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Summer Time Sizzle

By Announcements, Events

The Night Star Jazz Orchestra is back at Salt Lake City and Gallivan Center Events  Tuesday August 8th 2023, 7:30 pm with Katrina Cannon hosted by Excellence in the Community! Whatever Katrina wants Katrina gets! Cha-cha, bossa, swing and a Purdie shuffle for y’all. It’s a big band jazz dance night so put on your best threads and kicks and come on down to the dance floor and hang with us. We’ll see you there for a fantastic summer night in Downtown SLC!

NSJO Friday Dance Party

By Announcements, Events

Friday June 23rd, 7:30 pm kick off your weekend at the Gallivan Center with Katrina Cannon and the Night Star Jazz Orchestra hosted by Excellence in the Community. Beautiful downtown Salt Lake City in June is the best time of summer and we can’t wait to see you there. Grab some dinner and hang out on the lawn or bring a group to dance the night away. Katrina will be singing your favorites and we’ll have a great mix of swing, bossa, ballads and blues that will fill the soul with some ear food from the fantastic musicians of the NSJO.  We’ll see you there!

Back in Action for 2021

By Uncategorized
Night Star Jazz Orchestra

Katrina Cannon

It’s been a long road back for everyone in 2021 and we are happy to announce four exciting upcoming shows! We can’t thank everyone enough for putting together the operations and venues to get live concerts back! We especially would like to thank our health care professionals for taking great care of us during the pandemic.

We’re bringing back our shows for the First Lady of Song and the Chairman of the Board, Ella Fitzgerald and Frank Sinatra! Katrina Cannon and John Lambert will put on a show to take you through the hits of Ella and Frank with the classics of the glitz and glamour of the rat pack and prolific recording era of Fitzgerald and Sinatra. We’ll feature Katrina and John at our shows in August don’t miss it!

John Lambert

John Lambert

 

We’ve got great new tunes featuring the members of the band with arrangements from Drew Zaremba and John Clayton. For our dance shows Aug 3rd and Sept 7th we’ll have a fantastic mix of ballads, samba, cha-cha, swing, and shuffle to keep your feet moving and your hearts full! We can’t wait to see you out the in audience are are glad to be back! We’ll see you soon!

Sept 12 Gallivan Live Stream

By Announcements, Events

Don’t miss this live stream hosted by Excellence in the Community today September 12th at 8 pm MDT.

The Night Star Quintet brings together featured members the Night Star Jazz Orchestra. Lead by the vocals of Katrina Cannon, the Night Star Quintet spotlights the soloists of the band that you’ve heard throughout the summers at the Gallivan Center Big Band Dance Nights. The program will feature a variety of styles and standards that all will enjoy from ballads, bossa nova, blues and swing.

You can join the watch party from multiple platforms:

Here’s the line up for a great evening of jazz with the Night Star Quintet featuring:

NSJO Quintet

Katrina Cannon, vocals

Jerry Floor, Clarinet
Brian Booth, Tenor Saxophone
Tom Young, Trumpet
Kevin Stout, Trombone
Dan Jonas, Trumpet

Night Star Jazz Orchestra
Rhythm Section:
Larry Montoya, Bass
Dan Featherstone, Guitar
Merrill Smith, Piano
Dave Featherstone, Drums

 

Slide those dining table and chairs out of the way and set up a dance floor and we’ll bring some joyful noise into your house!

News for the Winter Blues

By Announcements

New charts for a new year! We’re gearing up for another great season of dancing and jazz concerts for 2020 and added some new music to our library. Look out for a new blues feature set for our summer concerts that will knock you out of your seat. We’re also working on some great new charts arranged by Jeremy Levy including a wild new imagining of Gustav Holst’s The Planets. Katrina Cannon is  spinning up some new features with classics from Diane Shuur, Sarah Vaughan, and Carmen McRae. We’re also adding to our extensive library with features from University of North Texas alum Drew Zaremba, and classics from Quincy Jones, Frank Devol and Ernie Wilkins. Make sure to check out our upcoming shows page to keep up with the band and we’ll be adding more dates soon!

If you haven’t booked your summer dates contact us soon and we’ll set up a great show from classic Ella Fitzgerald and Frank Sinatra big band shows to new jazz features! Also it’s never too early to start planning for your fall and winter 2020 events. Contact us at booking@nightstarjazzorchestra.com.

We’ll see you at the show!

Salt Lake Summer Nights

By Announcements, Events

It’s time for Summer at the Gallivan Center in Salt Lake City 2019! We’ll be at the Gallivan Center for four dates throughout this summer with the Night Star Jazz Orchestra and special guests. Catch us on Tuesdays June 11th, August 13th, August 27th and Thursday September 26th. Produced by Excellence in the Community and their sponsors as part of the Big Band Tuesday summer series. Admission is free and all are welcome!

Our first show on June 11th will bring the fabulous Katrina Cannon and guest vocalist John Lambert of Take Five Jazz to the stage. Katrina and John will bring the swagger and sounds of the classic era of the Las Vegas casino shows of the 60’s to the stage.

