Dave Stahl Plays Ephrata Performing Arts Center Tonight

The Army Band, Woody Herman, Count Basie, Les Elgart, Buddy Rich, Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Tony Bennett, Mel Torme, Sarah Vaughan, Charles Aznavour, Engelbert Humperdinck and Liza Minelli-they all have one thing in common, trumpet soloist Dave Stahl.

When not backing concert superstars or soloing with major bands and orchestras, Stahl was also excelling as a bass anchorman in the pit orchestra of such Broadway musicals as Saturday Night Fever, The Drowsy Chaperone, Finian's Rainbow and End of the Rainbow.

Today, this veteran of major jazz festivals from Montreux, Switzerland, to the Newport Jazz Festival in New York City, is also carving out his own niche as founder and leader of The Dave Stahl Big Band. The master musician's signature assembly of seasoned musicians will be performing at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 15, at the Sharadin Bigler Theatre, home of the Ephrata Performing Arts Center. Tickets to this special EPAC concert presentation, are $15, including a coffee and dessert reception at intermission. Reservations may be made at ephrataperformingartscenter.com or by calling (717) 733-7966 Ext. 1.

This all-new follow-up to the band's successful 2012 EPAC debut will feature the regionally popular vocalist Robin Work as well as special guest artist, tenor saxophonist, Larry McKenna.

McKenna, a masterful be-bop and modern jazz improviser is noted for his velvety tenor sax, has played and recorded with Woody Herman, Clark Terry, Buddy DeFranco, Tony Bennett, Rosemary Clooney and Frank Sinatra.

For the past decade, he has been a featured artist with PhilOrk Jazz, a group formed by members of the Philadelphia Orchestra. In 2011 the world-renowned Philadelphia Orchestra itself showcased McKenna as a soloist in three concerts, performing movements from an arrangement of Duke Ellington's "Nutcracker Suite."

Although widely travelled, Dave Stahl's legion of fans is strongest right here in his native Southeastern Pennsylvania, where he started his own record label, Abee Cake Records in New Berlinville, in 1987. On that label, he and his band recorded five albums: Anaconda, Miranda, Live at Knights, Standard Issue and Live at the Ritz, a performance recorded at the renovated Ritz theater in New Holland.

Somehow, this prolific bandleader/soloist also found time in 1999 to form his own Sacred Orchestra, a 23-piece large big band with strings plus 10 vocalists, with whom he recorded two albums and continues to play major churches in eastern Pennsylvania.

Considering the amazing breadth of Dave Stahl's stellar musicianship, his big band's sixth and latest album is aptly titled From A to Z, a sampler reflective of his band's impressive history. Working from a base of vast and varied experience and achievement, the Dave Stahl Big Band has something to offer music lovers of all tastes and ages.

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