Count Basie Orchestra to perform at GHS
By Bonnie Edwards
Published in News on March 23, 2006 1:45 PM
The Arts Council of Wayne County and the award-winning Charles B. Aycock Jazz Ensemble will co-sponsor a live concert by the Count Basie Orchestra next month.
The concert begins at 8 p.m. on April 6 in the Goldsboro High School Auditorium.
Tickets are $20 in advance and $25 at the door.
The Goldsboro High School Auditorium can seat up to 1,100 people.
Arrangements for the concert came about quickly, said Arts Council Director Alice .
"What an opportunity for the community," she said. She will sell tickets at the Arts Council, and Frederick's Music will also have some tickets for sale.
Opening for the concert will be the Charles B. Aycock Jazz Ensemble, directed by Roger Walker.
"We had them two years ago, and we played two of their songs," said Walker. "They came out of the dressing room with ties untied, shirts halfway on, saying 'Who's that?'"
The April 6 concert at Goldsboro High will be the orchestra's first performance after returning from Sweden.
The orchestra will include drummer Butch Miles and trombonist and conductor Billy Hughes, two of the original members who played with the late Count Basie.
Basie died in 1984, but his orchestra has continued to perform. Hughes has been with the band for 50 years.
Miles toured with Count Basie during the 1970s and decided in 2004 to rejoin the orchestra.