The Twin Cities Jazz Society’s “Jazz from J to Z” concert series, presents Legendary Jazz Drummer Butch Miles with the St Croix Jazz Orchestra, on Thursday, October 8 at 7 PM.

Miles, a long time Count Basie drummer, joins the SCJO for a hard swinging performance at the Stillwater Junior High School auditorium, 523 Marsh St. W., Stillwater, MN 55082. Vocalist Judi Donaghy & the Stillwater High School Jazz Ensemble will also join the concert.  

Lester Young

The Twin Cities Jazz  Society kicks off its 2009-2010 “Jazz from J to Z” season Sept. 27 at the Capri Theater in north Minneapolis (3 p.m.) with a tribute to saxophone legend Lester Young. Co-sponsored by the University of Wisconsin-River Falls Jazz Studies Department, the concert will feature the JAZZAX Saxophone Quartet (Dave Milne, Mike Walk, Pete Whitman, and Greg Keel), the Laura Caviani Trio (with Gordy Johnson and Phil Hey), saxophonist Dave Karr and vocalist Charmin Michelle.

This year marks the centennial of the birth of Lester Young in Woodville, Missouri. Known as an early “hipster” due to his distinctive dress (including the famous porkpie hat) and idiosyncratic language, Young’s cool tone and emotional style offered a not-always-appreciated alternative to the popular powerhouse tenor of Coleman Hawkins. Considered a major influence on Stan Getz, Dexter Gordon, Gerry Mulligan, and Sonny Stitt, Young also had a direct impact on Charlie Parker and the bop movement of the ‘40s and ‘50s. He was Count Basie’s lead tenor throughout much of the 1930s and ‘40s, and was part of the famed Jazz at the Philharmonic in the late ‘40s and ‘50s. The 1986 film Round Midnight is based in part on the life of Lester Young. A frequent musical partner of Billie Holiday, Young is credited with dubbing her Lady Day, and in turn she nicknamed him Prez, short for President.