured events at Preservation Hall, Tipitina’s, the New Orleans Museum of Art and New York City’s Carnegie Hall.
The March 11 concert will feature legendary jazz singer Dee Dee Bridgewater. In 1974, she jumped at the chance to act and sing on Broadway, where her voice, beauty and stage presence won her great success and a Tony Award for her role as Glinda the Good Witch in “The Wiz.” This began a long line of awards and accolades as well as opportunities to work in Tokyo, Los Angeles, Paris and London, where she garnered a Laurence Olivier Award nomination as best actress for her portrayal of jazz legend Billie Holiday in Stephen Stahl’s “Lady Day.” She also has performed the lead in “Sophisticated Ladies,” “Cosmopolitan Greetings,” “Black Ballad,” “Carmen Jazz” and “Cabaret” and has won three Grammys.
