A night of Big Band music

Last evening I ventured downtown to the Kauffman Center for a concert by the Kansas City Jazz Orchestra doing the original arrangements of The Greatest Big Band Hits of All-Time. There are 2 theaters at the Center - the Muriel Kauffman Theater is for Broadway type Shows and the Helzberg Hall is for musical concerts, home of the symphony, etc. The jazz concert was in Helzberg Hall but it was also opening night of the Opera in the other Theater so the building was full. Below is a picture of Grand Lobby which is the main lobby and serves both venues.

I got there an hour before the concert since I wasn't exactly sure where I was going, wanted to be able to park in the garage, look around, etc. I was shocked at how many people were there an hour before the events which is when the above picture was taken.  By show time, it was packed. I was pleasantly surprised to see that no one was wearing shorts, old jeans, t-shirts, etc that you typically see at Tucson events like this.  The people on the opera side were more dressed up and there were a lot of "little black dresses" with men in suits. I only saw 3 people in jeans. Two of them were younger women in designer jeans, fancy tops and 4" heels. The other one was an older man with creased jeans, highly polished cowboy boots with a long sleeved dress shirt on.

I was so very impressed with not only the Hall but also with the level of the performance. Helzberg Hall seats 1,600 and was about 95% full.  The room is oval in shape and the stage extends about 1/3 of the distance into the hall so people are setting on 3 sides of the stage. Most of the empty seats were in the very top row along the sides which has a single row of seats.  I can't imagine being up that high and looking down at the stage.

The Kansas City Jazz Orchestra is made up of 17 musicians and the conductor. My guess is that the age range of the musicians ranges from about 30 - 75 years old. The conductor was around 40 and really good.  He has 2 Masters degrees [Jazz/Studio music and Music Composition] and is currently working on a Doctorate in Trumpet Performance - never heard of such a degree but he sure could play the trumpet on the one song he did. They were doing the original arrangements of the music so guitar and Xylophone players were included in the orchestra which usually isn't in today's jazz orchestras. Pictures of the original bands were shown on the big screen when they were playing a particular band's music. For example, a picture collage of Benny Goodman and his band were shown when they were doing his music and the collage changed for each song. The local PBS station was taping the concert for a show they are doing on Jazz in Kansas City. I also learned a lot about the history of Big Bands in KC back in the day which I didn't know.

The acoustics in the Hall are beyond belief. I felt like I was the only one in a quiet room and was surrounded by music. It was amazing...  The conductor would snap his fingers  a few times to start the beat before each song and I could hear him snapping his fingers very clearly even though I was a distance from the stage as you can see in the above picture.

It was a fun evening and I am looking forward to attending many more events at the Center.