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Feature article
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Southern Fried Jazz Band plays Dixieland music that sizzles
By staff report
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With résumés that date back to Big Band tours and early jazz clubs, members of the Southern Fried Jazz Band will treat audiences in Big Stone Gap, Va., to an unforgettable lesson in the history of American jazz this weekend.
Presented and sponsored by the Pro-Art Association and Mountain Empire Community College’s W. Campbell Edmonds Memorial Concert Series, the concert will be held at 3 p.m., Nov. 1 at the Goodloe Center of Phillips-Taylor Hall at the college.
Don Edwards, who organized the band, is a Big Band veteran and once shared Las Vegas stages with such legends as Nat King Cole, Ella Fitzgerald, Mel Tormé, Sarah Vaughn, Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack. He also backed the legendary Louis Armstrong.
Edwards now uses the Southern Fried Jazz Band as a vehicle to show how vital good jazz is to the nation’s landscape and makes sure each of the band’s members enjoys some time in the spotlight.
Band members, comprising three horns and four rhythm, are veterans of Dixieland and jazz. Their show blends music with narration and personal anecdotes for an entertaining history lesson on jazz in America.
Open-ended to some degree, Southern Fried Jazz Band’s programs always include a variety of instrumentals accented with vocals and spontaneity.
The band’s CD “It’s What’s Cookin’!” was picked up by a local radio station whose manager liked it so well, he sent it to “Jazzology” radio show host George Buck.
Buck has featured several of the album’s songs on his coast-to-coast radio shows, making the band a nationwide sensation.
This weekend’s concert is partially supported by the Virginia Commission for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Admission for the concert is $12 for adults, $8 for seniors and $6 for students.
For more information, call Pro-Art at 276-376-4520.
--------GoTriCities--------
Southern Fried Jazz Band
WHEN: 3 p.m., Nov. 1
WHERE: MECC, Big Stone Gap, Va.
COST: $12, adults; $8, seniors; $6, students
CONTACT: 276-376-4520
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