MCG Jazz Presents The Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra 'Jazz Beyond Borders'

MCG Jazz is pleased to announce a special engagement featuring The Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra (SJMO), the 19-piece big band orchestra in-residence at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, in Houston, TX, on Monday, March 18, 2019. In partnership with Houston First and the Hobby Center Foundation, the performance will take place at Zilkha Hall at 7:30PM.

Grammy-award winning jazz vocalist Kurt Elling will join the SJMO, under the direction of artistic director Charlie Young, for a one-of-a-kind concert experience at Zilkha Hall to present a collection of music ranging from historic Duke Ellington arrangements from the Smithsonian archives to contemporary arrangements of from Kurt Elling's recent recordings. For more information and to purchase tickets, please visit https://www.thehobbycenter.org/?q=node/2494.

The Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra was founded in 1990 with an appropriation from the U.S. Congress in recognition of the importance of jazz in American culture and its status as a national treasure. A cornerstone of the Smithsonian's commitment to jazz, the SJMO, led by Conductor and Artistic Director Charlie Young, has performed for audiences across the United States, Canada, Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Its concerts, by the full orchestra and smaller groups, include transcribed works, as well as new arrangements, commissioned works and programs that illuminate the contributions of small ensembles and jazz masters who contributed to the development of American jazz and defined the music's character. More information about the SJMO is available athttp://americanhistory.si.edu/smithsonian-jazz. And more information about Kurt Elling can be found at http://kurtelling.com/.