Ellingtonia and Jazz for Jenkins

If the jazz gods continue to smile on Charleston, the newest presence on the local scene will end its first concert season Nov. 25.

The Charleston Jazz Orchestra, a 20-piece big band, will present A Suite Holiday at 7 p.m. Nov. 25 at the Charleston Music Hall.

Tickets are $30 advance, $40 day of and $15 students. Call Jazz Artists of Charleston at 641-0011 or visit www.jazzartistsofcharleston.org.

This concert should make a perfect bookend to the 2008-09 season. The run started last Nov. 25 with a performance of Duke Ellington's "Nutcracker Suite."

This Nov. 25 will feature Duke's "Far East Suite." The second set of the show will comprise selections from the rest of the season: Countin' On Basie, Holy City Homecoming (with Bob Belden) and Latin Night. The show will end with songs from Duke's "Nutcracker," completing the season's cycle.

"Far East Suite" was composed by Ellington and his soulmate Billy Strayhorn. It's built on experiences the band had traveling the Far and Middle East in 1963.

This challenging music has a distinct Old World feel but like everything Ellington does, it swings like all get out.

The long-form work is perhaps at the apex of Ellington's compositional career. It was radical when he and Stray did it and it remains cutting edge, even today.

Performing this work was just a fantasy for CJO Conductor Charlton Singleton a couple of years ago when even the idea of a big band was a mere pipe dream.

My, how things have changed.

The band has drawn increasingly larger crowds over the year as well as playing to very favorable critical acclaim.

It has also built a constituency, a family, if you will, of fans and supporters.

While the economic climate has not improved much, CJO's first-year success has encouraged presenter Jazz Artists of Charleston to slightly increase its season for next year, which will be calendar 2010.

The board is feverishly working now to nail down next season. It hopes to announce some plans at the Nov. 25 concert.

The band is looking at bringing in more special guests. It wants to commission new works. CJO also will further explore the South Carolina roots of jazz through its performances.

With regard to its infrastructure, CJO is considering modifying its stage layout, trimming the amount of hardware in its sound configuration and creating more options for ticket packages.

While it fights the current scarcity of resources, the band remains committed to quality programming, however tough it is to get each show on the stage.

The band has not only survived its first season, it has flowered.

It seeks fuller bloom next year.

Jazz at Magnolia

On Saturday, some members of the Charleston Jazz Orchestra will be part of the Quentin Baxter Septet, a special ensemble hand-picked by Quentin himself.

The event is called Jazz for Jenkins.

Some months ago, staffers at Magnolia plantation and Gardens decided to put on a benefit for the Jenkins Institute for Children, once known as the Jenkins Orphanage.

Led by Tom Johnson, director of gardens at the world-famous West Ashley property, employees were going through the history of the gardens and realized that bands from Jenkins Orphanage often visited and performed there in the 1920's and '30's.

They thought it was a good enough reason to give back to the institution by putting on a benefit that would provide seed money for Jenkins to restart its famed music program that ran from the 1890's to the 1960's.

The Magnolia group asked me to help them plan something so I ran it by Quentin and we agreed to offer music from the Swing Era, the time in local history Jenkins used to visit Magnolia, from a large ensemble that would hark back to that glorious time in American music history. It was the Jazz Age.

Almost to the day, Quentin and I produced a benefit for Jenkins two years ago.

That was a smaller scale than what's planned for Magnolia on Saturday.

For this one, we're working on some original arrangements of songs appropriate for the era of swing jazz, the heyday of Jenkins' legacy of producing outstanding musicians.

Still being considered last week were tunes such as "The Charleston," "Ain't Misbehavin," "Oh Lady Be Good," "Everybody Loves My Baby" and "Squeeze Me."

Check out this killer band for Saturday: Charlton Singleton on trumpet, John Cobb on alto sax, trombonist Teddy Adams from Savannah, guitarist Lee Barbour, pianist Tommy Gill, Kevin Hamilton on acoustic bass, all led by Quentin on percussion.

Opening up will be popular singer Ann Caldwell and her band Loosefit.

The creme de la creme.

It should be a grand affair for a very worthwhile purpose.

The party runs from 6 to 10 p.m.

The evening includes a Lowcountry buffet catered by Carolina Catering and an open bar with beer and wine. The evening will include a silent auction highlighted by the naming of a new variety of camellia developed by Johnson.

The highest bidder will be honored by having a camellia named after him or her and will receive a camellia plant to take home.

Tickets are being sold in all First Federal offices and online at www.firstfederal.com. The cost is $75 per couple; $50 for singles.

For more information, call First Federal at 529-5930 or Magnolia Gardens at 571-1266.

Jack McCray, author of "Charleston Jazz," can be reached at jackjmccray@aol.com.