The Tucson Jazz Academy's Ellington band is heading to Europe for four major jazz festival appearances.
But there's a problem: It is a bit short on cash to finance the trip.
So it is doing what most self-respecting arts organizations do when times are tough and cash is short: It's holding a fundraising concert.
The concert is at 2 p.m. Sunday, and it's being billed as a "Swingin' Big Band Summer Concert." The Tucson Community Music School and the Tucson Jazz Institute are co-presenting the event, which will feature three big bands, including the TJI Ellington Big Band.
If you haven't seen these talented young musicians, you've missed out on world-class action that earned the ensemble top prize in the 2010 high school jazz band contest hosted by Wynton Marsalis and Jazz at Lincoln Center.
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The concert will be held at St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, 7650 N. Paseo del Norte. Tickets are $20 for adults, $15 for students and seniors, and free for children 10 and younger. For reservations, call 971-6694.
The TJI Ellington band will perform in jazz festivals in Italy, France and Spain July 12-23.
Celebrate France's independence day
St. Philip's in the Hills Friends of Music summer concert series takes a trip to France on Sunday with "French Toast: A Salute to French Opera, Musical Theater and Cabaret."
In honor of Bastille Day - France's independence day on next Thursday - soprano Mary Paul, baritone Larry Alexander and pianist Bonnie Bird will perform French opera, musical theater and cabaret works. The program includes arias and duets from operas by Delibes, Gounod, Massenet and Ambroise Thomas; theater works from "Gigi," "South Pacific" and "Phantom of the Opera"; and the definitive French pop song "La Vie En Rose" (literally translated "Life in Pink").
Paul and Alexander also will team up on a delightful collection of songs best classified as nonsensical nursery rhymes.
Lest you think the audience is left to listen in silence, the trio will invite it to sing along to the French national anthem, "La Marseillaise." Hopefully, it will be in English: "Let's go children of the fatherland / The day of glory has arrived! / Against us tyranny's / Bloody flag is raised!"
Sunday's concert begins at 2 p.m. in the Bloom Music Center at St. Philip's in the Hills Episcopal Church, 4440 N. Campbell Ave. at River Road. Admission is $15. Details: 299-6421.
In other music news ...
• The Collin Shook Trio - La Posada Retirement Community, 350 E. Morningside Road, Green Valley. Part of La Posada's Second Annual Summer Concert Series. 5:30 p.m. today. Free. 648-8131.
• Banda El Recodo - Casino del Sol's AVA. Longtime purveyors of banda music return to Tucson. 8 p.m. Saturday. $30-$60.
• Eleanor Winston Trio - Boondocks Lounge. Jazz band makes first appearance at the Boondocks. 6 p.m. Sunday. $5.
• David Fanning - "My Life: A Concert" - The Gaslight Theatre, 7010 E. Broadway. Fanning's debut concert includes performances of some of his favorite characters, including Elvis Presley, Neil Diamond, Frank Sinatra and Tom Jones. 7 p.m. Monday and July 25. $21.95.
• "Let's All Go to the Movies" - The Arizona Inn, 2200 E. Elm St. Invisible Theatre presents Lisa Otey, Betsy Kruse Craig, Jack Neubeck and Stuart Moulton as part of IT's Sizzling Summer Sounds tribute to music of the cinema. 8-9:30 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday. $35. 882-9721.
• Fortunate Youth and Veragroove - The Hut, 305 N. Fourth Ave. Reggae show is open to those 21 and older. 9 p.m. Thursday. $5.
• The Invisible Theatre presents Amanda Mc-Broom and George Ball - The Arizona Inn. The "Sizzling Summer Sounds" series concludes with "One Enchanted Evening." 8 p.m. July 14-16. $35. 882-9721.
• Chris Smither - Plaza Palomino. Roots and blues music. 7:30 p.m. next Friday. $25 in advance; $28 at the door.
Elsewhere in the arts ...
• Nancy Davis Booth reunites with longtime partner Jeffrey Haskell for Invisible Theatre concert (C1).
