Save the Date! Celebrate The Big Band Mural, October 4! The Big Band mural by artist Eric Bussart pays tribute to the significant contribution local musicians made to the national Jazz movement during the Big Band era. Featuring famous artists such as the Scranton Sirens, the Dorsey Brothers, and Duke Ellington, the mural is located at 217 Wyoming Avenue, Downtown Scranton. The Big Band is the fifth, and largest, mural produced through Scranton Tomorrow’s Mural Arts Program.
Everhart Museum and Lackawanna County Library System Host Free Jazz Concerts Join us for a free summer concert series with Doug Smith’s Dixieland All-Stars! The Everhart Museum is teaming up with the Lackawanna County Library System to bring music throughout the county, supported by Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. The series includes programs for all ages, and some for children, each with multiple dates, inviting all to enjoy the spirited sound of Dixieland Jazz and learn about its rich history. During the children’s program, participants will even get a chance to play some instruments themselves! To attend, please contact your local library. September 12 @ 6:00 p.m. Valley Community Library All Ages/Adult Program September 16 @ 5:00 p.m. Valley Community Library Children’s Program September 18 @ 6:00 p.m. North Pocono Public Library All Ages/Adult Program September 19 @ 6:00 p.m. Abington Community Library All Ages/Adult Program September 23 @ 6:00 p.m. Taylor Community Library All Ages/Adult Program
WVIA Presents Kansas City Jazz WVIA released the ticket price includes the concert as well as a desserts and wine after-party. The concert will last approximately 1 hour and 30 minutes with a brief intermission. We encourage you to bring a picnic dinner and after the concert ends, enjoy a dessert and wine after-party with the musicians and the community. A romping, stomping seven-piece band will be here on July 21st to celebrate the legacy of the great American genius Eddie Durham. He was the man behind one of the most quintessential hits of the 20th century, Glenn Miller’s In The Mood, and the resident genius in the original Count Basie band. Loren Schoenberg will serve as the music director for the dynamic seven-piece band showcasing Eddie Durham’s sound. For decades, Eddie Durham’s story was largely overlooked until 2024 when WVIA released the original documentary film Wham-Re-Bop-Boom-Bam: The Swing Jazz of Eddie Durham. This documentary is currently airing on over 250 public television stations throughout the United States, bringing well-deserved recognition to Eddie Durham for his significant contributions to the world of jazz. Loren Schoenberg is a senior scholar of the National Jazz Museum in Harlem, on the faculty at The Juilliard School and has taught at Manhattan School of Music and the New School. Schoenberg has lectured at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the White House, the New York Philharmonic, Stanford University, and the Aspen Institute. Schoenberg, a tenor saxophonist/pianist, has played and recorded with Benny Carter, Benny Goodman, Jimmy Heath, Eddie Durham, Marian McPartland, Clark Terry, John Lewis, Christian McBride, and Buck Clayton, and he was musical director for Bobby Short from 1997 to 2005. He also received two Grammy awards for best album notes in 1994 and 2004. Schoenberg has been published widely (including in The New York Times), and his book, The NPR Guide to Jazz, was released in 2003. In 2001, he led the effort to establish the National Jazz Museum in Harlem and served for more than a decade as its executive director, creating many of its signal programs and enlisting Christian McBride, Jonathan Batiste, Ken Burns, and Wynton Marsalis to help further the museum’s mission.