August 13th we’ll have the fabulous Jay Lawrence with us on vibraphone with fantastic tunes that make the bars of the vibes sing. It’s a smokin’ set that keeps the adrenaline flowing and the dance floor full!

August 27th and Sept 26th we’ll have guest percussionist Don Keipp with us to keep the groove going! We’ll have a great set of bossa-nova, cha-cha and samba’s! We’ll have fantastic vocals from Katrina and John and instrumental features from the amazing musicians of the Night Star Jazz Orchestra.

Share the summer nights with us on the dance floor of the Gallivan Center or relaxing on the lawn. It’s a set of shows you don’t want to miss!

Jazz Arts Celebration 2019

By Announcements, Events

Join us May 11th, 2019, 7:30 pm at the historic landmark Ogden High School auditorium for a free show celebrating jazz arts featuring Katrina Cannon’s fantastic vocals, Jay Lawrence on vibraphone, and special guest Don Keipp on percussion and sharing the drum chair with the fabulous Joe Shaw and the Night Star Jazz Orchestra.

Katrina Cannon

Katrina Cannon

The program will feature numbers from the Terry Gibbs Dream Band and arrangements for Milt Jackson by John Clayton showcasing Jay Lawrence on vibes along with Katrina’s exceptional numbers with charts arranged by Geoffrey Keezer, Gordon Goodwin and John Clayton. The Night Star Jazz Orchestra will be performing wide range of music from ballads to burnin’ swing numbers for an evening celebrating jazz and arts education with members of  the Ogden High School jazz band.

Jay Lawrence

Admission to the event is free of charge. As part of the evening, we’ll be hosting a fundraiser for those that wish to participate to help Ogden High School Director of Bands, Stan Renda raise funds towards the purchase of a new professional marimba, which can cost upwards of $15,000, for his blossoming percussion and jazz education program. Donations toward the purchase of the new marimba can be made directly to the school at the door or prior by contacting Mr. Renda at rendas@ogdensd.org.

The Night Star Jazz Orchestra presents the Jazz Arts Celebration in conjunction with Jazz At the Station as part of a week of jazz arts education with multiple events happening in Ogden during the week. On May 10th the Heritage Jazz Festival will be taking place from 1 pm to 9 pm with multiple school ensembles at Ogden’s Union Station, culminating with the Night Star Jazz Orchestra May 11th. Also happening in Ogden and throughout Northern Utah that weekend, is the “Spike 150” celebration the 150-year anniversary of the Golden Spike ceremony in Utah, commemorating the completion of the transcontinental railroad in America 150 years ago. A day of jazz is a perfect companion to the events happening throughout Ogden to celebrate the connection of East and West with America’s unique gift to the world that is the art of jazz.

OHS Restored and Renovated Auditorium

The venue for the concert is Ogden High School’s crown jewel auditorium, originally built as part of the WPA program in the 1930’s. The Art Deco school building is a true landmark of Ogden and was restored as part of a community effort to save the building.

The event is generously sponsored in part by the Jazz Education Network  Jazz2U grant.
Summerhays Music Center has generously offered to facilitate the purchase of the new marimba, donating shipping and delivery of the new instrument to the school.

Vox Nuvo Auditions 2019

By Announcements

We’re opening up auditions for our Vox Nuvo group for both the tenor and bass male vocal chairs. We had a great 2018 season and we’re looking for the next incarnation of Vox Nuvo to hit the ground running. For the auditions we’ll be looking for both tenor and bass male vocalists who have proficiency with jazz and singing tight harmonies. If you’d like to join us for this upcoming season contact info@nightstarjazzorchestra.com and we’ll send you the audition materials and instructions.

Covey Center – Jazz Moments

By Events

Night Star Jazz Orchestra Covey Center Nov. 19The Night Star Jazz Orchestra will be performing for the first time at the Provo Covey Center on November 19th. “Jazz Moments” is a compilation of our favorite numbers from our summer big band programs, Katrina’s “Excellence in the Community – Women’s Month” show and our “Jazz Arts Celebration” show from from May of 2018.

NSJO Saxophone Section

NSJO Saxophone Section

It’s a fantastic show that will feature the swingin’ sounds of the summer, jazz features from the great players of the orchestra and the beautiful vocals of Katrina Cannon. The program will have something for every one that will make you want to get out of your seat and move. Best of all the show is FREE hosted by Excellence in the Community and its fine sponsors and the City of Provo. The show starts at 7:30 pm, Monday Nov 19th at the Covey Center, 425 W Center St, Provo, UT 84601.

Summer Send Off – Sept. 4

By Events

Jay LawrenceDon’t miss the swingin’ summer send off this Tuesday Sept. 4th 7:30 pm at the Salt Lake City Gallivan Center. The big band dance party will feature Katrina Cannon and Night Star Jazz Orchestra with special guests Jay Lawrence on drums and the sizzling vocal trio the Sugar Sisters, Katrina Cannon, Melissa Carter, Lisa Dengg. Let’s send off summer with this season’s final performance from the Night Star Jazz Orchestra for Excellence in the Community’s Big Band Tuesdays! We can’t think of a better way to thank you for a great summer season than to spend it with you! Get the word out and let’s pack the dance floor one more time!