Legendary trumpet player and former Tonight Show bandleader Doc Severinsen, with jazz trumpeter Byron Stripling, vocalist Vanessa Thomas and the acclaimed Elmhurst College Jazz Band, will headline June Jazz: A Summer Extravaganza, on Saturday, June 14.
The public is invited to bring lawn chairs and picnic baskets to this free outdoor concert, which will begin at 6:30 p.m. on the Mall of Elmhurst College’s lovely arboretum campus. Food and beverages will be available for purchase. Guests are encouraged to come early, bring friends and enjoy this celebration of summer. For more information, call (630) 617-3390. This event is sponsored in part by BMO Harris Bank.
From 1962 to 1992, Doc Severinsen led the NBC Orchestra on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, making it the most visible big band in America. Since the final telecast, Severinsen has continued to perform. He now tours regularly with guitarist Gil Gutierrez in a quintet called The San Miguel Five, performing a mix of Latin and Gypsy jazz and standards. The group released its most current CD, Oblivion, in January 2014.
DownBeat magazine, the nation’s leading jazz publication, recently named the Elmhurst College Jazz Band the 2014 Student Music Award winner in the Large Jazz Ensemble category for undergraduate institutions. Under the direction of Grammy Award winner Doug Beach, the internationally acclaimed Elmhurst College Jazz Band has performed around the world and has appeared at the Montreux Jazz Festival, the Umbria Jazz Festival and many others.