The Legendary Count Basie Orchestra

As great as ever!!

Juxtaposed with the college bands, as good as they all were, the Legendary Count Basie Orchestra is world class. They demonstrated cohesive alignment, each member taking solos, demonstrating a precision and professionalism that is inspiring. Director Scotty Barnhart led with good explanations, a few pithy history notes as the band enjoys its 89th year in existence. The presence of Carmen Bradford with a cheerful, commanding voice, had stories to tell, vocalizing, singing with the band. With 20 musicians onstage, the old standards, with some very creative arrangements, gave the sold-out audience an evening to long remember! The Yamaha sound board, controlled by the talented, dedicated engineer, John Born, a Shure sound professional. He offered the audience first class PAs, using a Meyer Sound Labs system to enable each instrument mic'ed up to project, in a balanced way, throughout the acoustically booming room. Meanwhile, the Meyer monitors kept the musicians in sync with the highs, lows, and collective volume along with well-directed pianissimo passage in an overall mix that showed what accomplished musicians can do together! Much love. Keep the big band jazz 🎶 alive. https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/the-count-basie-orchestra/2024/hammerschmidt-memorial-chapel-elmhurst-college-elmhurst-il-6bad360e.html

Let's face it how many bands can say they still exist after 89 years... time tested excellence!

Nice venue. Great people. The Count Basie Orchestra: Simply the best!

Beautiful night, great venue and terrific music. What a great TRIFECTA

Best show of my life!!! 🤩🤩🤩

The Count Basie Orchestra puts on a wonderful show of great Big Band music! Everything is flawless from the flow of the concert to the performance of each individual member of the ensemble. The vocals of Ms. Carmen Bradford were as impeccable as her stage presence. It was a spectacular evening of great musicianship! I found myself dreaming about how it must have been to be alive during the Big Band era of the 1930's and 40's.

It was great