Music enthusiasts were recipients of an energizing performance by the Count Basie Orchestra in the ballroom of Cincinnati’s Music Hall on Thursday, February 5. The uplifting experience was another in the series of concerts brought to the city by Big Band station WMKV-FM, typically three bands per calendar year.
The evening’s three hours included Basie’s signature “One O’Clock Jump”, the cheery “Freckle Face”, the contemplative “In the Wee Hours of the Morning”, the late night sound of “Soft as Velvet” and Duke Ellington’s “Satin Doll.”
Topping off the evening were several numbers sung by Melba Joyce throughout the concert. Her rendition of “You’ve Changed”, took the listener back to an era when vocals were truly a classy art form. Lynn Richardson of the New York Times described it perfectly when she once said, 1
“Melba Joyce, jazz singer hushed the room with a big soprano voice that was like a soft, string wind.”
That feeling was certainly repeated in the Cincinnati performance!
(from http://melbajoyce.net/biography.html)
The Count Basie Orchestra and Ms. Joyce remind us that despite the overbearing weight of the Depression and World War II which followed, musicians of that time continued to fuel the optimistic spirit of their determined fellow citizens… Something we can use today!
COMING TO CINCINNATI’S MUSIC HALL on THURSDAY, MAY 14, 2015
WMKV 89.3 FM WILL PRESENT:
(the Glenn Miller Orchestra as it appeared in Cincinnati’s Music Hall, May 2014)
CartaRemi 