Recorded jazz ballads are playing softly out of the house speakers as the crowd finds their seats and old friends.

They can see stepped risers on the stage, fronted by swing band music stands. A grand piano and a drum set reflect the colors of the dimmed stage lights.

It is a Friday night, and a sizeable crowd is gathered at Shippensburg’s H. Ric Luhrs Performing Arts Center to hear one of the most iconic jazz bands in history.

The tuxedoed band comes out carrying their instruments, followed immediately by Tommy James, the band leader. They open with one of Duke Ellington’s biggest hits, “Take the ‘A’ Train,” widely considered to be the band’s signature tune.

The next number is “Birmingham Breakdown,” which features the sax section doubling on clarinets. The Ellington band is smooth, relaxed, and yes, sophisticated.

James tells the crowd the next number is down and dirty, and the band kicks off “Black and Tan Fantasy,” written in 1927.

We are closing in on almost 100 years of music that continues to resonate today. Following that is “Such Sweet Thunder” which features a solo from the double bass player, who’s from nearby Harrisburg, PA. It is an unexpected connection the crowd takes great pleasure in.

Throughout the evening the musicians stroll to the front of the stage to take their solos, and band leader James later singles them out.

He tells the audience that one of the alto sax players also doubles on bass, and that musician then tells the crowd, “If it wasn’t for my bad knee, I could dance, too!”

This repartee between the band members, or between James and the audience, continues throughout the evening, to the crowd’s delight. They join James and the band in singing “Happy Birthday” to drummer Dave Gibson following Gibson’s drum solo in the bop-flavored “Caravan”. James continues to tease Gibson in the beautifully soft swing ballad “Mood Indigo” by sneaking in a few more bars of “Happy Birthday.”

The Duke Ellington Orchestra plays for an hour, and then took a break while the stage was prepared for part two of the evening — vocalist Patti Austin’s tribute to another jazz legend, Ella Fitzgerald.

The Ellington Orchestra came back for Austin’s portion of the program, although she brings her own pianist, drummer and bassist.

Austin’s performance is a tribute rather than a mimicry of Fitzgerald. She tells entertaining tales about Fitzgerald between her numbers, and her songs demonstrate the vocal stylings that Fitzgerald was famous for, the slides, the phrasing, and what Fitzgerald was so well known for, her scat singing. Austin tells the audience that renowned jazz trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie was the one who taught Fitzgerald to scat, which is vocally imitating what the individual horn solos sounded like.

Austin is a Grammy award winning jazz, pop and R & B vocalist who has released 17 solo albums.
She has performed with artists like James Ingram, Paul Simon, Diana Ross, Bette Midler and Quincy Jones. She also works with and performs for organizations that battle against AIDS and domestic violence.

She was radiant in a white suit and a shiny silver top that was matched by her stage presence. She laughed and smiled throughout her performance and entertained the crowd with her tales and anecdotes, often eliciting laughter and applause.

Modern versions of swing bands carry on the tradition and the timelessness of big band swing, and many include the standards in their repertoire. The Brian Setzer Orchestra, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, and Squirrel Nut Zippers are just a few of the bands that carry on yesterday’s music today, and keep it in front of old and new fans. Music, art and architecture all expand on and pay tribute to the artists who came before, and it’s wonderful to get a peek at the originals and see how that work continues to hold up and remain relevant and timeless.

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