Jazz It Up at the Blakeslee Auditorium on December 4

   
An exciting combination of Big Band and Vocal Jazz tunes has been scheduled for local fans, with “All That Jazz,” a performance featuring Vocé and the Cuesta Jazz Ensemble. The performance is scheduled at 7 p.m., Sunday, December 4 in the Blakeslee Auditorium, located behind the Cuesta College San Luis Obispo Campus. The award-winning jazz groups will be directed by John Knutson and Ron McCarley.

The Cuesta Jazz ensemble has an exciting mix of swing, bebop, Latin jazz and blues prepared for the evening. It is a full instrumentation big band with some of the most talented up-and-coming musicians in this area. Works by John Coltrane, Miles Davis and Gordon Goodwin will be featured.

Vocé is fresh off of their European Tour, where they gave two feature performances at the Montreux Jazz Festival. “They were the most exciting performances in my career,” said Vocé director John Knutson. “We were performing in front of 1,000-plus people, looking at the sun setting over the Swiss Alps on Lake Geneva, and getting a standing ovation.”

The two ensembles will join forces for the closer: “Don’t Be That Way.” This “barn-burner” is the well-known version by the New York Voices.

Tickets for “All That Jazz” are $10 for adults and $8 for students, Jazz Federation, seniors and children under 12.

For more information, contact Cuesta College Performing Arts at ext. 3195.