SCCB Jazz Ensemble opens Fall for the Arts at Sumter's Patriot Hall

Patriot Hall art show precedes concert

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The SCCB Jazz Ensemble will present a concert of not just jazz, but other pop tunes as well, in its Tuesday performance in conjunction with Fall for the Arts. The 7 p.m. concert in Patriot Hall will open with the ensemble's theme song, Glenn Miller's "Moonlight Serenade," and continue with a variety of familiar tunes.

Bandleader Rick Mitchum, who plays trumpet and sometimes sings with the ensemble, said audience members should recognize most, if not all, of the music. Many are jazz and pop classics, such as Paul McCartney's "Yesterday," which features a trumpet solo by Robert Berry, and "As Time Goes By," made popular when played by the character Sam in the 1942 film "Casablanca," starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman. The song is on many Top 100 lists of the best songs of all time.

"Yesterday' is one of the most recorded songs in history," Mitchum noted, "approaching 'White Christmas.'"

Vocalist Betsy Ridgeway will sing "Over the Rainbow" composed by Harold Arlen and with lyrics by Yip Harburg.

Among the other tunes in Tuesday's concert will be "Canadian Sunset," featuring a solo by pianist Kay Rasmussen, and "Chances Are," played by the band's combo comprising trumpet, piano, bass and drums.

Jazz standard "Body and Soul" was written in 1930 for actress and singer Gertrude Lawrence, who first introduced it to British audience and later in the United States. The first jazz musician to perform it was Louis Armstrong. Bob Lee, alto saxophonist, has the solo with the ensemble.

Blues song "Last Night," written and first performed by The Mar-Keys, Stevie Wonder's "Living for the City," the much-recorded "Uptown Stomp" most associated with Kool and the Gang, 1938 hit "Undecided" and several other songs are on the program. Mitchum said he will announce soloists for many of them from the Patriot Hall stage. He invites audience members to "dance in the aisles" or their seats.

The concert will be preceded at 6 p.m. by an art show, reception and artist talk by Zachary Diaz.

Admission to both the 6 p.m. art event and the 7 p.m. jazz concert is free, as is parking around the Patriot Hall complex, 135 Haynsworth St.